The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-06-28
A SAVANNAHIAN ABROAD
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF FLOR
ENCE AND VENICE.

|
ENCE AND VENICE.
The Churches and Works Of Art.
Stories of the Cruelties of the Doges.
Romance and Crime Gathered from
the Traditions of the Venetians-The
Queen of the Adriatic" Sea by
Moonlight.
VENICE, June St It is
now my happy duty and pleasure to write
you again, and to tell you something about
Florence and Venice, two charming cities
of fair Italy. In Florence / spent three
days in sigh seeing. visiting the old pal
aces and picture galleries, and viewing from
surrounding nights the beautiful pano-
ramas of this great home of art. 1 was
very much pleased indeed with the place
IL seemed more like an American city than
any place have visited yet. The English
| language seemed the favored and most
popular tongue, aud of course this alone
made it extremely pleasant and agreeable
GIoTTO's TOWER
The most beautiful thing in Florence is, |
think, the Campanile. or Cloths tower, the
first sight of which fairly took my breath
away, so immeasurably did it surpass in
exquisite gem-like beauty all the descrip-
tlods and pictures | had seen of it. Loaded
as IL is with marvelously delicate and beau
| tltul detail, that does not obtrude itself, the
| mastery of the artist over his work is SO
| perfect that the first thought that rose in
my mind on seeing it, was not--what beau
tltul carvings, what elegant tracery, or,
what clever architect; but, how glo-i-
| ously beautiful, what perfect towerl ana
then turning to my old love for poetry
| recalled to mind those beautiful lines SO de-
scriptive of this fair object:
In the old Tuscan town stands Giotto's tower,
| The city of Florence poisoning in stone;
A vision, delight, and desire,
Inc builders perfect and centennial flower.
| FAMOUS BRONZE DOORS.
Close at hand was the baptistery, the in
terror OF which is gorgeously solemn with
| mosalcs, while the exterior boasts of two
famous bronze doors by Ghiberti, which
Michael Angelo pronounced to be worthy
| OF forming the entrance to paradise. They
are richly ornamented with scenes from
sacred history, and are to-day a marvel of
art and loneliness Next comes the old
cathedral, no less beautiful and imposing
than her close companions, the campanile
| and the baptistery. Memories of Dante,
Giotto and Donatella and Michael Angelo
still cling around its sacred walls Here
Savonarola preached to listening thousands
and here Lorenzo de Medici took refuge on
on the Easter Sunday of 1478 from the con-
spirators, who bad just murdered his
brother. But it is impossible for me to
enumerate all that l have seen. In the
| sacristy of the church of st. Lorenzo saw
the beautiful marble figures of might
and Day" which have ever been the pride
of Florence and the theme of all poets.
From the latter l Gull the following descrip-
| ton:
| Nor then forget the chamber of the dead,
| Where the gigantic shades of Night and Day
| Turned into stone rest everlasting.
| There from age to age
Two ghosts are sitting on their sepulchres.
| That is the Duke Lorenzo. Mark him WELT
| de medltates; his head upon his hand
| What from beneath his helmetlike bonnet
| scowls?
| Is it a face? or but an eyeless skull?
| lis lost in shade, yet like the basilisk,
| 1t fascinates, and is ntolerable'
GRAND OLD CHURCH.
In the Church of St. Croce, built in 1894.
| l stood before the marble monuments of
Calico, Michael Angelo and Dante the two
former of which are buried here. OF the
art galleries it is impossible for me to tell
you-sutice it to say that saw madonnas.
and pictures of the Medici family in guam
tity enough to build a transatlantic
steamer and an ocean to sail it on. Flor
ence was really beautiful and | can end
this brief description in no better way than
quoting from the poet these singularIy ap-
propriate lines:
Wherever our charmed and wandering gaze we
| turn.
Art, history and tradition wait to claim
Our deepest thoughts. Statutes and marble
| groups
Adorn the streets; the very stones have
tongues;
The holy fanes, the towers are eloquent"
VIEW OF VENICE.
Upon leaving Florence we came to Ven
ice where we are now quartered in one of
the large hotels on the grand canal From
the moment that the conductor at the rail-
way station assigned me to a gondola
which would take me to the hotel life in
Venice seemed to be unreal. The browning
sense OF unreallty came when | found the
streets all paved with water, and the op-
presslve, death-like stiffness of the DAYS and
nights is broken only by the ringing of the
church bells, by the ripple of the current,
and the cry of the gondolers. And now in
beginning to write you a description of
Venice l realize that am about to attempt
that task in which so many literary
pens have failed. But 1 shall make an eff
fort, for while l admire the beautiful
Queen of the Adriatic," am not, as most
people frequently are, blinded to all save
the romantic and tho beautiful, aud may,
therefore, succeed in a small degree in my
striving to give you an impression of
| Venice.
WHAT THE GUIDES NEVER TELL.
The people who gush over Venice forget.
l think, that more atrocious cruelties have
been committed within its watery limits. in
the name of the government and the
church, than almost anywhere else on
earth. Every ancient place is connected
with some dark history, tut the guides
never tell these tales, and it is only from
the study of history that one may learn
them. / visited the palace of the doges and
the prison Immediately back of it. The
bridge which connects these Two houses is
the celebrated Bridge of Signs" 1t was
by this way that those who were accused of
crime against the state were hurried into
captivity. The water under this bridge
was black and inky, and it flows out into
the Adriatic sea with a slow and sullen
movement. strongly suggestive of dark
cruel deeds and hidden secrets. In
the prisons | was shown numberess cells.
very dark but clean, and down under the
prison below the surface of the water l saw
some horrible, damp inches. hewed out of
the rock on which the prison is built. Great
. iron doors shut them in. Iron rings were
set into the wall, and in front of these
rings in many places atdepression was worn
in the solid rock, which showed plainly
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