Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-04-04
ROME.
Sights and "Reminiscences OF the
Eternal City"

Sights and "Reminiscences Of the
Eternal City"
Correspondence of the Chicago Tribune.
ROME, Feb. %, 1884.
The railway train from Genoa
carried me into Rome in the night
time, SO that Iformed no impressions
of the exterior appearance of the
eternal City" until awakening in
its midst next morning. The first inn
preston was one of bewilderment.
l could not comprehend the points
of the compass. The small public
square, called the Spanish Plaza"
was the initial point of observation,
and it was difficult to understand
where all the little, narrow, crooked
steeets which terminate ed there led to.
But broad flight of stone steps,
leading up steep nil, at the top
of which stood church, and in front
of the church a tall Egyptian OBJ
elisk of red granite, gave promise
of
BIRD's-EYE LOOK AT THE CITY.
The labor of the ascent was richly
repaid by the sight brought to view.
After reaching the head of the great
flight of stairs, 100 feet broad and
l2O above the plaza below, the ma
jor part of the City of Rome is in
full view, A mile or more beyond
rose the enormous dome of St. Pc
ter; and, closer by, the small cupo-
las aud bell-towers, of a hundred
other churches stood before the Vi
sion; and all around, for a mile
square, was solid mass of high
houses, apparently without street
between them. Nothing In the
shape of street could be seen, ex-
cept here and there a scareely-per-
ceiyable ''crack betwixt the walls"
Mark Twain does not exagerate
when he calls the streets of Rome
mere cracks betwixt high walls, to
the bottom of which the sunlight
never penetrates. But the Romans
offer in justification that "only dogs
and Americans prefer sunshine to
shade" p
But 1 am not yet at the top of
this high ground-only on the slope.
A beautiful wood, studded on either
side with semi tropical trees, skirts
along the terraces of the hill, adorn-
ed with rostral columns, statutes, and
marble bas-reliefs, interspersed with
expresses and pines, until it reaches
the plateau. am now on top Of
the famous at-..-....s ..--.s
MOUNT PINCIo,
1s6 feet above the level of the Ii
Der. The view is magnificent. The
eternal City"is spread out as
map before the spectator. Beyond
and all round is the wide-spresding
Campagna, through which the II
Der winds from north to south like
a silver thread; and with towering
mountains in the background, their
snowy crests glistening in the sun,
and the low plain to the south melt
ing, in the distance, into the sea, 20
miles away. The objects, however,
stand out more conspicuously than
all others-One, the mighty pile,
surmOunted by its vast dome, St.
Peters; and the other to the enor-
nous tomb of the Emperor Hadrian,
converted into the Fortress of st.
Angelo, and standing close by st.
Peters and the Vatican. From the
top of the hill.
ST. PETERS
is better seen than from any other
point of observation. AT anv near
er or lower view, it is obsedred. in
part, by the surrounding high build
ings, and hidden behind the immen.
sity of its separate parts. When.
close to it, one can only see the
front, with its enormous pillared
portico; but the mighty dome is
wholly out of sight. The long and
lofty sides of the Cathedral can only
be seen from narrow streets by
looking up perpendicularly $50 feet.
But here, from the altitude of the
Pincisn Hill, at the distance Of 3