mTe ITALIAN J. O. M'c CRACK AN SWITZER LA N D fJ r \ V — A I THE ITALIAN LAKES WORKS OF W. D. McCRACKAN The Fair Land Tyrol Library i2mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated $200 The Italian Lakes Library i2tno, cloth, gilt top, illustrated $2.00 Romance and Teutonic Switzer- land 2 Vols., i6mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated $3.00 L. C. PAGE & COMPANY New England Building, Boston, Mass. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Lakes of Azure i II. The Making of the Lakes ... 9 III. Pallanza • 17 IV. The Borromean Islands : Isola Bella, isola dei pescatori, isola madre, Isola San Giovanni .... 28 V. Lower Lago Maggiore: Arona, Carlo borromeo, from arona to stresa, Antonio Rosmini - Serbati, from Ba- veno to laveno 40 VI. Upper Lago Maggiore : The Lake of Locarno, Bernardino Luini . . 56 VII. The Three Liberators: Garibaldi, Mazzini, and Cavour. ... 70 VIII. Monte Motterone 80 IX. Riviera and Lago D'Orta ... 89 X. Over the Colma to Varallo : Chestnut Forests, Varallo, Gaudenzio Fer- rari, Sacro Monte, Fobello and Beyond . . . . . . 104 XI. Lake Lugano 123 XII. Monte Generoso 130 XIII. Varese, Lake and City . . . .141 XIV. The City of Como 149 XV. Some Como Celebrities: Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger, Alessan- dro Volta 157 V 270623 Contents CHAFTB* XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. XXV. XXVI. XXVII. XXVIII. XXIX. XXX. XXXI. XXXII. Silkworms and Silk -looms . . .174 The Costume of the Brianza . .180 Up the Lake of Como . . . .184 The Bay of Bellagio: Bellagio, Tre- mezzo, Villa Carlotta, Cadenabbia AND MENAGGIO, VARENNA . . . 198 From Chiavenna to Lecco . . . 222 The Diligence 231 Two Subalpine Scholars: Alessandro Manzoni and Antonio Stoppani . 239 Bergamo 246 Donizetti and the Seven Notes. . 251 Lago D'Iseo and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu 259 Brescia : Arnold of Brescia ; Bayard Sans Peur et Sans Reproche . . 273 Lake Garda — The Western Shore from Desenzano to Riva : Catullus and the Peninsula of Sermione, Salo, the Riviera (Gardone - Gargnano), the Cliffs of Tremosine . . .281 Riva 303 Goethe on Lake Garda. . . .311 The Eastern Shore of Lake Garda and the Tower of San Martino (Sol- ferino) 319 Environs and Excursions . . . 326 Giovanni Segantini (1858-99) . . 333 Index 355 VI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS The Garden of Isola Bella {See page 33) Pallanza A Military Review at Pallanza . A Garden of Pallanza .... Isola Bella In the Gardens of Isola Bella . The Ubiquitous Twin Carabinieri of Italy Dancing on the Quay at Stresa . Surf Caused by the Tr a Montana Wind The Regatta at Stresa . The Harbour of Stresa . The Quarries of Baveno Old Houses in Locarno . Bignasco, Val Maggia Madonna Del Sasso. — San Querico The Market-place of Locarno. — Washerwomen in the Harbour of Locarno . After the Market of Locarno A Stone Barge on Lago Maggiore Picturesque Barn at Campino A Country Festival near Lago Maggiore A Halt in a Village Square Island of San Giulio, Lago D'Orta . The Blessing of the Sheep at Alagna A Gondola - shell at the Como Regatta The Costume of the Brianza A Peasant Woman of Lake Como Nesso, on Lake Como vii PAGE Frontispiece 18 22 26 31 34 44 47 48 5o 52 54 59 60 62 64 66 68 81 82 84 101 117 156 180 186 192 List of Illustrations PAGB Bellagio, on Lake Como 198 The Ducal Barge of Saxe - Meiningen . .212 Donizetti's Seven Notes 256 On Lake Garda 281 At the Fountain in the Village of San To- maso, near nago 288 Lemon Plantations on Lake Garda . . . 294 Isola di Garda (Isola Lecchi). — The Riviera . 298 The Cliffs of Tremosine. — Limone, and the Italian Customs Vessels . . . . . 302 Riva, General View. — Riva, the Harbour . 304 Riva, Hotel Terrace 306 At Riva, Just Before the Ora Begins to Blow 308 From Torbole to Malcesine. — Malcesine . .316 Arco and Its Castle 326 Vlll The Italian Lakes CHAPTER I LAKES OF AZURE The Italian lakes express perennial youth and freshness, joyousness and peace. They partake of the Alps and of the South Sea Islands. They recall Switzerland and Sa- moa. Their mornings sparkle with the glint of glaciers, their noons recall those of Venice or Naples, and their evenings lie hushed under the shadows of great mountains. In their atmosphere there is both the zest of the winter's snow and the warmth of the fruitful summer, and these two combined produce a touch of constant spring. The Italian lakes are bordered by the pick of Italian gardens. Their blue basins catch the drip from the melting snows and are set i The Italian Lakes in a land of pink palaces, of orange and lemon groves, of camellias, azaleas, and rho- dodendron bushes. It is the land of the nightingale in the thicket, the cuckoo in the forest, the lark on the uplands, and the gor- geous lizard in the crevices of the walls. Arboured walks, pergolas of vines, and rare shrubberies lead from parterres to porticos, from grottos to grand terraces. The moun- tainsides of this lake region rejoice in the lilac crocus, early and late, in the primrose, the starry anemone, and the scented violet of the spring, in the lily-of-the-valley, seek- ing the shade, and in the gay narcissus on the grass lands. The forest-trees are of chestnut and walnut, larch and cembra and decora- tive laburnum; and in the heights the alpine flowers, the gentian, the soldanella, the ra- nunculus, the primula, and a galaxy of others cling and cluster about the rocks. With never waning winsomeness the Ital- ian lakes have long been making friends among the people of all nations. Ever since it became the fashion for Englishmen to make the Continental tour, for Germans to indulge in an Italienfahrt, or for Americans to include these lakes in a trip to Europe, they have been established in popular esti- 2 Lakes of Azure mation as representing the very acme of scenic beauty in form and hue. When Bul- wer-Lytton wished to mention an environ- ment in his " Lady of Lyons " which an audience could recognize as a veritable prod- igy of natural loveliness, he described a spot near Lake Como: ■ A deep vale, Shut out by Alpine hills from the rude world, Near a dear lake, margined by fruits of gold And whispering myrtles, glassing softest skies As cloudless, save with rare and roseate shadows, As I would have thy fate." To-day, when some scenic painter desires to produce a drop curtain which shall sum up on a few square yards of canvas all that is most striking and picturesque in scenery and outdoor art, he is very apt to paint a bit of an Italian lake, throw in some mountains for a background, and place an awninged boat in a corner of the foreground. What with satin lakes, velvet slopes, red umbrellas on white roads, and tinted villas on the shore line, the region of the Italian lakes is aglow with colour surprises for travellers from all quarters of the globe, especially for those from the soberer north. The picture these lakes present would seem to have no un- 3 The -Italian Lakes finished or incomplete corners, no crudities needing to be patched up. As they lie, amid their surroundings of peak and plain, they have even been improved upon by man's handiwork. What man could do to empha- size natural beauty has already been largely done through the centuries. Though the Italian lakes bear a certain family likeness, they are strictly individual; each has its special charms, its distinctive beauties, and its own historic or artistic asso- ciations. In private we may have our fa- vourites, but it would be invidious to award the prize of preference publicly. These lakes recall Mazzini plotting for Italian independence, Garibaldi fighting for it, and Cavour organizing the result; Bra- bante building churches and Bernardino Luini and Gaudenzio Ferrari decorating them; Carlo Borromeo travelling about his diocese; the missionary Julius preaching on the shores of Lake Orta; the two Plinies residing on their estates at Como; Volta experimenting with electricity; Thorwald- sen and Canova supplying statues for lake- side villas; Manzoni romancing about the people of Lecco and Stoppani writing of its rocks; Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, 4 Lakes of Azure famed for her letters from Constantinople, taking her ease at Lake Iseo; Virgil, Catul- lus, Claudian, Dante, Goethe, poetizing about Lake Garda; and Ruskin and Sy- monds popularizing the art treasures of many of the towns with discriminating lit- erary touches. Three great railroads have pierced the wall of the Alps and brought the Italian lakes into direct communication with north- ern lands: the Brenner route, the St. Goth- ard, and now the Simplon, to give them in the order of their construction. The Mont Cenis, by reason of its position on the ex- treme west, can hardly be called a direct feeder to the Italian lakes. Each of these railroads is a marvel of industrious ingenu- ity, and, in an ascending scale, their con- structors have each overcome greater engi- neering difficulties and discovered improved methods for boring. The simple facts about the Simplon, for instance, the last of the great tunnels, are sufficiently astounding. It is the longest railroad tunnel in the world, being twelve and a quarter miles long; its cost has been nearly fifteen millions of dol- lars; it has taken six and a half years to con- struct; and the mountain mass above it rises 5 The Italian Lakes to a maximum height of some seven thousand feet. It was inaugurated on May 19, 1906, by King Victor Emmanuel and the President of the Swiss Republic conjointly at Brieg, the Swiss terminus of the tunnel. By contrast with the present method of passing through the Simplon, the following letter from Ruskin to his mother, describing his trip over it, and dated at Domo d'Ossola, May 5, 1869, will prove of interest: "I left Brieg at six exactly — light clouds breaking away into perfect calm of blue. Heavy snow on the Col — about a league, with wreaths in many places higher than the car- riage. Then, white crocus all over the fields, with soldanella and primula farinosa. I walked about three miles up, and seven down, with great contentment, the water- falls being all in rainbows, and one beyond anything I ever yet saw, for it fell in a pillar of spray against shadow behind, and became rainbow altogether. I was just near enough to get the belt broad, and the down part of the arch ; , and the whole fall became orange and violet against deep shade. To-morrow I hope to get news of you all, at Baveno." When the visitor, homeward bound, has taken his last glance for the season from 6 Lakes of Azure such points of vantage as the high-placed railroad stations of Como or Lugano, has ejaculated his final exclamations of delight, as he travels along the shores of Lakes Mag- giore and Orta, or views for the last time on any particular trip the ever memorable expanse of Lake Garda from the defile of Nago, he is sure to confess to a strong desire to return another day and revisit these lakes of azure, lakes of leisure. The grand hotels, equally with the un- pretentious pensions and wayside inns, have opened their hospitable doors. There have been trips by steamboat, possibly moonlight rows and climbs to points of view, certainly strolls through gardens full of grace and charm, and visits to stately villas rich in treasures of art. The country folk by their labour have beautified hillside and plain, terracing and planting the slopes with vine- yards and many-coloured crops. The gay native sense of colour has brightened the landscape, and even the clatter of the wooden sandals on the cobbled ways has been pleas- ant to the ear. And so there is satisfaction for the visitor in knowing that the little return he has made in currency will contribute in some measure 7 The Italian Lakes toward the prosperity of the districts he has traversed; will help increase the stock of this world's goods where it may be small, replenish the bare stone barns, rejuvenate the worn-out fields, cause the orchards to bloom more daintily and bear fuller fruitage — in a word tend to make living less arduous on the tiny patches of land, alongshore or up in the heights, whence the view is so noble. 8 CHAPTER II THE MAKING OF THE LAKES The great subalpine lakes surround the Alps like a necklace of jewels. They lit- erally depend upon and from the mountains, and the threads by which they are attached are silver torrents and glittering streams coursing down from on high. The jewels in this necklace are made iridescent by the play and interplay of sun and season. They re- spond to the action of distant snow masses and glaciers on the march. Of the Italian lakes in particular it may be said that they are great reflectors of the Alps, lying meekly at the feet of the giants and mirroring outline and colour upon their polished faces. From the valleys on the Italian side the Alps are seen to rise to their full stature, for the southern slope is much steeper than the northern one. Hence the views from the Italian lakes region permit a special breadth 9 The Italian Lakes and height and enable one to study moun- tain formations with a certain degree of comprehension. In order to obtain some idea of prevalent theories in regard to the origin of the Alps, and hence of the great water pockets or lake reservoirs at their feet, take your stand upon one of those lesser, but commanding, heights in the Italian lakes region, whence Alps and plain can be swept by the eye, Monte Motterone, Sasso del Ferro, Monte Generoso, or any other of the summits favourably placed for a bird's-eye view. Then start your theory by imagining yourself back in the Permian, Liassic, Juras- sic, or Cretaceous period, when the deep sea is believed to have lain upon the surface of the earth where the Alps now rise, and the very height to which you have climbed was not. Let us now suppose these ages to have disappeared into the dim perspective of the past, and the quiet which brooded upon the face of the waters to have been broken by a total transformation. The earth, in cool- ing, has contracted, the crust has been crum- pled into folds and the raw material of the Alps, the strata out of which the peaks are to be carved, stand up above the sea, up- 10 The Making of the Lakes heaved, not by pressure from below, but from the sides. As soon as these vast arch- ing folds have risen from the bottom of the sea into the clouds, the process of disinte- gration and denudation begins under the influence of heat and cold, wind and water, snow and rain. Rivers form, and wear and tear great chasms, gorges, and valleys down the flanks of the folds on their way to the sea. Presently the once solid mass is no longer intact, but is cut into ridges and ranges, sections and groups. The Alps stand forth as lofty peaks; the rivers deposit their debris and detritus, the refuse of the heights, in all directions, and fill up Central Europe with sand and gravel. The Ice Age follows, and when that period of cold is finally broken, the Alps appear somewhat as we see them to-day, and perhaps some of the lakes, too. But the peaks point skyward and must take the consequences. The disintegrating elemental forces that make for a dead level will not leave them alone. The destructive agencies cut and slash, peck and pinch the giants, nipping off a bit here, tearing down a corner there. No sooner has a creditable outline, a rounded form, or a noble horn ii The Italian Lakes been established, than these destructive agen- cies, like tireless imps, are found at work there with their little hammers, pincers, augers, gimlets, and saws, chipping and dis- figuring the fair mountain faces. They try to alter even the mountain meadows, famil- iar to many generations of men in the valleys below, and seek to tamper with the kindly mountain slopes that have fed the grazing cattle and supported the forests from which to build many thousand cottages and kindle countless fires upon family hearthstones. Still there are compensations and readjust- ments. The denudation of the Alps fer- tilizes the plain, filling it with alluvial deposits. In the case of the plain of Lom- bardy borings indicate that the alluvium is of tremendous, but as yet unknown, depth. But what of the alpine and subalpine lakes? What say modern theories as to their origin? Much study has been devoted to this question of lake formation by conscien- tious natural scientists, among others by Englishmen such as Tyndall, Ramsay, Ball, and Lubbock, by the Italians Gastaldi and De Mortillet, and by the Swiss Desor, Studer, and Favre. According to these in- vestigators, there would seem to be room for 12 The Making of the Lakes considerable difference of opinion in regard to the origin of the great lakes which sur- round the Alps and catch their snow and rain fall, north and south. The lakes doubt- less arose after the worst of the Ice Age was past and coincidentally with the retreat of the glaciers from the plains, back nearer to their mountain fastnesses and snow sources. Some of the smaller alpine lakes have been produced by moraines, or rockfalls, blocking the progress of torrents or rivers down to the valleys and causing the water to back up and rise, until it once more made an outlet for itself. Lakes Orta and Iseo arose in this manner. As for the larger alpine lakes, it was at one time quite generally held in geological circles that their basins had been scooped out wholly by the action of glaciers, rein- forced by rivers. But the great depth of most of the Italian subalpine lakes seems to make this theory unsatisfactory. The bot- toms of some of these lakes descend below the level of the sea, those of Maggiore and Como more than twelve hundred feet below sea-level. It would be difficult to imagine such profound excavations made by ice or water, so far below the normal water level. i3 The Italian Lakes Another explanation has therefore been gain- ing ground more recently, which is based on the supposition that there has been a sub- sidence of the Central Alps since the Ice Age. This subsidence would tend to raise the surrounding country, at least relatively, and the rivers which flowed downward from the Alps would find the lower ends of their valleys seemingly tilted up, as it were, and their waters would be caught in veritable pockets or reservoirs. Thus the lakes, as we see them to-day, would be the result, first of ice and water carving out valleys, and then of subsidence altering the level of the valley floors. There is still, however, the possi- bility that the larger Italian subalpine lakes are the remnants of a sea which once un- doubtedly covered the whole plain of Lom- bardy. The natural tendency has been for the same process which denudes the Alps also to diminish the area of the Italian lakes. Ma- terial has been deposited upon the lake bot- toms by the rivers that drain them. Espe- cially is this filling-in process noticeable at the upper ends of the lakes. Thus Lago Maggiore doubtless once extended as far 14 The Making of the Lakes north as Bellinzona and Lake Como to Chiavenna. The colour of alpine and subalpine lakes has long been a source of special joy and wonder to tourists and travellers, artists and poets. There is considerable variety and wide alternation between the extremes of ultramarine blue and deep green. Every intermediate shade is to be found somewhere, in some alpine or subalpine lake, or in some portion of such a lake. Among the Italian lakes a rich blue, similar to that of the Medi- terranean, predominates, but there is also a great diversity in colour which serves to emphasize the special characteristics of each lake. Above all, the changing conditions of atmosphere, seasons, wind, and rain, and especially of sun, cause a constant play and interplay which largely modify the original, or basic colour and act as secondary influ- ences. It has been popularly supposed that the blueness of water in general is due to the reflection of the blue sky, but actual experi- ments indicate that pure water is naturally blue, and so it would follow that the clearest lakes are also the bluest. The green of cer- tain lakes may be due to minute quantities of vegetable matter in solution, to the shal- i5 The Italian Lakes lowness of water lying over yellowish sand or rock, to the action of storms in stirring up sediment, or even to microscopic algae. Whatever the supposed causes of their changing colours, the Italian lakes them- selves remain ever attractive in a sort of un- expectedly spontaneous way. When we think their beauties have been sufficiently differentiated, arranged, sorted, and classi- fied, and their relative values compared, then a day of unusual conditions makes itself felt and all calculations fail. Criticism can- not thrive in their atmosphere nor unchari- tableness face their kindly loveliness. They are all friends of men and vary only in their special virtues, — they have no faults. 16 CHAPTER III PALLANZA SEEN from Pallanza, Lake Maggiore lies shimmering and smiling southward, down to the lowlands near Arona, and stretches east and west in its most complacent mood and widest expanse to Laveno and Feriolo. In every direction the charm of perfect pro- portion makes itself felt, and though the lake is broad and tends to imitate the gran- deur of the sea, it is kept within the confines of a lake by noble mountains rising clear and sheer to dominate its waters. Sasso del Ferroon the one hand, Monte Motterone on the other, keep watch and ward over the great open space into which the Punta della Castagnola, or peninsula of Pallanza, creeps forward on all fours; while noble ranges with their own peculiar peaks preside over the wayward windings of the lake in its upper reaches, where it is Swiss. By con- trast with the rich beauties of the fore- 17 The Italian Lakes ground there are the great spurs of the Alps, and above all there is the distant majesty of Monte Rosa, set apart as a beacon of light to glow at dawn and twilight, and to shine by day like a luminous fluff of light. Pallanza's noble outlook has won its way into the hearts and fulfilled many aspirations of northern races sighing for the south. Hither have come the Germans, attracted by the periodical longing for a trip to Italy, that Italienfahrt, which every German seems to carry concealed in his innermost nature. Hither, too, the English have come for years, during the spring and autumn, to rejoice in the colour and climax of scenic beauty which this bay presents. Americans are also to be met in increasing numbers all the year round, and in summer the good people of Milan and the other great cities of Northern Italy come into their very own and take possession. Then it is that they have their excursions, their music and sing- ing, their rowing parties and regattas on the lake, lying calm and dormant under the mid- summer sun or touched into liquid gold by the full-orbed, radiant, and expansive Ital- ian moon. There is a pleasant quay at Pallanza 18 Pallanza planted with magnolia-trees and a tiny pub- lic park jutting out into the lake, whence the view reaches over to the Borromean Islands, to Stresa, Baveno, and their mountain back- grounds. Lago Maggiore is here so wide that one might almost be somewhere in mid- ocean, on an island group of the southern seas, topped by volcanic peaks. Rowboats in plenty wait at the foot of the hotel gar- dens and beside the walled terraces, to take parties up and down and over across the lake. The boats are gay with awnings, flags, and coloured cushions, and the boatmen are warranted to sing " Santa Lucia," etc., as often as requested, and even oftener, both coming and going. They enjoy some ban- tering among themselves and a little fun is poked at the world in general, as the flotilla of boats moves off amid exclamations of delight. There is some racing to get off first, the oars splash, there are shouts and challenges, and presently all the little flags flap joyously in unison from the sterns, as the boats line off for the trip to the islands across the lake. After they have gone, the brave brown boatmen (battellieri) who have been left behind and have not been hired this time, settle down once more on the stone 19 The Italian Lakes parapets of the lakeside to make the best of the situation, to sleep and take their well- earned rest until the next flock of tourists shall call for their services, — and for a time we hear only the pleasant murmur of the little waves as they beat lazily against the lake wall. But should a storm break over the lake, darkness will blot out the further shores be- hind a black curtain of advancing rain and cloud. There will be a general scurrying for shelter all along the line. The little boats that remain are then carefully moored and fastened for the ordeal. White spots suddenly appear on the water in front of the black curtain, and a strange white line is traced clear across the bay, where cloud and water meet. A big black barge is seen racing before the storm with bellying square sail, trailing a huge rudder manned by a pic- turesque lake-man. Havoc seems to lurk in the air and ominous forebodings visit the gay flotillas, but behold, while we look, the black curtain has passed, the sun shines, the water sparkles blue and merry, and laughter rings out from garden and copse once more. The camellias shed their drops of rain; the birds chirp and chatter as before from the 20 Pallanza magnolia-trees and the thickets of rhodo- dendron, — and the lake has dried its tears. Greatly as the natural beauty of Pallanza is beloved by tourists, still it has a public life which is interesting for its own sake. The steamboat-landing forms a special cen- tre of activity, and close by rises the town hall, the Palazzo degli Uffici, the seat of the municipality and sub-prefecture. It is a large building standing upon arches that form a convenient and characteristic Italian arcade and afford shelter alike from sun and rain. Here a small perennial market has its seat which overflows into the open square on certain days of the week. Hither come the townspeople with their kitchen baskets, and the foreign visitors to pry among the curios kept for sale, both ancient and modern. Here also a few porters have their rendezvous and lounging-place, whence they may issue forth at the call of duty, and in the meantime take a comprehensive view of all that is going on by land and water. The sloping shore of Pallanza is paved for a long distance with flagstones, which give the place an air of neatness and good repair. Young girls go to the lake for water, carrying ancient copper vessels of a 21 The Italian Lakes form more or less classic. The family wash- ing is done at almost any convenient point along the paved slope. The women gather their skirts about them and kneel down upon peculiar little stools, or inside of boxes, that stand in the water and have boards in front of them. Then the soaping and pounding and chatting begins and the air resounds with news or no news, as the case may be. The beautiful tower which overtops Pal- lanza is one of the finest of the many splen- did stone campanili which are to be found in the lake region. In the square stands a statue of Carlo Cordona, a native of Pal- lanza who played an important part during the period of Italian reconstruction, the great risorgimento. Indeed for so small a place Pallanza has an unexpectedly long history. Should the traveller be present on the holiday of the Statuto, a chance will be afforded of seeing a military review of the local garrison. In a learned work by Agostino Viani, en- titled " Pallanza Antica e Pallanza Nuova," the author gives good reasons for believing that Pallanza was founded by Celts several centuries before the Christian era and de- rives its name from the word " palanz," 22 Pallanza meaning a place of popular assembly, and referring to the summit of the present Punta della Castagnola. When Drusus and Tibe- rius conquered the races in the Eastern Alps, Pallanza was incorporated into the Pro- vincia Claudiana. On the little island of San Giovanni, just offshore from the Punta della Castagnola, there arose a Roman cas- tellum, which in A. D. 886, along with Pal- lanza, was granted to the Bishop of Vercelli by the Emperor Charlemagne. After vary- ing fortunes this whole property was ceded in 1 152 by the Emperor Barbarossa to the nobles De Castello, the main branch of this family being called Barbavara. These no- bles later erected a castle on the mainland, leaving their island fortress to decay. The power of the Barbavara family was broken in 1270, and the citizens of Pallanza entered into a measure of comparative self-govern- ment. In 1392 we find Pallanza forming part of the Duchy of Milan, and possessing statutes of its own, which, however, had to be approved by the ducal family of the Visconti in Milan. The rule of the Visconti was succeeded by that of the Sforza family, but Pallanza in 1467 paid 2,200 imperial lire and retained its measure of freedom 23 The Italian Lakes from the feudal yoke. The Sforza family becoming extinct, the Duchy of Milan was inherited by Emperor Charles V., and Pal- lanza became Spanish. There ensued an era of considerable local development. In 1520 the foundation was laid for the tall cam- panile, which was not finished, however, until 1689, after designs by Pellegrini. The markets and fairs of Pallanza gave it increas- ing wealth and importance. Unfortunately, its exceptional political position also excited constant wonderment and invited envy. In 1621 the citizens of Pallanza had to pay another twenty-three thousand imperial lire in order to retain their freedom from feudal control, but they likewise received at this time a perpetual guarantee of this immunity which was confirmed to them by Philip IV., King of Spain. Finally the Spanish dominion passed away in its turn, and in 1743, at the treaty of Worms, Pallanza was incorporated into the kingdom of Sardinia and Savoy, Carlo Emanuele III. reigning, and became the capital of a province. In 1824 the first steamboat made its ap- pearance on the lake. It was called the Verbano after the Latin name of Lago Mag- 24 Pallanza giore. It made a regular trip up the lake one day and descended the next, resting on Sundays. There have been several agricultural, in- dustrial, and horticultural exhibitions at Pal- lanza, which have added to the name and fame of this place as both a beautiful and also an active centre of subalpine life. Pallanza is so well protected from the winds of winter, that its southern exposure grants it special favours in the way of trop- ical and exotic vegetation. Whichever way the visitor turns, this special bounty is made manifest, — and in the very sight of the ever- lasting snows. The water-front presents a succession of garden-girt villas and far- famed nursery-gardens, of which the place is justly proud, one more exquisite than the other, each displaying its own particular charms and treasures. The Punta della Castagnola bea!rs on its back the fine hotels which care so completely for the many vis- itors, and the road to Intra and beyond pre- sents an unbroken series of pictures, in which one admires by turns the water, the sky, the flowers, and the painstaking handiwork of man in bringing the rocky water-front into subjection. 