1845.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



308 



GOETHE'S ITALIAN TRAVELS. 

 Translated/or this Journal by J. Lhotsky, Ph. Dr. 



" Ingenio vivimus— cetera mortis erunt." 



[Goethe undertook his travels in Italy in 178G, 67 and 88. His 

 letters, containing his journal, were addressed to the Grand Ducal 

 family of Sase Weimar, amongst which Herdes and Wiehind were 

 living as members. The whole was not published until 1817, and is 

 much appreciated in Germany. In England Goethe is comparatively 

 little known, except as a poet, but his artistic talent has been fully 

 appreciated by his countrymen. He for many years superintended 

 the public works of Saxe Weimar.] 



[Perugia, Oct. 25, 17SG.*] I knew from Palladio and Volkmann 

 that a beautiful temple of Minerva, built in the time of Augustus, 

 existed yet in perfect preservation. I left, therefore, near Madonna 

 del Angelo, my vetturino, who pursued his way towards Foligno, and 

 ascended in a heavy gale the hill of Assissi, because I was longing to 

 make a pedestrian excursion through a world so lonesome to me. The 

 immense substruction of the several churches, heaped Babylon-like 

 one upon another, where St. Francis reposes, were to the left. — I 

 then asked a pretty lad for Sta. Maria della Minerva ; he conducted 

 me up to the town, which is built on the slope of a hill. In fine, we 

 reached the properly so-called town; — and lu! the most praiseworthy 

 work stood before my eyes, the first complete monument of olden time 

 which I ever saw. A modest temple, it is true, as it suited such a 

 small town; still, so perfect, so beautifully conceived, that it would 

 shine everywhere. First, of its position. Since I have read in Vitru- 

 vius and Palladio, how towns are to be situated, how temples and 

 public edifices are to be placed, I have a great reverence for such 

 things. In this, also, the ancients were so great in their adherence 

 to the natural. The temple is situated on the middle part of the 

 mount, just where two slopes of hills meet, on a place which even now 

 is called la Piazza. This rises a little onwards, and is the centre of 

 four roads, which form a very oblique St. Andrew's cross, two from 

 upwards two frpm below; probably the houses whicli stand oppo- 

 site the temple and bar the whole prospect, did not exist in olden 

 times. If we remove them in our fancy, the richest prospect is opened 

 towards the south, and Minerva's sanctuary could be seen from all sides. 

 The laying out of the streets, however, may be ancient, because they 

 result from the shape and inclination of the hill. The temple does 

 not stand in the middle of the piazza, but is so placed that it will ap- 

 pear in a beautifully fore-shortened shape to those coming up from 

 Rome. 



I could not enough admire the facade. The order is Corinthian ; 

 the distarce of the columns somewhat more than two models. The 

 bases and the squares of the columns undtrneath seem to stand on 

 pedestals — tliey seem, only ; because the socle is five times cut through, 

 and each time five steps pass between the columns, so that we reach 

 thence the plane on which the columns stand, and enter the lemjile. 

 The attempt of cutting the socle was here in its right place, because, 

 as the temple stands on a slope, the flight of staiis leading thereto 

 would have been too much prolonged forward, so as to encroach on 

 the space. How many steps there may have been underneath, we 

 cannot ascertain ; they are, except, a few, covered with debris, and 

 paved over. With difficuliy could I quit the scene, and I de- 

 cided on calling upon architects to procure us an exact plan. 

 Because I also had occasion to remark this time, what uncertain things 

 the reports of others mostly are. Palladio, to whom I trusted en- 

 tirely, gives us, it is true, a view of this temple, but he could not have 

 seen it himself, as he placed real pedestals on the plane, whereby the 

 columns come to be ]ilaced too high, so as to make an ugly Palmvrean 

 monster of it, whereas, in reality it exhibits a quiet, lovely sight, satis- 

 fying the eye and reason. What I felt in the mere viewing of 

 this work, cannot be stated in words, and ^^ill leave a lasting im- 

 pression. I descended, on the finest evening, the Roman road, 

 completely quieted in my mind. 



Venice; Oct. 1786. — I went to-day, with my guarding angel, on 

 the Liilo, the slip of land that shuts up the Lagunes, and divides them 

 from the sea. We left the boat, aud went across the tongue of land. 

 The sea mounted high towards the shore, it was uoon-tiine of low 

 water. On theLidi>, not far from the sea. Englishmen are buried, and 

 further on, Jews, as if both should not lay in sacred ground. I found the 

 grave of the noble Consul Sinilh, and his former wife ; I owed to him 

 my copy of Palladio, and thanked him on bis unsacred grave : and not 

 only nusacred is the grave, but ha f covered. 



