for here on a fragment of ruined wall there grow at all times sundry
flowers, even in the ice and snows of winter; wherefore I had the
distich set up where it may be now seen."


I have never seen it, but must search for it next time I go to
Varallo. Torrotti presently says that the country being sterile, the
people are hard pressed for food during two-thirds of the year; hence
they have betaken themselves to commerce and to sundry arts, with
which they overrun the world, returning home but once or twice a
year, with their hands well filled with that which they have
garnered, to sustain and comfort themselves with their families; and
their toil and the gains that they have made redound no little to the
advantage of the states of Milan and Piedmont. He again declares
that they maintain their liberty, neither will they brook the least
infringement thereon. And their neighbours, he continues, as well as
the dwellers in the valley itself, are interested in this; for here,
as in some desert or peaceful wilderness, the noble families of Italy
and neighbouring provinces have been ever prone to harbour in times
of war and trouble.

Then, later, there comes an account of a battle, which I cannot very
well understand, but it seems to have been fought on the 26th of July
1655. The Savoyards were on their way to assist at a siege of Pavia,
and were determined to punish the Valsesians en route; they had come
up from Romagnano to Borgosesia, when the Valsesians attacked them as
they were at dinner, and shot off the finger of a general officer who
was eating an egg; on this the battle became general, and the
Savoyards were caught every way; for the waters of the Sesia had come
down in flood during the night. The Germans of Alagna, Rima, and