Not till the golden light slopes over the Campagna,
gilding the skeletons of aqueducts, and drawing a delicate veil of
beauty over the mountains, can we tear ourselves away, and rattle back
in our carriage to Rome.
The wealthy Roman families, who have villas in the immediate vicinity
of Rome, now leave the city to spend a month in them and breathe the
fresh air of spring. Many and many a tradesman who is well to do in the
world has a little _vigna_ outside the gates, where he raises
vegetables and grapes and other fruits; and every _festa_-day you will
be sure to find him and his family out in his little _villetta_,
wandering about the grounds or sitting beneath his arbors, smoking and
chatting with his children around him. His friends who have no villas
of their own here visit him, and often there is a considerable company
thus collected, who, if one may judge from their cheerful countenances
and much laughter, enjoy themselves mightily. Knock at any of these
villa-gates, and, if you happen to have the acquaintance of the owner,
or are evidently a stranger of respectability, you will be received
with much hospitality, invited to partake of the fruit and wine, and
overwhelmed with thanks for your _gentilezza_ when you take your leave;
for the Italians are a most good-natured and social people, and nothing
pleases them better than a stranger who breaks the common round of
topics by accounts of his own land.
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