But the fact is
that cold several degrees below the freezing point is by no means
rare in the sub-Alpine and sub-Apennine districts of northern Italy.
And Ravenna is a specially cold place. At Florence, the winter,
though short, is often sharp enough; and the climate of the old
Tuscan city is considered a somewhat severe one for Italy. But the
district which lies to the north-eastward, on the low coast of the
upper part of the stormy Adriatic, is much colder. There is nothing,
neither hill nor forest, between the Friulian Alps and Ravenna, to
prevent the north-eastern winds, bringing with them a Siberian
temperature, from sweeping the low shelterless plain on which the
ancient capital of the Exarchs is situated.
They were so sweeping that plain, and howling fiercely through the
deserted streets of the old city, on the November evening in
question.
Nevertheless there were several persons loitering around the door of
that ancient hostelry, the "Albergo della Spada," in the Via del
Monte, then as now, and for many a generation past, the principal
inn of Ravenna. They were wrapped in huge cloaks, most of them with
hoods to them, which gave the wearers a strange sort of monkish
appearance. And they from time to time blew upon their fingers, in
the intervals of using their mouths for the purpose of grumbling at
the cold.
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