Laudator Temporis Acti

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, letter (July 24, 1927; tr. Eric Thomson):

And so after Liverpool the Monster [a term Lampedusa uses for himself] went to Chester, where he spent a delightful day exploring that city, which is so ancient and beautiful that it is a real jewel and which no visitor to England should omit from his itinerary.

Afterwards, Stratford-upon-Avon. What struck him most there was the extraordinary and truly divine enchantment of the countryside, a worthy source of such noble lyrics; in the moonlight he has traversed the woods, along the swollen and yet placid river, expecting at any moment to see lovable elves emerge, joyous sprites like Puck, or adorable huntresses like the deathless Rosalind. He saw nothing of this sort, but silver reflections on the waters, the rustling of squirrels among the leaves, the far-off bleating of sheep; the immortal Shakespearean pastoral was born here and is plain to see. And far out of town, in a hidden nook, he even saw two lovers performing the ultimate rites of love and he was not scandalized, considering how this would have won the benevolent approval of the great William, prone to forgive human weaknesses like all truly exalted and serene spirits. The little town is beautiful too, with many Elizabethan houses, including that New Place, where the poet closed his eyes on the world, whose vision he had transformed. Much peace, much serenity, much light. How different is all that from tragic Ravenna, where his only other kindred spirit was laid to rest. The grave is an ugly affair but moving; the church on the other hand is simply magnificent, Norman, standing proudly on the bank of the gentle river, and with the most agreeable graveyard in front, all in the shade of ancient trees and overgrown with purple wild roses entwining the final crosses.

The Italian, from Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Viaggio in Europa: Epistolario 1925-1930 (Milan: Mondadori, 2006), pp. 77-78 (with editorial notes):

Dopo Liverpool adunque, il Mostro si recò a Chester, dove pasò un giorno in letizia grande percorrendo quella città così graziosamente vetusta e tanto ben collocata, che è un vero gioiello e che nessun visitatore dell'Inghilterra dovrebbe omettere dal proprio itinerario.

Dopo, Stratford-on-Avon. Ciò che lo ha più colpito la è stata la estrema e veramente divina dolcezza del paesaggio, degna fonte di così nobili canti; egli ha percorso sotto la luna i boschi che costeggiano il gonfio e pur placido fiume e si aspettava ad ogni momento di veder sbucare amabili folletti, geni ilari come Puck,⁹ adorabili cacciatrici quale Rosalinda¹⁰ immortale. Nulla di questo vide: ma riflessi d'argento sull'acque, fruscii di scoiattoli fra le fronde, lontani belati di armenti; l'inobliabile pastorale shakespeariana nacque qui e si vede; e lontano dal paese, in un ascoso recesso, vide anche due amanti che compivano gli estremi riti d'amore; né si scandalizzò, pensando quanto questo avrebbe ottenuto la benevola approvazione del grande Guglielmo,¹¹ atto a perdonare le debolezze umane come tutti gli spiriti davvero alti e sereni. Anche il paesetto è belo con molte case elisabettiane fra le quali quella New-Place dove il poeta¹² chiuse gli occhi al mondo la cui visione egli aveva trasformata. Molta pace, molta serenità e molta luce. Come differente tutto ciò dalla tragica Ravenna dove trove pace l'altro e unico spirito fraterno!¹³ La tomba bruttina ma commovente; la chiesa invece nella quale si trova, addirittura magnifica, normanna, fiera sulla riva del mite fiume, e preceduta dal più desiderabile dei camposanti tutto ombreggiato da vecchissimi alberi e invaso da rose selvaggie porporine attorcigliate alle definitive croci.

⁹ Folletto benefico del Midsummer Night's Dream di Shakespeare.
¹⁰ Personaggio shakespeariano: la celeste Rosalinda dalla bianca mano, la bela e la casta, di As You Like It.
¹¹ Il filosofo Guglielmo di Occam.
¹² William Shakespeare.
¹³ Dante Alighieri.

Hat tip: Eric Thomson, who remarks:

The 'great William' of the letter, bizarrely identified by the editor as William of Ockham (footnote 11), is obviously Shakespeare himself. Gulielmi non sunt multiplicandi praeter necessitatem.

It's clear incidentally that Lampedusa is confusing the (demolished) New Place house with the Henley Street birthplace but that's beyond the editor's ken.

There's evidence of the "ultimate rites of love" outdoors in Stratford in 1628:

Item {more} hee sayth that on plimor of assencontlie was noght w^th her a gainst the seston w^ch is the wiffe of on Arter seetens

(He says that one Plimor of Aston Cantlow had sex beside the pond with a woman who is the wife of one Arthur Seetens)

The case was presented to the Churchwardens of Stratford on June 22nd and among those present was Shakespeare's son-in-law, Dr John Hall. See Bridget Cusack, ed., Everyday English 1500-1700: A Reader (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998), pp. 297-301.