Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-10

PITTSBURG DISPATCH.
and luxuriant vegetation, was the marine
of the ancients. Beneath its volcanic
Mount Epomeo lay, like Enceladus under
Elna, the giant Typheus, transfxed by the
thunderbolt of Jupiter, ever moaning, and
occasionally believing, in his awful throes
and pain.
HOMES OF VIRGIL AND TAsso.
Procida. islet of houses in glistepinp
white, of the vine and wine and fishermen.
where, during the festival of st. Michael in
September the women don the olden Greek
costume of red and gold and dance the
tarentella in weird and fantastic orgies, lies
between Ischia and the Neapolitan main-
land of Cape Miseno. Then, Posilipo.
lend of care" where the notorious glutton,
Vedius Polio, built his wondrous epicurean
villa, afterward possessed by Augustus.
But the real shrine here is above Posilipo
among the leafy vineyards OF the heights.
Here in little vaulted chamber hardly Is
feet square another immortal dreamed and
wrote. There the Georges and Eneid were
composed, and here in this old Roman CO.
| lumbarium, is the tomb of the gentle Virgil.
| Thus at the two extremities of the mainland
| headlands of the shining Neapolitan guilt
| lived two of the divinest poets the world has
ever known-Virgil among the vines upon
the heights at the north; Tasso, of later
and sadder hour, among the chestnut groves
and olives of the south; intellectual beacons
of god-like power TO shine with undlmin-
ished flame from the twin headland horns
of this wondrous crescent shore through all
the cycles of recorded time.
So I believe it is more the mythologic,
historic and poetic associations with which
al he hoo Mi fu1 enviroos Of Nc pIoo -
flavor of which cannot but at some time
and in some way be conjured in the fancy
of every traveller of sympathetic and re-
ceptive mind, that have lent such an inde-
fnable charm to Naples itself. Surely it is
a splendid and populous city, housing now
over 500. 900 souls. Forming with its sec
ond circling ridge a double crescent, it pre-
sents from any point Of view, either in the
bay or upon either sweep of shore, most
superb scene to the beholder.
MASSIVE MEDIEVAL PILES.
Its hundreds Of churches are sufficiently
grim, dismal, and the repositories of ample
enough ecclesiastic art to satisfy the hun
griest veneration for all that sort of thing
Its national museum, containing as it now
does the oldest royal collections of antiqui-
ties and paintings, as we'll as the Farnese
collection, the collections once stored in the
palaces of Capodimonte and Portici. and the
impressive excavated treasures of Stabia,
Cum@, Pompeii and Herculaneum, is in
contestibly one of the most valuable and in
teresting the world now possesses. Its ca
thedral on Duomo), a basilica with aisles
OF Gothic vaulting, with trescoes by Gior-
dano and Solimena, and its tombs of Charles
/. of Anjou, Martel and Andreas Kings of
Hungary, of Innocent w., and of Pope In
nocent Kill, is grand and imposing. It's
Royal Palace, Palace Angri, Garibaldi's
residence when dictator, Palace Madaloni,
now housing the Bank of Naples, Palace
Mirandi, containing Ruben's Triumph OF
Beauty" and other great paintings by
Spagnoletto, Guido and Reni, Palace San
tangelo, and the Royal Palaces at the port
side and upon Capodimonte. are each and
all tremendous piles, specimens of every va
riety of architectural magnifcence in en-
bellishment during the past thousand years.
The Castle Nuovo, begun by Charles I. of
Anjou in 1888. Castle dell' Ovo, built by
William 1. and Frederick IL, in the twelfth
century, the castles of Capuano, once the
principal residence of Hoenstaufen Kings,
of Carmine, with its huge, round towers, and
of St. Elmo, now dismantled and used as
military prison, are massive medieval piles,
all glorious in pictures, but each valueless
for modern defense. Its royal theater, San
Carlo, is one of the most magnificent opera
houses in all Italy, and is veritable music
shrine. since the magical numbers of Ros-
sini, Bellini, Mercadante and Donizetti
were first given to the world within its
walls. And its great thoroughlares-the
Toledo, traversing the entire city from bay
to mountain heights above, with the splen-
did streets of the new, or western quarter,
the densely thronged lanes of the old, or
eastern quarter, the Marina, along the east
ern waterside, and the brilliant Riviera di
Chiaja, with its fashionable throngs enjoy
ing the cooling winds from the sea, with all
Naples within the latter's resplendent Villa
Reale at night, repeating the scenes of the
Marina at Palermo-are all unsurpassed for
of picture, variety of incident and
piquancy of colorful ensemble.
A CITY OF CONTRASTS.
Yet Naples itself possesses no one grand
predominating place, thing or characteristic
OF surprising interest. This might perhaps |
be modified by saying it was city OF won-
derful contrasts-of the tremendously rich |
and wofullv poor; OF the oldest and best |
Italian nobility and the most wretched of |
titled adventures; of dazzling beauty and |
most hideous haggishness in women; of |
most learned savants and the most sodden in |
ignorance; of the latest modes in dress, and |
of Tiberius; of frightlul activity and tropi- |
cal siesta; Of deafening din and solemn |
hush; of the shrillest and most ceaseless |
shriekings day and night and meanwhile |
the most sibilant and melodious of tender |
voicings; of content and despair; cruelty and |
loyalty and treachery; |
and, as all Italy physically seems to be in a |
heaven smiling over a |
volcanic hell, of laughing-eyed |
humans with hearts in which the worst of
human passions forever brood, ready at an |
instant's kindling for sedition, rapine and |
murder.
The old Naples of the books, which we |
have all set in such picturesque framing |
from travellers tales and artists Innings, |
has wholly passed away. Among the SIM
pie fishermen of Procida, Ischia and Capri |
you will find none OF the fiery Masaniellos,
like that inspired one who, in 1647, cried, |
''Morte al NAL governo!" and at the head of |
his wild followers wrung something like lib !
erty from the cruel Spanish viceroy. There
were from 30, 900 to 50,U OF these fishermen
and waterside lazzaroni once here. A few
beings in rags are heard to
as their skinny hands are upraised for aims,
and "grazzia!-grazzia!' as they get
them. But the most Of these wretched |
souls vino once made Naples the most |
notorious, dreaded and picturesque, are
now at work on your auueducts, in your
mines, upon your apartment buildings, and
at shining your boots until they reflect the
sun like Tuscan grape, and are tasting the
sweets OF real liberty in our land of toll and
reward. The "slums of Naples" are no
more. Twenty million dollars, furnished
by the Italian government. is being expend-
ID by the municipality of Naples to utterly
,biiterate their former foul breeding places;
ind one-half of the entire Mercato and Por-
% districts, once housing 100000 people,
chiefly of this class, is buing rebuilt along