The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1926-01-21
POPULAR APPEAL
Saves LANDMARK
Ancient Gateway in Pictur-
ecque Perugia Is to Be
Preserved.

and Steamshoyel of modern progress
the news that an ancient gateway in
Perugia, one of Italy's famous hill
towns" has been saved from destruc-
ton through popular appeal is well
come to lovers of antiquity. PERMITS
sion has been granted by the commune
of the town to run electric trans
| through this gateway, near the PalazZo
del Popolo, famous palace, but public
Indignation brought about rescina-
ing Of the permit.
1.-THE city has known one of the
stormiest and bloodiest of histories"
says bulletin from the Washington
headquarters of the National Geograph-
| ic society. High on hill command
ing the River Tiber, Perugia has been
| safe from enemies from without, but
| it has been torn by internal quarrels.
In the decline of Rome no barbarism
mounted its walls, but the plots of its
! nobility and the quick tempers of its
citizens resulted often in teapot tenn
pests that went on until one side or the
other was almost eXterminated.
A City on a Hilltop.
"Perugia is almost midway between
Rome and Florence, although not on
the main line railroad connecting the
two cities. Like Siena and Assist, it's
neighbOrs, it is built in antiQuated
style, partly on top of group of hill
tops and partly on the slopes with fine
views of the Apennines in every direc-
ton. 1t has a picturesqueness of ac-
cident, of irregularity, of rising and
falling ground and of striking COM
binations of light, shade and color.
Everywhere except on the short
spinal ridge the streets are staircases
and toboggan slides. Everywhere one
climbs or burrows. The life of a Peru
gian, it may be truly said, is one of
| ups and downs.
"On the map, Perugia is spread out
like a great stone-scaled dragon on it's
rock, crouching over the country and
extending long paws down the valley
side, Nature furnishes backgrounds of
olive-colored hills and distant noun
tains, while nearly every vista on its
staircase streets is broken and framed
by the graceful stone arches that but
tress the tall houses. The old towers
and donjons have largely disappeared,
| but the atmosphere of the town is mill
tary and despotic. Many houses still
| show traces of the heavy chains that
! barred the streets after nightfall,
| when, if a man forgot his steel under
| shirt, he came home in wooden
| one
"Perugia is really four cities in one.
| There is the ancient Etruscan Peru
| eia, with its walls and stone gate
ways the Roman Perugia, whose ma
| eonry rests on what remained of the
| Etruscan city after the natives had
| set fire to it; the Medieval Perugia of
| the Bagloni, built on the Roman foun-
| dations: and the Renaissance Perugia
of the popcs, reared on the ashes of
| the Baglioni palaces.
TN the strict sense, however, there
is no modern Perugia. The railroad
station is. as in most European cities,
far outside the ancient city walls. Two
street car lines, few automobiles and
some up-to-date shops. clustered around
the tourist center, are the only inroads
| the present has been able to make
There has been no temptation to build
since the Sixteenth century. The
patches added 20 its crumbling ram
parts and houses in the last four hun
dred years have enhanced their nat
ural attractiveness.
"The rich pastoral beauty and re-
| pose of Perugia's surroundings have
| left their mark on the art of the city.
school of painting 1t earned a high
| place in the realms of Italian art dur
| ing the Fifteenth century, when Peru
| gia was the most powerful city in this
part of Italy. The neighborhood of
| Siena and the religious atmosphere of
nearby Assist and Loreto doubtless ex-
ercised an influence on the prevailing
STYLE. which has been described as
lacking dramatic power but being rich
in reverie. Raphael was once a stu
dent of the Perugian master, Pietro
vannucci Today the walls of many
Of Perugia's churches and former pal
aces are alive with examples Of the
work Of the school.
Throwing Pastirne.
SIN the main square by the side of
! the big unfinished Gothic cathedral
the life Of the city once conferred. Here
the gentle Perugians played at one OF
the bloodiest and most dangerous
games in the world--that of hurting
stones at one another until often a doz-
en- were killed and scores wounded. In
times of peace this was the Perugian
equivalent of a baseball game or the
movies.
According to some critics Perugia
has, in the Porta Augusta one of the
finest gates in the world. 1t beetles in
black magnificence above a whole quar-
ter of the town, its base early Roman
the middle sections Romanesque, and
the airy top Renaissance. The whole
is now blackened with dust, decay and
fire. and, while it is not imposing In
the sunlight, its heavy stone and buck
lers, tluted pilasters and massive base
are awe-inspiring in the damp and
gloom, when mist is flying through the
streets. These Umbran cities seem