Everything was oily and rich, and
suggested indigestion and biliousness. After dinner we strolled out of
the hotel to get our impressions of the town of Lugano. The first thing
we noticed was the beautiful Monte S. Salvatore, covered with verdure
from base to summit; and then we admired the charming position and
great picturesqueness of Lugano. Viewed from near the lake, and looking
back on to the town, the number and variety of the Campanili, the
flat-roofed houses scattered near the lake, and the hills covered with
foliage, presented a most delightful scene. With the lake itself we were
disappointed, the mountains struck us as being rather uniform and
uninteresting; the shape of the lake also is not so beautiful as that of
either Como or Maggiore, as we afterwards ascertained.
The interior of the town, with its arcades and quaint shops, so
thoroughly Italian, pleased us very much, and we experienced to the full
that delightful sensation of wandering about in a foreign town on a fine
evening just after sunset.
The Hotel du Parc, at which we stayed, was formerly a monastery, and
contains some rather interesting rooms and corridors. Near to this hotel
is a small church thoroughly unnoticeable from the outside; but which
contains three frescoes by Luini, one of which, the Passion, is not only
the masterpiece of the painter, but one of the finest and best preserved
frescoes in existence.
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