The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1907-03-26
NOTES OF
TRAVEL.
Hon. Norman Fox Writes Of
Interesting Scenes and Incl
dents in Foreign Countries.
ROME NAPLES FLORENCE

Italy Is attractive as winter resort.
Spending the three colder months at
| Naples, Rome and Florence we have
found no seyerer weather than that OF
the milder days Of November and
March at home. We have seen no
snow except on the top of the distant
mountains and the thermometer has
generally stood at about 40 degrees of
! fahrenheit, being down to freezing
point only two or three times. Nor,
though cloudy skies have been fire.
/ quent, have there been many days
rainy enough to keep one in the
house. Though the latitude of Naples
! is that of New York and of Florence.
that of PlattSburg at the Canada line,
the parks here are filled with palm
! trees and in the middle of February
| the lawns were studded with crocuses.
| Another reason why in Italian cities
there are English and American colon
| les large enough to have their own
churches and newspapers and physi-
clans is the moderate expense OF llv-
ing. Prices are higher than they used
to be, especially in Rome, but perfect
| ly satisfactory hotel accommodations
can ordinarily be obtained for two dol
| lars a day, while at a PenSion-that is,
a private boarding house, or in apart
ments hired by the mon4l, one could
| live for half that sum. This with the
wealth of art and the natural beauties
of the country, leads many families to
repair to Italy if they have three or
| four months to spend away from home.
| When | first visited Italy the King
dom had not been long established and
many doubted whether it would en-
dare. Among other things, its paper
money was at a heavy discount, an
English sovereign or French twenty
| franc piece being worth much more
than its face value in Italian liraS.
But this time when | first went to
| this bank | was a little taken aback to
! find that on the French notes | had
with me | must lose something, for
| the Italian currency is now on a specie
basis. There is promised also a reduc-
| tiOn in the heavy taxation which it
has been necessary to impose to meet
the expenses of the new Kingdom. In
short the Italian government is now
on a solid basis.
Speaking of government revenue, a
familiar sign on the streets of Italian
towns gives the somewhat unusual
grouping OF salt and Tobacco"
These articles are national monopoly
being sold only by the government.
Another common sign less pleasant to
read is Banco Lotto " for the gov
eminent runs a lottery to half pay it's
expenses.
Naples is a side hill city and as our
hotel, the Britannique, was we'll up
the mountain, we could have grand
sights without going from home, for
from our balcony we continually be-
held scene which is one of the most
charming in the world. Beyond the
quaint city, stretched out at our feet,
lay that beautiful bay of Naples which
is famed for its lovlineSS. In the front
distance rose the mountainous island
of Capri, while to the left extended the
curving line of the towering ridge
whose most prominent peak iSV eSuviuS
and which goes on to Sorrento. On
the right the picture was framed in
by the islands of Procida and ISchia.
Each evening at sunset the sky would
be glorious with those tintS which are
displayed in their beauty only on the
Italian sky.
The city of Naples has been proven
bal for proyerty and squalor, but since
the visitation Of cholera some twenty
years ago, wide avenues have been cut
through the congested districts, some
twenty million of dollars having been
devoted to sanitation and the doing
away with the wretched quarters OF
the earlier time. There are those who
mourn this wiping out of the "pic-
tureSque but there is a great and
beneticent improvement in general
conditions. Naples is still however
Economically fascinating city and /
have found my greatest entertainment
not in the sights specified in the guide
books but in wandering about aimleSs-
ly or as only fancy dictated among the
narrow, crooked streets, surveying the
peculiar life of the town and almost
! forgetting the twentieth century.
OF course we spent day at Pompeii,
the reSurrected city which in a
fashion almost uncanny brings one face
to face with the life of the ancient
dead. We climbed Nesuvius which is
not so high by some live hundred feet
as it was before its late eruption We
| repeatedly took the charming ride to
old Fnteoli where the Apostle Paul
! landed on his way to Rome and around
which are many attractive remains of
/ the ancient Roman times The sur
/ roundings of Naples are of wondrous
interest
The city of Rome is exhaustless. One
1 feels oppressed by its historic majesty,
its architectural m agni ii c enee, its
! wealth of artistic treasures. There is
lSo much TO see in Rome that one feels
discouraged in attempting to make a
survey Of its glories The city is a
i world in itself.
/ Since | made my first visit to Rome
4 it has largely taken on the style Of a
modern city. Here as in New York
/ there are wide sections built up en-
ttirely Of present day edihces. The
American is somewhat astonished to
i find that one of these ancient cities
which he supposed we're all finished ?
centuries ago may have boom =
and a growth equal to that Of the new
lest and most enterprising OF our vest
ern towns. But Rome, the city Of the
caesars, is also the city Of Victor EN-
manuel, a twentieth century metrop-
oils.
! Rome, which was formerly noted for
| its dreaded fever is now one Of the
healthiest cities OF Europe. Its water
supply is remarkable. London has a
daily supply of thirty gallons per cap
itd of population. In Morristown, il
remember rightly, it is little up
wards of forty gallons But the water