THE DARCYS PASSED THROUGH a rich agricultural district, dotted with pretty villas and gardens, in the environs of Caseina de Pecchi, Gorgonzola, Caravaggio, Chiari, and Brescia. The roads were become dusty and very hot, and so the cool area of Lago Gardia and their rooms at Desenzano were a welcome relief. That evening, there were several showers, which abated the heats of the following day, and helped to lay a portion of the dust. Enclosed by the Southern Alps, the area around the lake was a vast expanse of vineyards of very old vines, some of which had been trained as arbours over the roads of the country, forming a long arcade that shielded the carriages from the worst of the sun. The Darcys were by now grown used to the strong sun, brown fields, and dust of Italy. Their memories of pictures of sun-drenched villas covered in flowering vines were of no assistance in the reality of the heat, glare, and dirt which comprised the day-time hours of their travel. However, the land was very productive, and the food served at the posting-inns was very fresh and delightful in every way, especially a dish the Italians called pasta, a type of boiled, unleavened dough that was fashioned into every imaginable shape and size, and eaten amidst a ragoût of tomatoes and other vegetables, or in a rich cream gravy. The Italians were like-wise fond of a great variety of sausages, again of nearly every conceivable geometry, which were also very savoury. The Darcys adopted the Italian habit of taking their mid-day meal in baskets made up by the inn-keeper, and composed of these sausages, some fruit, the wonderful Italian bread, and a bottle or two of the local wine; these comestibles made for a jolly pic-nick along the road, and did not require the party to suspend the meal until they were come to an inn.

Along the road to Verona, fruits appeared in abundance: grapes, figs, pomegranates, and orchards of apples, pears, mulberries, nuts, olives, &c., easily and cheaply procured. Verona was an ancient city, with numerous arches and an enormous marble amphitheatre in unusually good condition, all of Roman construction. The Darcys arrived just after midday, in time to see the Cathedral, with its wonderful paintings, and the Theatro Nuovo, with its portico designed by Palladio, a native of that city. Elizabeth and her husband took a short walk beyond the ancient gates of the city, the Porta del Borsari, to see the crenellations and towers of the city walls framed by the blue Alps behind, the sparkling waters of the Adige, and the four bridges that connected the city to the handsome villas and their gardens, plantations of shade trees, and dark cypress which dotted the near hillsides. Such a fine prospect painted in the last rays of sunlight provided a welcome palliative for the ills of noise, jostling, and general tedium of travel.