The Gulf of Spezia and the Peasantry of Italy [pp. 346-351]

THE GULF OF SPEZZA AND THE PEASAZNTRY OF ITALY.
like a needy butterman glancing scornfully at a
drunken mob. It is pleasant to recognize in
this Italian peasant of the nineteenth century
the representative of the old Greco-Roman civilization, whose wonderful prestige is retained
even by the lowest of her sons.
The dress of the peasantry round La Spezia
speaks little for their wealth, although every
now and then the velvet waistcoat is seen.
They generally wear somber-colored stuffs, and
the farmers wear the same material, cut in the
same style, as the workmen. The blouse worn
in France is seldom seen in Italy, which is the
more to be regretted, as it is cleanly, if only
because it is so easily washed. Some of the
country people on the coast wear a scarlet cap,
with a black border, which forms a bright contrast to their other garments. Those who do
not share in the Russian MIoujik idea, that red
and beauty are synonymous terms, wear headdresses of a less vivid hue. Sometimes the
cap drops over one shoulder, like the Greek fez;
sometimes it hangs forward, in the Phrygian
style. When worn with the velvet coat, it
forms a not unpicturesque costume.
Those who seek for variety in the dress of
the agricultural classes wvill do well to visit the
villages on the first Sunday in July, at the Feast
of Our Lady of Acquasanta, whose sanctuary
is situated at the summit of one of the hills
round ilarola, a charming village whose manytinted houses-the Ligurians love color in their
habitations-lie dotted about on terraces. The
hamlet can be seen from La Spezia. As a
matter of course, in order to do honor to the
Virgin, the country-women don their best attire.
They seem to have more taste for vivid color
than their husbands, but even with them it is
less a passion than with most Southern populations. They are, however, strikingly fond of
jewelry, and some of them wear ear-rings of
spherical form, the lower part studded with
ornaments of more or less complicated workmanshlip. Like the Romans, flowers are their
delight, and like the "flora campi" in the old
Roman songs, they coquettishly place them in
their hair, over the right ear, side by side with
a tiny flat straw hat, whose streamers, fastened
to the hair, form a slight support.
A lady resident in Spezia has related the following anecdote, as illustrative of the tastes of
the people: "Once, during a promenade in the
bosc/ietto, I sawv two old, wrinkled females sauntering about like myself. Suddenly one of
them, after looking furtively from right to left,
to make sure of the absence of the police,
whose peculiar dress and wand of office hold in
awe the most refractory, glided rapidly through
a breach-made, no doubt, by others for similar
exploits-in the thick and high box hedge
which skirts the principal walk, and pounced
on two Indian roses which she had espied in
one of the beds. She had hardly secured her
spoil, and was mistress of these poor and
scentless flowers, than she began to place one
of them in her hair, giving the other to her
companion. They pursued their walk, as contented and pleased as if they had been securing
from an orange-tree its choicest blossoms.
They enjoyed the double satisfaction of doing
a forbidden thing, and of adorning themselves
with flowers whose rich yellow tint presented
so pleasing a contrast to the ebony of their
hair." Generally the female peasantry have
the good taste to prefer the alabaster corolla of
the Cape jasmine. So popular is this flower
that sometimes even laboring men may be seen
wearing it over the ear.
Even the oxen are coquettishly attired.
Sometimes the white head of one of these
patient animals may be seen decked with a
sort of woolen crown, from which hang green,
red, and blue balls. These the creature gravely
shakes from side to side while promenading
through the streets of the town. Animals no
less than men are susceptible to vanity, and
every one knows that the horse is proud enough
when equipped richly, and honored by bearing
one of the magnates of the earth, whose splendid costume is a fortune in itself. The narrow
mountain paths which encircle La Spezia do
not allow of the passage of carts worthy of
such beautiful white oxen, with their splendid
black horns and benign expression of countenance. Three sticks, in the form of a triangle,
forming a rustic seat, solid if not elegant, are
the only conveyances for human beings; and
sure-footed mules carry easily over the mountains burdens which elsewhere would be placed
in carts. Long processions of these animals,
in single file, bearing on either side well-balanced barrels of wine, are often met with in La
Spezia. They seldom appear tired, and seem
as if they possess all the virtues ascribed to the
ass by Buffon, in his delineation of that sober
and hard-working animal. Although probably
ignorant of the works of the celebrated naturalist, the peasantry fully appreciate the qualities of the donkey, which they use for riding.
A cavalcade of asses, black and gray, presents
a singular appearance. In the East, and even
in the neighboring peninsula of Spain, the donkeys, as is well known, are treated with any
thing but contempt: and it would not be difficult, by ingenious crossings of the breed, superintended by intelligent trainers, to improve
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