The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-03-27

Austrian war and came near involving san ma
rino in a war with the dual monarchy
Since San Marines streets all run at some
precipitous angle drainage and sewerage Is no
worry. Nature handles that. Few horses are
owned in the republic and in many cases the
family cows have to climb down stalrWays 10
get their daily pasturing.
Both Monaco and San Marine are part OF
the group of Italian republics and prtncipalitles
which maintained their independence until the
middle of last century. The other little nations
were united as Italy, but Monaco and San Ma
rino kept their independence. The little republics
and principalities of northern Italy were noted
for their thrift and industry.
J. C. L. de Sismondi says in "The Italian Re-
publics:"
THE 'navigilo grande' of Milan. which spreads
the clear waters of the Ticino over the finest
parts of Lombardy, was begun in 1879, resumed
in 1857, and terminated a few years artery ards.
Men who meditated, and who applied to the arts
the fruits of their study" p~racticed, he says, that
skillful agriculture of Lombardy and Tuscany
which became a model to other nations"
He says that the cities, surrounded with thick
walls, terraced and guarded by towers, were for
the most part paved with broad hagstones; while
the inhabitants of Paris could not stir out of
their houses without ~plunging into the mud.
Stone bridges of an elegant and bold architecture
were thrown over rivers; aqueducts carried
pure water to the fountains The palace of the
pedestas and signorie united strength with mai
esty. The most admirable of those of Florence,
the Palazzo-V ecchio, was built in 1898. The Log
gia in the same city, the church of Santa Croce,
that of Santa Maria del Fiore, with its dome, so
admired by Michael Angelo, we're begun by the
architect Arnolfo, scholar of Nicolas di Pisa, be-
tween the years 1884 and 1900.
The ~prodigies of the first born of the fine
arts multiplied in Italy; a pure taste, boldness
and grandeur, struck the eye in all public mon
uments, and finally reached even private dwell
ings; while the princes of France, England and
Germany, in building their castles, seemed to
think only of shelter and defense. Sculpture in
marble and bronze soon followed the progress of
architecture; in 1900, Andrea di Pisa, son of the
architect Nicolas, cast the admirable bronze
gates of the Baptistery at Florence; about the
same time, Cimabue and Giotte revived the art
Of painting, Casella music, and Dante gave to
Italy his Divina Commedia,' unequaled in sue
ceeding generations. History was written hon
estly, with scrupulous research, and with grace
full simplicity, by Giovanni VILLAIN, and his
school; the study of morals and philosophy be-
gan; and Italy, ennobled by freedom, enlightened
nations, till then sunk in darkness.
The Republic of Pisa was one of the first to
make known to the world the riches and the
power which a small state might acquire by the
aid of mme and liberty. Pisa had aston
ished the shores of the Mediterranean by the
number of vessels and galleys that sailed under
her flag, by the succor she had given the cru
saders; by the fear she had inspired at Constan-
tinople, and by the conquest of Sardinia and the
Balearic isles. Pisa was the first to introduce
into Tuscany the arts that ennoble wealth; her
dome, her baptistery, her leaning tower, and her
Campo Santo, which the travellers eye en-
braces at one glance, but does not weary OF be-
holding, had been successfully built from the
year 1868 to the end of the twelfth century.
These chefs-d'oeuvre had animated the genius Of
the Pisans; the great architects of the thirteenth
century were, for the most part, pupils Of
Nicholas di Pisa"