Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1879-01-02
LANCASTER. WISCONSIN. THURSDAY. JANUARY 1879 WI
WHOLE NO. 1864.

palaces and galleries, it has hone 0,
special Importance to casual visitor
but many which are we'll worthy oil
the attention OF the art critic who has
time at his disposal 1t is associated
IN the American minds chiefly as the
! home OF Columbus, and the traveller il
shown his palace and two etatnes OF
him, one of them very fine. Many
who read this letter will recall the
admirable article on the celebrated
bank of ST George, which appeared
IN one of our leading magazines a few
months ago This was one of the
earliest and most famous banks il
Europe and came near absorbing the
entire Republic of Genoa.
From Genoa q ride OF less than
hundred miles northward brings us to
Milan, the capital of Lombardy, the
second city in Italy in population and
the most prosperous. 1t and Turin
show evidences of being largely mod
ern cities, most OF the streets being
wide and well paved, and many oi
the buildings very fine. Since the
revolution of 1859, no cities in Ital,
have made such rapid improvement.
as these two. The rich plain in which
the city is situated has been soughr
for by French, Austrians and Italians
from time lmmemorial. The battle
fields OF Lodi and Marengo where the
great Napoleon won such signal VIC
tories, and Of Magenta, the miitar,
glory OF Napoleon III are all near eli.
city. While Milan has cared for her
material prosperity she has not neg
lected her opportunities for art and to-
day is vigorous rival OF any city in
Italy in these matters. Milan, the
grand, is noted the world over for her
wonderful cathedral which is the larg.
est and finest gothic church in the
world. It covers an area of about
two and a half acres, and is distin-
guished more for its exterior decora-
tons than for the beauty ofits interior
There are positions from which the
views across the Cathedral disclose
wonderful number Of great pillars
and gives an impression of massive
ness which / do not remember to
have received in any other Cathedral.
The chapel OF st. Borromeo under
Heath the church is rich in work in
silver and in precious stones.
But it is visit to the roof and spire
of this great Cathedral which calls
forth our wonder and admiration. The
roof which is of blocks of solid mar
BILE, is such labyrinth of turrets, but
ments, and elaborate ornaments of
every kind that guides are generally
sent up with the parties to prevent
them from wandering around and los.
ing the way. From the platform OF
the spire the view is probably the flo
est to be had from any church tower
in the world. The broad plain of
Lombardy which lies below us is seen
to be bounded on the north by the
best known of the Alps, and on the
south by the Apprentices. To the ex-
treme east. beyond Turin. the loftv
Mount Gents can be distinguished.
Not the least interesting of all is the
wonderful roof which we look down
upon, with its thousands OF pieces of
statuary, for it is said that when the
decorations are completed there will
be 10000 marble figures. mostly on
the outside of the building, and more
than half OF these are already in place
There is small engine on the roof
for hosting material and houses in
which the workmen cut the marble.
The roof is almost city in itself.
In one of the inferior churches 10
the celebrated Last Supper, by Yer
nando de Venci, one Of the best
known and most admired of the great
paintings of the world. 1t has unfor-
tunately received very bad treatment
and is now very much injured. Prob
ably no finer face of tive Savior has
ever been painted, and yet the great
artist himself said that he was not
able to realize on the fresco his con
csption of the heavenly beauty and
grace OF the conntenance There was
very beautiful copy Of this picture
in tapestry at the Paris Exposition
The Gallery of Victor Emmanuel, a
covered arcade, with shops on each
side, costing more than 81 500, 600, is
the finest building of its kind in Eu-
rope. When its 1000 gas jets are
lighted in the evening it is as bril-.
liant place as one can well imagine.
The La Scala Theater is the second
largest in Europe. The stage, $50
feet 'eep, is alone as large as an or.
dinar tbeater.
When Napoleon /. constructed that
wonderful military road across the
Alps, by the Simplon pass, he pro-
posed to continue it 20 Milan, and ter
inmate it in the cty with a grand tri
umphal arch, and indeed he com
menced the arch, but met his great
reverse of fortune before it was CON-
pleted. 1t has, however, since been
finished and is now one of the many
beautiful ornaments of the city.
A ride of "a miles toward the east
through as fertile and beautiful coun
try as my eyes ever saw, brings us to
Turin, for a time the capital OF the
kingdom Of Italy. On the way our
train stops at Magenta, the scene of
the battle which gave liberty to Italy,
and where the President of the French
Republic, Marshal Mcmahon, at that
time the worlds hero, by his bravery
and strategy won the great victory
and was then created Marshal of
France and Duke of Magenta. A
monument. a few grassy mounds, and
some nearly obscured earthworks are
all that remain to remind us that on
this fertile plain, where we saw wav-
ing corn, vines and fig trees nearly
1900 men laid down their lives on
that bloody day, eighteen years ago.
Even more than Milan is Turin a
modern city, for like most CT the cit
les of northern Italy it has been re
peatedly destroyed by the vicissitudes
of war. For this reason, while it is a
beautiful and prosperous city, it has
bnt little of interest to the traveller
Victor Emmanuel had his home here,
and it was his favorite residence until
his death The Palace, the Armory,
the new Synagogue. and the many
hoocs.c,,l Ar.~oo nh1,,f ta ost., ora al