Rome and Naples

Rome Friday 22 January Left Genoa in the evening at 8 for Leghorn in the Tiger Captain Hamilton & reached this port at daybreak. Called on the Consul MacBean, ¹ & Mr. Thos. Lloyd – walked with them to see the oil store established by the government of the Medici for facilitating the depository & transferring of oils, & am told it is very useful to the dealers. Saw the peculiar mode of storing grain. […] A vast trade in corn from the Black Sea to Leghorn this year – the profits chiefly go to the Greek houses. In Tuscany no corn law of any kind has been allowed to exist by the present dynasty for many generations. Mr. Lloyd told me an anecdote of one of the leaders of the revolutionary party of 1831 who when asked by him what practical reforms he wished to carry by a change in the government remarked that one of the grievances he wished to remedy was the want of adequate protection for the land. So that had this patriot been able to induce the people to upset the Grand Duke’s authority he would have rewarded them with a corn-law! Was told that the grass of which the far-famed Leghorn bonnets are made can only be grown in perfection in Tuscany — that it has been grown elsewhere, but without success — & that the seed from which it is grown is the produce of a few fields only – enquire further on my return about this – Leghorn is a flat uninteresting place after Genoa – but owing to the whole town being a free-port it is a stirring place of business. […] Left Leghorn at 6 o’clock for Civita Vecchia, & arrived there at 8 the following morning. All hands muster on deck to be counted & examined by the health officer – a ridiculous formality exacted at every port even in the winter times from the crew & passengers of steamers going from north to south’. Went on shore & called on Mr. Lowe the Consul ² — the town increasing in population – this little port being a great medium of 93communication between Rome & all other parts – steamers calling almost every day. Left at ½ past 12 for Rome the road lying along the beach for several miles – almost immediately in quitting the town the country assumed the character of a wild common, covered with shrubs & tufts of long grass — and this neglected appearance of the soil continued with slight interruptions of cultivated patches as long as daylight lasted. No appearance of a southern scene in olives, vines, etc, such as we had been accustomed to. Noticed the fine bullocks of a light grey color, with dark shoulders, & having very long branching horns – noble looking animals. It was an indistinct moonlight as we came near Rome, but there was no indication of our approaching a large city such as surburban villas, or straggling houses afford in the neighborhoods of our towns — on turning a corner of the road we came suddenly upon a full & close view of the dome of St. Peter’s which stood out boldly in the evening sky — but on passing under it on our way to the hotel it did not appear so large as we expected to find it. Reached our quarters at 8.