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12 October 1885 — Ca’ Capello, Venice | |
Monday. 12th October [1885]. Lunched at 12 o’clock & at 1 went on board the Canoniera to meet the Royal Party and with Mr & Mrs Richter we went [on] an expedition to see Stra. the old Pisani Palace on the mainland before you get to Padua. We went as far as Fusina in the ship & then landed at the tramway station which is not yet open to the public. A nice saloon carriage with a second class one was attached to a little engine & we went a good pace on the high road along the canal. We passed Malcontenta the old palace villa supposed to have been built for the Queen Cornaro, & where the republic obliged her to remain forbidding her return to Venice much to her discontent. We went thro’ Mira & Dolo & passed fine old villas & farmhouses. The great [illegible word] villa is one of the most remarkable & one of the most decayed. At Dolo they stopped the tram & we all got out to see the Red Cross railway carriages built at Venice (St Elena) for the Italian Govt. They are very well made & have every comfort. Then on again we went & in a little more than an hour reached Stra. There a crowd was collected—Signor Barazzi, his wife, a Russian, his daughters & a Bss Pfafius met the Royal party & we all went straight into the villa upstairs to a great hall in which there is a ceiling painted by Tiepolo, some great mythological subject—in the lap of a naked Venus sits the builder of the palace in uniform, wig & cocked hat. An interminable suit of rooms run round the four sides of the square—scantily furnished with some remnants of furniture wh were found put away in the garrets. There is still the bed & furniture in the room occupied by Napoleon & Beauharnais—& the Emperor Maximillian of Mexico—but the fine old Pisani furniture has a great part of it been carried away to Vienna—a great part to Monza. In one of these rooms refreshments were laid out, tea, coffee & cakes & wine of which we partook at abt 3 o’clock. The civic band played the while beneath the windows. We eat excellent cakes made by Padua by Pedrocchi which the Crown Prince enjoyed like a school boy. When tea was over we went round the gardens & saw the fine orange trees in their great terra cotta pots some with the Pisani, some the Grimani & others the Beauharnais arms on them. We went back thro’ the villa to the tram—the band following & playing God Save the Queen—& set off for Fusina—a large crowd assembled to see us off. As soon as we got into the carriage ices & cakes were served by the gentleman who had to do with the tram– Pss Victoria & the Crown Prince were alone equal to the occasion especially as regarded the cakes. At 5 we reached the canoniera & got back to Venice just as it became dark. Mlle de Perpigna came to dine with us—being her last evening here. She left early & we played a rubber of whist with the Balls. | |
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