Morning journal and courier., 1882-05-27
Cheap Italy.
From ths cornhiu ,r.z.zins ]

Italy remains of all countries in Europe
 the cheapest. Money goes very far there
 when people spend 1t nationally, but En-
 glish families who want to live economi- cally must be very careful not to let it be suspected that they are rich, else they will be heeced with a shamelessness hardly to be credited by those who have not witnessed it. An Italian becomes utterly demoralized when he sees a chance of making money out of simpleton. If he succeeds in one overcharge his only regret will be that he did not ask for more and he will move away grumbling, so that the more you give him the less pleased will hs appear to be. Partly from ignorance, partly from vulgar ostentation, Englishmen and Americans in Italy pay for many things ten or twenty times more than they ought to do. The basket of fruit which the Marchese living sumptuously for slO0 year in the up- per rooms of his ancestral palace may buy for ssldi will be sold for many francs to the Sigpora Brown, who will declareit cheap, reckoning by CoYent Garden prices and the same discriminating lady, in bargaining for apartments, will allow her head to be turned by accounts of the distinguished persons who have inhabited those apartments in old times, and will readily pay three times more than the rooms are worth. People who mean to live in Italy must do business on a very diff ferent plan; they must take pattern by the Italians themselves Most of the Italian gentry, sporting high sounding titles, are not only poor, but miserly. They dress well out of doors, frequent the theatre (which can be done for small cost by taking yearly sub scription and now and then they are to be seen driving about in antiquated barouches; but in their homes they make no show; and they bargain for every article of food they buy till they reach the lowest sum at which the seller will part with his merchandise. If an Englishman wants to make quite sure of not being cheated be had better begin by offering one third of the sum demanded of him for anything, from house to a bunch of grapes. When he has been little time in the country he will discover that even in this way he will be made to pay considerably more than a native It may happen that at first his offers will be refused, as tradesmen will be anxious to prove binI but if he per severes he will quickly acquire the reputation of being sensible man, and will get the fat of the land for its marketable value Rome, Naples, Turin, and Florence should be avoid ed by people with small purses; but there is only an eH5drTdS dc eh0i1 with respect to other cities suitable for settling. There are twenty towns in the peninsula which have fallen from high estate and abound with empty palaces. Genoa. Milan, Venice. Pisa, Ravenna. Terrara, Modena, Parma, Bologna, Siens stand in this case, and the further you go south the more opportunities have you of renting lands, as well as housss on low terms. The country wears a look of ruin. but it is wonderfully fertile; very little capital is needed to work its rich soil, and many of our countrymen who carry their money to America or Australia at great risk of getting no return for it would find a much safer investment in thoSs sunny fields of Italy, where the crops of wheat. grapes and olives never fail The Italian climate, more over, promotes economy, for there is no necessity for taking stimulants there, or for eating meat more than once a day. The ns- lives ace strangely abstenious- 4 cup of chocolate with some pastry in the morning; a dish of meat and vegetables at midday; some fruit and salad, or mAearoni in the evening. will form an Italian noblemAn's bill of fare for the day; and the only extras will be an occasional ice or cup of coffee at the cafe. The social life of the country is most pleasant for you get as much society as you please there without it's costing anything. The Italians do not, like the French, give elaborate breakfasts and dinners The richer among them give musical parties at their own houses, serving ices and coffee to their guests; but the majority meet their friends in the open air promenades, in the cafes, and at the theatre, which Is the chief place for paying visits. Manners free and easy: morals are not perhaps all that they might be but English people at least have no req son to complain that they are received with coldness. They are liked and respected all over the peninsula in proportion as the French and Germans are hated It Is an un- derstood thing that the Englishman is an eccentric and "heretic," {" but he is cred tied with the possession of all the serious qualities which the Italians themselves lack, and his very oddities are supposed to be amusing.