The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-04-05
TRIP BACK FROM VENICE.
MOST BEAUTLFUL SCENERY IS
 VIEWED FROM THE TRAIN.


 Details by an Observing Traveller, of Walk
 About Florence on His Arrival There, the
 Most Beautiful City in Italy-Rare Paint
 ings and Exquisite statuary.
 Dresden, March 19, 1895,
 To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND CoURIER
 Having made our arrangements to
 bid adieu to Venice we arrived in our
 gondola at the railroad station at 10
 a. m., and as we entered the express
 train for Florence I must confess sad
 feeling came over me as I saw the
 churches and palaces Of Venice dwin-
 dle to mere shadows and soon entirely
 disappear behind us. We sped rapidly through country filled with extensive vineyards and very wide plains abound
 ing with mountain peaks, which looked
 like time-battered volcanoes, or whose rugged sides many old towers were dis
 cernable, which added greatly to the
 pioturesqueness of the scenery. At 12
 o'clock we passed through Padna, and
 greatly regretted that we could not re- main over for day or two to visit that interesting city which boasts as its founder, Antenor, that old mythological king of Troy, brother of Priam. After leaving Padna we passed Abano, a
 small town which claims to be the
 birthplace of the historian Livy, be- hind which I saw some lofty volcanic mountains where quartz is extensively mined. We continued our journey, passing through tunnels and over via ducts, enjoying beautiful views of lofty mountains and broad levels, through which cool streams seemed ever gliding towards the Adriatic and the voice of the water as it dashed itself into foam on the black boulders was a sweet and refreshing noise on the hot September day. We passed by the great hill of St. Elena, a beautiful spot, where there is famous health resort possessing a va DOT bath in grotto, the temperature of which is nearly one hundred and twen- ty degrees Fahrenheit Later we passed an ancient castle where there are two leaning towers, which were erected nearly one thousand years ago The district through which we are now travelling is very interesting and his- toric and many of the villages about us ante-date the history of Rome. Ven ice formerly dominated a large part of this section of Italy. At p. m. we came to Bologna, but remained short time, for we had previously visited this very grand old city. Bologna is an ancient city; it was originally an Etruscan settlement, and when Hanni- bal ravaged Italy during the great Punic wars it espoused his cause as against the Romans, and 193 B. c. Bo- logna became a Roman colony. Its great university was originally found ed in the fifth century and became the greatest educational center in the world.
 Students from all parts of Italy as well as from all northern countries thronged it's halls. As long ago as the year 1925 the number of it's students was thirty-five hundred, and in the year 1900 there were ten thousand resi- dent students enrolled as members of this great university. The anatomy of the human form was first taught here in the fourteenth century, and in 17S9 1 Galvanism was discovered here. It is | singular fact that there were former | ly female professors at this university. | As long ago as the fourteenth century lady of distinguished name delivered | lectures in the great hall, and a little | later another lady was professor of | mathematics and physics. The profes- | sorships of anatomy and Greek have | been, within the past century, ably filled with lady professors The cele- brated Mezzofanti, who died in 1849, was librarian at one time of this uni- versity. That remarkable man in his thirtysixth year spoke in eighteen and in his seventy-third year could converse in no less than for ty-two. The two leaning towers of Bo- logna are wonderful in their own way. One was erected in 1109; it is three hun dred and twenty feet high and is four feet out of perpendicular; the other was built dn 1i10; it is one hundred and feet high and ten feet out of it's perpendicular. The beautiful tower of Pisa is one hundred and seventy nine feet high and thirteen feet out of perpendicular, built in 1174. Bologna possesses a fine museum and many in- teresting churches and extensive libra ries. Its gallery of paintings in the academy is world-renowned, and the to be seen in the churches are Ia among the best to be found in Italy. Here are to be seen many works of Ca- racci, Guido Reni, Domenichino, Ra- phael, Titian and others of Italy's great painters.
 The celebrated painting by Raphael 1f "St. Cecilia with four Saints' is one 1f the most beautiful paintings in the world, and it is one of the peculiarly gems of Bologna, and one who 1as ever seen the beautiful paintings n the Oratory of St. Cecilia, erected in sC4 ......, T