Knoxville Whig and chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1875-1882, 1875-12-08
LETTER FROM ITALY.
CITY Of FiOrence-Its Treasury of Art.
and ether Points of Interest.


Everybody begins, as we did, by be-
ing disappointed in Florence, and
everybody ends, as we did, by falling
desperately in love with it. The first
impressions of the city are not, as a
general thing, calculated to attach one
to the place, especially If these impress
sions are derived from observations
confined strictly to the city itself. The
streets, as stated in previous letter,
are extremely narrow, generally de-
void of sidewalks, and to thread which
is Mt great risk of being run over by
the carelessly driven vehicles; por-
tions of the city are-not overly clean,
and a great part of it presents a rather
neglected appearance. These condi-
tions remain the same as when then
wrote, but somehow they appear diff
| ferent. We have become accustomed
to the narrowness of the streets, and
have learned to dodge between the
wheels of the passing carriages with
the expertness Of old inhabitants, (by
the way, if you get run over you have
to pay fine of ten francs); the dirti-
ness we have come to look upon
as the common lot OF italian
cities and its offensiveness is
largely diminished by constant contact
with it. While the dilapidated places,
since we have come to know their his
tory, have only the flavor of antiquity
hanging about them. But Florence
has positive beauty in its suburbs,
which 1 had not explored at the time
j last wrote.
| took a drive a few evenings since
along the UiOIe which begins at the
Porta Rimana, and after gradually as
cending in the winding course the ad-
jacent hills finally ends in the Piazzall
Michael Angelo, commanding mag>
nificent view of the city and surround
ing country. The viole is bordered
throughout its course of nearly two
miles by rows of accacias and syca-
mores, and is counted the finest
drive in the South of Europe. 1t is on
these hills surrounding the city that
the beautiful villas are built of which
one hears so much. These are the
winter residences of the wealthy citi-
zens of the northern European coun-
tries as well as Americans, the Russians
coming in for large share. 1t is after
seeing these villas with theil
tastefully laid out gardens, and
contemplating the view from the San
Miniata that one comes to know how
1t received the appellation of "Flor.
ence the beautiful Standing upon
the edge of the Piazzale Michael An
| lnnly tho Nallaxy n
the Arno, stretching its miles of fer
tile soil as far up and down the river
as the eve can reach; beyond the
Fiesole, with all its wealth of eccle-
siastical history, points its summit to.
ward Heaven, the first to catch the
rays OF rising sun, and the last to re-
fleet them, as he sinks behind its
companion, Mount of San Miniata, in
the West. Seen from this point the
city itself appears at its best ITS ir.
regularity and tumbled down aspect
are lost in the distance, and you see
only plain of pointed gable roofs
and turrets, from which arise the
square tower of Palazza Veechie, the
great Duomo, with its mighty dome
and the beautiful campinelle of Clio
tho, looking, as Hawthorne has said
wonderfully like a colossal toy oi
carved ivory. You see all that is en-
chanting, and nothing that is repul.
sive about the place; and If the day
chance to be one of those celestially
bright ones which are so common in
Italy at this season, and the time sun
set, you will no longer be in doubt as
to why the poet, in speaking of the
cities of the South, should say
"The fairest of all is Florence"
Why it is that Florence should form
solitary exception to all the other
italian cities in the matter of its loca-
ton / can not understand. 1t is the
only one that is built in valley; all
the others are situated on eminences
and some among them on hills APP
parently inaccessible. Between Flor
ence and Rome one sees every few
miles an old town, often in utter ruins,
placed upon the side of the rocky
cliffs that so commonly form one bank
of the insignificant streams of the
country. They stand high above the
surrounding plain-barren, desolate-
look, with not even a tree to relieve
the monotony with its green.
ness, or offer q friendly
, shade as. a protection against the
dazzling glare and penetrating heat OF
the summer sun. But 1t was not pro-
| tective against the elements that those
/ old Italians sought when they founded
{ these towns and hamlets it was
, against the eaggressiveness of their owr
/ kind that they wished to secure them
selves, and right well did they do it il
the days anterior to rified cannon anC
needle guns. Nearly all were sur
! rounded by walls, some of which ar,
yet in moderately good state of pre-
! servation. A large number of then
i are deserted now; at least no NANTES
| tations of life were apparent and gene
raj evidences of decay and desertioI
? were everywhere visible.
1 / can not in a single letter, nor il
, any number of letters, do justice t
j Florence as a treasury of art. 1t i
l only after you have been here for
a time and have explored the city fully
/ and examined into its multitudinou
. and multifarious collections, that yo
e can begin to understand its safety c
: richness. The whole city is coturate
r with art productions and art associa