lilacky

Updated: May 7, 2025

I remember the solemnity of the subterranean tombs at Perugia; the grisliness of the Beauchamp crypt at Warwick. But these catacombs, emptiness, desolation and that old brown lilacky, crumbly Roman earth, in which no plough need move nor spade, that terriccio, that pot-mould of the past. March 16. Yesterday, in gusty weather, wandered round muddy streets of Rione Monti, and entered some churches.

Vernon Lee - The Spirit of Rome