The Republican journal., 1915-02-04
lent Fusina, at the Brenta's month

t'cient Fusina, at the Brenta's month
Following the river inland, by here and
there matched houses of the peasants
in little time, above the vin.-urown,
levels and shining canals, a spacious
building rises before us-a deserted nal.
ace from which princes and glory have
departed. 1t is fronted by row Of
mighty columns, but below them tho
carefully wrought work of the artisan
has fallen away in ruin, and of the noble
stairways which formed the outer an.
proach, one has altogether vanished and
the other has lost its classic balustrade
This palace, one of the masterpieces of
Palladio, was built for two brothers If
the house of Foscari; and the name nv
which it is known" Malcontenta". is
the survival of the dark story of beau
tiful woman who ''loved not wisely but
too well'', and here ate out her heart in
proud retirement. The palace is now
naked and bleak, and on either side are
apartments exactly alike, one set of
rooms for each Foscari brother, with
cross-shaped audience-hall betwe en- for
the common use of both. There are fire.
places of pink marble, and vaulted cell
ings, and in the central hall there are
1ACoSOcu lluScS dIlu al U.s. IudJ regardless
OF their faded beauty look down with
smile or with grave regard at the visit
or whose echoing footsteps disturb their
the gay throngs of vanished centuries.
And in another room, long since vandal-
lied by whitewash, the yellow cover
ing has faxed away just enough to show
a lovely woman in the splendid apparel
of the time of the Venetian glory. She
is painted on the wall, with her foot on
the level of the floor, and gives curious
impression of standing within the room.
A naughty and enigmatical smile is on
her lips, and you like to believe the leg
end of the countryside that this woman.
decked with jewels and apparelled in
satin and lace, is the one whose history
gave the place the name of Malcontenta.
Push aside the shutters from a window
whose loaded glass has long since van
lshed, and you catch your breath at the
lovely view. There are interminable
stretches, crowded thick with luscious
groWth-there, to the northWard rises
the Alpine line crowned with snow; there
IS the lagoon, on whose farther side lies
Venice. with the sun glistening on tow
ers and domes. A red-sailed, black
hulled barge comes slowly up the Brenta,
painted ship on water painted marvel
ously green. and ones mind goes back 70
the glory of the past, and to that time in
the sixteenth century when, with mighty
pomp and circumstance, Henry the third
of France came to this house, accom-
panied from Venice by senators and pa
tricians in barges rowed by slaves. With
stairs and vaultings of solid stone and
roof and floors of tiles, the house defies
the desolation of the centuries. Blu,
there are lichens and MOSES on the walls,
latticed windows are wrecked, and scrolls
and ornaments and carvings are defaced.
Great numbers of statues are still to
be seen on these estates. At many of
the villas the ancient statues were long
since destroyed or carried away, and
empty pedestals alone remain, but
host of figures still stand grouped in gar
dens, or extend along old avenues. Smil-
ing or dancing, posing in statellness, or
goddesses, rymphs and heroes, loves and
graces, marred, broken, yellowed, Itch
ened, they are doing patiently on their
pedestals for the peasants what in old
days they did for the patricians.
Many of the villas have legends and
history clinging about the great rooms.
There are tiny canals running up to pri-
vate landing places, and loggias from
which the procession of boats and horses
was watched by anguid ladies', and from
which the snowy Alps are seen, CLEAN
ing stern and cold above the streaming
plain. One house, not far from Malcon-
tenta, is honored because it stands upon
the site of an earlier one. which was oc-
cupied for time by Dante. One of the
most interesting villas is that of the
ancient family of Foscarino, but as you
approach it, boating up the placid stream,
you see but building of almost common
place appearance, with some shabby
greenery peeplng over the wall behind
it. 1t has changed since the days of the
past, when it was one of the most beau
tiful and charming villas of the Brenta
1t was here that Byron lived for so many
years, ana around this spot cluster many
tales of his love for an imperious peas
ant beauty, a Brenta girl, who was long
an important factor in his life. A little
farther along this great highway be-
tween Venice and Padua, one comes to
the town of Stra, and near this town
stands a palace of great SIZE and cost,
which was built when the Venetian Re
public was near it's fall. 1t was erected
by the family of Pisani, distinguished
for it's doges and generals, and may be
called almost modern, for it was begun
and finished less than two centuries
ago! 1t is a huge palace of over two
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