The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-08-26
BENEATH ITALIAN SKIES.
MILAN, VENICE. AND FLOR
ENCE To TIfE ETERNAL CITY.
The Gicry or Mnan-The Last supper-ven-
ice and its Memories-Tbroush Forty-nve
Tunueis-Tae Beauties OF Fiorence-Thc
Ncdician Chapel-Trcasurcs OF Art-Rome.
Especial correspondence Of the Dispaicl,.l

going 10 the taincural, OF course, IN the
morning. aud seeing the famous Last Sup
per. Ivy Leonardo da Ninci, in the afternoon,
and later in the day taking opportunity TO
observe how these bright. tne-looking
plcasure-loying Italians dispose Of their Sab
bath evenings. The writer did not go into
the Arena-circitS might indicate the trans
lation, though IL was a round stone StIuc-
turc capable OF seating vast multitude
but some who went reported that there
were horsc-races, chanot-raccs. and the
like; and all OF us had TO see the balloon,
which. in the presence of crowd such rs
/ have never seen before, filling acres OF
the extensive public garden, rose maiesti-
cally into the soft-blue sky just above us.
THE GLORY or MILAN.
The glory of Milan, for tourists at least.
is its cathedral. Eighth wonder OF the
world" the Mianesc call il. Third. IT,
not second, largest cathedral i'm Europe;
largest marble structure in existence"
&C., &C., say the books. have seen no.
thing grander or more beautiful. Espe-
cially did | enjoy the ascent to the top.
rambling over the marble roof looking
down and around at various points, in
speeding the perfect finish OF all the work.
manship, and admuing the tall. thin, grace
fui spires that, like inverted icicles or SYM
metrica stalagmites OF whitest marble. rose
thick all around me. Large numbers do
not generally convey accurate impressions
to the mind, vet one may be startled by the
statement that there are more than four
thousand statues on the outside, filling
every niche and corner and adjoining those
tapering Gothic spires OF which / have
spoken up TO tbeirvery SUBMITS. climbed
up the four hundred and ninety steps re-
quired to gain the dizzy height OF the high.
est tower, and though q mist prevented
full enjoyment OF the promised view OF the
Alps on the one side and the Apprentices on
the other. had in the building itself, so
chaste and beautiful. an ample reward for
the toll OF ascending it. The building, five
hundred feet long and half rs wide, was
begun five hundred years ago, and is not
yet quite completed.
THE LAST SUPPER.
The Last supper, to which referred, is
painted on the wall at one end OF dingy-
looking place that was once the refractory
Tor lunch-room, ignorantly suppose) OF an
old abbey church. Room and picture have
Jared badly in the long years, but the pie
ture is famous, and an old and very COM
mon engraving of it. with Judas upsetting
the salt (Which. by the way, is not in the
original, is one Of the very first pictures OF
any sort that can remember.
/ ought also to mention the grand acade
or gallery Of Victor Emanuel, which. eSpe-
cially when brilliantly lighted at night and
filed with fashionable promenaders, GER
tainly surpasSes any similar structure that
have vet seen. Let us now dismiss
Milan, city Of active life and enterprise,
and one which has pleased me greatly, with
inuffypfEaapf al ion that will nnnbt-
less affect my male and female readers with
very different sentiments towards IL. II is
said that milinerS originated here Gas the
name suggests) when, in the fifteenth GEN.
tury, il and not Paris ruled the world OF
fashion.
VENICE.
From Milan we went to Venice, about
$50 miles. cannot tell OF the noted towns
on the way -Peschiera, one OF the fortresses
OF the famous Quadrllateral," not far from
the battlefield OF Solierino: Verona, splen-
didly located on the Adige, suggesting
Romeo and Juliet. &C.. as we'll as some
Roman worthless, ms Catullus, Nepos, and
Pleny. who were probably born here; and
lastly Padua, founded, according to tradi-
ton, by the brother-in-law OF Prlam, and
famous from the time OF the middle ages
for it, University, with such alumni as Sa-
vonarola, TassO, ArioSto, Fetrarch, and
Calico. Nor could | briefly give fair
idea OF the magnificent country Itself
.'those gardened plains OF Lombardy," as
HOwclls saws, "on which Nature, who
dotes on Italy. and seems but stepmother
to all trans-Alpine lands, has ayished every
gift of beauty and fertility.". The whole
region seemed one vast orchard, mainly OF
mulberry trees for silk-wormS), often with
grape-yines festooned from tree TO tree and
the space between the trees in the highest
state OF cultivation, bearing corn, wheat,
and other crops i'm luXuriant growth. But
ms we progress we find the country grow
Ing yet fiatter. and We cross bridge after
bridge till, with the wide water before W.,
we rush over the grand bridge two and
quarter miles long, and are in Venice.
HISTORICAL PLACES.
OF course everybody knows, or thinks
he knows, all about Venice; "120, 900 in
habitants ~; "bmlt on scventy-two
islands; "a perfectly unique city" :;
Queen Of the Adriatic; rising directly
out OF the sea-; with no Streets"
(which isn't true by a good deal, though
many OF them are only five or six feet
wide,) "but one hundred and fifty canals.
with gondolas for carriages and boats for
conveyance generally" SC. Moreover, the
intelligent everybody" aforesaid will
anticipate you. or me, with references to
the 330-feet-wide Grand Canal, the Rialto,
or famous bridge across II the Palace OF
the Doges; the Bridge OF Signs, connect
ing this palace with the gloomy dungeons
beyond st. Marks Square, where the
pigeons are fed, and all that. Then he may
grow historical, and tell Of the centuries OF
wealth, and power, and proves OF Venice
under the Doges when were built those
numberless palaces that line the banks OF
the Grand canal; or turning TO literature,
he NAV recite the works OF Byron. Shak-
speare. Otway, &c., whose scenes have
been laid here. So you see that while
Venice is Il very wonderful place,
requiring and repaying, as they say,
weeks and months Of study, | need
say but little about it, partly because /
know but little, but mainly because
everybody" Is already so well informed.
We saw the usual sights rode heroically
and as romantically as we could in the
shall whisper itD miserable funereal-
looking old gondolas; listened with pa
tent resignation TO long lectures on the
spot" in marvellous English by local
guide, who took us through each room OF
the wonderful Palace OF the Doges and
down into It's dungeons, and who ex-
pounded TO us the yet more wonderful Ca
thedral OF San Marco and all the other
points Of interest; but to tell the truth, l
could not feel quite happy 10 Venice:
There was too much 10 see and learn and
too little hope OF ever seeing and learning
ii all; and then there was moist, sloppy.
untidv, mouldy. tumble-down, going-to-
decay appearance about things generally
that dampened my spirits considerably. !
bad been reading, too, some high-hown
works Of Ruskin's on the marvellous