“ Montalto ” 
ot 1895. The old house had suffered con¬ 
siderably from that disturbance. It was com¬ 
pletely gutted, and in its place rose the great 
pile which the Count has called by his own 
name translated into Italian. He has been 
his own architect and landscape gardener, and 
the illustrations will show how well he has 
succeeded. The great drawing-room occu¬ 
pies the whole southern front of the house, 
taking the place of three rooms and a 
kitchen of the old villa. !t has a magnificent 
aspect, and contains beautiful stucco work, 
much of which is copied from Sans Souci. 
Rich colored carpets, brought from India, 
where the Count traveled with his eldest 
brother, Prince H enry of PI ess, bronzes and 
objets d'art of all kinds are scattered about. 
To the west is a smaller room ornamented 
with most dainty stucco work. Here, too, is 
the broad wooden staircase leading to the 
floor above where is the Count’s studio, for he 
is an artist of no little ability,and has studied 
long in Paris. The whole of the western 
front is that of the old villa of the Del Nero 
family; and the Count tells me that when he 
recast the interior of the building, he found 
pieces of fine old sculptured friezes which 
had been used as ties. Portions of columns 
and ancient capitals which were built into the 
walls, had been ruthlessly chipped off w'hen 
too big to be used; and above the stone 
vaults were remains of old carved wooden 
ceilings with traces of painting. The library 
and dining-room are to the east, and the lat¬ 
ter has an original frieze of various birds, 
turkeys, partridges, pheasants, etc., and fine 
old pictures of fruit and flowers are let into 
the wall. In the center of the ceiling is a 
large mirror, with delicate scrolls and sprays 
of flowers in white stucco. The electric light, 
power for which the Count makes on the 
premises, is cunningly placed behind the 
different birds, and the effect is wonderfully 
pretty and soft. 
The northwest front faces the spur of hills 
which run gently down from the height of 
8 
