This diary covers the Marshes’ first months in Italy and describes their first impressions of the country and its people. During this period, the Marshes befriend the Abbe Giuseppe Filippo Baruffi, astronomer Barone Giovanni Plana, and the Tottenham family, among others. They also meet the rest of the diplomatic corps in Turin, as well as many preeminent Italians, including King Victor Emmanuel II, Bettino Ricasoli, and Urbano Rattazzi. They learn much about Italy’s most recent prime minister, the Count of Cavour, who dies the day before the Marshes arrive in Turin. After the Marshes settle into the Casa d’Angennes (their home in Turin), they go on several sightseeing trips, hiking in the Alps and visiting Lago Maggiore and Villarbasse. Topics in this diary include the “Roman Question,” the Pope, and Catholicism; negotiations between Italy, the United States, and Giuseppe Garibaldi; the treatment of Garibaldi and Garibaldian soldiers by Italian government, the Torinese elites and their customs, rural life and rural industries, such as winemaking; the American Civil War, especially slavery and foreign enlistment; Ottoman politics, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s death, and the Great Comet of 1861.
Show less