A Room with a View

Lucy Reunites with Miss Bartlett

George approaches over the tombstones and announces that Miss Bartlett is in the nave, collapsing Lucy’s new perspective on life back into panic. After a brief, sharp exchange in which Lucy defensively insists she is thoroughly happy, she rejoins her cousin Charlotte, leaving the Emersons behind as Santa Croce is praised as a wonderful church.

In Santa Croce with No Baedeker

Lucy Honeychurch awakens in her bright, bare room at the Pension Bertolini in Florence on her first morning there. The room features red tiles, a painted ceiling with pink griffins and blue amorini among musical instruments, and windows overlooking the Arno, hills, trees, and marble churches. Below her window, she observes the vibrant street life: workers on the riverbank, a mysteriously busy boat, and an electric tram packed with Italians who prefer standing to sitting. Soldiers march by with a band, and children try to cling to the back of the tram while the conductor spits at them to make them let go. Lucy becomes absorbed in these “trivialities,” forgetting her intention to study Giotto and the corruption of the Papacy. Miss Bartlett arrives to催促 her to hurry, and a conversation ensues about whether Lucy should venture out alone.

Morning Views and Street Activity in Florence

The morning scene in Florence captivates Lucy entirely. She watches from her window as various characters populate the street below: workers digging on the sandy foreshore of the Arno, an officer leading soldiers with their mangy-fur knapsacks, little boys performing somersaults in time with a band, and white bullocks emerging from an archway. An electric tram rushes underneath, its platforms overflowing with Italians who choose to stand rather than sit inside. The conductor keeps children from hanging on behind by spitting in their faces. The road becomes blocked by both the military procession and the bullocks, but an old man selling button-hooks helps clear the way. Lucy, like many travelers to Italy, finds herself slipping away into the beauty and vitality of ordinary scenes rather than pursuing her cultural studies.

Planning the Visit to Santa Croce

Miss Bartlett insists on accompanying Lucy everywhere, declaring “Of course she would accompany Lucy everywhere.” When Lucy protests, Miss Bartlett concedes she could go alone, but immediately contradicts herself. A clever lady among the pension guests intervenes, suggesting they ignore Mrs. Grundy and that Lucy, being English, will be perfectly safe in Italy. She references Contessa Baroncelli’s daughters who go about alone in sailor-hats and are mistaken for English. When Miss Bartlett remains unconvinced, the clever lady—Miss Lavish—offers to take Lucy to Santa Croce herself, promising to show her “a dear dirty back way” and promising an adventure. Lucy opens her Baedeker to check the location, but Miss Lavish snatches it away, declaring they must “emancipate” Lucy from the guidebook. She explains that Baedeker “does but touch the surface of things” and that the true Italy is found only through “patient observation.” Lucy agrees eagerly, and they set off together, leaving behind “the Cockney Signora and her works.”

Wandering Lost Through Florence

Miss Lavish leads Lucy along the sunny Lung’Arno, commenting on the warmth and the cutting wind in side streets. She points out landmarks—Ponte alle Grazie mentioned by Dante, San Miniato with its story of the crucifix that kissed a murderer. They pass men fishing on the river (though this is “untrue”). Miss Lavish darts through an archway and declares she has found “a true Florentine smell,” explaining that every city has its own scent. Their conversation drifts from art and Italy to more personal matters: Lucy’s Surrey home near Dorking, her father who voted for Mr. Gladstone, the Glass family property of thirty acres, and various aristocratic acquaintances like Sir Harry Otway and old Mrs. Butterworth. As they discuss these suburban matters, Miss Lavish suddenly realizes they have lost their way. The tower of Santa Croce, visible from Lucy’s window, had been their intended destination, but Miss Lavish’s confident declarations about knowing Florence have led them astray. She refuses to let Lucy consult the Baedeker, insisting they will “simply drift” instead. They wander through unremarkable grey-brown streets of the eastern quarter. Lucy glimpses the Square of the Annunziata with its terra-cotta babies, finding them more beautiful than any reproduction could convey, but Miss Lavish shrieks and drags her onward, declaring them “out of their path by at least a mile.” They buy hot chestnut paste from a shop, which tastes of paper, hair oil, and “the great unknown,” then drift into another dusty piazza where an ugly black-and-white facade reveals itself as Santa Croce. The adventure is over.