Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1906-08-14
0RVlETO.
c. c. Parlin Writes About an Old
City of Italy.

| q. Z. Parlin, principal of our high
school, who is making a tour of con-
tinental Europe, has favored US with a
letter on Orvieto, one of Italy's old and
quaint cities. Mr.. Parlin states that
himself and party have been enjoying
good health and have experienced
much pleasure from their trip thus far
Here is the letter, which was mailed
from Rome, and where the party was
just entering upon the sight seeing of
the Eternal city:
Leaving Florence at p. m. on the
fast express for Rome, together with a
college chum whom we joined in Flor
ence, we reached Orvieto about nine
o'clock and stopped over for the night
We wished to check our satchels at the
station but could check only one, for
the other satehel, being telescope"
had no lock. But the satchel that was
locked was accepted, carefully weighed
and the weight recorded. This was not
to determine charges but to furnish
proof in the morning that nothing had
been subtracted from it during the
night. We then struck bargain with
a hotel runner from a hotel patron
lied by the Royal Family of England'9
for room at II francs each go cents),
and went to the station of the cable
tramway, practically an elevator which
goes up an immensely steep ascent to
the little town on top big rock The
regular car left in 80 minutes and the
fare would be six cents each, but by
paying 10 cents each we got a special
car and went up at once. The hotel
runner had a carriage at the top and
drove us through a quaint old town, to
the hotel
"Orvieto is an old Etruscan town,
one of the twelve capitals of the Etrus-
can league; but like all Etruscan towns
it finally fell before the Roman advance
(2S0 B. Co. During Roman times it was
rebuilt as a Roman town, so that the
houses are Roman, but the walls are
Etruscan. During the middle ages,
because of its position perched on a high
rock, it was used as place of refuge
! by the popes in turbulent times
"At the hotel we were surprised and
disappointed to find that the porter
spoke English and at once surmised (as
proved to be the case) that we would be
charged enough for breakfast to COM
pensate for the very moderate charge
for room. We have learned to avoid,
in the interest of economy, all places
where English is spoken"
The next morning we engaged a
carriage at less favorable rate than
usual Zone dollar for three hours); but
considering that no other guests had
| been registered in the past two weeks,
the hotel porter thought it necessary,
no doubt, to do as well as he could
''The sig'r If the town were most
interesting. In the first place there
was the cathedral described by Bae-
deken, as zone of the most magnificent
examples of Italian Gothic architec-
ture." 1t is built in alternate courses
of black and white marble and its front
| facade is entirely covered with mosaic
work, ''the greatest monument in holy
chrome in the world" This mosaic
work is made of tiny bits of colored
glass arranged in geometrical designs
and pictures.
Being made of glass these religious
pictures retain all their original bright
ness and beauty and the effect is charm
ing. The style of this mosaic work is
familiar to those of you readers who
have seen the facade of st. Marks at
Venice, but the Orvieto cathedral
seemed to us more brilliant and more
| beautiful
con the interior, the cathedral APP
pears less lofty than it really is, due to
the alternate courses of black and
white marble of which the columns as
well as the walls are constructed just
as dress with stripes parallel to the
ground appears to lessen the height of
a tall and slender lady The choir
stalls were adorned with beautiful
wood mosaic. Much of the work was
made with little squares of wood about
the size of the end of a shoemaker's
wooden pegs.
zone of the chapels is adorned til
| frescoes which have been pronounced
the best paintings of the fourteenth
century. They were begun by Fra
Angelica, the Florentine monk and
completed by Sigorelli While they do
not have the perfection of the great
masters of the following century they
are noble and a beautiful expression
of the religious feelings of the age.
Near the cathedral is a museum
whose chief attraction is large collec-
ton of Etruscan and Greek vases taken
| from the Etruscan tombs of the vicinity
While the Etruscan civilization pre-
ceded the Roman civilization it was
contemporary with the best age of
Greek civilization and there appears
to have been considerable intercourse
between the Etruscans and the Greeks,
for there are very many Greek vases
found in the Etruscan tombs which
must have been imported aud Etruscan
art, while more crude than the Greek,
shows unmistakably that it has been
| influenced by Greek art.
After driving through some narrow
streets lined with store houses on either
side and peeping into a few alleyways
where children were making mud pies
| flor however much men may differ,
children seem good deal alike every
where) and driving through typical
Italian market, where the women had
the wares in baskets on the pavement
of an open court, we arrived at the Old
Well
This well was one of the most inter
esting curiosities we have met 1t was