2 5 The Italian Lakes Out on the white highway some one is •walking under a large red umbrella; there is the tinkle of horses bells; a tiny donkey picking its way with dainty steps and bowed head draws an enormous funnel-shaped cart on two wheels. When we look nearer a man is seen inside sleeping under the awn- ing. The gardens of the hotels, of the villas, and of the nurserymen are redolent with the scent of delicious blossoms and brilliant with unusual hedges and bushes. Rare fir-trees and evergreens cast dark 7 green shadows among the fresh branches. Drooping wil- lows lean from the banks over the water and form cosy corners where a boat may be moored curtained off from the vivid glare. Surely nothing could exceed the wealth of colour, the fragrance of the hour, the nobility of curve and line, the tranquillity of the fair prospect — and we are thankful. Among all the gardens of this district which are open to visitors it is difficult to pick out favourites, for each has its par- ticular perfection. It is only possible to specialize a little. Thus Rovelli's famous nursery-garden is a typical collection of trees and flowers, a veritable botanical estab- lishment. The Villa Franzosini gardens near 26 1 •, -^ ^ I^^^B K _J " I Pallanza Intra offer special attractions by reason of the arrangement of their horticultural treas- ures. Villa Ada contains an extraordinary abundance of foreign trees. Villa Browne- Casanova takes ranks as a conservatory of rare plants. But seeing is believing in mat- ters botanical, and the traveller himself is best fitted to make his own selection and preference, if this can be done at all. 27 CHAPTER IV THE BORROMEAN ISLANDS I ISOLA BELLA, ISOLA DEI PESCATORI, ISOLA MADRE, ISOLA SAN GIOVANNI These islands constitute a challenge from the tropics thrown with full force into the very faces of the stern, arctic Alps. It is not possible to stay at Pallanza, or the other lakeside resorts of lower Lago Maggiore, without desiring to pay a visit to those won- der islands that beckon so constantly from the blue gulf. They excite curiosity, sur- prise, and admiration, and irresistibly draw the sightseer for a nearer view. Therefore some morning, when the birds are calling to each other from bush to bush in the fair Italian garden of the hotel, and are telling each other much good news in liquid musical phrases that transcend any Leitmotiven, even of the greatest masters, when the water sparkles invitingly and not too vividly, emitting a sense of youth, fresh- 28 The Borromean Islands ness, and enterprise, then let the boatmen who are waiting eagerly for the chance row you out to these islands, justly famed among lovers of the picturesque for uniqueness in structure, site, and adornment. Moreover, they are quite different, one from another, and thus provide material for several excur- sions. The Borromean Islands are four in num- ber and derive their name from the family of the Counts of Borromeo, to which three of them belong, Isola Bella, Isola Madre, and the little Isola San Giovanni, close to Pallanza. Isola dei Pescatori is reported to be owned by the fisherfolk, who inhabit it as an hereditary freehold. Of the whole number Isola Bella is the most noted for the exuberance and opulence of its artificial ornamentation. Isola Madre is the largest in point of area, Isola dei Pescatori is the most populous, though also the simplest in point of ornamentation, and Isola San Gio- vanni the smallest. The visitor can take his choice among these several attractions, and while he is being rowed across the lake it may be interesting for him to know some- thing of the history of these islands. In her exquisite book, " Italian Villas and 29 The Italian Lakes Their Gardens," Miss Edith Wharton calls attention to the fact that, " On the walls of the muniment-room of the old Borromeo palace in Milan, Michelino, a little known painter of the fifteenth century, has depicted the sports and diversions of that noble fam- ily .. . against the background of Lake Maggiore and the Borromean Islands." This is artistic testimony to the early pos- session of the island by the family whose name they bear. L. Boniforti in his excellent little guide to the islands mentions a document of 1397, issued by Emperor Wenceslaus, in which the islands are recorded as belonging to the county of Angera, of which the family of Borromeo became the partial feudal rulers in 1441. These islands received the particu- lar attention of successive members of the Borromean family, and were by them beau- tified until they have become famous the world over. The work of adornment on Isola Bella was begun in 1632 by Count Carlo Borromeo, the third of that name, who built a small villa there. It was a Count Vitaliano, the fourth of that name, who conceived the idea of building a large chateau and giving that island its present 30 JH Jam ■ Isola Bella marvellous aspect, calling to his service artists and architects and covering the barren rocky surface with fruitful soil. The work occupied the years from 1650-71. Isola Bella As the boat glides out into the deeper portions of the Bay of Pallanza, the water that laughingly laps the bow grows richer in colour and we seem to have ventured forth upon some inlet of the Caribbean Sea. Presently Isola Bella looms up in all its startling originality, a huge palazzo partly unfinished, at one end, and gardens of ex- traordinary fantasy at the other. Lines of age, reinforced by the never ceasing caress of plant life, have happily broken what might seem to northern eyes an excessive arti- ficiality, and the foliage of superb exotics has softened the extreme regularity and straightness of stone terrace and balustrade. As we land at the great water steps, the cen- turies roll back and we become the guests of an open-handed magnate of the seven- teenth century, whose hospitality is exhib- ited in a display of all that the arts of his day, big and little, could do to make his 3i The Italian Lakes island villeggiatura splendid and sumptuous. Certainly he and his helpers succeeded in wresting from the climate an assent to all the changes, transformations, and vagaries they could invent, and in turning the alpine non possumus into a silent permission. As guests we delight in this characteristic of our host and proceed to enjoy our further explorations in his domain with redoubled zest. An obliging guide will give the student visitor all necessary details of the grand palazzo, and a catalogue of the pictures is provided, which contains the names of paint- ers and copyists, as the case may be. For the many tourist visitors, comprising all nationalities and tastes, a general survey of the palazzo will doubtless suffice. From the grand staircase we are ushered through a bewildering succession of rooms, serving all manner of purposes and decorated in all manner of styles. There is a dining- hall, a throne-room, a royal bedchamber, a picture-gallery, a grand ballroom, and a variety of rooms devoted to conversation, billiards, music, besides many bedrooms, among these also the one in which Napo- leon I. once slept. Though the picture-gal- 3 2 /so/a Bella lery is poor in masterpieces, the apartments are full of objects of value, and many of the rooms are rich in Genoese or Florentine furniture, costly marbles, Venetian glass, and a great profusion of medallions, vases, busts, and coats of arms. The grotto galleries underneath the cha- teau are particularly curious and fantastic. Whatever may be the verdict of the visitor upon the shell patterns to be seen there, the imitation stalactite caves and the novel fan- cies of the designers, still there is room to admire the persistent enthusiasm of the builder of the chateau and of his assistants, who, together, so successfully set at defiance all the difficulties they encountered, in their determination to make of Isola Bella a beauty-spot according to their ideal, — and sui generis. In passing out of the building into the gardens a corridor is used, the walls of which are hung with seven Gobelins set- ting forth mythological subjects, and said to be unsurpassed by those of any other col- lection of Gobelins for richness of colour. And so we find ourselves in the far-famed gardens of Isola Bella! They constitute a veritable park into whose restricted area the original designer sought to crowd so much 33 The Italian Lakes of horticultural and sylvan beauty, that per- force he was obliged to cause the island to bulge up in the centre and rise into a pyra- mid to the height of over one hundred feet above the lake surface, in ten tiers or ter- races. The gardener had so much to say in his art and way, that he had to invent this method of expressing himself. Not other- wise can one explain the profusion of super- imposed parterres and piazzas decorated with statues, rotundas, and belvederes, one more elaborate than the other, each with distinct characteristics, — and each deter- mined not to be outdone by the others. There is the grove of Diana, the piazza of Hercules, the exotic garden, the grove of love, the grove of pines, the palm garden, the rose garden, the grove of Julia, the pla- teau of New Holland, and the grove of Elise. It is as though all these proofs of Italian garden-art were vying for some point of vantage, in order the better to be seen, and thus to be in position to give a louder and more conspicuous welcome to the visitor of the hour. A mass of little paths carefully bordered lead maze-like from wonder to wonder. Here are tree-like camellias and oleanders, 34 /so/a dei Pescatori gigantic magnolias, myrtles and laurels, stately cedars and cypresses. Orange and lemon trees abound, and sprinkled about, so as to profit by the green background, are vases, grottos, and fountains. It is related that Napoleon I., strolling in the park, when he halted at Isola Bella on his way to the Italian plain, cut the ominous word bataille into the bark of a giant laurel-tree. Time has happily obliterated with its weather stains such effects as might once have seemed garish. If there is much vagary in the con- struction of Isola Bella, there is at least sur- prising merit in having hung these opulent gardens against the sky-line of the barren Alps and caused the naked rock to bloom. Isola dei Pescatori This " fisher-island " is exactly what its name would indicate. It contains neither palazzo nor hanging gardens, but this fact does not prevent it from being a favourite with the painters. It contains a medley of fishermen's homes of many colours, yellow, pink, or terra-cotta, that jostle each other to the very water's edge at the eastern end of the island. The shore is generally lined 35 The Italian Lakes with fishing-boats, painted black for the most part, though the writer recalls seeing one in bright blue. Fishing-nets are spread to dry on the grass at the western end of the island, which is reserved for them. A cream-coloured church tower rises above the brown-red roofs. Thus the fisher-island pre- sents all its simple attractions at once to the eye, and is the rough diamond, the natural jewel, among the islands of the Bay of Pal- lanza. We wish it well in its lowly occu- pation and pass on knowing that the water- colourists will not overlook it. I sola Mad re The " mother island " derives its title from the fact that it was the first of the Borro- mean island possessions to be laid out in gardens of any description. It is not only the largest of them all, but also lies nearly in the centre of the Bay of Pallanza, thus enjoying a particularly commanding and conspicuous position. Here the same desire as on Isola Bella, to express much of the gardener's art upon a relatively small area, has resulted in the building of five terraces, surmounted, in this case, by a little-used 36 Isola Madre palazzo whose chief charm is its view over lake, shore, and mountain. Less artificial in arrangement than the gardens of Isola Bella, those of Isola Madre are generally found more in keeping with natural beauty as northern eyes are accustomed to see it. They are less crowded, and their orange and lemon trellises, the walled gardens, the cy- presses, laurels, and pines have spread more at ease over a wider surface. The island is greatly admired by artists and, because not accessible by steamboat, draws to it particu- larly those who rejoice in its simple tran- quillity. Writing to his mother from Baveno (a favourite stopping-place of his), on August 24, 1854, Ruskin stated: "Architecture I can draw very nearly like an architect, and trees a great deal better than most botanists, and mountains rather better than most geol- ogists, and now I am going actually to draw some garden for you, out of Isola Madre, and study some of its bee-haunted aloes to- morrow morning, if it be fine: it is sweet to see the aloe with two or three hives of bees about it, making its yellow blossoms yellower." From the high-placed palazzo of Isola 37 The Italian Lakes Madre, as a point of vantage, the interplay of lights upon the water can be watched to particular advantage. Out beyond the bor- ders of the island, an afternoon calm has enamelled the water a gentle turquoise blue, upon which the passing boats paint streaks in tints of green. There is a silken gloss of white where the sun strikes with full force. The wash of water-colours is in evi- dence rather than the solid look of oils. On the fresh water of the Italian lakes there is no habitual tumble of surf, no roar along the seaweed, for the water can be counted upon to stay pretty much at the same level, except at long intervals of time or in seasons of catastrophe. Hence there are no stretches of unsightly mud exposed by receding tides, but the well-trained water dances up to the lake walls and terraces, — splashes prettily, but advances no farther. I sola San Giovanni Familiarly known as an isolino, because it is so small and clings so closely to mother land, San Giovanni presents little of special scenic interest to the tourist who has visited the larger islands of the group. Its vegeta- 38 Isola San Giovanni tion is luxuriant and it possesses a small villa. Historically it is of importance, because it was the site of a Roman castellum and of an early Christian church, and was the home of the nobles De Castello Barbavara, to whom, as already stated, the island along with Pallanza was ceded by Emperor Bar- barossa in n 52. As the boat glides homeward-bound, the fresh-water, soft-water look of the lake is unmistakable in the purity, clearness, and limpid placidity of the Bay of Pallanza. Later on it will be time enough for the regular breeze to draw down at close of day from distant heights of snow, through ravine and valley, into the great plain of Lombardy. On the way it will pass over Lago Maggiore and ruffle its surface, first into silvery streaks and then into kindly wavelets that mean no harm to men and things, but brighten the evening with the promise of a cool night. And about that time the nightingales will begin to sing their loveliest in the wonder gardens of the Borromean Islands. 39 CHAPTER V LOWER LAGO MAGGIORE: ARONA, CARLO BOR- ROMEO, FROM ARONA TO STRESA, ANTONIO ROSMINI - SERBATI, FROM BAVENO TO LA- VENO Lago MAGGIORE can be approached from many sides, and so there is at all times a pleasant crisscross of tourists upon its waters. One of the principal tides of travel comes from Milan by rail and touches the lake at Arona, where steamboats are in waiting to make that famous journey up the lake, which is so full of joyous surprises, sudden tran- sitions, and noble prospects. At least the steamboat time-tables begin the trip of lower Lake Maggiore with Arona, and it will not be out of order for us to do the same. Arona The railroad from Milan traverses a flat and fertile plain, where vineyards, planta- tions of American corn, and rows of mul- 40 Arona berry-trees succeed each other for miles. Presently some poplars fluttering their silver- lined leaves to the breeze betray the pres- ence of the Ticino. The river greets us after its long journey down the length of the lake. The station of Sesto Calende is passed and the lake bursts into view at Arona. The little town has its big open square, its row of hotels, and its quay planted with shade-trees. Along the lake wall business- like black barges are loading and unloading coal, fishing-nets hang to dry, and white awninged rowboats ride on the wavelets made by the steamboat. Off to the north- east the crenelated castle of Angera, a fief of the family of Borromeo, gives a mediaeval aspect to the landscape. Some wooded slopes contrast gently with the open fields. The position of Arona at the outlet of the lake gave it importance and prestige even during the Roman era. It counts to-day as one of the most populous of the lake towns, and is active, not only in introducing travel- lers to the grandeur of Lago Maggiore, but also as an industrial centre. A tablet on the walls of the Hotel Reale states that Gari- baldi stayed there in the year 1848. His- torically speaking, Arona is chiefly notice- 4.1 The Italian Lakes able as the original seat of the family of Borromeo, whose ancestral castle, however, was destroyed by the French in 1797. In a letter to his father in 1858, referring to Turner's picture, entitled " Arona, Lago Maggiore," Ruskin writes: " I had made up my mind before arriving here to find Mr. Turner's port a thing of the past, and a beautiful new quay for steam- ers, with an l embarcadere ' opposite for the railroad, in its place. I thought myself therefore more fortunate to find the two towers still left, though the whole further side of the port, with its arches, has, just as I expected, been turned into a grand quay for the steamers. The near side of the port with the garden and trees must from the first have been drawn out of Turner's head, as there are large houses on that side (of the towers) which clearly date from the begin- ning of the last century. But the terrible roguery is in the hills. No such hills are, or ever were, in sight from Arona. They are gathered together, hill by hill, partly from the Battes of Oleggio, partly from above the town here, partly from half-way up the lake near Baveno, and then all thrown together in one grand imaginary chain." 42 Carlo Borromeo Carlo Borromeo {1538-84) On the outskirts of Arona, above the vine- yards and surmounting a slope of green, rises the colossal statue, in bronze, of Cardi- nal Carlo Borromeo, the most famous mem- ber of a family famous in the annals of Milanese territory. The statue with its ped- estal is 113 feet in height and was erected in 1697. The figure is turned toward Milan. Carlo Borromeo's uncle, Cardinal de Med- ici, became Pope Pius IV., and shortly after the nephew was made Archbishop of Milan. He showed great energy in the administra- tion of his diocese. In accordance with the decrees of the Council of Trent, he set about correcting the ecclesiastical irregularities in existence, first in the city of Milan, then in the country districts, in spite of much oppo- sition on the part of those whose interests he had disturbed. During the plague which swept Milan and its surroundings, he dis- played great zeal in visiting the sick, organ- izing relief, and taking such measures as the knowledge of the times deemed effica- cious and necessary. Such acts endeared him to the people and caused his memory to be 43 The Italian Lakes specially cherished throughout the Italian lakes region. From Arona to Stresa There is some scurrying aboard among the passengers, sailors, clad as neatly as those of an Atlantic liner, draw in a few last haw- sers, the water churns and foams, and the steamboat leaves Arona on its joyous ven- ture up the lake. The shores immediately rise higher and the slopes are seen to be dotted with hamlets from which Lombard campanili detach themselves. Stray, warm- weather clouds catch upon the hilltops, or trail from them like volcano smoke. The water, which at first looks green and shallow, gains in depth and turns blue. A delightful sense of growing freshness envelops the boat. The travellers on deck now use their field- glasses in order that no item of the expand- ing scene may escape them. Whenever the boat stops, there is an inter- esting coming and going of passengers and sightseers at the landing-places. At every station carabinieri (country policemen) can be seen standing, two by two like twin sen- tinels, surveying the scene with benevolent 44 THE UBIQUITOUS TWIN CARA BINIERI OF ITALY From Arona to Stresa watchfulness. They are clad in the full panoply of the law, with cocked hats and red stripes, and, if the day be Sunday, they wear an extra cockade of red and blue, while their coat-tails take on further embroidered gor- geousness. At many places the boat does not dock, but slows down and receives passengers who come alongside in a rowboat with the postman and the bag of mail. There is a rapid exchange of passengers and mail-bags, a flying leap, and a sudden separation. By degrees the lakeside villages of Meina, Lesa, and Belgirate are left behind, each provided with a tiny harbour and beautified by an array of villas, terraced gardens, trail- ing vines, loggias, and arbours. There are white houses with green blinds, others tinted yellow, pink, blue, or brick-red, the smallest excuse and the least provocation only being needed to cause these walls to blossom into colour. Once in awhile a ravine comes down to the water's edge, filled with chestnut-trees and leading the eye back inland to heights, where villages are momentarily revealed, hiding in the pockets of the hills. Lesa was for many years the place of residence of Alessandro Manzoni, author of " I Promessi Sposi " (see page 240). 45 The Italian Lakes After Belgirate there comes one of those complete changes so characteristic of all lakes lying under the scenic influence of the Alps. It is a change from low hills and vine-clad slopes to the sight of lofty moun- tains and the perspective of everlasting snows. As the corner is gradually turned, the headland of Castagnola appears with its dark trees setting off white hotels; Sasso del Ferro rears its summit boldly in the east; the great Bay of Pallanza opens wide and fair, with the Borromean Islands strung across it like so many jewels; and Monte Rosa glistens pure white upon the farther horizon. Everything on the way up from Arona seems to have led, by a well-studied crescendo, to this final burst of beauty, where the narrow arm of lower Lago Maggiore becomes in a moment a bay of singular splendour. On the way up, all the para- phernalia of Italian life and its stock prop- erties have been passed in review, as the steamboat has glided in sight of the shore and made its stops, — and all this in order to enhance the effect and herald the glories of the Gulf of Pallanza. Of the Borromean Islands, lying offshore between Stresa and Baveno, there is so much 46 From Arona to Stresa to say that a special chapter has already been devoted to them in this book. The town of Stresa stretches alongshore and leans against Monte Motterone for a background. It presents an appearance of much distinction, and outwardly, at least, leads a life full of calm strolling leisure. The grand hotel and the handsome villas are all provided with gardens in which the hor- ticultural marvels of this exceptional region flourish with special success. But Stresa's principal claim to the attention of the polite public is due to the presence there of the villa of the Duchess of Genoa. This villa ducale is not exceptionally sumptuous nor elaborate in appearance, as ducal villas go, but it conveys the impression of great com- fort and elegance, and the good people of Stresa consider themselves fortunate in hav- ing so welcome and beloved a guest in their midst. At Stresa it is possible to make a pleasant sojourn and catch many side glimpses into the life of the people, which are necessarily excluded from a rapid round of the lake. For example, some fine day you will awaken to find the quay in possession of merrymakers. Little booths have been 47 The Italian Lakes erected under the carefully trimmed line of shade-trees, and in the open space amus- ing couples are revolving gaily to the tune of a band. The stately carabinieri are on hand in full feather, and flags fly from the houses facing the water. Sometimes, indeed, the tramontana wind bears down fiercely upon Stresa, clarifies the atmosphere to crystal purity, produces a veritable and formidable fresh-water surf, and bends the trees on the quay to a dan- gerous curve. Again, in the midst of the summer season, when those who speak the northern tongues have moved to cooler climes and the Italians of the cities have come to Stresa for their refreshing, an inter- esting regatta is held similar to the one at Como, in which the oarsmen manage gon- dola-shells with extraordinary dexterity, standing up and rowing forward. As the steamboat glides near the Stresa shore, a flock of yellow sheep come patter- ing along the highway. They are of the long-legged Italian kind, and their shep- herd is clad in homespun and carries a staff. The church-bells are ringing, and when the boat draws near, they may be seen perform- ing strange antics in their lofty towers, stand- 48 Antonio Rosmini '- Serbati ing on their heads and tumbling about joy- ously. On the hill back of Stresa is a large white building which recalls the name of Antonio Rosmini-Serbati, the founder of the Insti- tute of Charity. Antonio Rosmini-Serbati (IJQJ - 1855) Rosmini, like his friend Manzoni,was of patrician birth. He was from Rovereto in Tyrol, hence, politically speaking, was born on Austrian soil. There seems to be no question that the founder of the Institute of Charity (better known as the Order of Rosminians) was very precocious as a child. His biographers report that at five years of age he had a fair knowledge of the Bible; that his favour- ite game was to pretend being a hermit, in order to meditate upon the lives of the saints. Even his nurse seems to have expected him to astonish the world, for she carefully treasured up his baby-clothes, and would surrender them to no one until after Ros- mini's death. Curiously enough, the boy, when sent to school, like Manzoni, showed a surprising degree of stupidity in his les- 49 The Italian Lakes sons; while all the time, at home in his uncle's library, he read for amusement and inwardly digested the works of Thomas Aquinas and Augustine, thus forming the basis of his future philosophy. He was sent to the University of Padua. From Padua he retired to Rovereto once more, there to continue his reading of the philosophers in retirement. The classic writers, the Church fathers, the mediaeval schoolmen, the modern rationalists and posi- tivists, — all were passed in review, — some 620 authors in all. A complete catalogue of his own works contains ninety-nine num- bers. His " Sistema Filosophico " alone takes up more than forty volumes, purport- ing to be " a veritable encyclopaedia of the human knowable, synthetically conjoined." From Baveno to Laveno Baveno has long been a favourite resort with the English. It was there that Queen Victoria spent three weeks in April of the year 1879, in the superb Villa Clara belong- ing to Mr. Henfrey. Somewhat larger than Stresa, Baveno yet strongly resembles the former place in general appearance, in the 5° From Baveno to Laveno style of its dwellings and park-like gardens. It is known to the Italian world more par- ticularly on account of its pink granite quar- ries, which have provided columns for some of Italy's greatest structures, and indeed have been in use since the time of the Romans. These quarries, and those of Montorfano, gleam and glare from afar, when the boat rounds the corner at Stresa, and in conjunc- tion with the white houses of Baveno they form an excellent background to throw into relief the islands of Isola Bella and Isola dei Pescatori. The boat now crosses over to Pallanza, to which place a separate chapter in this book has already been assigned; then, skirting the little island of San Giovanni and round- ing the Punta della Castagnola, it reaches Intra, situated upon alluvial deposit between two mountain torrents. Hence the name, intra meaning " between." If Pallanza is notable for its charms as a visitors' resort, Intra impresses one chiefly as a busy commercial place. It has a little harbour protected by high walls, where the shipping of its particular needs can take shelter when the north wind blows. There are factories belonging mostly to Swiss firms, 5 1 The Italian Lakes and much coal is needed, so that Intra may look a trifle grimy in comparison with its neighbours along the lake, but the artistic impulse is not stifled. Intra possesses no less than four public statues, one of Garibaldi, another of Victor Emmanuel, one of Colo- nel Simonetta to commemorate those who fell in the wars of independence, and an- other to a famous physician, Restellini. The place is an active and alert centre of thought/ and by its energy is helpful in awakening some of the dormant capabilities for world-work among the population of Lago Maggiore. There is good grass-land in the neighbourhood; the small landhold- ers and proprietors are also rather more numerous here than near most of the lake- side towns. In Italy the agricultural land question is at present complicated by a great diversity of contracts between landlords, middlemen, tenants, and agricultural labourers. In the least fruitful or mountainous districts there are many peasant proprietors. The irri- gated lands of the plain of Lombardy, which are extraordinarily fertile, are cultivated upon one plan, the vineyards of Piedmont upon another, and so throughout Italy down S 2 From Baveno to Laveno to Sicily, where the condition of the labour- ers may be said to leave most to be desired. The road northward out of Intra, toward Oggebbio, is justly famous for some of the finest villa gardens on the lake, rich in ca- mellias, magnolias, palms, and eucalypti, and the short walk to Pallanza is also espe- cially repaying for the same reason. The many charming villas which have found a resting-place for themselves and their ter- raced gardens along the rocky shore display the greatest possible "individuality. In or- der to obtain some idea of the skill and the sense of proportion in road-building which is so characteristic of Italian work of this kind, a leisurely stroll along this same road is full of delight. Such solidity, such con- stant repair, such care in grading, such a conquest of natural obstacles, and such glimpses the while over the lake, lapping the rocks below and stretching over to the farther shore, where Laveno lies expectant at the foot of Sasso del Ferro! At length the boat touches at Laveno, which must be reckoned as a railroad centre of considerable importance, as things go in the region of the Italian lakes. At this point there is rail connection with Varese, Como, 53 The Italian Lakes Milan, Novara, Genoa, and with the St. Gothard route into Switzerland. The bay occupies a certain strategic position with reference to the lake which did not escape the Romans and gave it temporary value in modern times to the Austrians, under whom Laveno became a military port and the seat of an arsenal. It was against Laveno that Garibaldi directed an unsuccessful assault in 1859. The fortifications have long since been razed, and to-day their site serves chiefly as a point of vantage for a superb view over lake and mountains. The china manufactured at Laveno enjoys some repu- tation in Italy, but for the travelling public the place is chiefly prized as a point of de- parture, as a through station. From here the excursion up Sasso del Ferro is generally undertaken, also the visit to Santa Caterina del Sasso, a little church perched in a seem- ingly inaccessible position, high above the lake. From a scenic point of view this eastern side of Lago Maggiore has the special ad- vantage of facing, not only the great open Gulf of Pallanza with its islands, but also the distant snow slopes of Monte Rosa, so that when the steamboat finally touches at Laveno 54 From Baveno to Laveno and leaves us upon the quay, we are tempted to pause before we undertake to see more. There is a desire to draw breath, until the succession of extraordinary beauties which have marked this tour of lower Lago Mag- giore can be disentangled one from another, arranged in some kind of order, sorted and labelled, their relative values ascertained, and our special tastes consulted. In the meantime, there is a sense that joy- ous memories are being garnered for winter days in distant northern homes, where the sun does not shine as often, nor the water sparkle quite as gaily. 