Roma beata; letters from the Eternal city

Rome, which we reached Thursday, is very much changed since I last saw it; imagine the Fountain of Trevi, all the principal streets, even many of the smaller ones, gleaming with...

The Borgo, our quarter,--Leonine City is its best name,--is not fashionable, and the street-cries are still in full force here. The earliest is the Acetosa water, “_Fiasche fres...

A South African couple sit at my table; they have come all the way from Cape Town. For seventeen long years the husband suffered with nervous dyspepsia, whatever that may be. On...

Vesuvius dominates the whole landscape. He finally got the better of us, drew us like a magnet; so, finding that the ascent can be made from here as well as anywhere, we gave a...

Was not that pathetic? In spite of being White in my politics, I feel a personal sympathy for the Pope. We are such near neighbors, I see the windows of his private apartment fr...

The town of Roccaraso is above the station, a _castello_ perched aloft on a spur of one of the upper Abruzzi. Below us is a wide, flat valley, all around us are crowding blue mo...

I was sorry for the _sindaco_, a progressive man, with a dim sense at the back of his head of a future for Roccaraso if the mad _forestieri_ take a fancy to it. He pulled his lo...

They were marched off to Tivoli, to spend the night in the vast, bare guard-room, where every hour the grave _carabinieri_ came and went in squads, as the guards were changed. I...

I told her my “_ambasciata_.” Though she was kindly sympathetic, she said “no” firmly, then explained. The Haywoods are the only people in the Borgo (outside the Vatican) who ke...

“If the mice disturb you, why do you keep them? You have not the heart to kill them? Tell the janitor to put the traps in a pail of water; it will be over in a minute,” said the...

“All the articles in this closet are yours, and welcome, on condition you take them away this evening. It is known to you that if Pompilia were here she would never let them go.”

We made the ascent of Mt. Epomeo; after completing the course of eleven baths, we wished to put to the test what they had done for me. We drove to Fontana, taking our luncheon w...

“We could not have her handling the food, you know,” he said; “but she is so decorative that we want to look at her while we eat and drink. Antonio has outdone himself (he knew...

On Christmas Eve the pilgrims began to arrive in torrents, and have been pouring in and out of the city ever since. They will not be allowed to come in July and August--supposed...

He had come as he always does, the Saturday before Easter, to bless the house. Pompilia and Filomena had been on their marrow-bones for a week, rubbing, scrubbing, polishing, se...

At this hectic moment the proud young porter came hurrying along the _vicolo_, buttoning his gold-laced coat as he ran. He took in the situation at a glance, and with the exquis...

“Was that scar on your cheek made by an Austrian or a French bayonet?” He rubbed the old wound with a stiff hand smiling grimly to himself. “By neither--worse yet! At Calatafini...

It is written that our last days in Rome shall not hang heavy on our hands; emotion follows emotion! Last evening J. went to the station to see Patsy off on the special train pr...