Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1879-01-02
EUROPEAN OoRREsPO NDINOE
NORTHERN ITALY.
From 0nr Own Correspondent.

4 NORTHERN ITALY.
From 0nr Own Correspondent.
When we see what we have pro
posed for our last letter, and 90 ovel
mentally the places to be mentioned,
Verona, Florence, Pisa, Genoa, Milan,
Turin, and the beautiful Northern
Italy, we can but instinctively shrink
from the attempt to crowd into one
letter what would receive poor treat.
ment in full halt dozen.
Verona is attractive to the traveller
for two things, the Amphitheatre and
the swindle known as Jnl;et's tomb.
Next to the Coliseum at Rome the
Verona Amphithsatre is the grandes,
work of the ancient Romans which
has come down to IA. But little
inferior in size to the Coliseum, it is
so remarkably well preserved that in
its vast rows of seats which rise one
above another hardly stone ia miss
ing, and it could seat it's audience OF
$4,000 people as comfortably now az
in the unknown time more than 1000
years ago when,it was built. II the
| arena were excavated to it's former
! level, and the dungeons and dens
| cleared out, the Roman project might
again take his place of honor, the Ro.
man audience again crowd in upon
the stone seats, and even the gladi-
etors and wild beasts spring from the
underground passages into the arena
| as in former times.
There is perhaps nothing in the
English language so attractive to
lovers as Shakespeare Romeo and
Juliet" and this is probably the reas-
on WHY travellers who stop at Verona
almost without an exception 90
through large garden to an ordinary
house, and in the wood shed adjoining
gaze in admiration on large stone
horse trough, which, without the
slightest foundation in fact, is called
the Tomb of Juliet. Nothing can be
less romantic, and after one fair view
of the supposed wonder it begins to
dawn upon US that the whole thing is
one of those numerous devices which
are 30 common to get money out of
the uninitlated traveller. 1t does not
require vivid imagination to realize
that the officious attendant who is
ilngling our money in his pocket, is
laughing at us as party of ninDeys
while he smiles 40 blandly on us as
we quickly take our departure.
There is probably no city in Italy
which IS on the whole so pleasing to
travellers and in which so many Gull
tured foreigners live as Florence,
Besides being a city Of palaces and
beautiful drives, it is the birthplace
and home of art. Her many beautiful
churches, her numerous and rich gal.
leries of art and her hundreds Of
studios and artists. make her favor
tie home of literary and cultured
people. The art collections in the
Uffizi and Pitt Palace collections are
themselves the work of weeks to stud V
carefully, and of volumes to Justly
describe. Here IN one room are the
Venus de Medici, the Appolino, the
Wrestlers, the Grinders and the Dare.
ing Faun, collection of the master
pieces of ancient art which can hardly
be equalled anywhere else in the world.
In the church Of st. Lorenzo is the
chapel Of the Medici family said to be
the most extensively constructed
tomb in the world excepting only one
in heather temple IN India. Flor
ence has been the birthplace or home
of many distinguished men, and their
homes are yet pointed out to the
traveller. Among these may be men,
toned Michael Angelo, Dante, Cali
leo, Ghiberti, Machiavelli, and Ameri-
go Vespucci from whom America took
its name. In the English cemetery
lie the remains of Mrs. Browning,
Walter Savage Lander, Theodore
Parker, and many English and Amer.
leans whose names are not so widely
known.
In 1870 prince of one of the ruling
families of India died suddenly in
Florence and his body was burned
just outside the city with all the forms
and ceremonies of the Hindu religion
and magnificent monument erected
on the spot. Not far out of the city
is the tower,
"Where Calico sat at night to take
The vision of the stars"
and the villa where in his old age he
was visited by Milton. With but this
brief and passing mention we must
leave thee, Florence, 1.-THE most beau
tiful city in the world" as more than
one traveller has called thee, but may
we never forget the many pleasant
days we have spent enjoying thy
varied beauty
Every one can remember the pic.
ture of the Leaning Tower of Pisa
which used to be in all the geogra.
plies, and / can we'll remember that I
thought there was something SUPER
natural about it that kept it in this
position right in the very face OF
natures law, and when / climbed its
$50 feet and looked over the side and
saw myself hanging in the air Is feet
outside the base, the supernatural
impression was not in the least re-
moved. At the first glance you can
net get rid of the impression that the
tower has commenced tipping over.
1t ie supposed that after the structure
was commenced one side settled, and
that in finishing IL care was taken to
make the lower side the lighter go
that the centre of gravity of the whole
mass might not fall outside of the
base Calico used this slanting tower
in his experiments in determining the
laws Of gravitation. The Baptistery
of the Cathedral is a circular building
| and is celebrated for its marvelously
beautiful echo. The attendant soun5s
the four notes, do, mi, sol, do, and the
whole dome seems to ell with echoes
and re-echoes, and before they have
died away he repeats the notes. and
the two echo choruses are heard
blending and combining for nearly q
minute. Near this is the Burial
Ground, quaint enclosed structure
remarkable from the fact that after the
loss Of the Holy Land the archbishop
had So ship-loads of earth from Mt.
Calvary conveyed here in order that
the dead might rest in holy ground.
There are many other things of inter-
est in this old, decaying city, but we
| rnuat iaava than and ,.ornc fnrfhor M