55 CHAPTER VI UPPER LAGO MAGGIORE: THE LAKE OF LO- CARNO, BERNARDINO LUINI The Romans called Lago Maggiore by the beautiful name of Lacus Verbanus, a name suggestive of vernal freshness, even though etymologists may not grant the lin- guistic inference. This superb sheet of water is about thirty-seven miles long, and varies from one and a half to three miles in width. The principal and regular winds are the tramontana — which in fair weather blows in the morning from the north — and the inverna, from the south in the afternoon. These winds, on the other Italian lakes, are variously called tivano or sover and breva or ora. The winds known as maggiore and mergozzo are occasional, uncertain, and fre- quently violent. There are many species of fish in the lake, so that fishing is one of the regular occupations of the lacustrine popu- lation. As in Lake Como, so in this lake, the 56 Upper Lago Maggiore little fish called agone is a special favourite for the table. The river Ticino, after busy- ing itself in giving a name to the only Italian-speaking Canton of Switzerland, plunges into the upper end of the lake, trav- erses its entire length, clarifying its own waters of silt in the flow southward, and issues forth at Arona in tints of pale trans- parent green, to wind its way to the river Po, and thus into the Adriatic. Historically speaking, there is not over- much to record about the ancient days of Lago Maggiore. Special incidents in mod- ern history have been and will be mentioned in connection with certain places on its shores, as the reader is invited to visit these places themselves. In a general way, it may be stated that the Romans founded numerous settlements by the waterside, and that they were succeeded by the Longobards. Upon the destruction of the power of the latter, the usual manifestations of feudalism made their appearance. The Visconti, the Sforza, and the Borromean families of Milan played conspicuous roles in turn and acquired con- trol over the more desirable positions along the lake. Of these families the Counts of Borromeo have retained numerous posses- 57 The Italian Lakes sions to this day, as has already been indi- cated in preceding chapters; and now the lake and its shores for some nine miles down from Locarno belong to the Swiss Canton of Ticino and all the rest of Lago Mag- giore to Italy. The Lake of Locarno The northern half of Lago Maggiore has a quality of its own distinct from the lower lake. In comparison with the steamboat trip from Arona to Laveno, that from Lo- carno to Laveno may be styled a mighty diminuendo, dropping from the alpine heights into the lower levels of the plain. But the interest in men and things, in the beauty of the lakeside towns and their villas, gardens, trees, and flowers, far from dimin- ishing, grows with every advance made southward toward the Gulf of Pallanza, spanning the distance from Laveno to Feri- olo. The upper end of the lake is enclosed by lofty ridges, partly wooded, and is rela- tively alpine in its characteristics. The very colour of the water shares the spring-time freshness of the slopes, and gleams sweetly and profoundly green. The journey south- 5» The Lake of Locarno ward also means a political transition from the republic of Switzerland to the kingdom of Italy, as the custom-house officer will not fail to remind us. But whether the approach be from the snows of the Alps or from the plains of Lombardy, Lago Maggiore wins instant recognition as a link between the extremes of natural scenery symbolized by peak and plain; it turns its prettiest graces toward the stern mountains and its most invigorating and energetic airs to the low- lands. It may be of interest to tourists arriving at the borders of Lago Maggiore from Lake Luzern over the St. Gothard to know that the former lake, on the southern slope of the Alps, is about twice the size of the lat- ter situated on the northern side. Before reaching Locarno, the traveller has doubtless already recognized the nearness of Italy, and in Locarno itself this impression is greatly enhanced. There is the clatter of women's little wooden sandals on the cobble- stones. A donkey on the white highway emits a long-drawn he-haw — he-haw, that seems to penetrate through the stone walls, climb the terraces where repose the vine- yards, cross the river, and burst over the S9 The Italian Lakes whole countryside. The red umbrellas of Italy make their appearance in the market- place, and the arcades are filled with a new and special kind of animation, to which the northern side of the Alps is a stranger. If it is spring, the almond blossoms and the peach-trees in bloom on the outskirts tell of warmer climes, while the exotics in the hotel gardens raise an expectancy of further won- ders to come. The author will not stop here to describe Locarno at length, having already devoted some space to this delightful subject in his " Romance and Teutonic Switzerland," but a further word or two of appreciation may here be pardoned. Locarno is advanta- geously situated, not only at the head of the lake, but also at the outlet of long and pop- ulous valleys from the north and west, such as Val Verzasca, Val Centovalli, Val On- sernone, and especially the Val Maggia, rich in scenic variety, with the village of Bi- gnasco as a favourite stopping-place. A short walk to the Ponte Brolla will initiate the traveller into the special beauties of the landward surroundings of Locarno and make him wish for more. The outskirts are plen- tifully sown with little villages perched on 60 m The Lake of Locarno terraces amid graceful vineyards and south- ern arbours. Quaint houses, distinguished by arches and roofed with red tiles, cluster close together in these villages, as though still frightened by feudal enemies or anxious to save all available soil for growing ground and fruitful foothold. Locarno's piazza del mercato, or market- place, is an excellent spot for studying typi- cal local character. Special markets are held on every alternate Thursday. The country carts by land, and the boats by water, bring men, women, children, and produce to this common meeting space. The wicker- work baskets or hods carried on the back are everywhere in evidence, — the hods which serve a multitude of varied purposes in the domestic and agricultuial economy of these good people. Once in awhile an ox-cart swings lazily through the crowd with its gentle, large-eyed beasts displaying coats of cream colour or rich brown. High above Locarno looms the church of the Madonna del Sasso, and alongshore rises the square old tower of San Querico. Down at the harbour, the sloping paved shore is lined with white awninged boats of ancient pattern and archaic model. Among them 61 The Italian Lakes lie some black barges, with huge square sails flapping loosely in the air, perhaps to dry after the last shower. In between the boats, wherever there is a vacant spot on the shore, the family washing is being done by the women who scrub and slap their linen nois- ily, and call loudly to each other to over- top the clamour of their occupation. Those who have finished their work pack the wet clothing into baskets which they lift dex- terously on to their heads, and with many last words to those that remain, they swing off under their loads like living Caryatides. Others carry the washing in the ubiquitous hods on their backs, and though they are obliged to bend over, they can still fire a parting verbal shot with unabated skill. This may be interesting in its way, but there is better yet to come, so let the reader, impatient to be off, obey the musical ring of the bell, which, by some blessed provision, hangs in the bow of every steamboat on the lake, and, stepping aboard, make the trip of the upper lake. As the boat moves out, the portion of Lago Maggiore known as the Lake of Lo- carno seems to be enclosed by the mountains, and all egress shut off toward the south by 62 The Lake of Locarno a projecting headland, the delta of the tor- rent Maggia; but further progress discloses the rest of Lago Maggiore lying serene on the farther side, and growing more blue with the distance. The eastern shore lies cool and shaded under the great range of Gam- barogno. The stations of Magadino, As- cona, and Gerra succeed each other and bring us in sight of the two islands of Bris- sago, one with the ruins of a church and the other marked by a dwelling. Then comes Brissago itself, the last place of im- portance to be reached before the Italian frontier claims our attention with its imag- inary line. At Brissago the southern vege- tation becomes more pronounced, shining rich and glossy amid pretty country-houses, while a group of cypresses in sombre green point skyward near the church. It is said that it has been the custom for many men from Brissago to emigrate as cooks into the wide world, and that some of them have become proprietors of well-known hotels. Cannobio, at the outlet of the great Val Cannobino, through which Domo d'Ossola can be reached, is another enterprising town- let on the western bank. It is at this point that the swift little steamboats of the Italian 63 The Italian Lakes customs service are stationed, which watch the Swiss portion of Lago Maggiore for smuggling, just as similar ones perform the same service against the Austrian portion of Lago di Garda. They look to be formid- able craft, these alert torpedinieri, and with their search-lights command lake and shore also at night. The boat now crosses to Mac- cagno, and on the way thither our first view is obtained of two further islands, variously called the Castelli di Cannero, or Isole Vitaliano, and now owned by the Borromean family. Their ruins fit the tale which is told of them, namely, that at the opening of the fifteenth century they became the headquar- ters of five brigand brothers, Mazzarda by name, who terrorized the whole lake dis- trict until the ducal Visconti of the day be- sieged and destroyed their robber castle. These rocky and sombre islands are in strik- ing contrast with the suave loveliness of the lake shore which forms their background. After leaving Maccagno, the view toward the south broadens into a grand perspective which reaches as far as Stresa, Isola Bella, and the noble background of Monte Mot- terone. In the meantime the St. Gothard railroad line, which on the eastern shore 64 Bernardino Luini has steadily flanked our progress down the lake, becomes especially conspicuous, and at Luino steamer and train meet to make con- venient connections for Lago Lugano, by way of steam-tramway to Ponte Tresa, and for the Italian cities of the plains or the Swiss summer resorts north of the St. Goth- ard. Indeed Luino is a sort of an international crossroads, and possesses an imposing rail- road station to emphasize the fact. The tourist who does more than pass through the place is repaid, not only by the special attractions of the water-front, including a well-shaded quay, but also by the historical and artistic associations. The very name of Luino recalls that of the gentle, idyllic fresco painter, Bernardino Luini, who was born here in the latter part of the fifteenth cen- tury. Bernardino Luini {1470 - I S3 ) It is a fact greatly regretted by Prof. Uberti Giansevero, in his " Guida Generale Ai Grandi Laghi Subalpini," that no one has erected a memorial to the great painter in his native town, and that writer even doubts Lu- 65 The Italian Lakes ini's authorship of the few frescoes in Luino, generally ascribed to him, both in the church of St. Peter's there and on the walls of the Albergo della Posta. Yet it is pleasant to know of the atmosphere in which a painter grows to his art. Writing of Luini in con- nection with Luino, T. W. M. Lund, in his charming " Como and Italian Lake-land," states : " There he was born, from that little town he took his name, and in that wide scene of hill and air and water blent in such perfect harmonies, he formed his earliest inspiration and learnt the truest lessons of his art." In order to find Luini's works, we must travel to other parts of Italian lake-land, to Lugano, Saronno, and Como, and farther still to Milan, where the famous Ambrosian Library has a special Sala del Luini, and the no less famous Brera gallery has hung his frescoes on the walls of its vestibules and corridor. Luini was a poet like many others of the great Italian artists, and wrote a trea- tise on painting. His fame has grown with time. Ruskin has expressed admiration for him in some of his most illuminating pages, and John Addington Symonds has written enthusiastically and instructively of his sin- 66 AFTER THE MARKET OF LOCARNO Bernardino Luini gular grace, simplicity, sweetness, and di- rectness. It should be said that Luini is no longer held to have been a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci, though some of his works were at one time actually ascribed to the latter. In 1867 a monument to Garibaldi was erected on the lake-front of Luino, to com- memorate his independent efforts against Austria, organized from this point in 1848, and since the shores of the region of the Italian lakes are conspicuously dotted with the statues of this great forefighter in the Italian struggle for independence and unity, and many localities resound with his name, the reader will find it useful to refresh the memory with some of the salient facts in Garibaldi's career. With this in view, the author has furnished a brief sketch of Gari- baldi in the next chapter. This sketch makes no claim to special critical research, but simply relates the story of his life as com- monly recorded. After leaving Luino the steamboat passes the Isole Cannero, already described, stops at Cannero itself, crowned with vineyards and orchards, passes Oggebbio, Ghiffa, and Porto Valtravaglia, and so reaches Laveno, 67 The Italian Lakes a convenient point from which to take the steamboat for the tour of lower Lago Mag- giore. In curious opposition to the steamboats, we pass primitive stone barges propelled by oars with auxiliary sails. One such is moored to the shore, taking on its load. Presently this task is done, and we see the oarsmen in their places for the start down the lake. So long and heavy are the oars that their full sweep cannot well be used; hence the oars- men are obliged to stand, then take a few steps in the boat as they catch the water, and so, with a final jerk, they succeed in putting some motion into the clumsy barge. Wind permitting, the square sails are hoisted to aid the oars. The progress is not rapid, and yet " slow but sure " will reach Arona in time. Again, as the steamboat crosses over to Laveno from west to east, the splendour of Monte Rosa and the Simplon Mountains bursts into view, drawing the eye from the immediate foreground and its intense, ter- raced cultivation, its oleanders, myrtle-trees, cypresses, and palms, of! and up to the im- perishable purity of the snow not made with hands. 68 n 1>? jH Hj B i ft? VJIh njv li B5 Bb JH |IH Bernardino Luini Here the formal Latin sense of proportion has produced architectural gardens and roads of masonry; there the mountains, in a very exuberance of freedom, proclaim an untram- melled arrangement of forest, slope, thicket, and flower, based on the needs and the de- sires of each. 60 CHAPTER VII THE THREE LIBERATORS : GARIBALDI, MAZZINI, AND CAVOUR The three patriots who contributed by their labours more than any other Italians toward the independence and unification of Italy were all associated, during a portion of their lives at least, with the region of the Italian lakes. References to them crop up here and there, as the traveller makes his delightful rounds, and local reminiscences of them serve to explain modern Italy in the making, undergoing its national risorgi- mento. On the shores of Lakes Maggiore, Como, and Garda the name of Garibaldi awakens echoes both of victory and defeat. From 1848 to 1866 Lugano was often the head- quarters of Mazzini, whence he issued his ringing appeals in the struggle for freedom. At Stresa, on Lake Maggiore, Cavour is reported to have thought out his wonderful 70 Giuseppe Garibaldi plans of political reorganization, and in the meantime, being greatly interested in the economic revival of his native country, helped to place the first steamboat on the lake. Thus the three men who have not inaptly been called respectively the knight errant, the prophet, and the organizer of Italian unity, have spread the story of their noble endeavour over the region to which this book is devoted, and brief sketches of their careers will be found useful. No at- tempt is here made to supply the reader with critical biographies of an intimate or strictly analytical nature, but the generally accepted facts have been placed in narrative form to speak for themselves. Giuseppe Garibaldi {1807 - 82) A list of the mere incidents in Garibaldi's life presents so adventurous and kaleido- scopic a picture that it is hardly necessary to emphasize the salient points in order to attract attention to his career. Born in Nice, he made several voyages in his youth as a sailor. In 1833 an d 1834 he took part in the movement of " Young Italy," organized by Mazzini to liberate and unite Italy. 7* The Italian Lakes Driven into exile for taking part in an at- tempt to seize Genoa, he made his way to South America and took part in revolu- tionary movements there. His activity as a guerilla warrior and privateer in that part of the world earned him the title of " the hero of Montevideo." The outbreak of the war between Austria and Sardinia in 1848 called him back to Italy, where he fought in Lombardy against the Austrians. It was at this time that he and his volunteers per- formed some notable feats against the Aus- trians along the Swiss frontier, at Luino, and elsewhere. Then he took part in the defence of Rome against the French. But the Italians lost the battle of Cus- tozza, the Lombardo-Venetian lands were subjected anew to Austria, and the defence of Rome finally failed. Then Garibaldi made his escape to San Marino, thence to Chiavari in Liguria, to Tunis, and finally to the island of Maddalena, near which lies the islet of Caprera, where he later spent so many years of his life. He went to the United States and worked for awhile on Staten Island, New York, as a candle-maker. Later he became ship captain and prospered there in his business. On his return to Italy, 7* Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1854, ne purchased the northern part of Caprera and made it his home, until the outbreak of the war of France and Sardinia against Austria, in 1859, brought him forth again from his retirement. During that year and the next he saw much service against Austria. He organized his volunteers under the name of the " cacciatori delle Alpi" crossed the Ticino eleven days before the French, and fought through the whole of the Lombard campaign, which was signalized by the victory of the French and Italians at Magenta and San Martino (Solferino). He rendered especially valuable service at Va- rese and Como. After the peace preliminaries of Villa- franca, against the terms of which he pro- tested strongly, Garibaldi organized the " cacciatori degli Apennini " in order to liberate Rome; but not receiving permission from Victor Emmanuel for this enterprise, he turned his attention to Sicily, at that time forming with Naples the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. He embarked upon an expe- dition which proved to be the most remark- able as well as the most fruitful of his many bold ventures. In May of i860, with one thousand volunteers, he landed at Marsala in 73 The Italian Lakes Sicily, marched to Palermo, and thereafter, by brilliant and skillful generalship, aided by a constantly swelling number of recruits to his standard, broke the power of the Nea- politan king both on the island and main- land, and entered Naples in triumph, where he was proclaimed dictator of the Two Sici- lies. Victor Emmanuel thereupon invaded Neapolitan territory from the north and joined Garibaldi. As soon as the Two Sici- lies had been united to the Italian kingdom under Victor Emmanuel, Garibaldi once more retired to Caprera. He made two further unsuccessful attempts upon Rome, in 1862 and 1867. In the first he was de- feated and wounded at Aspromonte; in the second he was made prisoner at Mentana. After each attempt he was liberated and then returned to Caprera. When the Austro-Prussian war broke out in 1866, with the participation of Italy on the side of Prussia, Garibaldi and his volun- teers advanced into the Austrian Trentino, where they gained the only victories on the Italian side in this campaign. After the defeat of Austria by Prussia, Venice was ceded to Italy at the request of Prussia, at the Peace of Prague. In the meantime Gari- 74 Giuseppe Garibaldi baldi, in 1864, na d paid a visit to England, where he was received with the greatest en- thusiasm as a popular hero. Garibaldi also participated in the Franco-Prussian War, on the side of the French, confining his move- ments to Dijon and Autun. His volunteers even gained a slight victory over the Ger- mans by beating off a body of Prussian Pom- eranians near Dijon. He returned once more to Caprera after this enterprise, and in 1875 was elected member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. The admiration in which he is held by his fellow countrymen is sufficiently evidenced by the multitude of statues which they have raised to him in almost every city and town from end to end of the beautiful peninsula. Through the generosity of English friends he became proprietor of the whole island of Caprera. Ever constant to the ideal of his youth, namely, the unity of the Italian-speaking race, he pursued his purpose with whole- souled devotion, and by reason of the pecul- iar picturesqueness of his revolutionary meth- ods he looms up as the central popular figure in the struggle for Italian independence. 75 The Italian Lakes Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-72) The man who figured preeminently as the agitator in the struggle for Italian independ- ence was born in Genoa, was well educated and chose the profession of law. He early became interested in various projects for liberating the whole peninsula and uniting it under one government, and with this pur- pose in view organized the " Young Italy " movement, in which Garibaldi also played a temporary part. When Charles Albert came to the throne of Sardinia, Mazzini addressed a notable appeal to him to place himself at the head of a national movement. A decree of banishment was thereupon issued against him, and he went into hiding in Marseilles, whence he continued to issue stirring writings which affected the whole of Europe. In 1834 he organized an unsuccessful invasion of Savoy. During the next two years he made his residence in Switzerland, and it was in Bern that he drew up his famous " Pact of Fraternity." But banished even from Switzerland, he went to live in London, and then in 1848 returned to Italy to take part in the war between Austria and Sardinia. He was associated with Garibaldi in the 76 Count Camillo Benso di Cavour attempt to keep the war alive along the shores of the Italian lakes and in the valleys of the Alps after Milan had capitulated. He was also prominent in the unsuccessful attempt of 1849 to maintain a republic in Rome. Returning to London, Mazzini was occu- pied during the next few years in planning various risings in Italy. Like Garibaldi, he protested strenuously against the cession of Savoy and Nice to France, agreed to at the peace preliminaries of Villafranca in 1859. He supported Garibaldi in his expe- dition to Sicily. During his later years he lived for awhile in Switzerland, especially at Lugano, then in Pisa, and finally he returned to Genoa, his native city, where his great services in the struggle for Italian independ- ence made him greatly respected and be- loved by all, and at his death he was deeply mourned by a grateful nation, which his incessant and persistent devotion had largely helped to create. Count Camillo Benso di Cavour (l8lO - 61) The diplomat of the risorgimento was born in Turin of aristocratic ancestry and in an 77 The Italian Lakes atmosphere of wealth and refinement. At the age of ten he was sent to a military academy, and in the course of time his military career began at Genoa. He is reported to have been genuinely disturbed at an early age about the disorganized condition of the nation, and to have spoken unguardedly about affairs at court. In consequence of his utterances he found himself constrained to resign from the army, and thereafter quietly sought for the means by which Italy could be united and made free. For sixteen years he held aloof from public affairs, watching in private life for the right way to manifest itself, and feeling himself out of sympathy both with the conservatives and the conspirators. In the meantime he occupied himself with agri- culture and economic improvements, and with studying foreign countries, especially France and England. Of the latter he al- ways remained a genuine admirer. It was not until 1848 that Cavour came to the front and publicly took his position as a patriot who was ready and capable to help Italy in her hour of rejuvenation. He united with others in instituting a paper in Turin called Risorgimento, and in the Sar- dinian chamber took the position of middle 7S Count Camillo Benso di Cavour ground, which seemed to him more likely to lead to definite results, but this made him popular with neither side and required great moral courage on his part. In the course of time, the two extremes in public opinion tended to discredit themselves, and Cavour was able to see the fruits of his practical diplomacy in actual gains of territory and in a centralized government. He was pre- mier of Sardinia from 1852 to 1861, and is credited with having arranged with Napo- leon III. the war of 1859. During his career he saw Italy rise from a dismembered and disjointed conglomera- tion of petty states, filled with contradictory opinions, to a condition wherein, with the exception of Venice and the Papal States, the whole peninsula was united under a cen- tral executive power and was likewise in possession of representative government. To the final complete consolidation of Italy in later years under one sovereign, the pains- taking, persevering work of Cavour and his characteristic qualities of diplomacy seem to have been virtually indispensable, though he did not live to see Rome made the capital of his native land. 79 CHAPTER VIII MONTE MOTTERONE LEST any soothing languor or lethargy of the Gulf of Pallanza overtake the visitor and mar the keenness of his enjoyment, it may be well for him to do his climbing into the heights pretty promptly upon arrival, and to attack the noble points of view with ready energy and buoyancy. Monte Motterone and Sasso del Ferro are the giant sign and finger posts of lower Lago Maggiore, pointing from their exalted tops in every direction to the marvels of this region, — northward to the snow peaks, southward to the plains of Pied- mont and Lombardy, and close at hand to all the details and the exquisite charms of the subalpine world, clustered profusely at the very feet of these mountains. For the present let Monte Motterone, also written Mottarone, suffice. It is early in June. Along the lake-front of Baveno and Stresa the gardens are in their 80 /■/'&- m s Monte Motterone full splendour and richness. Roses are there and camellias; the myrtle and the pome- granate leaves reflect the light. As we mount the path leads through great chestnut groves and vineyards, by rustic villages and stone barns covered with thatched roofs, up into the open fields, and finally upon the undu- lating pastures that reach to the summit and make of this whole mountain massif, lying between Lakes Maggiore and Orta, a vast cattle range and dairying district. Up there are real alps, serene, carpeted with the green- est grass and the sweetest flowers and swept by the balmiest of airs. There are several routes by which the top may be reached. One may start from Baveno and pass by Romanico, Campino, Someraro, Levo, and the Alpe del Giardino to the hotel near the summit; while another favourite path goes from Stresa and joins the former at Someraro. It is to be hoped that, as you pass through Campino, you may have sight of one of the barns there, built of mountain rubble and mortar, thatched with straw, and curiously primitive from every standpoint. Perhaps the farmer may just be descending by a lad- der, carrying a three-pronged wooden pitch- 81 ■ The Italian Lakes fork, while his young wife stands for a moment holding her baby in arms. At another village a country festival may have beflagged the principal inn, called the country folk to put on their Sunday best, and is making them revolve on the terrace in the dance to the tune of a brass band. Perhaps another day you may surprise a mili- tary society out for an excursion and halting in some village square amid a concourse of boys and girls. A transition full of delightful surprises marks the ascent of Monte Motterone. For awhile the nightingales sing in the chestnut- trees and the cuckoo calls, then come the larks, soaring and wheeling skyward above the open mountain meadows. The path has barely emerged from the shrubs of flower- ing rhododendron in the lakeside gardens, when our sweet friend, the wild rhododen- dron, or alpine rose, is detected in secluded spots fringing rugged cliffs. The daffodils cultivated along the lake terraces give place to the wild narcissus flung broadcast on the uplands, the stately tulip to the modest bell gentian. The beauties of lake and shore at first are seen to come and go through the for- est branches, then are temporarily eclipsed 82 r ,-jf (g^j™ ; B[ j " Bfi|4 A' "•■: wwyS HKmH He Monte Motterone as we mount, to reappear again as distant details when the summit is reached. To sum up, Monte Motterone is no ordinary climb, like those on the northern side of the Alps, with brambles and pines below and solitudes above, but belongs to the southern slope, and is distinctively of the Italian pe- ninsula. The view is justly famous. Although the summit is not quite five thousand feet above the level of the sea, yet from up there the assembly of the Alps seems nearly complete, and the absent ones can almost be supplied from memory. Starting with the Col di Tenda and Monte Viso in the far west, on the bor- ders of France, and extending eastward as far as the Ortler and Adamello groups in the Austrian Crown Land Tyrol, the peaks stand in a semicircle of nearly two hundred miles, solemn and radiant, clad in imperish- able purity, and acting as guardians, pro- tectors, and benefactors of the sunny southern lake land at their feet. Monte Rosa, barely a dozen miles away, dominates the northern horizon, towering above them all, queen and centre of a great court of attendants. In fact, her sway is as undisputed in this region 83 The Italian Lakes as is that of Mont Blanc over the valley of Chamonix. Among the better known peaks that glisten on the great white line are the Cima di Jazzi, Mischabel, Monte Leone, Jungfrau, and Fiescherhorner; the mountains of the Upper Rhine valley and the Engadine stand farther back, while closer at hand is seen Monte Generoso, acting as a friendly rival with Monte Motterone and Sasso del Ferro in the delightful profession of showing off the treasures of the alpine and subalpine world. Down in the plain the sheen of silver wind- ings denotes the rivers Ticino and Sesia, and in fair weather Milan is visible with its ca- thedral and arch of triumph, as well as Monza and Varese, Novara, and Vercelli, while the faint violet tracings of the Apen- nines close the southern view. In fairest weather, it is said, even Turin can be dis- covered amid the lowland haze off to the west. Seven lakes can be seen, large and small: Maggiore, Orta, Mergozzo, Varese, Biandronno, Monate, and Comabbio, The Borromean Islands seem to be swimming on Lake Maggiore like great pond-lilies of special pattern and imported from tropical climes, and the quaint isle of San Giulio 8 4 Monte Motterone on Lake Orta looks as though it had been dropped from some mediaeval sky. The eye rests longest on our good friends, Baveno, Pallanza, and Intra, and strays northward to Luino, to the ruins on the islands of Cannero, to Maccagno, and the curve of the shore beyond. Over at Laveno the train is starting for Varese, to run through a country thickly strewn with habi- tations; tourist-laden steamboats are touch- ing here and there at their landing-places, churning the blue water into white, sending up streamers of smoke, and trailing diverging lines in their wake. Picturesque St. Cath- erine and the crenelated castle of Angera attract attention. We find ourselves looking down from the atmosphere of the Alps into a populous plain, dotted not only with gar- dens and villas but also with factories, store- houses, and other evidences of industrial and commercial Italy, — showing that even in this lake land of surpassing beauty work has to be done and all is not play all the time. Should the weather prove variable on Monte Motterone, still the clouds will bring beauties and compensations of their own. Perhaps they will drift superbly in great rolling masses about Monte Rosa, or rise 85 The Italian Lakes like smoke from the quarried precipices of Montorfano. Possibly they may close in altogether on us, for awhile at least, and spread a gentle stillness over the pastures of Monte Motterone. At such times it is well to look for sudden openings of startling beauty, pictures of a gigantic camera ob- scura. A rift in the clouds may reveal mo- mentarily one of the Borromean Islands far below, the palace on Isola Bella, or the cam- panile on Isola dei Pescatori, illuminated by a strong ray of yellow light and sur- rounded by water of vivid azure; or a moun- tainside may gleam for an instant in bright vernal green. Before the clouds blot out the scene again, rowboats may appear on the lake like tiny insects threading their way across, a patch of water may glisten silver sweet, or a strip of the gay lakeside may show itself, bathed in an intense blue-black atmosphere. These contrasting glimpses, from an alpine world into the lap of lux- ury and the pride of civilization, constitute a unique charm of the good mountain. Both from a geological and botanical as- pect, Monte Motterone has its special merits. It stood for ages like a great granite ram- part against the glaciers advancing down the 86 Monte Motterone valleys where the Toce and Ticino Rivers now run. Its lower flanks have been sprin- kled with erratic blocks brought down from the distant heights upon the backs of these glaciers. The blocks are especially notice- able in the neighbourhood of the village of Gignese. To-day Monte Motterone forms a veri- table park of vast pastures, kept as fresh as lawns by an effective system of irrigation. Little channels cross the slopes in long trenches slightly of! the line of the hori- zontal, bringing the water of the mountain brooks to freshen the grazing lands. The result is that to match such a succession of green alps, it would be necessary to travel to the famous Seiser Alp above the Groden Valley in Tyrol, or to the Pinzgauer Prom- enade on the borders of Salzburg, or even to the uplands of the Sette Comuni, south of the Valsugana. There are about a hun- dred of these alps on Monte Motterone, feeding some two thousand cows and many sheep. Ten of the alps, with their rude huts and groups of trees, belong to the family of the Counts of Borromeo. No greater dif- ference in possession can be imagined than exists between these high-placed properties 87 The Italian Lakes and the better known Borromean Islands below. Their one bond of sympathy seems to lie in their island nature, the former being veritable oases upon the rolling green, the latter bright spots upon the great blue basin of the lake. The family also possesses a little villa at the village of Levo which is passed on the way up from Baveno or Stresa. The summit of Monte Motterone has been visited by a number of royalties, notably in 1885 by the then Queen Margherita of Italy, well known as a genial and happy enthusiast in alpine matters. In all respects the visit is to be urged upon those who can make time for it on their Italian lakes journey. In a few moments the wealth of a great part of this region in variety, freshness, colour, and form can be quickly grasped and the details studied for a nearer acquaintance. To the Italians of the near-by cities Monte Mot- terone is a welcome refuge in the hour of persistent heat. All summer long there is the tinkling of cow-bells from the irrigated slopes, the birds soar, and the bees buzz about their business. In their seasons the flowers come, nod to the breezes, and then go, and the morning mist floats off into thin streamers to caress the slopes with kindly ringers. 