However, the longer one lives in Rome,
the more he learns to value the Italian rules of health. There is
probably no people so careful in these matters as the Italians, and
especially the Romans. They understand their own climate, and they have
a special dislike of death. In France and England suicides are very
common; in Italy they are almost unknown. The American recklessness of
life completely astounds the Italian. He enjoys life, studies every
method to preserve it, and considers any one who risks it unnecessarily
as simply a fool.
What, then, are their rules of life? In the first place, in all their
habits they are very regular. They eat at stated times, and cannot be
persuaded to partake of anything in the intervals. If it be not their
hour for eating, they will refuse the choicest viands, and will sit at
your table fasting, despite every temptation you can offer them. They
are also very abstemious in their diet, and gluttony is the very rarest
of vices. I do not believe there is another nation in Europe that eats
so sparingly. In the morning they take a cup of coffee, generally
without milk, sopping in it some light _brioche_. Later in the day they
take a slight lunch of soup and macaroni, with a glass of wine. This
lasts them until dinner, which begins with a watery soup; after which
the _lesso_ or boiled meat comes on and is eaten with one vegetable,
which is less a dish than a garnish to the meat; then comes a dish of
some vegetable eaten with bread; then, perhaps, a chop, or another dish
of meat, garnished with a vegetable; some light _dolce_ or fruit, and a
cup of black coffee,--the latter for digestion's sake,--finish the
repast.
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