THREE WEEKS IN THE ABRUZZI. 283 



such for example as Tivoli ; otherwise he will find hiinself after a very 

 tiring journey (with no possibility of obtaining food after Sulmona), 

 stranded at the horrible little wayside station of Mandela, with two 

 hours to wait, too late for hunting, though the neighbourhood looks 

 hopeful, and with figs, raw sausage, and a deadly kind of wine, as the 

 only available nutriment. Kxpertn crede '. Never shall I forget our 

 arrival at Subiaeo in the dark, tired out, hungry, and with bad head- 

 aches dealt out indiscriminately all round. We had sent on our heavy 

 luggage direct to Rome, and had not very much more than we could 

 conveniently carry, but no hotel dreams of sending to meet the trains, 

 and one charters a boy to carry what one cannot well manage oneself, 

 and indeed it would be absolutely necessary to do so even if one could 

 carry it all ; for no sooner did we get ofl: the platform than we were 

 assailed, nay mobbed, by a crowd of young urchins, pushing, howling, 

 seizing at such articles as we were carrying ourselves, and absolutely 

 refusing to take "no" for an answer when we had been tormented into 

 making a reply of some kind. There was but one sentiment in one's 

 mind, a deep unspeakable loathing of everything in the shape of a boy 

 that did or would or might exist. Even when we did arrive at the 

 Albergo dell Aniene, to which we had written for rooms, there was a 

 " festa" going on in the house, and the noise was almost as bad as 

 what we had endured outside. The foremost, noisest, and most 

 persistent of our persecutors was a sturdy young ruffian named Pietro 

 Pillicio. Nobody, I imagine, would call Pietro attractive in appearance, 

 he is blatant and pushing, he smokes a remarkable German pipe with 

 a lid, and yet I have mentioned his name, not, as may be supposed, to 

 warn people ofi, but to induce anyone who may go there to secure his 

 services, for the sake of their own comfort and convenience. He insisted 

 on coming out with us the next day, to our undisguised annoyance, 

 yet the moment you have given in to his persistence all is changed. Not 

 another boy is allowed to come near you or to worry you in any way, 

 every beggar is sent off with an audacious " non capiscono," accompanied 

 with a grin and a wink on your side of his face (as if anybody could 

 mistake what an Italian beggar said, even if the language were wholly 

 unknown to him), and beyond all he is a perfect mine of information, 

 and stranger still of correct information, about everything in Subiaeo 

 and for ten miles round. He has even acted as guide to an " Inglese " 

 (how I wonder who it was ! ) who came to collect butterflies in the 

 mountains. Strangest of all, when we had spent some three or four 

 hours in his company, every one of us was genuinely sorry to part with 

 him, and had we been staying longer I have no doubt he would have 

 become our daily companion. The hotel improved on acquaintance as 

 greatly as Pietro, and even one's judgment of the Subiaeo boys gave 

 way before our little waiter, Ernesto Piacentini, who cannot have been 

 16, but who managed the whole work of the place, the gentlest, best- 

 mannered and most efficient lad I have met with in all Italy. And 

 how wonderfully cheap the hotel is, and how picturesque (though 

 dirty) the town itself, how intensely interesting its two famous 

 monasteries, how marvellously beautiful its surroundings, and what 

 a gold-mine for the entomologist who has time enough for exploration 

 at his disposal ! Our first morning was entirely taken up by visits to 

 the monasteries of S. Scholastica and S. Benedetto, and my hunting 

 was confined to the walk between the two. The principal species in 