88 CHAPTER IX RIVIERA AND LAGO D'ORTA AMONG the many merits of the Simplon tunnel is also this, that it is reviving the in- terest of the travelling public in an idyllic bit of lake country, intensely Italian in char- acter, — the Riviera and Lago d'Orta. The railroad from Domo d'Ossola, going south- ward to Novara, runs along the eastern shore of Lake Orta and high above this unique mountain lake, which lies pensive sweet be- low in a deep basin whose sides are formed by steep cliffs and abrupt slopes, rising in an amphitheatre of mutual admiration, and cul- minating in great swelling mountain forms clad with forests. By virtue of the attraction of the Simplon tunnel it may happen that the traveller who suddenly catches a glimpse of this unique fairy lake may have landed but the day before in the seaport of Genoa from a transatlantic voyage, or coming from the 89 The Italian Lakes north may have spent the preceding morning amid the glaciers of Switzerland. East and west, delightful passes also give access to Lago d'Orta, one from Lago Mag- giore over Monte Motterone, and another from Varallo in the Val Sesia over the Colle di Colma. There are also carriage roads from Arona by way of Gozzano, or from Gravellona to Omegna, and mule paths con- nect the nestling villages among the forests of chestnut-trees. Little Lago d'Orta, thus set among the heights, is in striking contrast to Lago Mag- giore, with its grand expanses and magnifi- cent distances. Sir John Lubbock, in " The Scenery of Switzerland," points out that Lago d'Orta, contrary to the other Italian lakes, has its outflow to the north, not to the south, the southern end being blocked by a moraine, i e. an accumulation of mountain refuse, brought down by a glacier which has long since disappeared. The lake waters issue at Omegna in a little stream called the Nigo- glia, this empties into the Strona, the latter into the Toce, and finally the united waters fall together into Lago Maggiore, — and all this within a finger's breadth on the map. 90 Riviera and Lago d'Orta The lake of Orta is some nine miles long, and the prevalent breezes are from southeast or northeast in the morning, and from the west in the evening. It is reputed to be very well stocked with fish. Since the railroad, running north and south, will surely whistle, rumble, and speak for itself, let our description of an approach to the lake be of that silent upland path over Monte Motterone. In due order the Colle di Colma will also be considered. Let us suppose that the traveller has walked up the mountain from Baveno or Stresa on Lago Maggiore, has rested at the hotel on Monte Motterone, and is now pre- pared to descend the western slope of this famous mountain to Lago d'Orta. If the start from the top be made in the morning, the alpine pastures of the summit, stretching in great billows to all points of the compass, will be vocal with jubilant larks; and, if it is June, the grass will be joyously perfumed with many thousand flowers of the poetical narcissus. Moreover, if the day be clear, Monte Rosa will loom up from among the Alps with tremendous power and immanence. A cart track with an easy grade marks the way down to the rim of the timber line of 9i The Italian Lakes chestnut-trees, which is the limit to which the villages in this region find it profitable to grow. As high as this line they still clus- ter in the hollows or perch on projections. Perhaps you, too, may meet the ox-cart with the patient beasts that carries provisions to the hotel. The descent into the valley, where the town of Orta lies so snug and secure on the pleas- ant lake-shore, means added human interest with every foot of decreasing altitude. It is a change from the sweetly solitary grass- lands above to the cultivated Italian coun- tryside below with its terraced vineyards, its patches of velvet on the slope, its crowded white hamlets, and semitropical villa gar- dens. More especially does the descent af- ford superb views of the lake and its lofty granite cliffs. Passing Armeno and Miasino, then under the railroad bridge, leaving to one side the Villa Crespi, — in Moorish style with a tall tower and gilded dome, — we curve down to the water's edge by a road lined with delight- ful villas, perched on rocky ground and bril- liant with trailing honeysuckle and rock plants of strange forms and colours. The villa of Marquis Natta lies at the southern 92 Riviera and Lago d'Orta entrance of the town proper, then suddenly we find ourselves within Orta itself. At the time of the author's visit three signs met the traveller at the entrance, one prohibiting beg- ging, another the trotting or galloping of horses, and a third the riding of bicycles " and such like " (e simili). What Orta has to say of automobiles to-day is not yet known to the author. There is a miniature square opening upon the lake, some exceedingly narrow streets paved with stone slabs, Ital- ian fashion, a wonder island out there upon the lake, and a wooded hill at the back laid out as a park. That is about all there is to Orta, but it is enough to make of it a tiny epitome of Italian history, art, and scenery, which will repay more than a passing glance from the railroad train. The square is also the market-place. It is picturesquely shaded by trees and has some diminutive porticoes. At one side stands an interesting municipio, or town hall, raised on columns like stilts. If the day be Wednes- day, the square will be alive with the weekly fair. There is the loud clamour of bargain- ing in the neighbouring inns and under the canvas covers of the stalls. In fact, canvas is much in evidence, for in this country every 93 The Italian Lakes rustic conveyance on land and water, from donkey-cart to rowboat, goes under canvas, for the sake both of sun and rain. Under the arches of the municipio a mountebank is giving an entertainment and earning fran- tic applause from the country people, who are quick to appreciate his every look and gesture. Many of these good people have come long distances, and betray in their clothes a tendency toward many varieties of costume. Later on, when the traveller has crossed the lake, climbed the Colma, and entered into the sequestered region of Varallo and be- yond, there will be many more costumes to cause wonder. Even if it were only for the enormous rich red or dark blue umbrellas, which the visitors to the fair of Orta carry along highway and lake-shore, there would be cause for gratitude, since the very um- brellas cast further notes of colour upon the fair Italian landscape. Then there are al- ways the donkeys to cause admiration, some- times harnessed with horses of hardly greater stature than themselves, sometimes driven tandem fashion before long funnel-shaped carts on two wheels, the latter covered, of course, with canvas. It would seem that all 94 Riviera and Lago d'Orta the spare change we may have about our persons, in the way of good-will and loving- kindness, might well be spent upon the meek and patient little donkeys of Italy, that give so much and ask so little in return. On the market-place by the lake stands the Hotel San Giulio, an hostelry of such quaint interest that it deserves description, even in a book which does not recommend particu- lar hotels to tourists. Hotel San Giulio has an interior court decorated with plants. Every aspect of the house is old-world and old-fashioned, and possibly even a little out of line, like an object of art made by hand and not manufactured by machinery. The two little galleries and the doors on their antique hinges give evidence of the good old times. They have the appearance of being home-made. In the days before the usefulness of the Simplon carriage road had begun to wane, and its popularity had been largely super- seded by that of the St. Gothard railroad, and long before the Simplon tunnel had been thought of, Orta saw much through traffic between Italy and the countries to the north, and much coming and going of notabilities, in public or private coaches, bound on im- 95 The Italian Lakes portant diplomatic and military errands, or on pleasure bent. Many of these travellers seem to have stayed at the San Giulio, and very obligingly wrote their names in the strangers' book of the hotel, thus making a truly extraordinary collection of autographs. Beginning with 1851, this book proceeds to enumerate a list of royalties and of other persons distinguished for one reason or an- other. The then King and Queen of Saxony head the list. There follow the names of many English lords and ladies. In bewildering array and without order of precedence, the reader's eyes fall upon the signatures of a Prince and Princess of Savoy, of Cavour, of several English generals, the Duchess of Genoa, German countesses, Prince and Prin- cess de Joinville, Baron Charles de Roths- child, English bishops and deans, Prince Jerome Napoleon, Russians, Belgians, le Due d'Aumale, Louis Kossuth (twice), Professor Ruskin of Oxford, the Queen of England (from Baveno, in 1879), tne Archbishop of Canterbury, the Prince and Princess of Prus- sia (Oct. 12, 1883), Baker Pasha, the Count of Flanders, and Queen Margherita of Italy (from Stresa, Sept. 26, 1891). 96 Riviera and Lago d'Orta And now to the island of San Giulio, which lies off the promontory of Orta, like a gem of special price pendent from a jew- elled necklace! You may have seen this island from the railroad, from the slopes in your descent upon Orta, or from the water-front of the market-place, but it should be seen also at closer quarters and examined from the van- tage-point of the water itself. At the time of the author's visit, there were half a dozen boatmen, organized as a sort of a benevolent society under the presidency of a fine-looking patriarch with a white beard. It was re- ported that these men had an arrangement by which their total earnings were pooled at the end of the week and a dividend declared after the fashion of real live syndicates. This arrangement at least prevented the usual skirmishes for employment among the men, and to that extent heightened the pleasure of the trip across to the island. Orta itself is not very modern in appear- ance and in appurtenances, but compared with the island of San Giulio, it is abso- lutely recent. The row over to the island takes us back not merely through the whole of modern and mediaeval history, but actu- 97 The Italian Lakes ally deposits us on the very edge of ancient history, in the period when Constantine, the Great, was ruler of the Roman Empire and had his capital at Byzantium, renamed Con- stantinople after himself. Tradition relates that during his reign two brothers, Julius and Julianus, were born of Christian parents on the Grecian island of iEgina, and that later in life, after many vicissitudes, they reached the shores of Lago d'Orta as Christian missionaries. Before set- tling there they seem to have suffered from the persecutions of the Emperor Valens, a partisan of Arianism, but to have received official authorization from Emperor Theo- dosius to carry on their missionary labours in outlying portions of the empire. They are reputed to have begun their work to- gether at Gozzano, near the southern end of the lake; then Julius, leaving his brother, is said to have established himself on the island now known as that of San Giulio. It must have seemed a far cry from the classic island in the /Egean Sea to this rocky islet under the shadow of the Alps. As the boat touches the steps of the island landing, and the visitor mounts from the water's edge into the interior of an ancient 9 8 Riviera and Lago d'Orta little basilica, he is reminded of the early centuries of Christian architecture. There have been many changes and restorations, but the general plan of this church recalls on a small scale the Church of S. Ambrose in Milan, the women's gallery, or matroneum, points back to St. Sophia in Constantinople, and the primitive pulpit reliefs suggest cer- tain ornaments of St. Mark's in Venice. A sarcophagus of white marble has been fur- nished with a lid and is used as an alms-box. The style of the leaf pattern of the sarcoph- agus shows that it dates from the Roman period of the Antonines, but the lettering, " Meinul," probably refers to one Meinulf, Duke of the Island of San Giulio, who was stationed here by the Longobardic Prince Agilulf. The principal feature of the Byzantine interior of the church is the archaic pulpit of serpentine marble, once green, now black with age, the stone having been cut from the neighbouring quarries of Oira. The reliefs on this pulpit represent the symbols of the four evangelists. There is also the figure of a man, possibly St. Paul, standing with a sword, and a number of fabulous and mys- tical animals are carved upon this pulpit, 99 The Italian Lakes similar to those seen at Gravedona on Lake Como. The pulpit stands upon four dis- similar columns, now somewhat mutilated. In the church a parchment is shown of Otto the Great, dated 962, and granting the canons of the basilica of San Giulio certain lands in return for services rendered against the Longobardic king, Berengar II., this tak- ing place in the very year in which Otto renewed the imperial office in Rome and in- stituted the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. The church also contains a Madonna ascribed to Gaudenzio Ferrari, and other paintings said to be by Guido Reni, Carlo Dolce, and Sasso Ferato. On the pillars local chroniclers have scratched bits of news, for the most part in strange Latin and set- ting forth the remarkable characteristics of the passing years, e.g. in 1523 there was much rain and cold, in 1588 there was no snow at all, in 1666 an extraordinary abun- dance of harvest, etc. When the church has been visited, the tour of the island should be made by boat. It will not take long, for the island is a. tiny affair, not more than three hundred yards in length and 160 in width. The houses, IQO * 1 St-*..* -■■ », \ Riviera and Lago d'Orta crowded together in a picturesque aggrega- tion, rise from the very edge of the quiet water in which their every detail is clearly mirrored. The campanile of the church, the seminary on the highest part, and below the dwellings and small villas, decorated with characteristic Italian loggie, terraces, and balconies, especially the graceful archways for boats, — all are faithfully duplicated in the water. The Italian love of house- tinting has found free play on the island of San Giulio, and produced results in the combinations of tones which win the admira- tion of visiting artists. Here a pale green house crowds against a pink one, then comes one in yellow, and even pale blue is not excluded; only the prosaic whitewash of common use seems to be barred from the col- our-scheme of the island of San Giulio. None of the precious space is wasted; where stone and mortar are not in possession, gar- dens bloom and creeping plants fill the very interstices of this island conglomeration. As the boat heads once more for Orta, the water-front of that town is seen to be pierced all along the line by the distinctive Italian archways for boats. Flowering balconies and tiny gardens make Orta brilliant, tur- IOI The Italian Lakes reted villas dot the hillside at the back, and the railroad, up above, adds to the beauty of the whole by the handsome arches of its bridge and its truly superb manner of con- struction. There remains for our inspection the Monte d'Orta, or sacra monte, just behind the town, intervening between the town proper and the railroad and occupying what might be termed the back of the promontory of Orta. The monte is a finely wooded hill laid out as a park, on which twenty chapels have been set among the trees to illustrate the life of St. Francis of Assisi. There are bright laurel hedges and convenient benches for the visitor along the shady paths. Here are oaks and pines, and in their midst carpets of green lawns gleam with the sheen of vel- vet pile. Here and there through the branch- ing trees glimpses are caught up and down the lake, as it sparkles under the action of wind and sun, or lies placid in the shelter of some projecting mountain. The bare soli- tary tower of Buccione rises in the south; opposite Orta, the church at Boleto is perched above sheer quarries of black gran- 102 Riviera and Lago d'Orta ite; from a tower on the summit of the hill even Monte Rosa is said to be visible. Amid the tranquillity of the park voices come up from the market-place below, a cart rumbles on the highway, a cock crows in a village barn-yard, or a church-bell rings. The tiled roofs of the town, green, red, and brown, stretch themselves in many lines toward the lake and make for rest and shel- ter. 103 CHAPTER X OVER THE COLMA TO VARALLO: CHESTNUT FORESTS, VARALLO, GAUDENZIO FERRARI, SACRO MONTE, FOBELLO AND BEYOND Chestnut Forests Fold on fold the chestnut forests mount from Lake Orta to the Colle di Colma. Fold on fold they descend on the other side, in rich rounded waves of foliage, and stretch for miles in a sea of exquisite colour down into the Val Sesia. A great part of the way over the pass is brightened for the trav- eller in the month of June by the glisten of their satin leaves, the yellow tassels of their blossoms, or the vivid green of their count- less burrs. This is decidedly the chestnut belt in which the visitor to the southern foot of the Alps finds himself. Farther south are the vineyards in the foot-hills, then come the irrigated fields of rice in the plains, but here the chestnut reigns supreme, a staple product, a crop constituting a veritable agricultural J04 Chestnut Forests and commercial department of its own in fruitful Italy. In the silent dawn one of the fraternity of boatmen rows you across Lake Orta to the white houses of Pella, where the path starts for the pass. The lake lies calm and un- ruffled in its titanic cup, the storied island of San Giulio rests upon the water like a float- ing swan asleep. Pella itself, though tiny of dimension, is full of importance by reason of a paper-mill, and, as you start to climb through the trees, a bell presently tinkles in the solitude, giving the impression that some alpine cow with her bell has wandered down to the lowlands. But on nearer approach it is discovered that there is a busy brook amid the opulent verdure, which turns a rude wheel, which again rings a bell, which is to announce the presence of a little inn with a thatched roof. Indeed the thatched cot- tage is characteristic of the slopes of the Colle di Colma, especially on the side of the Val Sesia, where many neat barns, built partly of stone and mortar and partly of wood, are heavily weighted with picturesque straw hoods. The path wanders very much at haphazard through the forest. Here charcoal-burners 105 The Italian Lakes are detected at work; there, in a clearing, a little flock of tall, long-legged Berga- mesque sheep nibble peacefully; white, bell- like flowers punctuate the shaded stretches of velvet turf; the brook murmurs an accom- panient to our footsteps; and all day long the cuckoo calls from branch to branch, far and near, over the great chestnut belt. It is worth a long trip to reach these unique woodland experiences among the chestnuts and walnuts of Italy. But sylvan solitude is not for long on these thickly settled slopes; the prospect opens; through the branches glimpses are caught of villages clinging to the mountains; the path is bordered by cultivated patches, and presently it widens into a road, and the road becomes a cobbled street. We are passing through a village built on a small scale. A sudden corner brings us into the diminutive square; a gaudily dressed woman is seen leaning out of the window of a house oppo- site the church, at another window a man appears in the act of playing the flute to a song-bird in a cage. There is something startling about the appearance of these peo- ple, and we stop to watch them, — but they do not move. The woman silently watches 1 06 Varallo the street, the man holds the flute to his lips immovably. Moreover, there is no sound. What, is it possible? We step nearer. Yes, the figures are painted. The instinct which induces the Italian to paint artificial windows upon his house walls, or superb vases at the corners of his best balcony, has found ex- pression also in this secluded mountain vil- lage. And then we swing downward, with long strides, over a fine, new road into a region that is not strictly of the Italian lakes, but is so near of kin that it shall find mention in this book, the Val Sesia, with Varallo as its capital. Varallo At the confluence of the rapid rushing tor- rents of the Sesia and the Mastallone, and at the end of the railroad from Novara, lies one of the most picturesquely placed towns of Italy. The first sight of Varallo, as the traveller reaches it from the trip over the Colma, is in its way as memorable as the view of some of Italy's great hill towns, Siena, Orvieto, or Perugia. It is sights such as these which explain the landscape backgrounds of some 107 The Italian Lakes of the old masters and the classical subjects of more modern painters, - — backgrounds and subjects which often look so strangely artificial and imaginary to northern eyes. But at Varallo, in this subalpine world, with the lower mountain slopes clothed in a prac- tically continuous forest of chestnut-trees, — just as north of the Alps the slopes are pine clad, — all the ingredients are at hand for pictures fit to tax the most willing credulity and power of perception. This cuckoo- haunted region of sylvan affluence and abun- dance forms a fitting link between the ancient cities of the plain and the immemorial Alps. A little old town clusters and climbs about the foot of a great rock which looks like a lofty citadel with crown and diadem. The cliff towers above this Italian town and dominates it as truly as ever an acropolis overhung a town of ancient Greece. But in- stead of fortress masonry and classic temples, the Sacro Monte of Varallo presents the picture of peaceful walls, loggias, and domes belonging to church and chapel. We enter the city by a long suburban avenue, new, bare, and glaring. Then comes the railroad station and a piazza with statue of Victor Emmanuel II. These modern evi- 108 Gaudenzio Ferrari dences once left behind, we plunge into streets characteristic of the past. Here are the arcades once more, the stairways, bal- conies, and interior courts; here we are im- pressed again with the curious waywardness, the diminutiveness, and the unexpectedness of things Italian. There is a powerful bridge over the Mastallone, and near it a statue of General Giacomo Antonini. But Varallo is also bestirring itself to keep pace with the demands of the present. Hence there is an Alpine club with reading-room, to which visitors are admitted, a huge hydropathic establishment, a big cotton-mill, and the blare of trumpets resounds through the streets to the quick march of battalions of gay Al- pini, or alpine troops. Varallo also possesses a natural history collection, in conjunction with a small picture-gallery, and this turns thought to the painter who has given the town one of its claims upon world-wide at- tention, — Gaudenzio Ferrari. Gaudenzio Ferrari {1484 - 1 549 > °r I 47^ " 1546) There is a quiet little square in Varallo, grass-grown and almost pathetic in its aloof- 109 The Italian Lakes ness, which goes by the name of Piazza Fer- rari. Here, surrounded by a ring of little houses crowded one against the other, with peaked mountain forms for a background, stands the marble statue of Gaudenzio Fer- rari by Vedova. The painter is represented somewhat conventionally with an open scroll in one hand, and the other extended as though in the act of explaining or illustrating some thesis. He wears the cap, tunic, and hose and the flowing robe of his day and fashion. Some symbolical medallions and an inscription decorate the pedestal, and an iron railing throws a protecting octagon around the whole. Thus the painter stands amid the silence, of the mountains. Gaudenzio Ferrari belonged to the Milan- ese or Piedmontese school, but he went fur- ther afield and studied in Florence and Rome. He was a contemporary of Raphael, a prolific painter of sacred subjects, an art- ist of distinct power, who probably reached the climax of his achievements in the work which he did in the pilgrimage church of Saronno. Some of his best painting is also to be found in the cathedral of Como, in Turin, and in the Brera Gallery of Milan, but next to Saronno, Varallo is decidedly no Sacro Monte the place to study Gaudenzio Ferrari at his best. There he has left specimens of his work in the old collegiate church of San Gauden- zio, in Santa Maria di Loreto, and in the chapels of the Sacro Monte. In the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, a small edifice of insignificant appearance, Ferrari painted a Passion in twenty-one scenes on the rood screen, with the Crucifixion as the central and largest fresco. These frescoes look exceed- ingly well preserved. A striking feature of his work is that in some cases details have been worked out in actual relief from the wall, in order to heighten the effect of the perspective; thus in the fresco of the Cru- cifixion, a leg of the centurion on horseback is modelled as well as painted. This species of art prepares the traveller for the remark- able combination of the plastic arts with the art of painting, which is characteristic of the terra-cotta groups in the chapels of the Sacro Monte higher up. Sacro Monte From Santa Maria delle Grazie a broad pathway shaded by chestnut-trees leads up- iii The Italian Lakes ward to the summit of the great cliff. It is a steep inclined plane; the cobbles have been carefully laid, and many feet through many years have worn a smooth and hard road-bed. Up there is the " New Jerusa- lem," consisting of a large church with a marble fagade, mosaics, and bronze doors, and of no less than forty-six chapels or ora- tories set apparently at every angle and rep- resenting a great variety in architecture and site. Interspersed among the chapels are shade-trees, shrubberies, and beds of flowers. The chapels, which are not made to be entered, contain portrayals of Scriptural scenes by means of life-size figures in terra-cotta, dat- ing mostly from the sixteenth century. The Sacro Monte of Varallo was founded by a monk, Bernardino Caimo, on his return from a visit to the Holy Land toward the end of the fifteenth century, at about the time that Columbus discovered America. Most of the chapels, however, date from a later period, after Carlo Borromeo had paid two visits to the place in the sixteenth century, and given the whole the name of the " New Jeru- salem." It is not easy to judge fairly of the type of art to be found in the chapels, while cling- 112 Sacro Monte ing closely to the standards set by modern taste. The attempt has been made in them to combine sculpture and painting, and this has been done in a manner generally both crude and vivid. Terra-cotta, wood, fres- coed backgrounds, and bas-reliefs have all been used in the desire to produce realistic effects. Thus the heads are covered with real hair, and the figures with actual clothes of linen and cloth. As the visitor passes along the series of numbered chapels from one oratory to another, and looks through the gratings or peep-holes, it is easier for him to appreciate the intention of the artists than to commend their methods or results. The evident intent is to enact picture plays in pantomime, to produce passion or miracle plays, or a species of tableaux in perpetuity, with the action of a great number of persons suddenly arrested. In addition to whatever interest these scenes may arouse from an artistic standpoint, it is clear that they throw some light upon the habits and customs of the sixteenth century, for the artists repro- duced the fashions of their own day, and were not above perpetrating anachronisms. The best groups are by Tabacchetti and Stella. Tabacchetti's real name was De The Italian Lakes Wespin, being of Flemish origin. The Cru- cifixion attributed to Gaudenzio Ferrari him- self, or to an artist working from his designs, is perhaps the principal work of all. The materials used are combined with great skill, occasionally there is much beauty of model- ling, as in " The Nativity," showing Mary and Joseph stooping over the child Jesus. Here face and hands are full of unusual beauty and refinement. The " Flight into Egypt " serves as an excellent illustration of the combination of different materials used, for the donkey supporting the figures of Mary and Jesus is of wood, a real rope passes from its mouth to the hand of an angel, which, however, is painted upon the fres- coed background. In " The Last Supper " the table is heaped with viands and fruits of many kinds, the walls of the apartment are handsomely decorated, and an open door shows servitors in waiting. In " The Entry into Jerusalem " a figure, probably that of Zacchaeus, is seen in the sycamore-tree. The scene representing the " Ecce Homo " is de- picted in a palace court of profuse richness of decoration. The figure of Jesus appears on a marble balcony, surrounded by his per- secutors. Below a great variety of persons 114 Sacro Monte are watching his torments with gesture and mien expressive of their particular sentiments toward him. " The Crucifixion " is a work of power and tragic gloom intensified by the