316 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



closes itself ; whether in the surging life 

 of the Via Nazionale or the Corso, each 

 with its restless tide of cosmopolitan hue ; 

 the Piazza del Popolo, with its diurnal 

 passeggiata winding up the steep slopes 

 of the wooded Pincio and through the 

 formal gardens ; the Piazza di Spagna, 

 where the ardent kodaker finds ample 

 quarry among the picturesquely costumed 

 artists' models who loiter about the 

 flower market on the steps leading up to 

 the quaint old church of the Mountain 

 Trinity ; the Seven Hills themselves, or 

 the lower quarters where the crowded 

 masses herd in noisy camaraderie. To 

 each who sees it all comes a different im- 

 pression of the sense and purpose of the 

 ever youthful city of the hills. 



the; spirit of modern rome 



But equally to all who stand of a sunny 

 day in the garden of the Knights of 

 Malta, on Aventine's crest, and look away 

 through the leafy lane among the trees, 

 comes the sense that here, regardless of 

 the vivid life of the city below, is visible 

 the spirit of the true Rome, of the Eternal 

 City ; for oft in the near distance, framed 

 by the branches of the little park, floats 

 the dome of St. Peter's triumphant above 

 man and all his works ; as proud, as vast, 

 as massive as ever Italian art could make 

 it ; sign and symbol even yet of the char- 

 acter and force of the city which for cen- 

 turies has molded not only her own sons, 

 but stamped an ineradicable impression 

 upon all civilization. 



THE DESOLATE BEAUTY OF THE CAMPAGXA 



The picturesque desolation of the Cam- 

 pagna, dotted with the summer straw and 

 wicker huts of the peasants instead of 

 the villas of the rich and noble ancients, 

 is swept about by mountain, forest, and 

 sea, gemmed with sparkling lakes and 

 pocked with dead craters and splendid 

 ruins. The planting of eucalyptus trees 

 and systematic drainage is working 

 bravely for a reclamation of the marshy 

 plain to its flourishing condition when, as 

 ancient Latium, it gave the Romans to 

 the world. 



To the southeast the extinct volcanic 

 Alban Mountains form a striking back- 

 ground for equally striking towns — Castel 

 Gandolfo of papal fame, with its huge 



palace dominating the somberly lovely 

 Lake Albano, darkly cupped by the lips 

 of an extinct but forbidding crater ; and 

 the serene, pellucid sapphire of the Lake 

 of Nemi, "Diana's Mirror," hardly ever 

 kissed by the faintest breeze. Its lofty 

 lava walls are so precipitous one marvels 

 at the daring, skill, and patience of the 

 peasants who have so wonderfully culti- 

 vated them. 



On the east the Apennines come down 

 to the Campagna in the abrupt Sabine 

 Range, beautiful, heavily wooded, copi- 

 ously watered limestone peaks. Tivoli is 

 cradled like an eagle's nest high among 

 these sheltering hills, moated about on 

 three sides by the foaming impatience of 

 the Anio, that bursts violently out hither 

 and yon in long, snowy pennons of flying 

 spume. The precipice is jeweled with the 

 mutilated little temple of the Sybil, the 

 town ragged and twisty and instinct with 

 charming irregularities and contradic- 

 tions ; and the great, gloomy, neglected 

 Villa d'Este is magnificent yet with the 

 saturnine beauty of its dusky cypresses 

 and ilex, gray olives and heavy hedges. 



Small wonder that Tivoli and these 

 lovely Sabine hills drew the ancient sum- 

 mer colonists, or that a mile away Ha- 

 drian himself should have erected an im- 

 perial villa that was a marvel in its day, 

 and now in ours is only a confusing, con- 

 glomerate ruin among weedy gardens. 



THE GRIFFIN CITY OF PERUGIA 



Away to the north and west stretches 

 that most delightful and suggestive re- 

 gion, Lnibria, well called the "Galilee of 

 Italy" because of its holy men and 

 women. It is a green and brown land of 

 isolated hills, each crowned by its special 

 type of city, and of rolling meads be- 

 tween ; a rich and fertile land, full of the 

 quiet, pastoral beauty that infuses the 

 work of the L'mbrian School of painters ; 

 a land of cities romantically unchanged. 



Of all the Umbrian communities, the 

 Griffin City of Perugia is the most inter- 

 esting, the bloodiest, the most compelling. 

 Here again we have striking proof of the 

 value of geographical location. Much of 

 the power and eminence of the city was 

 due to its situation at the juncture of 

 several long spines of hill, 1,200 feet 

 high, commanding the Tiber, that winds 