October 9, 1786. A delicious day, from morn to night! I went as 

 far as Palestrina, opposite Cliiozza, where the great constructions are, 



* Italieniscbe Keise, vol. i. 



called Murazzi, which the Commonwealth has caused to be erected 

 against the sea. They are of hewn stone, and destined to protect the 

 long slip of land, called Lido, which divides the Lagunes and the sea, 

 from the encroaeliments of the wild element. The Lagunes are a 

 woik of nature; anextended tract of bog is found on the upper end of the 

 Adriatic, which, visited by high water, is left partly uncovered by the 

 ebb. Art has taken hold of the highest spots, and thus lays Venice, 

 grouped together by a hundred isles, surrounded by a hundred. Deep 

 channels have been furrowed in the bog, with astonishing trou- 

 ble and cost, for the sake of being able to reach, even at low water, 

 some place with ships of war. What human skill and labour have in- 

 vented and executed in times of old, prudence and industry must now 

 preserve. The Lido, an extended slip of land, divides the Lagunes 

 from the sea, which cannot enter but at two places, namely, at the 

 Castello, at the opposite end, at Chiozza. It would be quite different 

 if the sea were to seek new channels, and abrade the slip of land, 

 passing arbitrarily to and fro. Not to take into account that the little 

 places on the Palestrina, St. Peter, and others, would be destroyed — 

 those channels of present communication would be obliterated, while 

 the water would altogether convert the Lido into islands, and the 

 isles now laying behind into slips of land. To prevent that, they must 

 preserve the Lido as much as they can, that the element may not 

 continually attack and alter that which men have already taken 

 possession of, to v\hich,in fine, they have for a certain purpose, 

 given form and shape. In extraordinary cases, when the sea rises to 

 an overwhelming height, it is especially useful that it cannot enti'r but 

 at two places, and that the remaiider is shut up; it can, consequently, 

 not enter with iis main strength and violence. However, Venic« 

 has nothing to fear, the slowness with which the sea decreases, 

 gives her many thousands of years truce. To-day I went on 

 the steeple of St. Mark ; because, as 1 had seen the Lagunes in their 

 splendour at the time of high water, from above, 1 wanted also to 

 see them in their state of humility at the time of etb, and it is useful 

 to combine both these sights. The mural constructions erected 

 against the sea consist first of some steep steps ; then comes a slightly 

 sloping plane ; then another step, and again a slightly sloping plane ; 

 then a steep wall, with an overhanging cornice. On those steps and 

 planes ascends the flooding sea, until, in extraordinary cases, it bursts 

 at last on the wall and its protruding part. 



October 2, 17S6. Before all, I hurried into the Cariid ; as I had 

 found, in the works of Palladio, that he had here projected a monastic 

 building, in which he intended to represent the private dwellings of 

 the rich and hospitable ancients. The plan, excellently drawn, even 

 in its details, had caused me the greatest pleasure, and I expected to 

 find a miraculous work; but, lu! there is hardly the tenth part 

 finished. Still, even this portion, worthy of his divine genius, has a 

 completeness in the conception, and a finish in the execution, of which 

 I had no idea. Years ought to be passed in the contemplation of 

 such a work. I believe that 1 have seen nothing more elevated, nothing 

 more perfect. 



The church existed previously. Thence we enter a vestibule of 

 Corinthian columns ; one becomes enwrapl, and forgets at once all 

 priestcraft. At one side is the vestry, on the other a room for tha 

 chapter,atlheside the finest v\indingstaircase in the world, with an open 

 wide newel, the stone stairs built in the wall, and so arranged that 

 one supports the other. One does not tire to go up and down; and 

 how well it has turned out may be judged from Palladio himself 

 mentioning it as well done. From the vestibule we come in the inner 

 large court. Of the buildings which had to enclose it, unfortunately- 

 only the left wing is completed. Three orders of columns are one above 

 the other, on the ground floor are porches, on the first floorarcadi salong 

 the friars' cells. The upper story consists of a wall with windows. 

 But sucli description must be completed by the view of the plans. 

 Now a word on the execution. 



Only the capitals and the bases of the columns, and the cloisters 

 are of hewn stones ; all the rest is, I dare not say, of bricks, but of 

 burnt clay. Such bricks I did not know before. The friezes and 

 cornices are also of the same, the tops of the arches also, all formed in 

 pieces, and then the whole only united with a little lime. It is as 

 if cast in one piece. If the whole could have been completed, 

 and we were to see it cleanly rubbed and coloured, it would have been 

 a divine sight. 



The conception, however, was too great, as in so many buildings of 

 modern times. Tiie artist had not only supposed that the present 

 monastery would be broken up, but also that adjoining houses woulc) 

 be purchased ; and for so doing money and patience ran short. 