portrayal of the crowd's pitiless curiosity and the greed of the soldiers in casting lots for Jesus' garments. Yet, when all is said and done, the true significance of these historic scenes cannot be materialized, but must be spiritually ap- prehended. Hence when every artistic merit which it is possible to see in these chapel scenes has been acknowledged, there is no doubt that the visitor turns from them with relief to the glad sunshine of all outdoors. The view from the chief point of vantage on the Sacro Monte stretches southward over the Val Sesia, bathed in genial light, and northward up the narrowing valleys to the great mountains beyond. From the town below sounds of homely activity rise to warm our hearts again, and even the whistling and clanging of trains at the railroad station come as a welcome change. As we pass out of the " New Jerusalem," there is a cheery, voluble game of bowls going on under the spreading trees over by the restaurant and cafe. It may not be amiss for us to sit on "5 The Italian Lakes the grass and watch the merry group for awhile, before descending to the workaday world once more. In the meantime peasant women, in the distinctive costumes with which the region to the north is so rich, come and go up and down the great inclined plane of the cobbled pathway. Fobello and Beyond Northward from Varallo lies a region of surpassing interest and beauty, which has not yet attracted the attention of many regu- lar tourists, but is known principally to Ital- ian visitors and to alpine climbers intent upon Swiss passes and the high peaks of the Zermatt and Saas valley districts. It is a region of spreading valleys that seem to have but one dominant thought, one inspiration and aspiration, namely, Monte Rosa, undis- puted in. her rule and benefactions. Viewed from this southern aspect, the snow peaks appear to start up out of the very forests of chestnut at their bases into a sky of Italian limpidity and softness. The omnibus will take you from Varallo, up the Val Sesia, to Alagna, a large village admirably placed for excursions in the n6 Fobello and Beyond Monte Rosa group. It is a centre for ex- perts among the climbing fraternity and also for Italian summer guests. Visitors there sometimes catch a glimpse of the picturesque ceremonial of the blessing of the sheep. In another direction, up the Val Mastallone, it is possible to drive to Fobello, and thence to walk over the Colle di Baranca into the Val Anzasca, and thus by carriage road up to Macugnaga, at the foot of Monte Rosa. Or, diverging from the Val Mastallone before reaching Fobello, a road will be found as- cending the Landwasser from the Ponte delle Due Acque and leading to Rimella, a hamlet of German-speaking peasants. This community and other similar Ger- man-speaking ones on the southern side of Monte Rosa were planted by immigrants from the Upper Valais in Switzerland. This fact was first pointed out by De Saussure, as long ago as 1789, and has since been con- firmed by a careful examination and com- parison of dialects and customs. In other quarters the opinion has been advanced that these peasants were perhaps Teutonic refu- gees from the plain of Lombardy, but this theory has not been sustained. The simi- larity of the dialects in the Upper Valais 117 The Italian Lakes with those in the German communities on the southern side of the Alps refutes such a supposition. Especially is there a striking resemblance among words dealing with do- mestic utensils and with pastoral life in the heights. Besides Rimella, there are traces of German at Alagna, Gressoney, Rima, and Macugnaga. But, whichever way one turns in these val- leys north of Varallo, the discovery is quickly made that this district is one of the very last refuges of the peasant costume, as a regular daily institution. Nowhere else in the western Alps, to my knowledge, have distinctive peasant costumes survived in more profusion, at least among the women. Every valley seems to display a difference in cut, texture, or colour. Especially do the women of Fobello dis- tinguish themselves from the rest on this account. They wear curious cloth leggings and short petticoats, and at first sight, ex- cept for their white skins, they look not un- like American Indians, veritable squaws of the mountains. These leggings, calzone, or more properly trouser legs, are richly worked; the linen bodice, too, has inser- tions of embroidery, and there is always an u8 Fobello and Beyond apron, which is generally folded up in front so as to serve as a handy pocket. As for the men of this same region at the southern foot of Monte Rosa, they have entirely dis- carded peasant costumes, if they ever had any. The reason is not far to seek. They emigrate annually to France, Switzerland, or Germany to find work, leaving the women at home to perform the field and woodland labour and keep up the local traditions. This constant contact with the great world out- side has long since made peasant costumes inconvenient and undesirable for the men of this region. It is reported that Fobello sends many men cooks into foreign parts. The drive from Varallo to Fobello is full of novelty, partly by reason of the women's costumes, varying with every valley that opens to right or left, and partly on account of the extraordinary scenery. The Val Mas- tallone itself is a narrow defile of savage and sombre mien; the water flows glass-green in the river-bed, where an occasional fisher- man may be seen at a pool on trout intent. The picturesque Ponte della Gula and the Ponte delle Due Acque, already mentioned, are landmarks. As the posta, or post-chaise, progresses, 119 The Italian Lakes we pass women carrying enormous loads of brushwood on their backs or heads. Their costume is dark blue, kerchiefs of the same colour are tied over their heads. Other women are met wearing footless stockings, which leave the feet bare. Some wear white sleeves and chemisettes, others show bright green or red trimmings. Farther on, the dark blue dress receives a wide scarlet bor- der, and the women, working on their tiny terraced patches or watching the goats on the slopes, look like vivid red blotches against the green. Thick-soled slippers of felt make their appearance, big gold ear- rings shine under the dark hair, and the dresses are fastened by ornate yokes over the shoulders. It would take an expert to do justice to all the shifting changes of costume in a day's journey through this land under the shadow of Monte Rosa. From Fobello a good path leads over the Colle di Baranca to Pontegrande, or over the Colle d'Egua to Carcoforo. The Italian passes are not yet as carefully marked as those of Switzerland or Tyrol, and in case of bad weather, or out of season, there may be need of some way-showing, even for an expert. Sometimes the clouds 120 Fobello and Beyond descend suddenly; in thick weather the path is easily lost as it reaches the pastures or rocky stretches. Yet, if the sense of fear is not indulged, there is a mighty joy in the interplay of contending forces. Perhaps, as the mists part, there is a momentary glimpse of a pole standing in the snow upon some mountain saddle; that is enough for the time being as an indication of the way, and presently the greatly desired other side is viewed at last. Far below lie the huts of a welcome alp, spelling refuge and safety. Since, throughout this region, the able- bodied men spend only about two months of the year at home, a few innkeepers, a shoe- maker or two, some masons making repairs, some men working on the roads, and a few little boys tending the goats are about the only representative males in evidence. It would then seem just to the good women of these valleys to feel some special gratitude to them for the well-tended pastures on the slopes, the neat hamlets on terraces, and the general picturesqueness they impart. Neces- sity has peopled these alpine valleys; no mere enthusiasm for mountain scenery has drawn this population to its laborious, unre- mitting, and largely cheerless tasks. No one 121 The Italian Lakes can pass through these valleys and view the conditions of earthly existence there with- out wishing mankind every just and hon- ourable relief from such burdens, and a greater participation in the comforts and pleasures of life. At this point, our excursion, away from the lakes into the forest recesses and under the vaulting branches of the chestnut belt, must cease and the return must be made, in accordance with a strict pursuance of the subject indicated by the title of this book. 122 CHAPTER XI LAKE LUGANO AFTER the broad and expansive beauties of Lakes Maggiore and Como, Lake Luga- no's merits strike one as of quite another order. This lake is the Cinderella among the sisters, untamed, unsophisticated, and unpremeditated, a wild little thing with savage, bizarre twists and turns. Sir John Lubbock, in " The Scenery of Switzerland," tells us that it " owes its com- plex form to the fact that it consists of two longitudinal and two transverse valleys dammed up by moraines." John Adding- ton Symonds, in his " Sketches in Italy," depicts its chief beauty when he writes of it as " coloured with the tints of fluor-spar, or with the changeful green and azure of a pea- cock's breast." Indeed, seen from the heights, it may be fancifully likened, on a monster scale, to one of those brilliant liz- ards tinted in rich greens and blues, which 123 The Italian Lakes may be seen at times in this subalpine re- gion. If comparisons must needs be made, Lake Lugano may be said to' bear some- what the same scenic relation to Lake Mag- giore that Lake Luzern bears, for instance, to Lake Geneva. The regular tourist approaches are nu- merous. There is first of all the interna- tional line of the St. Gothard, which skirts a portion of its eastern and western shores and crosses from side to side between Bissone and Melide on a viaduct half a mile long. Then there is the steam-train from Luino on Lake Maggiore to pretty, bustling little Ponte Tresa, where the transfer is made to a Lugano steamboat. There is also the de- lightful trip over from Menaggio on Lake Como to Porlezza by miniature railroad, and thence by steamboat to the city of Lu- gano. Besides these generally used lines of travel there is the railroad from Varese to Porto Ceresio ; while from Argegno on Lake Como a splendid road leads through the high-placed Val d'lntelvi to Osteno or to Maroggia on Lake Lugano. Coming over from Menaggio, fresh from the exuberant villa gardens of Lake Como, the traveller may at first find Lake Lugano 124 Lake Lugano a. trifle sad of appearance and neglected looking, and the eye needs to accustom itself to a complete change of characteristics. Embarking at Porlezza, we stop at Osteno with its gorges, and then touch at a series of villages, all upon the northern bank, perched in the track of the sun like a row of swallows' nests, beginning with Cima, Cressogno, and Loggio. At San Mamette there is an immensely picturesque bit. The Oriental-looking, basin-like Val Solda opens at the back, and high above are the white houses of Castello. Then follow Albogasio, Oria, Bellarma, Gandria (a considerable place), then Castagnola at the foot of Monte Bre, and, finally, prosperous Lugano, the city, with its water-front of hotels and its environs full of grace and charm. The author has already devoted some pages to Lugano in a previous work, " Ro- mance and Teutonic Switzerland," but it is a pleasure to tell of the place's growing at- tractiveness. For all its Italian arcades and its Italian gardens, the city wears a substantial Swiss air. Thrift and progress are stamped upon it, and wealth and commerce flow into it, as befits a station on the main line between 125 The Italian Lakes Germany and Italy. Lugano has now also a cable line running up from the quay to the high-placed station of the St. Gothard R. R., and another line mounting to the near-by view-point, Monte San Salvatore; likewise an electric line connecting the two cable roads and branching out into the surround- ing country. There are no less than three steamboat piers; the great number of hotels and pensions are designed to suit every purse; the shops are filled with the best of this world's goods, even English groceries being procurable; and there are walks and drives py land and excursions by water in many directions. To the east lies green Monte Bre, with vineyards and olive-trees; oppo- site, bare Monte Caprino, and landward, villas of growing magnificence clothe the circling hills. Especially have the Germans long since learned to avail themselves of Lugano as a spring and autumn resort, convenient of ac- cess. Hither came Moltke and Roon after the Franco-Prussian war, and the then Crown Prince of Germany. Georg Ebers, the Egyptologist, made annual visits to Lu- gano, and altogether the progress of the place has been advantageously affected by 126 Lake Lugano the presence of these enthusiastic, well-edu- cated, and warm-hearted visitors from north of the Alps. During the Italian struggle for independ- ence, from 1848 to 1866, Lugano was fre- quently used by Mazzini as his headquarters. The little village of Capolago, at the head of the lake, whence the railroad starts for the summit of Monte Generoso, contained the Libreria Elvetica, the famous printing- press from which revolutionary appeals to the Italian people were issued and literature was distributed. The village lies just across the frontier from Italy. At Ligornetto, off to the west from the railroad station of Mendrisio, the sculptor Vincenzo Vela was born, to whom reference is made several times in this volume. He has left a great deal of work in statuary throughout the southern slope of the Alps. A little museum contain- ing models of his works is maintained at Ligornetto. This sculptor was one of many artistic workmen and master builders who have gone out into the world from this re- gion or from the high-lying Val d'lntelvi. The boundary-line between Switzerland and the countries at the southern foot of the Alps performs many curious and apparently 127 The Italian Lakes unaccountable tricks along its many miles of extent, but this is particularly the case on and about Lake Lugano. Here, for example, the Italian frontier takes the most astonish- ing tumble at the foot of Monte Generoso. The Italian village of Campione is entirely surrounded by Swiss territory, with the re- sult that strange custom-house complications are constantly arising. Thus also, when you descend from the summit of Monte Generoso by the beautiful path which dips down in many zigzags and curves to the Val d'ln- telvi, you pass from Switzerland to Italy, and an armed custom-house guard considers it necessary to search even the most harm- less and innocuous knapsack for contraband. It will be of interest to botanists, for whom, indeed, the region of Lake Lugano, and es- pecially the mountain-form of Monte Gene- roso, contain many delights, to learn that on rocky Monte Salvatore a little red flower grows which is said to be found nowhere else, the Daphne Salvatoria. Naturally the supply of water in all the Italian lakes is largely dependent upon the condition of the snow in the mountains. This is true also of Lake Lugano. But the variation in normal times is singularly slight, 128 Lake Lugano and year in and year out, decade by decade, the sweet blue mountain lake with its shal- lows of vivid green snuggles down between its steep banks, secure and caressed by the touch of sunshine. The spring flowers peep and blossom in the neighbouring valleys, primroses, violets, periwinkles, starry anem- ones, and lilies of the valley. The summer heat sweeps them aside and ripens grape, fig, and olive, and the autumn garners a full vintage from the vineyards and an amazing crop from the chestnut and walnut forests. 129 CHAPTER XII MONTE GENEROSO THERE is something in the very name of Monte Generoso which leads us to expect great things. When we reach the summit we find it to be one of the most munificent, large-hearted, and broad-minded of our ben- efactors among the mountains, spreading out its welcome with panoramic gesture and in- viting free inspection of its treasures in peak and plain, land and water. All the alpine heights are friends of ours, and we like to dwell upon their good points and virtues, since from their tops the glib, the sordid, and the futile look low-down and insignificant. Even the little hillocks, to which we climb for an outlook, give us a freer aspect, and bring us nearer heaven. But Monte Generoso somehow wins our special affection, because it gives so lavishly and profusely of its best in return for very little effort on our part. It is so situated 130 Monte Generoso between Lakes Lugano and Como as to dom- inate an area of unusual variety. From its summit can be read an epitome of the fairest and the best qualities of the Italian lakes region. Among all the mountains of the Alps, none can be found to resent the un- stinted praise which tourists and travellers gladly render to this famous point of view. The topmost peaks of white are far above any petty jealousy, and fear no competition, while the lower heights look up to Monte Generoso with genuine respect and fraternal good feeling. Monte Generoso has planned its largess on a sumptuous scale, with titanic proportions and open-handed hospitality. A mountain railway runs up to the hotel, and a short walk leads to the pinnacle of its fame, — the rock, w T hence lie revealed the glories of the range of the Alps, the rolling masses and ser- rated ridges of the fore-hills and spurs, the wealth of colour of lakes and flower-like islands and the table tapestry of the plain of Lombardy. There are several paths from the shores of Lakes Lugano and Como for those who wish to walk, but now that the railroad mounts so conveniently from Capo- lago, it is well to remember that these paths til The Italian Lakes can be used going down as well as up, — and even a little better. As you slip out from the summit hotel to see the sunrise, the larks are already singing and soaring jubilantly in the half-light over the grassy slopes. The cool clean air blows fresh across a scene of extraordinary gran- deur and compass. Northward the chain of the Alps lies ashen gray in the dawn, wait- ing for the touch of light to fire its beauties, paint its peaks in bright colours and block out its deep shadows. Below and round about, the world of the Italian lakes still sleeps be- fore renewing the bustle and brilliancy of its daytime activities. Then comes the sun. It picks out Monte Rosa for first honours and special favours, and tips its five-fingered massif with a rosy glow. The sun now proceeds to honour by de- grees all the other peaks in this amphithea- tre of the Alps, in the order of their height and skyward attainment, touching them in a strict order of precedence that never va- ries, when the sky is clear, until its rays have surmounted the last intervening range and are seen to shine on all alike. Many of them are old-time favourites of ours, which 132 Monte Generoso have been seen before from other points of view, in detachments, companies, and groups, but are here brought together for a grand international review. Standing oh Swiss soil, we can let the eye sweep from the Graian Alps to the moun- tains of Tyrol, from France, over a good bit of Switzerland and Northern Italy to Aus- tria. It is our privilege thus to unite all these countries in our kindly regard and pro- found appreciation. Beginning with the pyramidal Monte Viso, off to the west be- yond Turin in Piedmont, the eye strays past Gran Paradiso to Monte Rosa and other peaks of the Zermatt region. The Matter- horn is there, but curiously dwarfed by Monte Rosa. Eastward along the line we come upon our familiar friends of the Ber- nese Oberland, now strangely distant in their attitude, the Aletschhorn, the Jungfrau, the Finsteraarhorn, and others. Then comes the break in the alpine wall where lies the St. Gothard Pass, and after that the Rheinwald- horn, the mountains between Val Ticino and Lake Como, a glimpse of the mountains of the Engadine and the Spliigen Pass, and finally the Colmo dei Tre Signori on the frontier of Italy and Austria. *33 The Italian Lakes As the sun's rays creep down into the fore- hills a cuckoo calls to the morn from below in the chestnut groves, and this call super- sedes the tremulous note of an owl in the thickets; the larks careen more gaily than ever in the faultless air, and presently the cattle are seen moving out from the huts where they have spent the night. They spread out over the rolling uplands in single file, or group themselves upon the knolls, where their deep brown and brilliant buff colours contrast well with the rich green of the pastures and the pale blue of the farther mountains. As the sun rises still higher in the heav- ens all the details of this surprising sub- alpine region come more boldly to the fore, — forests, watercourses, roads, villages, cul- tivated fields, and villages nestling in the mountain basins. Down at Melide the shal- low spots in Lake Lugano show glass-green beside the azure of the deeper parts. A constant rumble ascends from the torrent near Rovio. The height of San Salvatore far below looks like a younger brother of Monte Generoso with its striking resem- blance. The town of Lugano basks beside a minia- i34 Monte Generoso ture Bay of Naples, and the Val dTntelvi seems as though caught up from the world to live apart. In the direction of Lake Mag- giore there are glimpses of Arona, Stresa, Isola Bella, and of the island castle at Can- nero. Over there lies Bellagio like a lion couchant on its headland, dividing Lake Como into halves. Black dots of people can be seen strolling on the Bellagio quay, and the steamboat crawls across to Varenna. The town of Como itself lies hidden, but its neighbouring and characteristic Baradello tower looms up large and near. Varese, the town, shows clear and bright, and so does Varese, the lake, with its pond-like attend- ants, Monate and Comabbio. Turning our backs for a moment on the mountains, and looking southward, the hills of the Brianza are seen to fall away toward the great level floor of the plain of Lom- bardy, where new marvels await the gaze; we pass from the sight of little white vil- lages, clinging to the rims of mountain ter- races, to the faint outlines of great cities, stretching out upon a vast alluvial valley, which is lined off with rows of Lombardy poplars and mulberry-trees. Looking closely we see roads, walls, and other signs which 135 The Italian Lakes humanity scratches upon the surface of the earth. As the weather and the telescope per- mit, Milan, Lodi, Crema, Cremona, Pavia, Piacenza, or possibly even Turin, may be seen like blurred and hazy spots upon the great stretch of mixed greens which reaches as far as the Apennines. Through the glass the cathedral of Milan looks like a chiseled gray pebble, buttressed on either side with spiders' webs. Herein lies the great charm of the view from Monte Generoso, in this vivid contrast between the silver arctics of the Alps and the dim half-tones of the Lombardy rice-fields. Here are uninhabited wastes of ice, snow, and rock, there sleep the fruitful lowlands, fat with the olive and the vine; here nature in her most stupendous mood has carved out her most massive constructions, there man's most delicate handiwork has wrought some of the world's great masterpieces in architec- ture, painting, and sculpture. From Monte Generoso it is possible to see at one sweep of the eye the rude alpine hut, the monster modern hotel, furnished with the most re- cent inventions, and the ancient palazzo, frescoed and full of storied art; to trace the cow-path on the steep slope, the broad 136 Monte Generoso carriage road along the lake, and the rail- road circling through the foot-hills. Over yonder, on the brink of precipices, grow the edelweiss, the gentian, and the alpine rose; down below in the fair Italian gardens that line the shores of the lakes, beautify the islands and dot the plains, waxen camellias grow profusely, lavender wistaria blossoms on house walls, and rhododendron hedges stand guard about the villas. In the heights the hawk sails slowly on the wing, and wild mountain birds dart and cry shrilly; down below pretty pigeons flap, swoop, and strut among the housetops, and nightingales sing their cadences in the thickets of the lake-side terraces. Yes, Monte Generoso does not belie its name, and in return we can at least speak well of our grand host, and praise the good men who built the hotel and the railroad. Geologists will be interested to know that the limestone formation of Monte Generoso contains marine fossils and petrifactions. Mere laymen in matters of natural history can also learn much about the formation of lakes by observation from Monte Generoso. Under the revealing touch of the sun, the making of the Italian lakes goes on apace, i37 The Italian Lakes while we wait and watch. First of all, there are the clouds which are seen to gather in groups along the white snow-capped mountains and cover them here and there with big shade spots of many shapes; they hover over the violet foot-hills and drop their purple shadows on the green slopes; they stretch out gentle, caressing fingers over the cliffs and the rocky debris, to hide the sterile mountainsides and ease their lot of constant exposure and disintegration. These same clouds will some day fall as snow and hail upon the topmost peaks and cover the foot-hills with refreshing showers. The water will seek the lower level by degrees and find the lakes. Afar off, on the glaciers, tiny globules of ice and delicate snow embroideries are even now melting under the action of the sun, and water is trickling down the seams and folds of the mountain flanks. Little streams are passing through gorge and over water- fall, and bursting forth as full-grown tor- rents among the southern foot-hills. They are being led over beds of mountain rubble, by many twists and turns, into the great reservoirs, called lakes, where the work of filtering and purifying turns the gray water 138 Monte Generoso into the superb azure which the world ad- mires. And so the day advances amid such sights and sounds, and the late afternoon is here with its special charms. A goat ninnies for her straying young. To right and left the tinkle of many cow-bells rises and falls on the breeze. A flock of sheep nibbles on the slope, taking no notice of the great pano- ramic world beyond, each round, fluffy mite of cream colour casting a deep shadow to throw itself into relief. And all the while the water of the lakes below glitters like watered silk under the ruffling of the wind. As the sun dips still farther, its slanting rays catch the corner of a lake, flood it with light and convert it into a sheet of fire. The swallows dart about with a wild provocative skim, circle, and swish of the wings. The mountains grow a trifle sullen and dark, and the valleys dim. Finally only black waver- ing lines tell of the presence of the ridges. But a sudden ray of the setting sun pierces through the gloom and illumines some slope with startling green. The cattle are seen to be driven in for the milking. Then comes the cleansing, fine-weather wind which draws down and whistles a little angrily 139 The Italian Lakes in the ravines. Otherwise a great quiet set- tles over mountain and lake. By and by it is quite dark in the plain, and the night comes by degrees even for us, but it will be light for a good while longer on the top- most peaks, and longest of all on Monte Rosa. To-morrow, with the return of the first rays, the way will lie down the grassy slopes to the Val d'Intelvi and to the borders of our lowland lakes once more. 140 CHAPTER XIII VARESE, LAKE AND CITY The Lake of Varese does not pretend to vie in beauty or interest with its big sisters, Lakes Maggiore, Lugano, or Como. Were it not for its situation, it might be considered a commonplace pond of largish size, some- what more than two miles long and about half as wide, with three attendant ponds of lesser size, Biandronno, Monate, and Co- mabbio. The Lake of Varese is quite shal- low with reedy banks; and there is next to no navigation upon it, even by rowboat. No large villages group themselves directly upon its margin, but those which may be seen in the neighbourhood have rather sought the surrounding hills. As a sheet of water the Lake of Varese is plain and uninterest- ing, and yet its very humility enables it to perform to perfection one of the chief func- tions of a lake, — it reflects. It lies at the very feet of the last spurs which the Alps MI The Italian Lakes send southward to invade the plain, and mirrors a vast army of lesser and greater heights standing rank on rank against the western sky. In this lies its reward; here its glory and use as a part of the surpassing subalpine landscape. Indeed John Adding- ton Symonds gives this simple lake high praise. He writes in his " Sketches in Italy:" " In some picturesque respects Varese is the most perfect of the lakes. Those long lines of swelling hills, that lead into the level, yield an infinite series of placid fore- grounds, pleasant to the eye by contrast with the dominant snow-summits from Monte Viso to Monte Leone." There may be some resemblance to the English lake region, which makes this dis^- trict especially attractive to English writers, for Ruskin wrote his father in 1845: "I wished for you sadly yesterday as I was driving from the Lake of Varese down to Laveno opposite Baveno. You cannot con- ceive anything so beautiful as the winding of the lakes, five or six seen at once among the mulberry woods and tufted crags. But, as I said to myself at the time, it was only the more beautiful because it was more like 142 Varese, Lake and City Windermere, or rather, like many Winder- meres." There is a certain distinct value about those lesser lakes which lie in the plain suf- ficiently far to admit of a panoramic view of the Alps. One always feels this special beauty about Lake Neuchatel in Switzer- land. It is as though, like the painter, one had stepped back from the easel, leaned his head on one side, and gained the general impression so much desired. There are days, times, moods, and seasons when these humbler lowland members among the lake family, though they seem somewhat distant connections of the Alpine lakes, display a unique beauty by the self-effacing method of reflection. The country district in which the Lake of Varese lies goes by the name of the Vare- sotto. It is fertile and populous, a smiling region where rows of mulberry-trees, care- fully trimmed, grow in the open fields, and vineyards clothe the slopes. Somehow the Varesotto seems to have more than its share of those days of grate- ful and gracious recollection, when an extra brightness lurks in the green of the grass, the white of the road, and the blue of the 143 The Italian Lakes sky. The sun sends down its slanting rays between the passage of majestic clouds. In rolling folds they sail before a breeze full of enterprise and balm. Indeed a special benison accompanies the lofty travel of these clouds over the earth. Wholly white them- selves, they let fall grateful shadows alike upon the tillers of the soil and the men perched in the trees packing mulberry-leaves into long bags for the silkworms; upon the oxen drawing creakng wagons along the highway; and the patient donkeys trotting gingerly in front of canvas-covered carts. And when the appeal from the thirsty earth and tired humanity becomes irresistible, the clouds, overburdened with sympathy, de- velop an undertone of gloom and presently dissolve in rain. Such showers may fall on the fields of the Varesotto and not touch the exotic gardens of Pallanza or the palaces on Lake Como. They come and go where there is need, they refresh and beautify, they sparkle but never spoil. Varese, the city, is equally convenient of access from Lakes Maggiore, Lugano, or Como. It lies on the railroad running from Laveno on Lake Maggiore to Como on the lake of that name. It may also be reached 144 Varese, Lake and City by rail from Porto Ceresio on Lake Lugano, and of course from Milan, the great near-by metropolis. The city in no respect ap- proaches Lugano in importance, either as a strangers' resort or as an international rendezvous; it is strictly provincial and but little affected by tourist travel. The Varesotto minds its own business, and that business is largely feeding the silkworm and spinning its shining thread. The city is of great antiquity, like many of the places situated in the subalpine re- gion. The remains of lake-dwellings on the banks of the Lake of Varese, similar to those discovered in Switzerland, indicate that the region was already inhabited in what is com- monly known as the prehistoric age. Varese shared the vicissitudes of the Roman era and of the invasion of Teutonic nations with other settlements of its kind in the Lombard plain, participating especially in the vary- ing fortunes of the adjacent cities of Milan and Como. It is interesting to notice that it was largely due to the umbrage taken by the people of the Swiss states of Uri and Obwalden to the treatment their cattle deal- ers had received at the hands of the authori- ties of Varese, that a Swiss invasion of the i45 The Italian Lakes Valle Leventina or Ticino Valley took place in 1403. That conquered district was in later times formed into the only Italian- speaking Canton of Switzerland, the Canton of Ticino. This incident and its results are treated at greater length in the author's work, " The Rise of the Swiss Republic." In 1848 Varese was occupied by Austrian troops, and in 1859 Garibaldi with his cac- ciatori delle Alpi retreated through Varese on his way from Laveno to Como, success- fully eluding the efforts of the Austrian Field-marshal Urban with ten thousand troops to bar his way. Varese was one of the first places liberated from Austrian con- trol by Garibaldi in the same year, and was actually the first Italian city to proclaim the downfall of the Austrian government and its adhesion to the constitutional government of Victor Emmanuel II. A monument to Garibaldi's cacciatori has been erected in the city, facing the public school buildings, for the school youth of Varese fought under Garibaldi on the 26th of May, 1859. Although Varese is an active, neat little city of to-day, its antiquity is very apparent in its six gates, its main street lined with arcades, columned after the Doric order, and 146 Varese, Lake and City its side streets which still dispense with the formality of sidewalks. An electric line runs directly from the station out to Sacro Monte or the Madonna del Monte, which ranks in interest with the pilgrimage resorts of Orta and Varallo. Though Orta may be more like a park and Varallo more like a fortress, yet the Sacro Monte of Varese is loftier than either, rising to a height of 2,890 feet above the level of the sea, and per- mitting a view of wide extent over moun- tain, rolling country, and plain. Viewed from the plain it looks for all the world like a small hill town of Tuscany or a mediaeval robbers' nest. There are fourteen chapels and a church and three triumphal arches, all built gradually during the course of the seventeenth century. When the time comes for our departure to Como, we renew our acquaintance with leisurely Italian railroad travel. Once more the vestibule of the station is crowded with passengers, who are not permitted to secure their tickets until just before the departure of the train. There is the usual lack of change at the ticket-office, the invariable helplessness of third-class passengers. There is a ringing of bells, a tooting of horns, and 147 The Italian Lakes a blowing of whistles. Deeply impressive cries of pronti or partenza rend the air. Frantic, breathless crowds surge around the doors. Heavy bags and sacks are pushed into third-class compartments, and a mag- nificent activity full of dramatic ardour plays up and down the station platform. There is a moment's quiet, then the train moves off toward Como and its lake. Presently we shall catch our first glimpse of that body of water, famed in every cor- ner of the earth, sung by poets both an- cient and modern, and cherished in the mem- ory by many thousand visitors. 