Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-05-17
LETTERS FROM ITALY.
The winding upof winters stay Sor-
rento and Capri-The Vatican Library
Assist and Perusia-A Parting visit to
Florence.
FLORENCE, April II, 1891.

To the Free Press:
think reported to you last from the
BAY of Salerno, on whose PERCEPTIONS shores
we spent delightful week. Leaving Amalfi
on the 10th of March we took Il row. boat
for six miles to Prajano, where a carriage
from Sorrento met us and took us to the lat
ter place. The drive, along the shore be
yond Prajsno, past the Isles of the Sirens,
across the high headland of the Peninsula
and down the steep slope to Sorrento, Is even
finer than that from Nietri to Amalf which
believe | told you was the finest drive in
Italy ! thought so, them but we decided,
later, that the views of sea and coast of un
surpassed beauty; the heights even more
towering than those we tired necks and eyes
looking up to, on the former drive; and the
change. from ragged rocks and betting pre-
cipices, to roadsides green with young grass
and gay with daisies and anemones, and
then to rich orange groves through
which the road runs for miles, rs it de-
sends to the Bay of Naples, gave the palm
for wildness, beauty and variety, to the lat
ter of the two drives. When the two be-
come one by the completion of the gap of
unfinished road which now separates them.
the drive from Salerno to Sorrento over the
new road, " will be called the finest one in
Europe
We did Capri from Sorrento. taking a
sail boat, with six stout oarsmen for motive
power, if the wind should go down. The
day was fine and the sail to the island de-
lightful. Capri is rock, five miles long,
which faces the Bay of Naples on one side
and the open sea on the other. with an al
most unbroken line of lofty perpendicular
cliffs, rising into heights from 1900 to
1000 feet above the water. Here the cruel
q. .,s1sfN
100 feet high, from which he
used to force the victims of his
caprice and displeasure to jump into
the sea, still bears the name of "Sdlto dj IL
bcrio' On one of the heights the Emperor
Barbarossa built castle some 500 years
or more ago the walls and tower of which
are still standing. Landing at the single
small port on the island, we took carriage
and drove TO the village of Anacapri, up
road cut, in long zigzag slopes, into the face
of the precpice and rising nearly 1000 feet
from the water. OF course we did not leave
the island without entering the famous
blue Grotto,' which is wonderfully beau
tiful, though we did not find quite such a
blaze of azure glory within as tho descrip
tons and pictures of it lead one to expect.
We drove from Sorrento to Castellsmare,
on whose charming slopes and heights we
spent day or two returning thence to
Naples; and thence, after weeks stay, to
Rome.
Among the best things to be seen in Rome,
which we had left for our last stay (of 0days
in that city, count the great Vatican Ii
brary. This comprises 1870, 900 volumes and
81, 900 manuscripts, many Of them Of price
less value, collected by the Popes, with their
almost boundless resources and opportuni-
ties, during the last thousand years These
are stored in % large rooms which fill a
floor of one of the immense wings Of the
Vatican. The great hall of the library, 240
feet long by 80 wide and 30 high, is one of
the handsomest halls l have ever seen
Elaborate and beautiful frescoes cover the
arched ceilings, side walls and row of cen
trail columns-the latter resting on splen-
did floor of polished marble. In glass cab
inets around the walls are some of the most
precious manuscripts in the world among
| them the famous Codex Natcanus of the
| New Testament, the celebrated palimpsest
| Of Cicero's Republic aud a number Of the
most beautifully illuminated missals and
manuscripts that | have ever seen. In this
| hall, too, are many large and exquisite
vases, of Sevres porcelain, malachite, orien-
tai alabaster, rock crystal and other precious
materials, the gifts of enlperors and SOW
ereigns and statesmen to the Popes. In the
| library is a large collection of Christian
antiquities: ancient pictures exhumed in
Rome and Ostia, and medieval and renais-
sance paintings. There are not many spots
where half day, or half year for that
matter, can be spent with more interest, by
any one who is interested in books, IN the
art of painting, i'll illustrative aud decorative
! art, or in human history, than in the Nati-
can library,
| We came north from Rome, by way of AS
sisi and Perugia quaint old walled cities, on
the tops Of hills, 1000 to 1900 feet above the
valley of the 1iber, over which they look.
In the former we visited the church which
| covers the cradle of the Franciscan order of
Friars This order. you know, was found
ed by st Francis, who was born in Assist
in 1882, of whom Dante says that he ''rose
like sun and illuminated everything with
his rays" The great monastic order which
he founded, possessed, at the height of it,
| power, 14O years ago. no less than 5000 con
vents in various continents, with $50, 600
monks. The general of the order once stood
next in rank to the Pope, or at any rate
| obeyed no orders from any one but the head
of the Roman Catholic church. Now the or.
der is reduced to 10000 members, most OF
whom are in South America Spain and
other Catholic countries. Their rhurche:
and great monastery at Assist were con
fiscated when the order was suppressed, with
other similar orders, by the Italian govern
ment, in 1866 But about 100 of the friars
remain and the church of Santa Maria
degle Angel has been purchased from the
government, and is virtually the property
of the order, though the title is in private
owner One of their number Il soft voiced
and pleasant faced monk who spoke excel
lent English, showed us about the church
pointing out of course, the little stone
chapel built in part by st. Francis with hi,
own hands, and in which he used to hold
service, which stands directly under the
high dome of the church, hut he occu
pied: the cell in which he died-all now within
the walls of the churcn, and the little gar
den of thornless roses in the coster which
still bloom without thorns and with alleged
blood spots on the leaves i'll commemorative
| Of tha nlirac MrOllpht Inv ~ Fran, .is