The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-10-16
VENICE DURING WAR
Practically Closed to Visitors OF
Every Nationality.
The Gondola and the Pigeons Of st.
Marks Square, the city's Two Chief
Characteristics, Threatened
With Destruction.
BY CAMILLE CLAN

international News servicel
Venice.-Of all the threats and per-
lis which the e%xigencies of modern
progress, and the requirements OF
modern life have heaped on Venice
and her unique quaint beauty. those
resulting from wal are practically the
worst, as they threaten to destroy
two Of Venice's chief characteristics,
the gondola and the pigeons Of ST.
Marks square.
Venice saw her last brilliant season
in the spring of 1914. AS to the snm-
mer bathing season, il was hastily in
terrupted at its height by the sudden
outbreak of hostilities. Owing to her
position, to the fact that she possesses
one of the most important military ar
senals Of Italy and that she is the
seat of the maritime defense Of the
Adriatic, the city has since then been
practically closed to visitors of every
nationality.
After Italy's intervention, Venice be-
came a sort of Asiatic forbidden city,
and not even Italians are admitted
without a special permit from the
commander in chief. This permit,
however, is only issued to those who
can prove to the satisfaction of the
inquisitorial authorities that they have
legitimate business to transact within
the city boundaries, and is invariably
temporary. Idlers, curiosity mongers,
and the socalled lovers of the pictur-
esque, are inexorably excluded. AS
to the newspaper men-well, Admiral
Cutinelli regards them as the most
undesirable of all, whether they be
Italians or from the allied countries.
The first result of the stringent
measures adopted by the military au-
thorities concerning the s%ojourn OF
foreigners, was a general closing OF
all large hotels and the Transforming
of the Lido into a sort Of huge sanf
tarium where thousands of conva-
lescing soldiers now bask in the sun
wrapped in long. white tunics and
await the time for returning to the
front ito finish the job With the
hotels scores of curio, lace and other
shops closed to save expenses while
waiting for the return of the good
} times.
But those who have suffered most
, from the absence of visitors are the
thousands of pigeons nesting in the
} buildings and towers of Venice's IA
nous square. 1t is a ~well-known fact
l that the few pounds of Indian corn
. the municipality provides for their
maintenance are anything but sufff-
a cient properly to nourish the poor
s. a.~A,no, a,l tboA - ,nag thn n ria
d! of the tourists which in former years
and at all seasons provided them with
substantial food.
But now, the familiar sight If the
old English lady or the young Amsrf
can misses feeding the pigeons in the
center of the square is no longer Il
be seen and the poor birds vainly clus
ter around the man who stops TO adj
mire this or that facade or the fres
Goes of st. Marks. The corr vendors
known to thousands OF Americans BY
their first name, are there as Uslas
but the purchasers are few. and the
cooling pigeons fly back disappointed.
OF late the pigeons have begun to emf
CRATE to avoid starvation.
AS to the gondolas and the Condo
Tiers, they have suffered terribly from
the war, and their fate resembles much
that of lie pigeons. 1t was the tour
list and the wealthy visitor who pat
ronized the gondolier. and their alb
sence from the city for more than q
year haS compelled scores of gondola
proprietors to go GU of business and
sell their outfit at a sacrifice,
The %gondolier, the thick-set, sun
burned, muscular specimen of human
ity, that sent the gondola Swimming
20 yards over the CLASSY surface al
every stroke of the long oar, has dis
appeared with the mobilization, and is
5 now either at the front or serving on
n of the men-of-war cruising the
Adriatic. Only a few old ones are
left, and the visitor who now crosses
the Grand canal is painfully impressed
by the small number I gondolas in
service.
/ At sunset, when the cupolas, the
u domes and the spires of Venice gilt
il ter under the last rays of the parting
sun the spectacle presented by the
squares is even more saddening. Navy
O officers in immaculate white uniforms
and army officers in gray haze Ions
8 replaced the v%ariegated, fashionable
wealthy crowd that in former years
added to Venice's charm and pictur
esqueness, and tell in unmistakablt
, words the story of Italy at war.
:, Yet Venice is resigned; no one com
plains; every class has sacrificed on
the altar OF patriotism its own prB
vate interests.