Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1870-03-25
EUROPEAN LETTER.
FLORENCE. Feb. 2. 1870.

= Ae16 oW1Lzerlan0. we started at eight Il
: the evening on Oct. 9th, in the midst of
snow storm-a most unusual thing so earl
IN the season-and not encouraging for
journey over the Alps. Still we were dis
inclined to delay and set off merrily.
The snow fell heavily, but not long
and when changed from railway to dill
gence at midnight, the stars were twink
ling brightly in the frosty air, and the
moon was silvering the snow clad land.
scape. We dozed away the small hours as
well as the numbering stage-coach would
allow, and at day-break stopped to break
fast at Brieg. Here commences the ascent
to the Simplon Pass, and as the six horses
toiled slowly up the height, we got out and
walked for the double purpose of warming
our feet and enjoying the scenery, so
bright and sparkling in the early morning
sun. How cold it was you can imagine
when I tell you that at the Hospioe on top
we found the thermometer at 10 degrees.
At certain points stone galleries are
built over the road to protect it from ava
lanches and through these the water has
trickled, and hundreds of huge icicles hung
suspended over Us, glittering like prisma-
tic stalactites. The whole route was wild
and grand and beautiful in the extreme,
and I enjoyed every step of it despite the
cold.
At the top of the pass, which we reached
before noon, is the Hospice, q large,
gloomy looking building, inhabited by a
few monks, who, with their dogs, as at st.
Bernard, devote themselves to succouring
storm-b eset travellers.
A little further, on the southern slope
of the mountain, is the village of Simplon,
where we dined, and from here the descent
is rapid. The Simplon pass is not danger
Gus, as you imagine, except when snow
avalanches threaten IN Winter and Spring.
The three travellers who were frozen to
death On the Alps, just after we crossed,
were victims to their own lmprudence. 1t
was nightfall, they were on foot and the
snow was falling fast. They were warned
at the foo of the pass that 1t was madness
TO go on, but they persisted, and persisted
one after another, the last OF the three
having struggled on to within few hun
bred PAGES of the Hospice. The success
sive changes in climate and vegetation
were very striking. At first We saw only
MOSES, and lechens, or Alpine roses
peeping out of the sun, but soon Ghe pine
and f. trees appeared, then the ash and
oak, then fields of grain and patches of
gardens, until finally the vine, and olive,
and corn gave tokens that we were really
in Italy.
Night drew on apace, but the air
was soft, and clouds of dust replaced
the snow of the night before. At nine we
reached Thesa, on Lake Maggiore, quite
pleased to enjoy the comfortable beds at
the inn. Next morning we took the
steamer for an hour down this beautiful
lake, and thence by rail came to Milan at
noon.
The afternoon we spent there chiefly in
the splendid Cathedral, the most beauti-
full gothic Church in Europe, Except, per-
haps, an old favorite, the Cathedral at
Cologne and there taking the night train
reached Florence the next morning. Our
route that night lay through such interest
ing towns as Panua, Madua and Bologna,
but we could not stop.
Florence is about as large as Baltimore
was fifteen years ago, and is growing rap
idly. No one builds, however, who can
avoid it, for one can buy old palaces for
a fourth of what it would cost to build
them now. We have comfortably furn-
ished apartments overlooking the Piazza
Pitt, and opposite the royal palace, in
which is the famous Pitt Gallery of pic
lures.
We took an excursion three days ago to
Custosa. an old monastery, beautifully
situated on the crest of q hill, about two
miles from the city gates. 1t is a grand
old building and contains some beautiful
chapels and interesting pictures and monu
ments, but the days of it's glory are num-
bered.
Since the passage of the law for the sup
preston of the monasteries in Italy, none
of them can receive any novices, and the
number Of Monks is rapidly dwindGng
there are but twelve at Cutosa. It was
pleasant half days outing for all OF US. but
a walk back in the pace of an 10y North
wind, that made the ears tingle and Gov
cred us with dust, suggested rather the
latitude of Berlin than that Of the city of
eternal flowers.
We hear but little here of the Council
at Rome, and Italians seem to take no in
terest in it; nor do the upper classes, in
fact, in anything that relates to religion.
The nation has awakened to a full sense of
the tyranny of the Roman Church, and
the reaction has been to entire Indifference
to it. In the old families there is still
tradition of Romanism, but as something
traditional and aristocratic. Many men
and women who never enter a chUron
would feel offended at being told they were
not ''good Catholics. Yet religion is the
cher subject of caricuture in all the illus
trated journals, and at the theaters an ac-
GOE LUIS Ou1 ~ SANO ~ sly AAU 1O PAACoSc
priestcraft to bring down the applause of
the house. Many men cry out against the
abuses of the Church, and yet Protestant
ism and reform have no attractions for
them, so they sink into Deism and ration
alism.
We have visited Pisa, quiet and life
less town, but in many a deserted street
are grand palaces, monuments of its days
of glory; and upon the outskirts you come
upon the Cathedral, the Baptistery, the
forums, leaning tower and the Campo
Santo, forming together one of the most
interesting groups of buildings in Italy.
It is unpleasant ascending the tower, tor
its variation from the perpendicular makes
the steps of the spiral stairway very ir-
regular, but from the top is lovely view
of the valley of the Amo, with the Medit-
erranean glimmering on the distant hori-
ION. The morning was little overcast,
but occasional CLEANS of sunshine clothed
A. - hi1Ioi1oc in cold on6