148 CHAPTER XIV THE CITY OF COMO WHEN the Italian lakes are mentioned, the name of Como is very likely to rise first to the lips. It is a name which carries in its two short syllables a whole world of sparkle, colour, and joyousness, and an at- mosphere redolent with the scent of peren- nial spring. Its delights constitute a perma- nent possession, a part of mankind's stock in trade of terrestrial romance. Its praises are sung in distant lands, by foreign fire- sides, and it has gathered for itself a veri- table constituency of appreciators from among those who love that peculiar classic blending of nature and art, in which the Italians are past masters. Many travellers catch their first glimpse of the city of Como from the high-lying St. Gothard R. R. station. They look down into a charming water basin, a snug little pocket, shut in by steep slopes and bordered 149 The Italian Lakes by white houses. From up there the place looks as though prepared for a siege, with its four gates and remains of walls. Water and mountains are seen to be brought into close contact and intimate relations, pro- ducing a particularly cosy effect. The slopes begin with a few vineyards and olive-trees and top off with forests of chestnut and wal- nut; their sides are well sprinkled with Ital- ian villas in the customary white, yellow, or pink, perched on terraces. On the summit of the abrupt slope which overlooks Como on the east stands the Grand Hotel Brunate, reached by a cable road which has gashed a deep white line upon the green. But a carriage road also rises to the hotel on a gentle incline. Due north looms Monte Bis- bino with a white church, and south the Baradello tower, a relic of the Visconti and Sforza days and a landmark of modern Como. Descending into the city proper, we find the shore-front of Como lined with women in clusters kneeling to do the family wash- ing, scrubbing and pounding their linen vig- orously and loquaciously. By their sides lie glistening bundles of their work well done. Sharp-prowed boats -are pulled up on ISO The City of Corno the paved slant of the shore. Canvas awn- ings lighten up the scene. Carts, drawn by cream-coloured oxen and laden with wood or lime, crawl slowly along the quay, or a carriage with men in livery from one of the handsome villas goes by at a trot. Como, the Roman Comum, is the most populous of the cities directly upon any of the Italian lakes. It is easily the most im- portant from the standpoint of art and indus- try, and has quite a through trade with Switzerland. Its cathedral and its silk in- dustry are both widely known, each for its own excellence, and during the course of its long history it has given the world a number of famous men, such as the two Plinies from Roman times and, in modern times, Volta, the electrician. The city, as a sightseeing centre, clusters very largely around the Pi- azza Cavour, where most of the hotels stand, and extends into the near-by cathedral square. On the water-front there is a public garden with lake baths; a jetty has been pleasantly prolonged into the open water to form a con- venient harbour; there is a steamboat pier and a quay which serves the purpose of a promenade. Como also has a second rail- 151 The Italian Lakes road station for the lines running by Sa- ronno to Milan and by Varese to Laveno. A stroll through the streets assures us at once that we are in a warm-weather city. The architecture is adapted to shade and shelter from the rays of the sun. There are interior courts, arcades, loggias, and floors of rough stone or mosaic. Many little ways and means indicate a desire to let the air circulate; little stands like great chess- pawns, or stuffed cushions and bolsters are used to keep doors ajar. Should you make your entry into Como by landing at the pier, an interesting view awaits you at once across the Piazza Cavour, up a narrow street, to where gleam the fine facade and dome of the cathedral and a curious adjoining tower of rough stone. The cathedral of Como ranks third among the Gothic structures of Italy, if the cathe- dral of Milan be counted first and the Cer- tosa at Pavia second. It is in the form of a Latin cross. Originally begun in the Gothic style in 1396, it was transformed and enlarged by changes and additions in Renais- sance style executed by rTommaso Rodari and his brother Giacomo in 1487 to 1526. These sculptor-architects were natives of 152 The City of Como Maroggia on Lake Lugano. The result of their work was to make this cathedral a masterly example of " the fusion of Gothic and Renaissance styles, both of good type and exquisite in their sobriety," as John Addington Symonds informs us in his " Sketches in Italy." On either side of the main portal are statues of the two Plinies, seated under canopies. A relief shows the elder, the naturalist, studying Vesuvius in eruption; another shows the younger, the author, kneeling to his patron and friend, the Emperor Trajan. Within the cathedral are noted paintings by Luini and Ferrari, greatly prized by connoisseurs. A side por- tal goes by the name of the porta del la rana, on account of a frog watching a butterfly which is carved there. In strange contrast to the polished cathe- dral is the curiously gay Broletto, or town hall, which adjoins, and is built in stripes of black and white marble with a few patches of red. It was finished in 12 15, according to an inscription, and stands on fine arches, under whose kindly shelter a fruit and vegetable market has long been in- stalled. At present the building is used as a record office, but at one time it was the 153 The Italian Lakes centre of the municipal life of Como, and is still graced by a balcony for public ad- dresses, appropriately called the parlera. The people assembled below in parliamento, hence the modern word parliament. A rough-looking tower and a great ring in the wall are suggestive of prison punishment and clanking chains. Indeed the history of the city of Como has been in general an agitated one. Its situation at the head of the principal arm of the lake caused it to attain some im- portance even under the Roman dominion. Indeed it was originally settled by a Greek colony, hence its Greek name Rome or city. It weathered the period of the Longobards, the Carolingian era, and struggled bravely to maintain municipal independence. Como passed through a period of almost constant warring with rivals, especially with Milan and Bergamo. Frederic Barbarossa and his empress once lodged in the castle Baradello. There was a period of peaceful development under Visconti rule. Two native families, the Vitani and Rusca, through their partisans fought for centuries for control of the city, alternately winning and losing, and under the Sforza sovereignty Como suffered se- i54 The City of Como verely from wars in which that family was involved. The city changed hands several times, coming later under Spanish and Aus- trian dominion. It took a prominent part in the Italian wars of independence and unity from first to last. The scene of Gari- baldi's famous entry into Como after his victory over the Austrians at San Fermo is the Porta delle Torre, now called the Porta Vittoria, near which stands a statue of the great leader. In September a local rowing regatta is held which presents a striking feature not seen outside of Italy, and worthy of the at- tention of sportsmen from other lands. From the gondoliers of Venice the Italian oarsmen of the lakes have learned to row and race their shells standing. The outriggers rise high above the hull, and are securely braced to withstand the pressure. The effect is exceedingly fine and bold. The rower faces the bow of the boat; one leg is placed well forward of the other, the chest is out, and the weight of the whole body is thrown into the thrust forward. It would seem that great skill must be used in balancing these frail-looking boats under such conditions, *55 The Italian Lakes and in feathering the oars properly. " Catch- ing a crab " would surely mean a spill. And what noble auspices for the races. A continuous series of villas line the western shore of the lake. The water glistens and sparkles. The colours come and go, and off to the north a little cloud on Monte Bisbino, the mountain which acts as weather prophet for this greatly blessed bay, reminds us of the popular saying in Como: " Se Bis bin mette il cape Ho Corri a prendere il mantello." i* When Bisbin puts on its cap Do you run to take your coat." itf CHAPTER XV SOME COMO CELEBRITIES: PLINY THE ELDER, PLINY THE YOUNGER, ALESSANDRO VOLTA Pliny the Elder Of the two Plinies, whose statues have al- ready been mentioned as adorning the fagade of the Como cathedral, the elder was named Caius Plinius Secundus, and the younger, his nephew, Caius Caecilius Secundus. The former is known for his monumental " Nat- ural History" (Naturalis Historia) in thirty- seven books; the latter for his charming and often valuable " Letters." They were both natives of the Roman Comum (Como). Pliny the Elder saw much military and legal service in the Roman state, but his fame rests rather upon his capabilities as a student of natural phenomena and as an in- dustrious compiler of physical facts. In his " Natural History," which has come down to us almost complete, he tabulated observa- i57 The Italian Lakes tions and discoursed upon the stars and the earth, upon earthquakes, upon man, wild beasts, and domesticated animals, upon trees, fruits, the precious metals and precious stones, the art of painting, etc. He displayed extraordinary versatility and tireless indus- try in his researches. His actual achievements as citizen and naturalist were, moreover, crowned by his personal investigation of the great eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A. D., in which catastrophe he lost his life. He was at the time in com- mand of the Roman fleet at Misenum. Among the " Letters " of his nephew are two relating to this historic eruption, one de- scribing his maternal uncle's movements and their sad consequence, and the other his own impressions and experiences and those of his mother during those trying days. These two letters acquire an added interest from the fact that they were written to the famous historian, Cornelius Tacitus, at the latter's special request. In Book vi., 16, of the " Letters " we read: " Your request that I would send you an account of my uncle's death, in order to transmit a more exact relation of it to pos- terity, deserves my acknowledgment; for, if 158 Pliny the Elder this accident shall be celebrated by your pen, the glory of it, I am well assured, will be rendered for ever illustrious, and notwith- standing he perished by a misfortune, which, as it involved at the same time a most beau- tiful country in ruins, and destroyed so many populous cities, seems to promise him an everlasting remembrance ; notwithstanding he has himself composed many and lasting works; yet I am persuaded, the mentioning of him in your immortal writings will greatly contribute to render his name immortal. . . . He was at that time with the fleet under his command at Misenum. On the 24th of August, about one in the forenoon, my mother desired him to observe a cloud which appeared of a very unusual size and shape. He had just taken a turn in the sun, and after bathing himself in cold water, and making a light luncheon, gone back to his books: he immediately arose and went out upon a rising ground, from whence he might get a better sight of this very uncommon appearance. A cloud, from which mountain was uncertain, at this distance (but it was found afterward to come from Mount Vesu- vius) was ascending, the appearance of which I cannot give you a more exact de- 159 The Italian Lakes scription of than by likening it to that of a pine-tree, for it shot up to a great height in the form of a very tall trunk, which spread itself out at the top into a sort of branches; occasioned, I imagine, either by a sudden gust of air that impelled it, the force of which decreased as it advanced upwards, or the cloud itself being pressed back again by its own weight, expanded in the manner I have mentioned; it appeared sometimes bright and sometimes dark and spotted, ac- cording as it was either more or less impreg- nated with earth and cinders. This phe- nomenon seemed to a man of such learning and research as my uncle extraordinary and worth further looking into. He ordered a light vessel to be got ready, and gave me leave, if I liked, to accompany him. I said I had rather go on with my work; and it so happened he had himself given me some- thing to write out. As he was coming out of the house, he received a note from Rec- tina, the wife of Bassus, who was in the ut- most alarm at the imminent danger which threatened her; for her villa lying at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, there was no way of escape but by sea; she earnestly entreated him therefore to come to her assistance. He 160 Pliny the Elder accordingly changed his first intention, and what he had begun from a philosophical, he now carried out in a noble and generous, spirit. He ordered the galleys to put to sea, and went himself on board with an inten- tion of assisting not only Rectina, but the several other towns which lay thickly strewn along that beautiful coast. Hastening then to the place from whence others fled with the utmost terror, he steered his course direct to the point of danger, and with so much calmness and presence of mind as to be able to make and dictate his observations upon the motion and all the phenomena of that dreadful scene. He was now so close to the mountain that the cinders, which grew thicker and hotter the nearer he approached, fell into the ships, together with pumice- stones and black pieces of burning rock: they were in danger, too, not only of being aground by the sudden retreat of the sea, but also from the vast fragments which rolled down from the mountain and ob- structed all the shore. Here he stopped to consider whether he should turn back again; to which the pilot advising him, ( Fortune,' said he, { favours the brave; steer to where Pomponianus is.' Pomponianus was then at 161 The Italian Lakes Stabiae [modern Castellamare], separated by a bay, which the sea, after several insensi- ble windings, forms with the shore. He had already sent his baggage on board; for though he was not at that time in actual danger, yet being within sight of it, and indeed extremely near, if it should in the least increase, he was determined to put to sea as soon as the wind, which was blowing dead inshore, should go down. It was fa- vourable, however, for carrying my uncle to Pomponianus, whom he found in the greatest consternation: he embraced him tenderly, encouraging and urging him to keep up his spirits, and, the more effectually to soothe his fears by seeming unconcerned himself, ordered a bath to be got ready, and then, after having bathed, sat down to sup- per with great cheerfulness, or at least (what is just as heroic) with every appearance of it. Meanwhile broad flames shone out in several places from Mount Vesuvius, which the darkness of night contributed to render still brighter and clearer." The account goes on to state that Pliny then went to bed and slept soundly, until the stones and ashes were so deep that a decision had to be taken to escape. The 163 Pliny the Younger party finally decided to tie pillows over their heads and ventured forth, but down at the shore they found the waves still run- ning too high to permit them to embark. There Pliny lay down upon a sail-cloth. At this juncture flames, preceded by a strong whiff of sulphur, dispersed the party, and Pliny was apparently suffocated by the nox- ious fumes. In his other letter to Tacitus, Pliny the Younger gives a dramatic recital of his own feelings and those of his mother at Misenum, while waiting in vain for his uncle's return, and wandering about in the phenomenal darkness. The mother and son both fortu- nately escaped unhurt. Pliny the Younger As revealed by his " Letters " and by the facts of his career, the younger Pliny was an excellent type of a public-spirited Roman gentleman, having considerable administra- tive and literary talent. Like his uncle, he belonged to the nobility of the Roman Co- mum (Como), where he was born in 61 or 62 A. D. His father died while he was still a boy, and he was placed under the guardi- 163 The Italian Lakes anship of Verginius Rufus. He was sent to Rome to finish his studies; became a pleader in the Roman courts; and rose steadily in the service of the state, through various positions of trust and preferment. He was made a member of the Senate, and by steady advancement a military tribune, a quaestor, praetor, praefect, and consul. He saw serv- ice in Syria and as imperial legate in Bi- thynia and Pontica. His famous book of " Letters " consists of a selection which he made from his correspondence with his friends. Besides the letters to Tacitus already mentioned, unique value attaches to Pliny's correspondence with his friend, the Emperor Trajan, upon the subject of the Christians. This correspondence is considered of para- mount value as historic evidence of the con- dition of the Christians toward the end of the first century and of the peculiar official Roman point of view toward a supposedly incomprehensible sect which was making great headway. Pliny's inquiry of Trajan and the latter's reply are here appended. In Book x., 97, we read: "It is my invariable rule, sir, to refer to you in all matters where I feel doubtful; for who is more capable of removing my 164 Pliny the Younger scruples, or informing my ignorance? Hav- ing never been present at any trials concern- ing those who profess Christianity, I am unacquainted not only with the nature of their crimes, or the measure of their punish- ment, but how far it is proper to enter into an examination concerning them. Whether, therefore, any difference is usually made with respect to ages, or no distinction is to be made between the young and the adult; whether repentance entitles them to a par- don, or, if a man has been once a Christian, it avails nothing to desist from his error; whether the very profession of Christianity, unattended with any criminal act, or only the crimes themselves inherent in the pro- fession are punishable; on all these points I am in great doubt. In the meanwhile, the method I have observed toward those who have been brought before me as Christians is this: I asked them whether they were Christians; if they admitted it, I repeated the question twice, and threatened them with punishment; if they persisted, I ordered them to be at once punished: for I was per- suaded, whatever the nature of their opinions might be, a contumacious and inflexible ob- stinacy certainly deserved correction. There 165 The Italian Lakes were others also brought before me possessed with the same infatuation, but being Roman citizens, I directed them to be sent to Rome. But this crime spreading (as is usually the case) while it was actually under prosecu- tion, several instances of the same nature occurred. An anonymous information was laid before me, containing a charge against several persons, who upon examination de- nied they were Christians, or had ever been so. They repeated after me an invocation to the gods, and offered religious rites with wine and incense before your statue (which for that purpose I had ordered to be brought, together with those of the gods), and even reviled the name of Christ: whereas there is no forcing, it is said, those who are really Christians into any of these compliances. I thought it proper to discharge them. Some among those who were accused by a witness in person at first confessed themselves Chris- tians, but immediately after denied it. The rest owned indeed that they had been of that number formerly, but had now (some above three, others more, and a few above twenty years) renounced that error. They also worshipped your statue and the image of the gods, uttering imprecations at the 166 Pliny the Younger same time against the name of Christ. They affirmed the whole of their guilt, or their error, was that they met on a stated day before it was light, and addressed a form of prayer to Christ, as to a divinity, bind- ing themselves by a solemn oath, not for the purpose of any wicked design, but never to commit any fraud, theft, or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble, to eat in common a harmless meal. From this custom, however, they desisted after the publication of my edict, by which, according to your com- mands, I forbade the meeting of any assem- blies. After receiving this account, I judged it so much the more necessary to endeavour to extort the real truth, by putting two fe- male slaves to the torture, who were said to officiate in their religious rites; but all I could discover was evidence of an absurd and extravagant superstition. I deemed it expedient, therefore, to adjourn all further proceedings, in order to consult you. For it appears to be a matter highly deserving your consideration, more especially as great numbers must be involved in the danger of 167 The Italian Lakes those prosecutions, which have already ex- tended, and are still likely to extend, to per- sons of all ranks and ages, and even of both sexes. In fact, this contagious superstition is not confined to the cities only, but has spread its infection among the neighbouring villages and country. Nevertheless, it still seems possible to restrain its progress. The temples, at least, which were once almost de- serted, begin now to be frequented; and the sacred rites, after a long intermission, are again revived; while there is a general de- mand for victims, which till lately found very few purchasers. From all this it is easy to conjecture what numbers might be reclaimed if a general pardon were granted to those who shall repent of their error." To this letter Trajan replied, Book x., 98: " You have adopted the right course, my dearest Secundus, in investigating the charges against the Christians who were brought be- fore you. It is not possible to lay down any general rule for all such cases. Do not go out of your way to look for them. If indeed they should be brought before you, and the crime is proved, they must be punished; with the restriction, however, that where the party denies he is a Christian, and shall 168 Pliny the Younger make it evident that he is not, by invoking our gods, let him (notwithstanding any former suspicion) be pardoned upon his repentance. Anonymous informations ought not to be received in any sort of prosecution. It is introducing a very dangerous precedent, and is quite foreign to the spirit of our age." Pliny the Younger inherited considerable property on and near Lake Como, both from his father's and mother's families. In Book ix., 7, of his " Letters " he writes to Ro- manus: " I have several villas upon the borders of this lake, but there are two particularly in which, as I take most delight, so they give me most employment. They are both sit- uated like those at Baiae: one of them stands upon a rock, and overlooks the lake, the other actually touches it. The first, sup- ported as it were by the lofty buskin, I call my tragic; the other, as resting upon the humble sock, my comic villa. Each has its own peculiar charm, recommending it to its possessor so much more on account of this very difference. The former commands a wider, the latter enjoys a nearer view of the lake. One, by a gentle curve, embraces a little bay; the other, being built upon a 169 The Italian Lakes greater height, forms two. Here you have a strait walk extending itself along the banks of the lake; there a spacious terrace that falls by a gentle descent toward it. The former does not feel the force of the waves; the latter breaks them; from that you see the fishing-vessels; from this you may fish yourself, and throw your line out of your room, and almost from your bed, as from off a boat. It is the beauties, therefore, these agreeable villas possess that tempt me to add to them those which are wanting." Various attempts have been made to find the sites of these two villas of Pliny, play- fully compared to the lofty and low cothur- nus and soccus of the tragic and comic actors respectively. A reasonable inference, from the somewhat vague description given above, would place the " Tragedy " at Bellagio and the " Comedy " at Lenno, on the opposite shore, south of Tremezzo. Pliny also owned a large estate in Etruria, a suburban villa near Rome, and others at Tusculum, Tibur, and Praeneste. His acts of munificence and liberality toward his native city and his friends were remarkable. It is calculated that he spent no less than 1,600,000 sesterces on Como for a school, a public library, and 170 Alessandro Volta public baths, and various charitable bequests, also for the maintenance of boys and girls and of a hundred of his freedmen. In Book viii., 22, Pliny announces the following motto for himself, worthy of the Christians whom he persecuted: " To pardon others as if one daily needed pardon himself." Alessandro Volta Among Como celebrities mention must also be made of the man from whose name the electrical term volt has been derived. Alessandro Volta is now generally conceded to have been the originator of the electric pile. He is credited with having constructed the first contrivance by which electrical energy could be measured in definite units. Como has erected a statue to him and named a piazza in his honour. In May of 1899 an electrical exhibition was held in Como to celebrate his discovery. Fire, however, swept over the entire exhibi- tion and destroyed almost all the souvenirs of his career, which had been preserved up to that time. Electrical apparatus and ma- chinery from many countries had been dis- played. There had been a competition of 171 The Italian Lakes telegraphers. In connection with the cele- bration the Italian and especially the Como silk industry had been largely represented, and electric launches and boats had consti- tuted a prominent feature of the exhibition. Alessandro Volta was born in Como. In 1774 he was made professor of physics in the gymnasium of his native city. He visited Switzerland and became intimately ac- quainted with De Saussure. Then he was appointed to the chair of physics in the uni- versity of Pavia. He later travelled through France, Germany, Holland, and England, and met nearly all the celebrities of that day in natural science. In 1791 he received the Copley medal of the Royal Society, and his electric pile was first described by him in a letter to Sir G. Banks, the president of that society in 1800. Honours were showered upon him. In 1801 Napoleon I. called him to Paris and a medal was struck in his hon- our. He was created a Senator of the King- dom of Lombardy. In* 18 15 the Emperor of Austria made him director of the philo- sophical faculty of Padua. In 1819 he with- drew to his native city of Como and settled down there for the rest of his life. Volta may be said to have carried forward 172 Alessandro Volt a the investigations of Benjamin Franklin. He followed closely the experiments of Gal- vani, and then showed that so-called " gal- vanism " and electricity were identical. He also corresponded with Priestley, and made experiments before Lavoisier and Laplace in Paris. 