Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-09-24
FLORENCE, July 80, 1901


some of the specimens.
FLORENCE, July 30, 1891.
While sat calmly writing the foregoing
pages in Bologna there came a knock al
our door and Mr.. Eckart informed us tha
the crowd was waiting for us in the bus
Hattie K. and had both packed our be-
longiBgs and sat down to write until time
to start, and we both lost track of the
tune. Thanks to the thoughtful care o.
our friends, we reached the station in
plenty of time; came into Florence al
seven that evening. Our hotel (Pension
Giannini, with a lady for manager) is un-
pretentious, but beautifully situated Oh
the south side of the Arno, at the end OF
the bridge, which is next above the Ponte
Ecchio. Our room is a large, pleasant
one, with little balcony. We can look
out and see the arches of the old bridge
where Tito jumped off into the Arno-
and the towers of Santa Croce and Marie
Novella, the dome Of the Cathedral, Giot-
to's famous bell tower, and old Cam
panile, near PalaZzo Vecchio, are in plain
sight from our windows. I've thought
of c. so much of the time-almost
wished she were here in my place so that
Florence might be duly appreciated and
raved over. We walked down the Via de
Bardi--which is Just between our hotel and
the Ponte Vecchio-were in the monas-
al ia =
cell is, and where RomOla's brother used
to be. and have seen many of the streets
and places mentioned in Romola.' |
saw a sign over a shop door to-day, Tito
somebody or other. Wepassed the house
where Dante was born--a tail, grim. mar
row old house sort of Dante air about it
in fact There is so much that is old and
here any number OF ancient
churches, bits of old wall, city gates, etc.
In the church of Santa Croce are the mon
uments Of Galileo and Michael Angelo,
among other lesser lights. There is fine
monument to Dante, too, though he is
not buried there. | believe.
This afternoon we drove out to the
Protestant cemetery and saw the graves
of Mrs. Brownicg, Theodore Parker and
Walter Savage Iando~. That OF Mrs.
Browning has marble sarcophagus rest
ing on eight columns of marble. On one
side is profile medallion in reliet better
than the pictures OF her. The only in
scriptiGn we could see was ''E. b. b.,
Oh. 1861 - The monument ofParker was
a plain Slab with his birth place and dates.
[ believe there is soon to be new monu-
meEt put over his grave. There were
very many graves there, a large number
Of American children are among them.
The flowers were pretty and there were
lots of them, but refrained from picking
them. We were requested not to take
them.
Our drive from four to six O'Clock was
very delightful aud cost thirty cents
apiece. We went four in a carriage--
open carriage with a sort of awning top.
Street cars are scarce in Florence and the
)ther is Il much more pleasant way of
seeing the city. These carriages are al
ways in waiting on the public squares
and corners Of principal streets. They'll
,ake you anywhere within the city limits
for a franc. Our drive also took in the
Did church of San Miniato, on hill over
looking the city and from which we had
A fine panorama. We .lade an imposing
funeral ~ procession--four carriages in
'ow. And while we were out we passed
four people who We're second -cabners
with Us on the "CIty of Paris;'' they
we're diving through Florence, too.
Another strange thing; we have two
Americans-th only ones who take their
meals at table with us--whO were fist
cabin when we came over, and whose
names are Mr.. and Mrs. May. They
haven't said so, but the landlady told us
hey were coming and said that was their
name. They are midde-aged people;
quite pleasant, | should ju ige. The lady
ooks tired --her husband is inclined 10
Oke and make friends with our party,
)ut our accumulated dignity oyercomes
1im, fear. They have been to Berlin,
Dresden, Holland and Venice,
md | Suppose ale going to Rome.
We spent yesterday afternoon in the
Jffizi and Pitt ant galleries and got just
glimpse of the beautiful things, which
are to be seen there. We're going back
O. morrow. | think I'll not try to de-
scribe the pictures until later. We are
grc wing to be highly artistic i'll oHT
maginations, as you will see ny the fol-
owing examples; Miss ID. came suddenly |
lpon Mrs. +. at the the head of the stair
,ase and thought she was marble statute !
y pom getting a side view of my face she |
vas struck by the resemblance to lone of
hese old Madonnas, you know" SO |
I'm likened unto one of Cimabue's Ma |
saw one this morning. s.iit |
Id object which was once carried through |
he streets Of Florence as a triumph of art. !
insist it's that one resemble--and that
,Irs. Z. is like statute of Hercules:
Iattie r. has been compared to one Of
FRA Angelico's Angels; tho Miss =. shes
developing to more marsad degree than
1,a .n2t af ,nl ipc.cf- that ~ * lbn,hn.ls,