St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-03-23
UNDER FAIR ITALIAN SKIES.
Beauty's Bowers Seen and Described
By Resident of st. Paul.
UP AND DOWN THE RIVIERA.
The Carnival Season in HuIlbert's
Kingd0nl---The Metropolis at
Genoa.

lefC Denlnd IN this city OF his dOlnSS.
The one referred to is III. S. Fairchild,
the well-knoWn real estate dealer,
whose departure several months ago on
an extended tour was duly chronicled.
A day or two since his son, Charles G.
Fairchild, received bulky envelope
bearing the postmark of Naples, Italy,
and the following unique superscrip-
ton.
Send this letter swiftly, safely on its way
To the Northwest, where the gentle Billiards
play.
Whose Wondrous growth and beauty lar sur
passes all
Deliver ii to Fairchild, opposite Hotel Ryan.
{For such hotels here Americans are slgh1n)
send it across the ocean, far, far away.
TO that most blest of lands-dear OLD q. S. A.
From the letter inclosed the GLOBE is
permitted to make the following ex-
cerpts, which indicate that so far Mr..
Fairchild's trip has been pleaSurable
one, and that even in the balmy atmos-
phere which induced him to fall into
rhyme, he is constantly made aware by
his surroundings of the superiority OF
his own country:
- x / am not worrying about
my business: giving little thought to it,
hence enjoying myself. This city OF
Genoa is one of the greatest surprises to
me. Of course / knew it had once been
great commercial city, and had figured
largely in the political history OF the
peninsula. l knew also that it had.
FALLEN from its high estate, and there
fore did not expect to find it
SO beautiful or so prosperous.
The evidence of its ancient wealth is
still plainly apparent. 1t is full OF the
palaces of the great mobiles of olden
times, now used for business purposes,
or the homes Of the business or poorer
classes. 1t also has a great number
churches, many of them old and beauti-
full, but still unfinished, and no
likelihood of their ever being COM
pleted. 1inSide the churches are built
almost entirely of marble of various
colors, and abound with beautiful
examples of the sculptor's art. The
most interesting thing to see ia Genoa
is its metropolis.
1T SURPRISES ANYTHING
in the way of a cemetery l had ever
seen. Surrounding the general, Or
common burying ground, is an arcade
almost eight hundred feet on each side.
in the walls and floors of which the
bodies of the weather. classes are in
tered. All these tombS are marked by
Sculptured monuments Of life size, rep
resenting the dead and in many instan-
ceS family group, besides symbolic
figures generally Of great beauty.
These figures are not such as you see
in the United States, wrought by
carvers of common tombStones, but are
works of art. and when arranged thus
Il hi nr
cheap is permitted to intrude, the
whole forms a home for the dead far
more beautiful than anything | have
seen in New York, Paris, Edinburgh or
London.
Genoa has fine shops filled with rich
and tasteful goods. There are many
beautiful homes here, as well as pretty
parks, and, in brief, it is beautiful
city. We visited one of the residences
called the Villa Palavicine, just outside
the city. Its owner has another home
near by, and a palace in Genoa, besides
which he OWNS the Genevalitfe, a mag
niticent villa at Genoa, where the Moor
ish rulers spent their summers. The
villa we visited is indescribably mag
nificent, its grounds embracing valley
and mountain. Its natural charms have
been greatly enhanced by the Judicious
EXPENDITURE OF A FORTUNE.
sHOw much has been spent. upon it /
don't know and cannot guess. The water
supply is brought from the mountains,
passing through rushing streams, muir
muring brooks, waterfalls and lakes;
thus the extensive grOttO, with the
winding halls and chambers, It's in
Vulnerable StalactiteS and stalagmiteS,
some natural and others artificial, must
have cost all immense sum, how much
I'm afraid to guess. l know one thing.
The hours we spent there were most
enjoyable. Fortune still continues to
favor us. We were in London during
the lord mayors show and the riots OF
Nov. 5 to Ii, and reached Paris just at
the time President Grevy and his minis
tiers were forced to resign and President
Sadi-Carnot elected. We reached
Cannes, on the Riviera, at the
HEIGHT OF THE CARNIVAL:
saw it again at Nice, again at Men
tone. Finally, on our arrival at Geneva
we saw her 200, 900 people and as many
more strangers in holiday attire, for it
was carnival week. Let me stop and
explain what the Riviera is. Almost
the whole of the Mediterranean coast
between Marseilles and Geneva is lined
with summer resorts-cities, towns, vii
lagos, homes-all highly improved and
connected by fine drives. This line of
towns and settlements is the Riviera.
Cannes, Nice, Monte Carlo, Mentone
and San Reno are exceptionally beauti-
full ahd are much visited by the aris-
tocraey and wealth OF England, France,
Germany and Russia. Many Of the
visitors, especially the Russians, have
erected villas, which they occupy dur
ing portion of the year. Cannes, with
but 10000 population, has seventy
hotels, most of them larger and finer
than any in st. Paul, save one. ana
about seven hundred villas, nearly all
occupied. Of course these transients
are not included in the 10000 popula-
ton. As is Cannes, so are the other
places. They are cities of hotels and
villas, and neither have nor want COM
merce Oh manufactures.
'..The climate is balmy and tropical
plants and trees are here in profusion.
With the natural scenery, mountain and
vale, the sea and the wealth the popula-
ton of the Riviera are most charmingly
situated"
Describing his visit to Rome and
Naples, Mr.. Fairehild writes: 'Ilaugh
when / think of what we wrote con-
corning the old cathedrals in Ireland,
built some 500 years Or more ago. Now
we look at ruins the most modern pOr-
tons of which were built A. ID. 1909
and 1910, and the remainder before the
birth of Christ, and these cities and vii
lagos were founded 1000 or more years
before the Christian era, being occupied
in turn by Phenicians, Estruscans,
Greeks, Romans, Goths, Vandals, Sara
Gems, and at times by nearly all the
modern nations of Europe.
The contrast between this aud our
rapidly growing and prosperous country
and its cities is very marked. Con-
stantly we see cities that 1000 OF 1900
years ago had populations several hun
dreds of thousands where now there are
only few thousand. AT Baia are the
ruins of temples of Diana, Venus and
Mercury and the villas of the Roman
emperorS. while the valleys and mount
ain sides are filed with the remains of
houses, showing, as we know it to have
been, once an important city with large