Charles Dickens "Pictures of Italy"

In 1844 and 1845 Dickens took a break from novel writing to travel around Italy with his family. His stops included Genoa, Parma, Modena, Bologna, Ferrara, Venice (An Italian Dream as he called it), Verona, Mantua, Milan, Pisa, Siena, Rome, Naples and finally Florence. For anyone who has, is, or will be, traveling in Italy, many of his insights, although for a 150 years old, still resonate today. Here are a few excerpts:

On Venice…

“Before I knew by what, or how, I found that we were gliding up a street – a phantom street; the houses rising on both sides, from the water, and the black boat gliding on beneath their windows.” - p. 78

“everywhere, the same extraordinary silence” - p. 79

“In the luxurious wonder of so rare a dream, I took but little heed of time, and had but little understanding of its flight.” – p. 83

“And, in the dream, I thought that Shakespeare’s spirit was abroad upon the water somewhere: stealing through the city.” – p. 84

On the approach to Rome…

“It looked immense in the distance, but distinctly and decidedly small, by comparison, on a near approach.” – p. 116

On St. Peter’s…

“The first burst of the interior, in all its expansive majesty and glory: and, most of all, the looking up into the Dome: is a sensation never to be forgotten.” – p. 117

“And though I had a high sense of the beauty of the building (I hope) as it is possible to entertain, I felt no very strong emotion. I have been infinitely more affected in many English cathedrals when the organ has been playing, and in many English country churches when the congregation have been singing. I had a much greater sense of mystery and wonder, in the Cathedral of San Mark at Venice.” – p. 117

On the Colosseum…

“Its solitude, its awful beauty, and its utter desolation, strike upon the stranger the next moment, like a softened sorrow; and never in my life, perhaps, will he be so moved and overcome by any sight, not immediately connected with his own affections and afflictions.” – p. 117

On the Forum seen from the top of the Colosseum…

“to climb into its upper halls, and look down on ruin, ruin, ruin all about it…is to see the ghost of old Rome, wicked wonderful old city, haunting the very ground on which its people trod.” – p. 118

On too many churches…

“explored so many churches, that I abandoned that part of the enterprise at last, before it was half finished, lest I should never, of my own accord, go to church again, as long as I lived.” – p. 129

On the old and the new…

“it is strange to see, how every fragment, whenever it is possible, has been blended into some modern structure, and made to serve some modern purpose – a wall, a dwelling place, a granary, a stable – some of use for which it never was designed, and associated with which it cannot otherwise than lamely assort.” – p. 151

On the Pantheon…

“The Pantheon, with it majestic front, all seamed and furrowed like an old face, had summer light upon its battered walls.” – p. 159

On Vesuvius…

“To nothing but Vesuvius; but the mountain is the genius of the scene.” – p. 171