173 CHAPTER XVI SILKWORMS AND SILK - LOOMS Whoever skirts the shores of the Italian lakes, or follows the fringe of the Alps, where their outposts touch the Italian plain, is sure to come upon evidences of a great industry, which means much to the economic life of the peninsular kingdom. As we journey from Piedmont through Lombardy to Venetia, and watch the fertile expanses from the windows of a train or a carriage, the picture of trees planted in par- allel lines across the fields keeps repeating itself acre by acre, mile after mile. If the season be that of June or early July, men will be detected perched in these trees, care- fully stripping them of their leaves and fill- ing long sacks with them. These are mul- berry-trees, and their leaves are for the feed- ing of the voracious silkworms, which make the cocoons from which in turn the raw silk i74 Silkworms and Silk-looms is reeled off, so that silk stuffs may be woven with the strong lustrous thread. No sooner have the trees been stripped of their leaves than the bare branches are pruned and trimmed to a nicety and the ground cultivated and fertilized. The farm- ers give these trees the same care which they would bestow on their choicest orchard trees. Indeed there are regular mulberry- tree nurseries in some parts of Italy, the leaves being available for feeding the silk- worms the fourth year after transplantation. The mulberry-tree is of slow growth and lives to a great age. If you step into one of the cottages, where the worms are being fed into cocoons, you will find wide shelves filled with the large worms averaging about two inches in length. The mulberry leaves are thrown down upon the worms, and they work their way through, eating and scrunching the crisp green. If you put your ear to the shelf, the sound of the feeding is like that of the gentle patter- ing of rain upon a tin roof. The worms feed without halt for a certain number of days, then stop for a short interval, and then re- sume their feeding again. Having passed through these regular periods of activity i75 The Italian Lakes and inactivity, the worms grow yellowish in colour, and are then ready to climb into the dried branches which are set up at the back of the shelves. This miniature forest is called technically the boscho. Here the worms proceed to fasten themselves to the branches by a network of silk thread, and then to wind the thread about them with a peculiar swaying and turning motion of the head. The result is to form cocoons com- pletely hiding the worms. The colour of the cocoon is generally rich salmon, and as the traveller sees these wares, packed in crates and being carted over country roads, or sorted in great baskets at the silk markets of the cities, they present a peculiar luminous brilliancy which stands out vividly in the recollection. In course of time the worm, wrapped within the cocoon, if left to its own sweet will, would eat its way out again and emerge as a butterfly. But for the pur- poses of silk culture, this time must not be awaited. The cocoon is placed in water of a temperature above 140 F., and the thread is reeled off into skeins of raw silk. There is but one crop of cocoons a year, and it is collected generally in June and during the first part of July. 176 Silkworms and Silk-looms The reeling is done by hand labour, some- times in the cottages, but now generally in large establishments. The unwinding of the single thread from the cocoon demands such manual dexterity and delicacy of touch that the work is done by women and girls only, the men and boys not being employed in this branch of sericulture. At this writing, all attempts to substitute mechanical devices for hand labour in this particular process are said to have failed. It is calculated that it takes from eleven to twelve pounds of fresh cocoons to make one pound of raw silk. Italy is the third in the list of silk-pro- ducing countries, China and Japan alone ex- ceeding her in production. As an indica- tion of the extent to which this industry has grown in Italy, it may be stated that during recent years the annual production has been over twelve million pounds of raw silk, valued at over $46,000,000. About a million and a half of persons are engaged in one way or another in the various branches of silk industry. Piedmont has the reputation of raising the largest numbers of cocoons, but Milan in Lombardy is the centre of the man- ufacturing side of sericulture, and Como has 177 The Italian Lakes proved itself to be a mainstay of the industry during times of storm and stress. The history of sericulture in Italy is full of interest. The industry is as old as the period of Roger II., King of the Two Sici- lies. Already in the thirteenth century Italy was able to compete successfully with Spain and the Levant. The industry reached the climax of its perfection and importance dur- ing the heyday of civic life in the Italian Republics, but it declined with the conquest of Italy by foreigners. The experts and artisans largely emigrated to other Euro- pean countries, thus transplanting their knowledge to foreign fields, which soon en- tered into competition with the Italian pro- ducers. As late as i860 the silk industry of Italy, as a whole, was still at a low ebb and had not yet felt the reviving touch of modern enterprise. But it is interesting to know that from the time of its introduction into Como, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, the silk industry was never allowed to die out entirely in that city, but was con- stantly kept alive through varying vicissi- tudes of internecine war and foreign con- quest and periods of depression and lassitude. A certain Pietro Boldoni of Bellano on Lake i 7 8 Silkworms and Silk-looms Como was the first to establish the silk indus- try in the city of Como in the year 1510. Up to that time the woollen industry had flourished there, but after that silk gradually forged ahead. At the exposition, held in Como in 1899 to celebrate Volta's discov- ery of the electric pile, the whole of Europe was able to admire the wonderful silks which Como is now able to manufacture. The country round about is permeated with the various activities demanded by the industry, exemplified from mulberry-trees to finished dress goods. All the intermediate stages are there for inspection. Landowner, peasant, labourer, and manufacturer, men, women, and children, are knit together as closely as one of their own fabrics in a com- mon enterprise of absorbing interest and immense range. The traveller cannot fail to wish for this whole region a just distribu- tion of profits, and is spurred to do his share in furthering the welfare of all by taking a kindly interest in land and people. 179 CHAPTER XVII THE COSTUME OF THE BRIANZA The traveller cannot be long in Lombardy before his attention is attracted to the singu- larly picturesque costume of the Brianza. It is generally worn in its full richness by nurses in the wealthier families, and so is seen almost as often in the cities as in the Brianza itself, whence these nurses mostly come, and where it is now mostly a holiday affair. Imagine a head-dress of silver needles so placed in the hair as to fashion an aureole; let the ears be weighted with massive rings, and a kerchief decorated with a large flower pattern be thrown over the shoulders, and it is easy to see that the costume possesses properties of great promise and high colour. The peasant women add to this costume the pretty little wooden slippers that click and clatter over the cobbled country lanes. Some 180 THE COSTUME OF THE BRIANZA The Costume of the Brianza forty or fifty years ago the peasant women all wore the full skirt, black bodice, and short sleeves, and the piece of cloth which crossed the foot to keep on the slipper was embroidered. Nor was the silver aureole ever missed from a married woman's head. To-day the costume is yielding rapidly to the advance of world uniformity in fashions. The silver needles are called collectively Vargento; they are generally a present from the groom to the bride, and the simpler ones cost about forty-five to fifty lire. So much time and skill are required in fitting the needles into the strands of hair that only the big horizontal needles are taken off at night, the rest being worn even in sleep, much as the Japanese women are said to treat their elaborate head-dresses. If the traveller in the Brianza exclaims at the seeming inconvenience of this method of treating the hair, he is assured that the women need have their hair done up only once a week. The Brianza may be described in a gen- eral way as that triangular-shaped region included between the Como and Lecco arms of Lake Como. It is a district of special charm, greatly favoured by situation and 181 The Italian Lakes fertility, rich in cultivated stretches, and mounting to forests and hill pastures. It is the abiding-place of cattle, horses, and sheep, and its lowlands are graced by several small lakes, Annone, Pusiano, Alserio, Se- grino, and Montorfano. The great painter Segantini, to whom a special chapter has been assigned in this book, executed some of his earliest work in this region. The silk industry has its mulberry-trees and factories profusely scattered in the Brianza. The small town of Erba is nearly in the geographical centre of the Brianza, about midway between the cities of Como and Lecco, but also directly accessible from Milan by rail, and by carriage road from Bellagio, at the tip of the triangle. This latter drive, from Erba to Bellagio by way of Canzo and Civenna, is among the most delightful in the entire region of the Italian lakes; from Ci- venna it is full of extended views over the lake arms of Lecco and Como, the smiling Tremezzina, and off to the sky-line near Chiavenna, where stand the dark bulwarks of the Engadine acting as pedestals for the silver statues of the North. From Como the art lover should not fail to make an excursion to Saronno, about half- 182 The Costume of the Brianza way to Milan by rail. At Saronno the best of the work of Luini and Gaudenzio Ferrari is to be seen in the pilgrimage church. 183 CHAPTER XVIII UP THE LAKE OF COMO From Como to Be 11 agio A GAY Italian flag flutters expectantly at the stern of the saloon steamer, which is moored to the dock and seems impatient to be off, — to round the little jetty and be out of the harbour. Once in awhile the boat's whistle blows or the machinery gives a sud- den turn and churns the blue water into white, like a restive steed pawing the ground and champing the bit. These Como boats have an air of special fitness and importance. They are altogether the best of any to be found on the Italian lakes. Indeed they are no mere pleasure craft, designed for picnics on summer days. There is nothing amateurish about them. They mean business and they look it, for they really serve as the regular means of communication between almost all points 184 A PEASANT WOMAN OF LAKE COMO Up the Lake of Como on the lake. Without them many a village would be dependent on some narrow bridle- path for its only connection with the out- side world. It is a distinctive charm of Lake Como that whole stretches of its shores seem almost cut off from landward approach, and must turn to water transportation for their chief traffic. These considerations add special bustle and activity to the coming and going of the second-class passengers who crowd the lower deck. These people act as though they were going on an ocean voyage, although they are only bound up the lake to their homes in various little lakeside and mountain nests. The farewells are melodramatic, the last messages to friends on the shore are shrill with intensity. Considerable freight also is carried at the bow and along the sides. Probably it is this freight which frequently interferes with the schedule time of these boats. As we take our places on the saloon-deck, and look about us upon the unique scenery, we wonder where the steamboat is going to find an outlet among the converging hills for its trip up the lake, to explore the famous windings of Lake Como, unravel its sur- i*5 The Italian Lakes prises, and take us to bask in its open bays. The breeze, blowing through the gaps, seems to come from pretty much all points of the compass at once. Among the spectators on shore, watching the departure, stands a Brianza nurse with baby in arms, a silver aureole about her head. Hotel porters, clad in the vivid green aprons of their profession, hurry up with baggage or loiter near by for their fees, busy about nothing. Omnibuses full of tour- ists arrive at the landing. Some belated peasants scurry aboard, carrying nondescript linen bags containing their all of worldly goods. There are some last violent gesticu- lations to friends on shore, the whistle blows a final blast, the gangplank rattles, and the boat moves off dramatically and proudly for its superb journey upon the lake waters, which are now glittering joyously under the action of sun and breeze. The extraordinary variety of the scenery on Lake Como, which, after all, is only some thirty miles in length, almost passes belief. It is theatrical in the sense that one situation develops surprises from another. Every cor- ner reveals sudden vistas, every valley that finds its way to the water's edge opens up 186 Up the Lake of Como a new world. The tropical touch of Italy reaches out for the Alps. The Lake of Como is at the point of contact. Its waters of shifting colours reflect flat-topped houses which might be in Greece or in some Ori- ental country, and at the same time these waters also duplicate the lofty peaks of sum- mer snow. North and south blend in an atmosphere of limpid balm freshened with the breath from the mountains. The moment the boat has found its way out of the basin of Como, beyond the Punta di Geno, a view never to be forgotten leaps into sight. You are ready to exclaim that there is only one Lake of Como after all. If at that moment you were asked to pick your choice among the Italian lakes, no mat- ter how impartial you might wish to be, one look at the shores lined with villas, the villages clustering in horizontal lines on either side, the headland just ahead thick with dwellings, the many tints on house walls, the gardens, the mountain back- grounds, the colour, and the atmosphere would doubtless quickly decide you to break your reserve and vote for Como. But it is not necessary to compare, sufficient is it to i8 7 The Italian Lakes enjoy what there is where we are. Then let us see how matters stand. Many villas succeed each other on either shore, converting the outskirts of Como into veritable parks. On the western shore the suburb of San Giorgio is seen to give place to the famous Villa dell' Olmo, the princely property of Duke Visconti-Modrone. It is generally conceded to have been built upon the site of a Roman villa which belonged to Caninius Rufus, friend of Pliny the Younger. Its beautiful park is open to vis- itors. At Cernobbio there is the famous Villa d'Este, now turned into a hotel. The re- markable gardens, cascades, hillside forti- fications, and especially the noble forest at the back, are full of interest. The place has kept much of its original architecture and ancient woodland beauty. Built in 1568 by Cardinal Gallio, a native of Cernobbio, it passed at the beginning of the nineteenth century into the hands of the unfortunate Caroline, wife of George IV. of England, who enlarged it and renamed it Villa d'Este, living there five years and maintaining a species of court. As the steamer skirts the shore, the 188 Up the Lake of Como glimpses lengthen into a panorama. Here a silent cypress is thrown into relief by light green foliage behind. Olive-trees, almond- trees, and mulberry-trees grow along the terraces, where vases with brilliant flowers punctuate the horizontal lines. Ornate boat- houses and gay pavilions abound. In the very exuberance of colour-fancy, some house walls have even been painted in checker- board designs of yellow and black. A sky- blue house also gladdens the scene, — it looks as though it had been in the wash and re- tained some of the bluing, — and the mock windows painted upon the houses are so numerous that one even begins to suspect the genuine windows of being artificial. Some roofs are gray with flat stones, others red with tiles. Our steamer does not find piers at every station, but at some places merely exchanges passengers and mails with small boats that dash up and are cleverly managed to catch the big steamboat on the fly, without making it come to a complete halt. At pretty little Torno there are a few moments of rest, while bags of mulberry leaves for feeding the vora- cious silkworms are trundled aboard. At this point the character of the lake is very 189 The Italian Lakes intimate, friendly, and neighbourly. A big barge turned on its side is being repaired on the shelving shore. Another is crawling along the lee shore to escape a contrary wind. Peculiar cockle-shell boats with sharp bows and white awnings crowd the shelter of tiny harbours and mysterious archways. Arbours full of dappled reflected sunshine overlook the lake, and steps lead invitingly down the walls to the water's edge. Not far from Torno is the large squarely built Villa Pliniana standing close to the shore in a solitary little bay. The actual building was erected by Count Giovanni Anguissola in the sixteenth century, and the villa derives its name from an intermittent spring which was noted and described by Pliny the Younger in a letter to Licinius Surra (Epist. v., 7). The spring ebbs and flows three times a day. Its waters are gathered in a species of atrium and thence flow under the villa into the lake. From the water one can catch a glimpse of the cliffs at the back, of a cascade, of gardens rising in terraces, and sombre cypresses standing thickly about. The present owner of the villa is a member of the family of 190 Up the Lake of Como Belgiojoso, a descendant of the authoress, Cristina Belgiojoso. After the headland of Torrigia the lake widens. It deepens in colour and the shores rise higher on either hand. The tops of the mountains emerge above the timber-line and are smooth with green pastures, where little hovering clouds timidly drop their waver- ing shadows. Lone little villages lie white and still in rocky basins above the ravines. What must life be like up there in those eyries flattened against the mountains? At the lakeside hamlet of Nesso there is a delightful bit ready-made for the artist. A few quaint houses have taken root there upon the precipitous shore, among the wal- nut and chestnut trees, the cypresses, and the rich myrtles and trailing vines. These houses cluster in haphazard fashion, where they can gain standing-room, and a roman- tically inclined bridle-path winds in and out among them along the shore. A dark ravine cuts the hamlet in two, and from its recesses a waterfall tumbles boisterously into the lake. When the bridle-path in its peregrinations reaches the ravine, it leaps gracefully over the seething torrent from one house to an- other by a bridge of a single span, and con- 191 The Italian Lakes tinues beyond to insinuate itself in and out, around and through the houses in the most natural manner, as if it had performed no unusual feat at all. As our boat passes, two men idling on the parapet of the bridge give the lonely little place life and further local interest. But larger prospects lie before us. As the boat crosses from Nesso to Argegno, the greater splendour of Lake Como begins to assert itself and proclaim world-renowned beauties. While the view up on high be- comes frankly alpine, especially if some chance flurry of snow has recently touched the mountain-tops; down below, upon the water level, in delicious contrast to the rugged quality of the heights, the fertile mazes of the Tremezzina now reveal them- selves on the western shore, and the eastern shore is seen to draw down to a point which presently discloses itself as the headland of Bellagio. But first the boat stops at Ar- gegno, at the entrance of the Val d'Intelvi. White zigzags appear upon the mountain flank. They indicate the road which leads to Lake Lugano and thus to Swiss soil, and this road accounts for the presence of cus- tom-house officers, who lounge around the 192 Up the Lake of Corno landing-place in their uniforms trimmed with bright yellow, and for the officer who comes on board to watch for stray smugglers. From Argegno, as far as Tremezzo, a cobbled bridle-path skirts the western shore, rising and falling according to the nature of the ground and the demands of traffic, curving in graceful lines over the little ter- races, where olives and almonds grow, — an accommodating path, leisurely and friendly, full of a delightful waywardness and indi- rectness, knowing no hurry, but caressing the mountains as it passes, and spanning the truculent torrents and mountain brooks on great stilts of bridges, pushing its inquisi- tive length even into the villages by boring its way through the first floors of the houses and converting them into arcades. This path is a sauntering Red Riding Hood. It seems to loiter once in awhile for a special outlook on lake and mountain, to listen to the songs of the nightingales in the thickets, or to smell the verdant hill- sides. At times it loses itself in mazes of myrtle and rhododendron hedges, and when we think it surely must have come to a stop at last, it suddenly reappears as debonair as ever at some point of special vantage, 193 The Italian Lakes wearing a provocative expression which might be translated into, " Don't you wish you knew where I've been? " The life along this path and in the villages which it serves seems as remote as the middle ages. There is no shriek nor puff of steam, not even the rattle of a carriage along the whole of its course, only the gentle clattering of patient little donkeys treading its cobbles daintily, the clicking of women's wooden sandals, the laugh and song of people homeward bound from the vineyards after the day's work is done, the barn-yard sounds, and, when the path dips down to the water, the usual noises of the voluble Italian lake-front. Between Sala and Campo, separated from the shore by a sheltered sheet of water, lies the ancient Isola Comacina, the only island in the whole lake. With its name is associ- ated much history, for upon this little wooded isle imperial Roman civilization made a last stand in its tremendous struggle against the Lombard invasion from the north. The island was heavily fortified, and, while almost the whole of Italy had accepted Lombard rule, here the defenders of the ancient order, with its allegiance to the Roman emperor at Byzantium, prepared to 194 / Up the Lake of Como resist. The Italians, under a General Fran- cioni, withstood a siege of six months, and then capitulated to the Lombards on good terms and were allowed to retreat to Ra- venna. During the subsequent quarrels among the Lombards themselves, the island often served as a refuge for the persecuted or for conspirators. It was finally laid waste in 1169 by the people of Como, who carried on a relentless feud with its inhab- itants. At present it is almost untenanted, a little church being the only building vis- ible. On the headland, known as the Punta Bal- bianello, stands the Villa Arcomati-Visconti, which serves to usher us into the charms of the Tremezzina district. A colonnade covers the backbone of the headland, form- ing a sort of a bilateral belvedere, with views up and down the lake. This villa stands as it were on the dividing line be- tween the natural and unsophisticated sce- nery of the lake having Argegno as its cen- tre, and that highly cultivated, spectacular region of astonishing scenic and artistic effects which circles around Bellagio. After turning the corner of the Punta Bal- bianello, the boat glides into a nearer view i95 The Italian Lakes of that rich country and lakeside which lie between Lenno and the farther side of Ca- denabbia, stretched out upon the slope and across the feet of Monte Crocione, thickly strewn with gardens, perfumed with count- less flowers, resonant with the song of night- ingales, and bright with a never-failing air of eternal spring, — in a word, the Tremez- zina. The boat makes stops at Tremezzo and Cadenabbia, and then crosses to Bella- gio. Lakes Como and Maggiore have this in common, that they are both divided by great headlands, Maggiore at Pallanza and Como at Bellagio. The name Bellagio is reputed to be a corruption of the Latin Bi~ lacus (Double Lake). Indeed, the headland divides the whole lake into a shape like an inverted Y, the eastern horn of which as- sumes the name of the Lake of Lecco. On this great open bay of Bellagio there are at least five favourite stopping-places, Bellagio itself, Tremezzo, Cadenabbia, Me- naggio, and Varenna. The writer does not urge the merits of any one of these upon the traveller, for their virtues will speak for themselves, but points out that Tremezzo should not be overlooked in making a choice, though the place may seem to lie a little to 196 Up the Lake of Como one side, yet so short are the distances that it may be considered in the thick of the prin- cipal attractions. At least, in justice to our- selves, it is not possible to advance farther up the lake without making a stay of some sort on the shore of this superb bay. Man and nature have combined to turn it into one of the beauty-spots of earth. For the present the steamboat must set us down, for we refuse to go another mile until our im- mediate surroundings have been explored and satisfaction has been reached. 197 CHAPTER XIX THE BAY OF BELLAGIO: BELLAGIO, TREMEZZO, VILLA CARLOTTA, CADENABBIA AND MENAG- GIO, VARENNA Bell agio The picture of the promontory of Bella- gio is so beautiful as a whole that the trav- eller had better stand off for awhile to ad- mire it at a distance and at his leisure. Indeed it is a question whether the lasting impressions which we treasure of Bellagio are not, after all, those derived from across the lake, from the shore-fronts of Tremezzo, Cadenabbia, Menaggio, or Varenna. A colossal, conquering geological lion ap- pears to have come up from the south in times immemorial, bound for the north, and finding further progress stopped by the great sheet of water in front of him, seems to have halted and to be now crouching there with his noble head between his paws and his eyes fixed on the snow-covered Alps. The 198 Bellagio big white house on the lion's neck is the Villa Serbelloni, now used as the annex of a hotel, and the park of noble trees belonging to the villa forms the lion's mane. Hotels, both large and small, line the quay at the water's edge; then comes a break in the houses, and stately Villa Melzi is seen to stand off at one side. Villa Trotti gleams from among its bowers farther south, on the slope Villa Trivulzio, formerly Poldi, shows bravely, and Villa Giulia has cut for itself, a wide prospect over both arms of the lake. At the back of this lion couchant, in the middle ground, sheer mountain walls tower protectingly, culminating in Monte Grigna. The picture varies from hour to hour, from day to day, and from season to season. Its colour-scheme changes with wind and sun, its sparkle comes and goes from sun- rise to sunset; only its form remains un- touched through the night and lives to de- light us another day. As the evening wears on, lights appear one by one on the quay of Bellagio, until there is a line of fire along the base of the dark peninsula. The hotel windows catch the glare, the villas light their storied corridors, and presently Bella- gio, all aglow, presents the spectacle of a 199 The Italian Lakes Venetian night mirrored in the lake. By this time the mountains have turned black and the sky has faded. It grows so still on the water that the tinkle of a little Italian band reaches across the lake to Cadenabbia, a laugh rings out into the quiet air from one of the merry little rowboats, and even the slight clatter made by the fishermen, in putting their boats to rights for the night and in carrying their nets indoors, can be distinguished as one of many indications that the day is done. When we land at Bellagio by daylight, we find it to be very much of a bazaar of souvenirs along the water-front, and every- body determined to carry away a keepsake. There is so much to buy: ornamental olive wood and tortoise-shell articles, Como blan- kets, lace, and what may be described in general terms as modern antiquities. These abound from shop to shop ; even English gro- ceries are available. Bellagio's principal street is suddenly converted at its northern end into a delightful arcade, after the ar- rangement which constitutes a characteris- tic charm of the villages and smaller towns on the Italian lakes; moreover, the vista up its side street is distinctly original, This 200 Bellagio mounts steeply from the waterside, like the streets of Algiers, is narrow and constructed in long steps to break the incline. The headland of Bellagio would seem to have been marked by a fortress of some sort, even in Roman times. The villa of Pliny the Younger, which he called " Tragedy," is, as already stated, supposed to have stood somewhere on this tongue of land. In the fourteenth century there could be seen there a keep, used by a band of robbers who came from Val Cavargna, over by Menaggio, but it was destroyed by order of Gian Galeazzo Visconti. Then the Marquis Stanga built a mansion there, and after that had been torn down, a Duke Ercole Sfondrato built an- other in 1 591, and this is the building, of course much altered to suit the tastes of successive owners, which passed into the hands of the Serbelloni family of Milan, and which now serves the peaceful purpose of a hotel annex. Of Villa Serbelloni one may say that its pride lies in its park and in the rich diadem of views circling from that centre. It was a Duke Sfondrato who planted the headland with groves of trees and gave it that fanciful resemblance to the head and mane of a giant / 201 The Italian Lakes lion when seen from the Tremezzina shore. There are five principal groups of trees with five special view-points, whence the eye can range at will over the two branches of the lake, or northward to the snow-clad Alps, or south upon the peninsula itself, rising in rich slopes and terraces, from garden to vine- yard, from orchard to green fields and to forests of chestnut and walnut trees, where country-houses, farms, and hamlets present an appearance of fruitful ease. In this famous park of Villa Serbelloni there is a lavish and luxuriant display of foliage in extraordinary variety, made ac- cessible to the visitor by woodland paths. Here are dainty oleanders and giant cedars side by side, laurels, myrtles, palms, cacti, lemon, and even banana trees, amid sudden glimpses and glances over the unmatched splendour of lake and mountain. Take it all in all, there is surely no spot on earth better favoured than the Serbelloni park, nor is there a forest more redolent with the perfume of noble trees or resonant with the song of happier birds. Surely there is spe- cial provision here in the way of scenic beauty of a profuse and, withal, of an exalted type. Here as elsewhere in the region of the Ital- 202 Bellagio ian lakes the key-note of admiration is pitched for us by the startling contrast be- tween the exotic and the arctic, by the simul- taneous sight of sunlit waters and everlasting snows, by the olive-trees set off upon a back- ground of distant mountain pines, by the sudden transition from the limpid notes of the nightingale, hidden in garden bowers, to the shrill cries of wild birds fresh from their eyries on the frowning crags of Monte Crocione, Cima di Pelaggia, or Monte Grigna. Villa Melzi is significant as much for its architectural grandeur, and the artistic and historical treasures it contains, as for its beautiful grounds. There is an air of superb sumptuousness about Villa Melzi, which is enhanced by its costly marbles. The building with its two wings was erected in 1815 for Count, later Duke, Francesco Melzi d'Eril. There are copies of antiques made by Ca- nova, and medallions by Thorwaldsen, also busts of Laetitia Bonaparte and Josephine Beauharnais by Canova; on the lakeside ter- races a famous marble group of Dante and Beatrice by Comolli attracts attention. And so sightseeing on this extraordinary tip of land multiplies apace. The hours 203 The Italian Lakes lengthen into days and easily gather into weeks, full of new delights. When the costly works of art in the villas and the de- lights of their gardens have satisfied the visitor, there are trips by water in every direction and excursions close at hand along unfrequented shores or into secluded heights. Perchance the way may lead as far as the unsophisticated villages of the Brianza. Off the beaten track broad smiles and genial willingness on the part of the people make up for shortcomings in the way of board and lodging. The walk to Civenna, back of Bellagio, recalls in some of its as- pects the road from Capri to Anacapri, as that develops its wider views with every zigzag, discloses a growing perspective of land and sea, and, finally, with a sweep of the hand presents us with the wealth of colour and multifarious outlines of the whole Bay of Naples. So there is something about this road that mounts from Bellagio to Ci- venna, which tempts to a comparison with the Capri road, for it shows the Bay of Bel- lagio lying below in a veritable superabun- dance of natural beauty. At Bellagio it is interesting to read what Ruskin has to say on the subject of the villas 204 Bellagio on Lake Como. In " The Poetry of Archi- tecture " he thus clearly characterizes their tendency as regards situation: " The villas of the Lago di Como are built, par preference, either on jutting prom- ontories of low crag covered with olives, or on those parts of the shore where some moun- tain stream has carried out a bank of allu- vium into the lake. One object proposed in this choice of situation is, to catch the breeze as it comes up the main opening of the hills, and to avoid the reflection of the sun's rays from the rocks of the actual shore; and an- other is, to obtain a prospect up or down the lake and of the hills on whose projection the villa is built: but the effect of this choice, when the building is considered the object, is to carry it exactly into the place where it ought to be, far from the steep preci- pice and dark mountain to the border of the winding bay and citron-scented cape, where it stands at once conspicuous and in peace." Ruskin then cites Villa Serbelloni as an example of such a situation. As to the characteristic form of these villas, Ruskin writes : " It is generally the apex of a series of 205 The Italian Lakes artificial terraces, which conduct through its gardens to the water. These are formal in their design, but extensive, wide, and majestic in their slope, the steps being gen- erally about one-half foot high and four and one-half feet wide (sometimes, however, much deeper). They are generally sup- ported by white wall, strengthened by un- filled arches, the angles being turned by sculptured pedestals, surmounted by statues or urns. Along the terraces are carried rows, sometimes of cypress, more frequently of orange or lemon trees, with myrtles, sweet bay, and aloes intermingled, but always with dark and spiry cypresses occurring in groups; and attached to these terraces, or to the villa itself, are series of arched grottoes, . . . built (or sometimes cut in the rock) for coolness, frequently overhanging the water, kept dark and fresh, and altogether delicious to the feelings." As illustrative of this form of building, Ruskin cites Villa Sommariva (now Villa Carlotta). In "The Poetry of Architec- ture " Ruskin also describes the form of Villa Porro (now Villa Balbianello or Villa Arcomati). 