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22 June 1908 — Mezzaratta, Bologna | |
Monday. 22nd [June 1908]. There was a good deal of rain in the morning which brought down the temperature & made it very pleasant, but we could not sit out of doors on account of the damp & so had to be in the drawing room by the open window & I worked at chains & talked to Da Laura & Prof. Faccioli who has returned. It cleared in the afternoon & at 4 we made an expedition into town. The little poney cart took us down the steep hill to the town; at the bottom of it we found the carriage Da Laura had hired. We went to Romboldi’s the seller of antiquities first. I happily saw nothing there to tempt me. Da L. fell a victim to some trifles. Thence we drove to the Villa of the Ct & Css Cavazza & paid a visit. The eldest son of the house is very ill & had been in great danger till the celebrated Dr Murri took him in hand & gave him such tremendous doses of disinfectants that he arrested the fever wh was consuming the lad & saved his life. This Murri is the cleverest Dr in Italy & has a tremendous reputation but his son & daughter are now both in prison, the former for killing his brother in law Count Bonmartini the latter for aiding & abetting. The whole family seem to have no morals—even the Dr’s family life & ideas are proved to be low– The son confessed to the crime & said he did it for love of his sister who could not bear the victim. One thinks that one would hardly trust as a Dr even, the head of such a family, but his skill in his profession is so great that he carries all before him. Countess Cavazza pale & wan from long watching of her sick boy was a pathetic sight. She gave us tea & we sat some time with her. Countess Zucchini was there. She is spending the summer months at the Carcea Guerra villa close by & we went on there to pay her a visit. The house is small but the grounds large & wooded & the view over the plain good, tho’ nothing like that from Donna Lauras. On the way back we passed the Ercolani villa which looks from outside like a kind of fortress. We got home for dinner. One of our amusements in walking about the garden is pulling up a kind of weed wh is called “scalagna” & comes up in the shady places. It looks like a white orchid & has a small bulb. Whenever Da Laura sees one coming thro’ the ground ivy she dashes at it & pulls it up. Every day we went round the garden tearing them up & I called it the “chasse” & became quite clever at finding them out. It was a great amusement to us. | |
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