The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-05-02
OUR LETTER
1taly-From Nice to Sicily-Pic-
lures Of the Old Masters
Florence - Strange
BurIals. ~"
20
Twenty in Hand-Rome-Maca
rOni and Cheeee-The Coli.
seum-Leo XIII.-The
Distinguished
Dead,
To NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Pom
peii-Cabmen Lazzaroni and
Fleas-Sicily, Etc, Etc.

10 NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. 1Ou
peii-Cabmen Lazzaroni and
Fleas-Sicily, Etc. Etc.
SICILY, April 1883.
Special correspondence of the MINER.
Thetourist leaving Nice for Sicily
may embark at Geneva in q French
vessel, touching Leghorn and Naples
orhe may 60 by rail to Naples ant
there take the steamer for Palermo
AS this route afforded us an oppor
tunity to revisit Florence and Rome
and remain at will at Naples We
adopted it and left Nice on the even.
ing rapid train and after the exami.
nation of baggage, which is a merely
formal matter, at Ventimiglia, had
all excellent dinner at the new rail-
way station restaurant or buffet, as
railway eating houses are called here.
After this we were whirled along the
the shores of the Mediterranean on q
brilliantly mloonlit night, which art
no where else so beautiful as in Italy;
past Geneva, the birthplace of Col
umbus, at midnight, and by Pisa in
time to catch a glimpse of its won
derful tower in the first gray streaks
of dawn. Here we diverge from the
line leading to Rome and after a few
hours ride up the beautiful valley of
the ArnO We reach Florence, the
birth place of medieval art, in
time for breakfast.
Italy is a vast storehouse of art and
TO the lover thereof, as well as to the
classical student and the antiquarian
it will prove more interesting than
any other part of Europe. TO visit
and we'll see the principal cities,
three months should he devoted and
many stay as long as this in Rome
alone and then leave with regret.
All the large cities had each its
school of art beginning with Flor
enc in the thirteenth century when
the genius of painting .dawned with
fury, reached the meridian of its
fame in the wOndr0us perfection of
Raphael and Michael Angelo.
While the efforts of Clmabue,
Giotto and others of the thirteenth
century, who are now called the old
masters, produced but little that we
car admire the creations of de Vinci,
Titan, Corraggio, Guido REM and q
score of others, with those above
named, in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries stand, as yet, unrivalled to
dclieht the eye and excite the adj
mira.:on. The pictures of these mas
tiers are scattered all over Italy, and
many may likewise be found in the
galleries of France, Germany and
Spain: and a few in England. In
addition to the easel pictures found
in the galleries, the churches every
where in Italy contain frescoes of
greet perfection. and beauty-the
wo.ks OF those great authors. The
Vatican at Rome is famous for its
trescoes by Raphael and Michael
Angelo, who were successfully sum-
mo;ed by the Popes from Florence
to contribute their skill in the adOln- !
lieiit of its walls. The subject of
art in Italy is overwhelming and al
NEST exhaustless. l have spent /!
weeks in the galleries and museums
OF lie principal cities with much sat |
'sfaction and delight, but it were
ustl-ss to attempt any reference to
them in particular. 1 a only as
sure tre reader that his journey over
this classic ground will be attended
with an indescribable interest. Flor
cnce is built OH either side of the Ar
no, and the best hotels are built on
It's banks, and their guests are sere-
iiadcd on beautiful evenings with
guitar and songs. Living is cheap
and good in this city and the wines
Ut Tuscany are the most renowned
OF all Italy, except, perhaps. the
CachIy ma Christa, which is pro-
duced on the slopes of Vesuvius.
Whether Oh account of climate, soil
or culture, L know not, but sven the.
best wines of Italy bear no compari-
son in quality to those of Bordeaux
aud Burgundy in France.
There exists at Florence a society
called MIserecerdia, to which many
OF the nobility as well as of the poorer
class belong. When q member dies
they dress in domino and mask and
carry his body to the cemetery. If
the burial takes place at day their
dress and mask are black /; if at
night these are white and they carry
torches. 1t is a strange and weird
sight 10 observe one of these ghostIv
professions following with solemn
tread Il coffin borne on q pail sur.
ported ty four of their number on
their shoulders. Another street
scene which attracts attention. as
well as perhaps the ridicule of the
NATIVES, is the twenty in hand span
drag" CT an American who has set
Tied here. He has himself strapped
down On the box of his coach and
bandits his twenty gaily equipped
horses with admirable dexterity.
Florence was the home of Hiram
Powers, the famous American sculp-
tor, and two of his son now live here
engaged with success in the same
profession. There are many charm
ing villas in the suburbs, and the
city is highly praised as a winter res
ideNce.
The country between Florence and
Rome being uninteresting we took
the night train and arrived in the
early morning. The stranger enter
ing Rome is struck with the modern
of everything at first
s-el. lie grand depot, the Via Ma
lioAa: and other streets of the Strang- {
ers lusrter, remind one of Paris !
which this quarter much resembles. I
The hotels likewise are of the first
order, and one Of them, the Quirinal,
is n OF the very best on the CONT s
Eent. As there is q great rush of /
strangers to Rome in winter, and 4
during the carnival and !
holidays, il is necessary to
rooms in advance. ANY one /
intending to remain several weeks ]
should take rooms and get their 1
meals at the restaurants, as the hotels, /
quilt expressly for travellers, are +
enormously expensive in the season,
while all excellent dinner may be
iad at the Cafe de Roma at half the f
cost OF u like dinner at Paris. The j
mutton of Italy is almost equal to t
nat of England, and one may feast t
IN macarOni al p0Mid0rO to the p
leart's delight. This being our third d
'isit to the eternal City," we were
pretty well acquainted with the ms p
nd outs-a qualification necessary to G.
he fullest enjoyment of q great city. a
'he weather was as charming as one p
ould wish, and the few days we ST
pept there visiting places that in h
us before, and others that 81