2Q$ Tremezzo Tremezzo Tremezzo is little more than a sunny arch- way with villas attached. Take a handful of houses made of stone and mortar, tint them with the usual colour- scheme of an Italian lake-front, then dispose them in a line along and over the water, build out some little harbour jetties here and there, scoop out a few convenient hol- lows under the houses where little boats may lie, throw in bowers with trees trained to give shade, splash the house walls and para- pets with wistaria vines and fill up all the unoccupied space with myrtle, rhododendron, and camellia bushes, — and you have Tre- mezzo seen from the water. And since the place must have some kind of a street, take a fair-sized auger and bore a passage through the first floors of all the houses, regardless of consequences, cut openings in the outside walls, so as to give an outlook upon the lake, and the result is a beautiful little archway, giving shelter from sun and rain and open on the waterside. As the single street of Tremezzo is kept down to the dimensions of a bridle-path, and as there is a sign at the entrance of that 207 The Italian Lakes single street which warns the public that bicycles and consimili (such things) must be led by the hand through the archway, it is evident that official action has been taken in order that nothing obstreperous may in- trude upon the idyllic quiet of the little place. No noisy auto, train, nor trolley, not even a carriage with prancing steeds may come that way; the narrowness of the path from Argegno protects Tremezzo on the south and Villa Carlotta stands guard on the north. The nearest approach to a vehi- cle the writer can recall was a strolling or- gan-grinder's cart, drawn by a donkey. Tran- quillity reigns, a peaceful remoteness per- vades the place, the atmosphere is sequestered and restful to a degree, yet even in its seclu- sion the archway of Tremezzo is next door to the big world, and is busy in its own cosy, homelike way. It has a provincial life of its own on a minute scale, only for most visitors Tremezzo is so sheltered and watched that it presents all the appearances of a private establishment or enterprise and gains thereby in their affections. Of an evening it is a good plan to lean your elbows on some parapet of Tremezzo in order to see that the sun sets as it should. 208 Tremezzo Young girls go by, clinking their wooden clogs in the cobbled archway. A boat bell rings musically, and presently the paddles of an approaching steamboat beat a rapid tattoo on the water. Little wavelets lap the base of the parapet. Down at the dock the great excitement of the day is taking place with the arrival of the last mail and per- chance also of guests for the hotel. When this gentle turmoil has subsided, and the quality of the atmosphere is once more merely contemplative, a new note makes you turn your head toward the shrub- beries of the villa gardens. It is a note you may never have heard before. If your home is overseas, it is quite unlikely that you have ever had the opportunity. The sound is of a quiet little warble, sweet and tentative. It is answered by another from the laurel bushes. There is a pause. Then comes a response from the myrtles. The warble lengthens into a mellow, fluty cadenza, soft and velvety and given with a gentle assur- ance. Soon the nightingales are busy singing to each other, to the mountains, to the silver trail of the moon on the lake, to all outdoors. At such times it is well to take a rowboat and creep noiselessly alongshore, listening 209 The Italian Lakes to the singing birds, past the noble water gate of Villa Carlotta, along the little shaded quay of Cadenabbia and its brightly lighted hotels toward Menaggio, skirting the walls, the lake steps, the jutting terraces, and the grand villas. Those placid nights full of balm will long be remembered even after the red camellias and the purple wistaria, which may have been pressed as souvenirs in your guide-books, have faded and grown yellow. Villa Carlotta It is worth while to approach Villa Car- lotta by rowboat, just to be able to land at its noble water-steps. At these steps the modern world must perforce drop away from our recollection, for the particular grace of their sweep belongs to an age which knew nothing about applied steam or electricity, but laid its lines for leisure. As our boat approaches the villa, its lakeside balustrades, enormous hedges, cacti and palms, are seen to be set of! by a background of severe and Oriental aspect, the bare strata of Monte Crocione. Perhaps, when you land, an old man, as in years gone by, may still be sitting by the 210 Villa Carlotta steps carving wooden spoons so dexterously and patiently. Once in awhile he used to take his siesta on the parapet in the genial sun, and once in a great while he would sell a spoon. The villa exterior is simplicity itself. The building looks more like the country-house common to the continent of Europe than like a show-place palazzo. There is a big cen- tral clock and homelike green blinds. Once past the great ornamental ironwork gateway, however, and within the vestibule of Villa Carlotta, it becomes evident that we have entered no ordinary country-house, but a choice repository of art, full of historical association. Here Canova and Thorwald- sen have left some of their distinctive work. Especially famous is Canova's sculpture, en- titled " Cupid and Psyche," which stands in the marble hall, and is a work of art known and shown the world over in a multitude of plastic reproductions or photographs. Youth- ful charm and innocence mark this piece of sculpture and make it a sort of a modern classic, universally liked. The walls of the marble hall are covered with Thorwaldsen's reliefs, entitled " Triumph of Alexander," running as a frieze and depicting the con- 211 The Italian Lakes queror's entry into fallen Babylon. This work was originally ordered of the sculptor in plaster, to be placed in the Quirinal in Rome on the occasion of the visit of Napo- leon I. Later on the emperor commissioned Thorwaldsen to execute the work in marble, but the fall of Napoleon I. put a temporary stop to the sculptor's plans. Finally the lat- ter sold the whole series to Count Somma- riva, who acquired the villa in 1802 and housed these marble treasures within its walls. In 1843 a princess of Prussia bought the villa and named it after her daughter Carlotta. Through this daughter the villa came by inheritance into the possession of the ducal family of Saxe-Meiningen, the present owners. If you are very fortunate, some day, when you are walking on the shaded quay which binds the villa to Cade- nabbia, you may even be in time to see the grand ducal barge with its liveried oarsmen and handsomely polished appurtenances wait at the famous water-steps, and presently you may witness the ducal party issue from the iron gateway, enter the big boat, and then glide over the water as the barge is propelled by a beautiful sweep of the oars. The oars- men wear green sashes and what look like 212 Villa Carlotta tam-o'shanters, and a green and white flag floats from the stern. The garden of the villa virtually fills in the space between Tremezzo and Cadenabbia and rises in four great terraces from the water up the slope. Giant magnolias and myrtles are shown by the attendant, also a trellised walk of lemon-trees, and exotics of every variety fill the air with pleasant per- fumes and provide deep, shadowy, silent nooks whence the sparkling lake looks doubly brilliant. There is no doubt that the nightingales have chosen this glorious garden for one of their chief abiding-places in their search for seclusion. Hidden under the canopy of the thick foliage, they warble undis- turbed morning and night, paying the com- pliments of the hour to dawn and dusk, and singing sweet sayings to each other. Their voices spread a harmless flattery over the entire lakeside and tend to multiply every grace of bird and flower, man and beast. Surely the very fish, floating balanced under the hollows of the lake shore, must hear and rejoice. 213 The Italian Lakes Cadenabbia and Menaggio The English have colonized the water- front of Cadenabbia, and there is very little else to the place. English seems to be the prevalent language on the quay, and is spoken at a pinch even by some of the bold, brave battellieri, who wear fancy sailor suits and look like man-o'-war's-men fresh from the stage. Their straw hats have ribbons decorated with the names of the hotels they serve, and some go so far as to wear gay and gaudy red sashes. Among Longfellow's " Poems," in the di- vision headed " Birds of Passage," are some delightful verses called " Lake of Como." These same verses also appear in a series of volumes, edited by Longfellow and entitled " Poems of Places." In that series the verses are called " Cadenabbia." The MS. poem written by Longfellow himself hangs in the Hotel Belle Vue in Cadenabbia. The fol- lowing are some of its lines: " No sound of wheels or hoof-beat breaks The silence of the summer day, As by the loveliest of all lakes I while the idle hours away. 214 Cadenabbia and Menaggio " By Somariva's garden gate I make the marble stairs my seat, And hear the water, as I wait, Lapping the stones beneath my feet." Other verses refer to: «< Bellagio blazing in the sun" and M Varenna with its white cascade." These verses have doubtless done some- thing to popularize Cadenabbia among Eng- lish-speaking peoples, for the place now shares with Bellagio the affections and atten- tions of the majority of such tourists. Beyond Cadenabbia a carriage road skirts the lake to Menaggio, and a series of magnif- icent villas range themselves along it for the view over lake and mountain. It has been reserved for the owner of one of the finest of these villas to strike a highly successful note in making his castellated dwelling seem really to spring from the very ground. The colouring has been chosen to match the noble rocks of San Martino at the back, as well as the gray-green tint of the gentle olive- trees that soften the straight lines of the terraces. 215 The Italian Lakes The pretty village of Griante smiles from its vineyards upon the slope above; the bare sides of Monte San Martino invite a climb for the superb view over the three branches of the lake. A depression in the rock near the white church of San Martino is, accord- ing to the peasants, the very place where Noah's ark rested after the flood. It is inter- esting to know that shells and various marine deposits have been found in the rock at that altitude, as though to confirm current tradi- tion about the ark. From somewhere along the road between Cadenabbia and Menaggio, though nearer the latter place, there may be seen a well-defined profile upon the mountains of the opposite shore of Lake Lecco toward the southeast. It is called the face of Napoleon, although it bears no particular resemblance to that well-known physiognomy. The head ap- pears to lie back, there is a chin, a nose, a slight depression for the eye, and a sloping forehead. There is also a queer downward line which makes this " old man o' the moun- tain " look decidedly grumpy. Menaggio, in contrast with Cadenabbia and Bellagio, presents the appearance of being more than a mere traveller's home.. It 216 Cadenabbia and Menaggio has a large silk factory and maintains two boat-landings, one to connect with the steam- tram that ascends over the mountains to Porlezza on Lake Lugano, and the other boat-landing for the northern end of the town. Of the trip to Porlezza, it may be stated that for those who have not the time to learn in detail of the charms of the Bay of Bellagio, this ascent by steam-tram gives them a superb bird's-eye view. As the tiny train moves up, it is as though a shifting of colossal scenery was going on, — the fore, the middle, and the backgrounds acting and reacting upon each other, bringing out views of changing contrasts and startling combi- nations, wherein the villas of the rich and the hamlets of the poor occupy the same stage. We mount through fig-trees and cy- presses to forests of chestnut close to the sullen rocks above, while the lake lies below placid in its widest expanse of delicious blue. A sail barge lies becalmed upon it, or a steamboat makes a wide mark over its sur- face. Then presently the train dips down over the crest of the pass toward Lake Lu- gano. The only landward connection between Menaggio and Aquaseria used to be by a 217 The Italian Lakes bridle-path similar to the one from Argegno to Tremezzo, only bolder in its peregrina- tions. It went meandering and romancing up and down the rocky mountainside, around the Sasso Rancio, or orange rock, in a most irresponsible way, and gave the French much trouble when they found themselves obliged to use it in 1799. Indeed they used it to their cost, for at the orange rock many a horse and rider plunged into the lake below. To-day the usefulness of this path is re- placed by a grand new carriage road, such as the Italians know so well how to build, the Sir ad a Regina Margherita, with the usual assortment of tunnels and cuts. No one should complain of the change, for the old path was really exasperating at times in its splendid audacity, and some of the corners had very sheer edges dipping down to the compact blue of the lake beneath. And yet the lizards used to bask very com- fortably on the protecting wall of the old path, the cherry-trees ripened especially early there under the influence of the heat reflected from the rocks, the laburnum clusters were profusely yellow, and in the branches the nightingales sang pretty much all day to the glimmering waters below, undisturbed by 218 Varenna the rare wayfarers or by harmless little donkeys carrying burdens from village to village. Varenna Completing the garland of fair places on the Bay of Bellagio, but situated on the eastern shore of the lake, lies Varenna, unique and Oriental of aspect, with dark cypresses matched against a pale gray cliff. Not long since the place was but a primitive lake hamlet, but the railroad from Lecco to Colico has necessitated a station, and there is quite a fine steamboat landing, with a hotel omnibus in waiting to take guests up the incline. The ruined tower surmounting the great cliff of Vezio, high above the town, was once a fortress belonging to that same family of Sfondrato, to which reference was made under the heading of Bellagio, and a member of which established himself where Villa Serbelloni now stands. Varenna, facing south, lies in the full track of the rays of the sun, as they search the mountainsides, and are reflected from the surface of the lake at its widest expanse. The view is down two of the arms of the lake and up the third. Lizards find Varenna 219 The Italian Lakes especially attractive, and scurry among the cactus plants, the oleanders, the orange and citron trees. Near Varenna the picturesquely named torrent of Fiume Latte (Stream of Milk) falls into the lake in a series of cascades from a height of almost one thousand feet. During the winter months it generally dis- appears entirely, shows itself occasionally after rain-storms in summer, and is most copious in spring with the melting of the snow and ice in the heights above. If the call of the mountains makes itself heard, a trip up the Val d'Esino to Monte Grigna is in order from Varenna. This will take us away from the floating population of the lakeside, which has come from the ends of the earth to delight in the shifting spectacle of Lake Como, and will lead us to where the great white clouds trail over the solitary upland pastures. There a few herders live remotely, yet they need but look over the brinks of their lofty precipices to see, set out below, picture-maps of close cul- tivation and close habitation, of wealth and fashion, of a strange mode of living, with which they are brought into actual contact only through the milk and butter they sell. 220 Varenna And doubtless, when the cattle have been milked for the day and the spare bite of polenta has been taken, they can sit for a while in the twilight, watching certain curi- ous jets of piercing white light dart from the obscurity of Cadenabbia and Menaggio and cast corresponding reflections upon the water. These jets are electric lights, and they stand for the very acme of luxurious lowland extravagance in the eyes of the good people of the mountains. 221 CHAPTER XX FROM CHIAVENNA TO LECCO TRAVELLERS from the Engadine over the Maloja and Splugen passes find at Chiavenna their first town of any size in Italy. It is, as its name implies, a " Key " to Northern Italy, the Clavenna of the Romans. First impressions count for a great deal, and Chia- venna is nothing if not original. The town is dominated by a rock, a veritable citadel in appearance, which is, however, devoted to the peaceful purpose of a restaurant, called Paradiso. The unfinished structure of a great castle with staring windows lies at the foot of this rock. Chiavenna can tell tales of siege and strain and destruction, from the time of Barbarossa to the Visconti, and in more modern times bears witness to the conflicting ambitions of the Swiss Canton of Graubunden, of Spain, France, and Austria. The castle was begun by the De Salis fam- ily of Graubunden, but abandoned in 1639. 222 From Chiavenna to Lecco A lofty Lombard campanile rises from the town, but both that and the citadel-like rock are dwarfed by the towering heights that seem to have caught and clamped Chiavenna between their sheer steeply wooded sides. Little terraces of bright green, miniature trellises, vineyards, and white houses, pitched against forests of swelling chestnut-trees, — all these cling to the mountains like flies to window-panes. The interior of the town is largely char- acterized by the rushing stream of the Mera, along which the town is built. Many of the back doors give upon the tumultuous water. Two fine bridges cross the Mera, one leading to the Maloja pass and the other to the Splugen. A few old portals catch the eye as reminders of good old days. The place is not without modern features, being lighted by electricity and connected with the great world by rail, but it gives an impression of being constantly engaged in a struggle against its alpine background and winning a right to existence only by incessant toil. There is some resemblance to Sion and Bel- linzona in Switzerland. At Chiavenna, also, the big yellow diligences of Switzerland, and their drivers and guards in modest uni- 223 The Italian Lakes form, make connections with the voluble Italian trains and hobnob with the Italian customs officers and Italian carabinieri in brave array. The journey from Chiavenna to Colico on Lake Como takes us first of all through a strange flat country which goes by the name of the Piano di Chiavenna. Here cattle and horses range over the wide meadows. Then comes Lake Riva with reedy shores and som- bre gorges opening into the mountainsides, and shortly before Colico a glimpse is af- forded of the entrance into the highly cul- tivated Val Tellina (German Veltlin), into which a branch 4ine runs to the places Son- drio and Tirano. Around Colico the mountains are plenti- fully sprinkled with villages. Here the ques- tion of rail or steamboat must be decided for the further journey, only let no travellers who have merely taken the train from Colico to Lecco imagine that they have seen the Lake of Como. Never was there a more aggravating line with such provoking fre- quency of tunnels. At the moment of enjoy- ment, when the eye, after much dodging of projections, trees, houses, or mountain spurs, has finally caught a glimpse of the match- 224 From Chiavenna to Lecco less blue expanse, then comes with sudden fury an obliterating blackness and a mighty rumbling. The train has plunged once more into the mountainside. The peeps are fas- cinating, but the waits are exasperating, and this alternation of " now you do " and " now you don't " has been known to make trav- ellers refuse to look even when there was really something to see. In the year 1833 Ruskin, then some four- teen years of age, made his first trip over the Alps with his parents. He wrote " A Tour on the Continent " in juvenile verses, and among sub-headings of this poem we find " Chiavenna," " Lago di Como," " Ca- denabbia," "Villa Pliniana," and " Lago Maggiore." In his " Praeterita " he thus writes of his initiation into the beauties of Lake Como: " We took boat on the little recessed lake of Chiavenna, and rowed down the whole way of waters, passing another Sunday at Cadenabbia, and then, from villa to villa, across the lake, and across to Como, and so to Milan by Monza. It was then full, though early, summer-time; and the first impression of Italy always ought to be in summer. It was also well that, though my 225 The Italian Lakes heart was with the Swiss cottage, the arti- ficial taste in me had been mainly formed by Turner's rendering of these very scenes in Rogers's ' Italy.' " The upper portion of Lake Como is not as thickly sown with travellers as the lower portion. There is less of the spectacular, less affluence and abundance of vegetation. The olive-tree gives place readily to the chestnut, and yet a place like Gravedona is not without interest. It displays a fine old palazzo, with a terrace overlooking the lake and a graceful central loggia. Many a pink house or a blue one stands out from rock or wooded pinnacle, and everywhere there is a painstaking cultivation of every scrap of ground available. The clouds, too, perform their part when the day is not absolutely sunny, as needs must be sometimes, even on the Italian lakes. In long level streaks they hang along the mountains, often leaving the peaks exposed to view. Then, when the sun does break through, these same clouds glow and cast their halos on the land beneath. Dongo is a large-ish place, and the ruins of castle Musso recorded history in their day, when they sheltered that extraordinary pi- rate, the self-styled Giov. Giac. de Medici. 2?6 The Lake of Lecco For the historical significance of this adven- turer, the reader is referred to the author's work on " The Rise of the Swiss Republic." Somebody has softened the ruins of Musso by turning the whole of the rocky height into a garden. Here are rockeries and little paths artistically and artificially traced from point to point over yawning chasms by pretty bridges. At every possible place, by every torrent that tumbles into the lake, and on every sloping bit of shore the invariable washerwomen kneel to their work. Here and there, in bight or bay, fishermen are seen drawing in their nets, and fish-hawks sail in circles on the alert. Bellano, with its large factories, is at the entrance of the Val Sassina and opens the way to interesting excursions into rarely vis- ited mountains, from which it is possible to emerge again at the town of Lecco. The Lake of Lecco A double line of rail and carriage road rather spoils the looks of the eastern bank of the Lake of Lecco, but this line renders a vast service to the country and should not be condemned for scratching the mountain- 227 The Italian Lakes side. At best the mountains hereabouts are somewhat severe in their bareness, but their forms are imposing, and the lake renders them again in majestic reflections. Notice- able are certain pathetic brown stacks of brushwood, assembled with scrupulous care on the shore-line at the feet of the hard cliffs and speaking eloquently of a constant struggle against poverty. As we step aboard the steamboat for Lecco, we are handed yel- low tickets bearing the name of the station where we embark. This seems to be a habit peculiar to Lake Como. The day is warm and hazy, and a uniformity which is almost colourless broods upon the water. Great barges, with big oars acting as side boards, drop quietly astern, becalmed. On the sec- ond-class deck some recruits, summoned to the colours, sing to keep up their courage. They repeat some simple musical phrase with surprising persistence and end it finally in a long-drawn, dirge-like chant. And since the subject of mountain silhou- ettes has been broached before in this book, in connection with the Lake of Lecco, it may be in order for the writer to state that, re- turning from Lecco to Bellagio by boat one evening he saw a silhouette designed upon 228 Lecco the flanks of a mountain, probably the Corni di Canzo, which far transcended anything of its kind he had ever seen, in clearness of outline and especially in beauty. It was about sundown, and the point of view was toward Lecco. The silhouette was that of a pure Greek head with the unmistakable type of features, — straight nose, fine lips, and delicately chiseled chin. The head was sur- mounted by a helmet of antique pattern. As the boat receded and the sun sank, there was a gradual lengthening out of the silhouette until it vanished, but during its best moments the design was worthy of a Canova or a Thorwaldsen. It was as though one of these great modern rejuvenators of the classic an- tique had climbed into the heights and blocked out there upon that topmost slope, with Herculean stencil, a giant head that should epitomize admiration for the noble lines and the perennial art of ancient Greece. Lecco After one has seen the notable beauty spots of Lake Como, — such as Bellagio and the Tremezzina, — the Bay of Lecco is per- haps not particularly impressive, nor the 229 The Italian Lakes town especially pleasing. By contrast with those show-places, Lecco, the town, looks distinctly industrial. Indeed it is a very active centre of trade and traffic by reason of silk, cotton, and iron-ware factories and by means of its periodical markets. Every Saturday, for instance, during the silk-co- coon season there is a market at Lecco de- voted to this staple product of the country. It acts as a sort of exchange for much of the Brianza, and along with the silk cocoons many of the silver hair needles and wooden slippers of the women of Lake Como find their way to Lecco. The water-front of Lecco is not decidedly picturesque, nor is there much of that colour which redeems So much disorder in Italy. At the same time the toothed mountain at the back, the Resegnone, is striking, and there is a pretty little village on the opposite shore called Malgrate. 230 CHAPTER XXI THE DILIGENCE AT Chiavenna and thereabouts the pres- ence of the diligence still confronts the trav- eller with its particular memories of lei- surely travel. The railroad is fast crowding the good old stage-coach off most of the lines of travel in the Alps. It has long since done so in the plains. We are witnessing the slow extinc- tion of a peculiar method of transportation, the few reminders of which will presently find themselves among the curiosities of the lumber-room, or will be catalogued in mu- seums under the head of the history of travel, and labelled in a list beginning with the ox-cart and ending with the flying machine. The diligence is daily growing to be more and more of a memory. In some parts of the Alps it already belongs to the good old times. Therefore its reminiscence should be promptly chronicled. 231 The Italian Lakes There are railroad plans and counter-plans for tunnelling, spanning, circling, overcom- ing, and generally circumventing the Alps. New inventions and novel appliances are being brought to bear on the transit problem, making startling promises and raising grand hopes. Especially is little Switzerland busy in this attack upon the integrity of the Alps. After making its own valleys and peaks ac- cessible to the tourist world, it has drawn its big neighbours into connivance to destroy the aloofness of the great European back- bone and lower its pride. Two historic tun- nels already connect the progressive little republic with Italy and the Italian lakes, namely, those of the St. Gothard and the Simplon. France has its Mont Cenis on the west and Austria its Brenner on the east, both placing the traveller within short dis- tances of the lakes. Other connections must follow in due time, every fresh enterprise of this sort displacing some old-established line of diligences and relegating these vehicles to a past which is not without its cherished and particular adventures. Therefore, without permitting ourselves to disparage in the least the virtues of train and steam or electric traffic, virtues which 232 The Diligence are many and welcome, let fancy range for awhile over the achievements and merits of the diligence as a means of travel. It would seem that the children have been the ones to appreciate the merits of the dili- gence even more than their elders. They have had no sense of responsibility for en- gaging places, for seeing the baggage on, for making sure of rooms at the end of the jour- ney; they have felt no pressure to arrive on time, or to make connections anywhere with anything. They have been care-free, tuned to enjoy the exhilarating sense of being on the go, in a large-sized carriage, from which they have actually been allowed to get out and walk up-hill. The elders might com- plain of the dust or expostulate against the scorching sun, but nothing could destroy for the children that delightfully adventurous sensation of going on and on into the great world, not knowing whither and not needing to know. The pace of the diligence may be slow, but it moves to its destination from valley to slope, from zigzag to pass, up hill and down dale in such a way as to let the country be seen. The telegraph-poles do not fly past, but succeed each other without losing a deco- 233 The Italian Lakes rous identity. It is possible to sight a fa- vourite flower or bird on the edge of the for- est, to catch a smile or return a greeting from a wayside cottage, to see the haymakers in the field and the women drawing water at the village fountain. The equipment and accoutrements of dili- gence travel vary in the different portions of the Alps, from Savoy through Switzer- land to Tyrol and Styria, but resemblances are many. The coaches are invariably yel- low. On the great Swiss diligences there is a glass-covered box in front and a hooded lookout up behind. During the height of the tourist season diligence travel pretty much everywhere means getting up at dawn and manoeuvring in the half-light so as not to be forced to ride inside the diligence itself. This seems paradoxical. The explanation is that all, except those who have secured out- side seats, want to ride in one of the nice open extra carriages, which are generally found necessary during the season. Hence there is much hanging back, quite unaccount- able to the novice, but perfectly clear to the tourist who has ever ridden all day inside the diligence. Time-inured and season- hardened tourists