Lucia - Andrea Di Robilant [55]
Alvise later told Lucia that he was surprised by the general’s appearance: he was so small and skinny and dishevelled that at first glance he looked like a boy-man, a strangely magnetic creature, very youthful yet astonishingly self-assured. During that first meeting, Bonaparte was “in an excellent mood” and expressed “the kindest feelings” towards Venice. They went for a walk around the piazza and talked amicably, while the officers nodded eagerly at Bonaparte’s every word, often repeating what he had just said. As the day wore on, however, Bonaparte began to press Alvise for logistical information. He demanded to know why, if Venice was neutral, it had allowed the Austrians to occupy the fortress of Peschiera, a bastion of the Venetian defense system. Alvise reminded him that the Venetian garrison had been forcefully ousted from the fortress by the Austrians, but he made little headway. Bonaparte’s earlier, affable mood turned dark. He became irritable, unpredictable: “In a flash, even the most innocent remark turns him into the most ferocious person if he so much as suspects it contains a hint of opposition to him.”2 Alvise became more cautious, making sure he pulled “all the right strings” during their conversations, so as not to upset “this very conceited man who believes he is superhuman.” Yet for all his guardedness, he was drawn to the excitement surrounding Bonaparte. He kept the Governor’s Palace open day and night. Officers, engineers, food commissars, dispatchers came and went at all hours in an atmosphere of feverish confusion. There was something mesmerising “about these new men, alluring, seductive, teeming with ideas, filled with courage, always on the move, always writing, always singing.”3 He described the French soldiers as “electrified,” a new term made fashionable by the progress of electrostatics.
Lucia did not join Alvise in Brescia. Had she been allowed to decide for herself she probably would have gone. She was intrigued by Alvise’s reports, by his own mixed feelings about the French, and about their charismatic commander-in-chief. She sensed the energy in his letters, and she thought it would do her good to be more active, to participate in the work of her husband. But he had left Venice at such short notice that they had not had time to make plans to move out together, and now the situation seemed so uncertain as to discourage any decision.
Bonaparte did not stay long in Brescia. Alvise organised a banquet in his honour, to which he invited the local nobility. The wine flowed. The mood was festive. The French generals raised a number of toasts to the Venetian Republic. Bonaparte whispered to Alvise that he was going to stay for a few days, even hinting that he might like to spend the night at the Governor’s Palace. But towards midnight he abruptly took leave saying he was returning to his headquarters at the monastery of Saint Euphemia, just outside the city limits. During the night, the bulk of the French forces under the command of General André Masséna lifted camp and moved rapidly north towards the Austrian defence lines. Alvise joined Bonaparte early next morning just as he was leaving town to join his troops. The commander-in-chief assured him he would be back within twenty-four hours, but he did not return. The next day, at the head of his men, he stormed the fortress of Peschiera and crushed the fast-retreating Austrians. Alvise received a dispatch from Bonaparte’s chief of staff, General Louis Alexandre Berthier: “We have defeated the enemy and