DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61893#0243
Ch.V.
' THROUGH ITALY.
215
large farm, with two extensive gardens, and
offices well walled in, formerly belonging to the
Imperial government, which granted it to a
Mantuan citizen, Count Giberti, to defray the
interest of the money which he had advanced for
public purposes. This farm is called Virgiliana,
and is said to have belonged to the poet him-
self. The country around it and Pietole, is ex-
tremely flat, but fertile, well wooded, and highly
cultivated.
On the 19th (Friday) we took a boat and de-
scended the Mincio, to the place where it falls
into the Po, about twelve miles below Mantua.
The country through which it flows is so low,
that the river is generally embanked like a canal,
and cannot be supposed to exhibit any picturesque
views; especially as the fields around were still,
in consequence of the late inundation, in many
places covered with water. However, many
trees, great fertility, and high cultivation, give
it all the beauty it is capable of receiving; while
several neat cottages adorn the banks, and as the
weather was extremely fine, appeared, when we
passed, to much advantage.
At the beautiful village of Governolo, the
Mincio makes a sudden bend, and shortly after
loses itself in the Po. The breadth of this latter
river, and the vast mass of waters which it rolls
' THROUGH ITALY.
215
large farm, with two extensive gardens, and
offices well walled in, formerly belonging to the
Imperial government, which granted it to a
Mantuan citizen, Count Giberti, to defray the
interest of the money which he had advanced for
public purposes. This farm is called Virgiliana,
and is said to have belonged to the poet him-
self. The country around it and Pietole, is ex-
tremely flat, but fertile, well wooded, and highly
cultivated.
On the 19th (Friday) we took a boat and de-
scended the Mincio, to the place where it falls
into the Po, about twelve miles below Mantua.
The country through which it flows is so low,
that the river is generally embanked like a canal,
and cannot be supposed to exhibit any picturesque
views; especially as the fields around were still,
in consequence of the late inundation, in many
places covered with water. However, many
trees, great fertility, and high cultivation, give
it all the beauty it is capable of receiving; while
several neat cottages adorn the banks, and as the
weather was extremely fine, appeared, when we
passed, to much advantage.
At the beautiful village of Governolo, the
Mincio makes a sudden bend, and shortly after
loses itself in the Po. The breadth of this latter
river, and the vast mass of waters which it rolls