Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-01-24
IN FLOR ENCE.

4
| IN FLORENCE.
| Nhe CampauiIe From Peusiou
| "indow-The Beauties and the
Horrors of the CIty-PasI and Pres
ent-A Look Toward Rome.
FLORENCE, Jan :.
rothe Editor OF the JOURNAL axD corRlrR:
High up, from window uuder the caves
of the Palazzs corsi in Florence, there In
a view worth telling of.
Across the tiled roofs, less than quar-
ter OF mile away, am confronted, morn
ing, noon and night. by the Duomo, and
the creamy white carvings of the Campa-
| nile
| What wicked waste of time to stop to
sleep. or change dress, or to huddle over
the fire in these days of tramontana wind,
when by simply turning the head, you see
these worlds wonders. The dome of the
| cathedral is cut directly In two by this
Tower Of G.ottO's, showing only its ball
and cross at the top, and to anything less
beautiful 1 should grudge the interruption
of complete view Of Maria del Fiore.
You can't keep etill about this Tower of
| Giotto's, even though 1. is one of the ave
objects in the world, about which Mr..
Howells says, Zone may be silent with dig
| nifty and advantage" Without q knowl-
| edge of technical, architectural terms, it lie
difficult, however, to describe. No doub.
there are bosses and "crocketipgs," and
cusped arches upon its glittering surface;
l only know that those slabs and bars
of the lovely pinky-red Carrsra marble,
those incrustations, those braided chains
of white over black, and the richly wrought
bands, separating the Gothic win
doIs from esch other, the medsllions Of
carved white sgsinss the rosy trisngles,
the fret work in the arches and railings
of the windows, all form shining, celes-
tial vision
Well may the eye be startled and dsz-
zled. whose sole object of daily contempls-
tion In the line Of Caupanile has, before
this, been the smoke bsgrimed brick
chimney of one of our New Haven fac
tories. With few roofs ont of the way.
and good field glass. | could almost see
at the base those bas-reliefs of Luea del
Ia Robbis Giotto and Andrea Pissno,
those "inlsid jewels" which one ought to
study by the hour. Ruskin saya, "of
living Christian work there Is nothing SO
perfect as this Tower Of Giotto's" But
| when he said that our Soldiers monument
hsd not yet reared itself aloft upon East
| Rock. If Ruskin ever should come to
our dear, ruinless, castls-bereft America,
it would be unalloyed bliss to meet him,
just after he had seen "them iron gals. IS
with their srms skimbo, sitting at the
base Of our nice, clean, white shaft. which
pierces the upper air from its proud height
What pity We had not had a Carrars
| near by New Haven, from which TO draw
| the delicstsly tinted marbles; we might
| have had nineteenth century tower.
Not but whst-if We hsd copied this ex-
sctly, there might bavs been a certain in
conRruity in those Romish saints, Peter
the Martyr and Saint Dominic, presiding
over Puritan New Haven. Still they
would doubtless have had a purifying in
tiusnoe over city politics, and they might
have produced a change of heart in tha
board Of public works last spring. Then
there was the Przri conspiracy. II IL fol-
ly to pity Medici, but you mus' give Q
sigh over Guiliono-so young that he had
not yet decided, perhaps, what lsns of vice
&c pursue-coming so innocsltly TO mass
TO be stabbed dead while knseling at the
altar, Lorenzo the Magnificent only Just
saved from the priests dagger, drsgg,d d off
into the sacristy and locked in by friends,
who sucked his wounds for fear Of poi-
son; meantime such swfnl uprosr and ter
ror that the whole ''Daomo seemed falling
In ruins"
All these scenes blend in together when
Ill al.
The Duomo front Is nearly beautiful
rs the Csmpsnile, but rot Tnelloxed by
| time, having been actually finished ONLY
| q few years Ago-
look at that colossal dome and think of
the struggles and rivalries, the inrreEaltiy
and red tape which the indonitsble Bsu
| nellesubi had to fisLt through before LIE
got leave 10 buili t.. way bsck IN 1920
The inside o. The church ia most dIssp
pointing. ''drab vaccuiry," 90 Hoxells
says, yet cclored in ores fancy by al the
| scenes those walls have witnessed You
| think of the macs of human beings, swayed
| as IL one man, h-st by the cleo lsnt rsl-sd
| ings and then by the thuaderinss aud de-
/ nuncistions of the grest FEiar SsvoDarols.
But there Ia more to tee from my win
dow. Rising, far hack of the Duono sre
those gray brown hills and mountains
which encircle Florence, the olives and cy-
/
their veIdureless, orsggy background. By
standing up and twisting about little
| can see romantic, poverty stricken Fie-
| sole nestled in that dip of the mountains
and lower down the top of the Villa CrsE-
ford, where Queen Victoria Is to stay when
| she comes In the spring.
| A little to the left of the dome. almost
| on the horizon line, there rises a murky,
medieval locking fortress, banked up by
solemn oypresses. This CASTILLO has s
threatening, sinister sir; at first / would
have il this should not be other than the
roof under which the beautiful, villsinous
Blanca Cappello distilled those possons
made partly of babies blood. But the
truth sadly hampers ones fancy, now and
| then. The spot where she administered
her delicate dishes to cardinsls, and finally |
| to her spouse and herself, was in quite q
different direction, bsyond the Prato gate. |
Late in the afternoon when the sun has |
| SO far sunk that the western hills shade |
| the Duomo, leaving her and the tower In |
| a quiet repose; then the Tuscan hills be-
fore me are bathed in a reddish purple |
| light, the white villas seem crystsllizsd.
Even the gloomy, fsteful CASTILLO sheds
that guilty look and shows Itself pure
granite.
OF course everyb body knows the past and |
| present tumble themselves together in an |
astounding way in these foreign cities. |
| There is the present of your own little /
trivial needs Some msddsning days will |
come In the irony of European fate when |
Won must give up Michael Angelo and |
Rsphsel and go to dsrning long neglected |
stockings. Absorption In the Old Masters |
must be suspended for unwilling sewing,
unless one wishes 10 become veritsble |
italian "rszszzius."
| But In all your walks, here In Florence,
Won seem chained up to the past Yuu
can't escape If you want to from Its beauty
| and its horrors. Yos go tn order q cab.
perhaps, in the Piazza del Duomo, and and
yourself face to facs with those ''Gates of
Paradise" the Bsptistery doors of Lorenzo
Ghihsrti, You drive In one of those her