Still in the country of the great Palladio, Vicenza had other works by the master, including six of its renowned palazzi, and the modern—-for its time—Teatro Olimpico. The Darcys elected to visit the town only briefly that morning, using the remaining hours of leisure to admire Palladio’s own house just south of the city. They passed the grand Villa Valmarana on their way to the Rotonda, with its sweeping gardens, but it was not yet open for the day, so early were they gone out of Vicenza, and so the paintings of Tiepolo missed seeing the Darcy party on their road to Padua.

As with the greatest proportion of the paragons of human ingenuity to be seen in Italy, objects which—at a little distance—seemed delightful and sound, upon closer inspection revealed marks of inattention and decay. The Rotonda Capra was situated at the foot of Monte Berico, and like the other works of the architect at Verona and Vicenza, the square house with its round saloon was in a sad state. Despite the ruination of the building, the genius of its conception was yet apparent; equally so was the wisdom of Lord Burlington who constructed a copy at Chiswick, the latter of which was in far better repair, and so more easily admired. The four sides were ascended on wide stairs, surmounted by porches delineated by Corinthian pillars. The saloon had exquisite proportions, and the effect of the whole presented a magnificent form when viewed from any direction. Darcy was thorough in his admiration; Elizabeth thought it interesting, but did not think that it was likely to have been very comfortable as an home—unlike dear Pemberley—and Georgiana was content to approve everything said by either, but her commendations seemed little more than absence of mind.

The day was unrelentingly hot, with the consequence that the dust and dirt on the road were even worse than the previous days’, although the punishment was of shorter duration. Their travelling cloathes were now a uniform light brown, as were the contents of anything not tightly sealed, despite having taken the precaution to wrap the trunks and portmanteaux affixed to the outside of the carriages in tarpaulins made for the purpose. It was inconceivable what magnitude of dust would afflict the insides of the trunks thrown unprotected into the basket of the public coaches!