The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-22
THE KING AND QUEEN OF ITALY,

Their State and Home Periods-An
 Exceedingly Entertaining Personal
 Sketch of the Life of Humbert and | Margherita. ....-
 The royal family of Italy has inheri-
 ted from the dynastics which once ruled
 over the various sections of the penin-
 sula, more castles, palaces, villas,
 hunting and fishing grounds, forests
 and lakes, mountains and islands than
 they can possibly enjoy, or take care of
 Besides the old paternal estates in Sa-
 yoy and Piedmont, such as Haute- combe, Valdieri, Racconigi, Agile, La | Venaria, Moncalieri and the range of | the Gran Paradise which scars to the
 height of thirteen thousand feet, and l covers one hundred square miles, there | are the ducal palaces in Genoa, Parma, | Modena and Venice, the ex-inperial
 palace in Milan, the park and castle of | Monza, $. Michele in Bosco at Bologna,
 the Pitt and the Boboli in Florence, the
 royal forest of San Rossore, with no end
 of Medicean villas on either side of the
 beautiful Valdarno.
 From the Bourbons of Naples they have received the Palazzo Reale, the
 park and casino of Capodimonte, and
 then Caserta, Gli Astroni, Quisisana,
 the forest of Persano, the palace of
 Palermo, etc. Fancy what it must cost
 to keep these valuable properties in
 proper repair! third of the "Lista Civile," or national endowment of the
 crown, is absorbed by this glorious but | burdensome task.
 King Humbert has done his best to
 get rid of such places as stand lowest in
 the scale of artistic interest. $. Michele
 in Bosco, for instance, has been turned
 into an orthopedic institute; the PalaZ-
 20 Ducale at Modena into the Italian West Point; that of Parma into small l Ter military college; the farm of Bella 1 donna near Rome, and the Villa Mira | fiori in Rome itself, have been sold yet
 what is left in his hands would be l enough to satisfy the wants of all the l European royal households put togeth-
 CT.
 l In the routine life of King Humbert 1 and Queen Margherita there lare two l distinct yearly periods; the state" pe- 1 riod, which is spent in Rome, from the l opening of parliament, about the 18th
 of November, to it's closing by the end
 of June; and the "home' period, which
 is passed mostly in the Villa Reale at
 Monza. The long term of city or official
 life is made lighter to our sovereigns b
 their respective passion for sport and
 for music. The king is very proud of
 his shooting grounds of Castel Porzia-
 no and Cantel Fusano, to which he
 rides or drives about once week.
 These two farms, adjoining each oth- | 11 ,I1 .t
 wall or by wire nettings, cover an area of about thirty thousand acres, and ex-
 tend from the chain of hills of Decimo
 to the seashore. Their oak and pine
 forests are stocked with wild boar, | deer stag and pheasants, while the i downs along the coast afford excellent l sport during the quail season. I think l there is also herd of fifty or sixty 1 American elks, which are allowed to
 live and multiply unmolested. The
 gamekeepers and the other officers live
 near the castle, in a cozy little village, | where there are an infirmary, an at l tending physician, a school, church
 and small convent of Capuchin friars The game shot by the king, and by the gentlemen who are occasionally invited | to take a share in the royal sport, is
 sent, as a rule, to hospitals and charita- | ble institutions.
 l It may be observed that the section of
 this farm now called Torre Paterno was
 once the property of Pliny the Younger,
 who describes it minutely in the 17th epistle of the second book. Excavations
 carried on among the ruins of Pliny's
 Laurentinum by Baron del Nero in I o,,J Inv, JO,;, Cirr;,
 in 1779-S0, led to the discovery of twen-
 ty-six heads and busts, twelve statues, | columns, capitals, bas-reliefs, medals,
 precious marbles and two thousand pounds of lead.
 | King Victor Emmanuel made anoth- | CT search in 1874, and laid bare the fo- rum of the village called Vicus Augus- | tanus Laurentium, which Pliny men, tions as adjoining his estate. In the l center of the square stood the pedestal of statue raised by the villagers to | local benefactor, named Aelius Liberal l is, who is described as postmaster of the harbor of Rome, and superintendent | of the fleet of post-boats, for the official
 correspondence with the provinces be- yond the sea.
 | Queen Margherita's love for music is I a great source of enjoyment, both to | herself and to those whom she privi- 1 leges with an invitation to the court | special performances. Foreigners are l not aware of the fact that Rome is great musical center in the modern. | not in the old Italian sense of the word. l The Royal academy of music, called Di ] Santa Cecilia, stands at the head of the movement, under the direct inspiration of the queen. The four leading orches- | tral performers have organized them selves into "Quartetto della Regina" the queens quartet. This quartet at her special request, played for her every week during the winter of 1895 the com- positions of Beethoven, commencing with the productions of his early youth. and continuing on to his great sympho- nies. Every performance of Sgamba- tis Quintuor or Pinelli's Societa Or chestrale Romano is graced by the l presence of her majesty. Whenever il- | lustrious maestri accept the hospitality of the Royal academy of music and give recital, we are sure to see Queen Mar gherita give the sign of applause from her seat, or from her balcony.
 It was present at the Paderewski con- certs, for instance, and it was evident that the queen was deriving exquisite pleasure from them. She did not try, to he Sr1ro tp obac< ar tO conceal bar Fool