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National Geographic : 1915 Jun
Contents
FRONTIER CITIES OF ITALY and away to the hills, green in the fore ground, misty violet as they rise higher into the distance, into the spaces of eter nal snows. The rugged valley of the Adige is crossed; the river spreads out on a plain, and in its folds sits Verona; but she turns her back upon the train and is passed almost unnoticed, while eyes are yet straining for the last glimpse of lake and mountains. She does not come very close to the railroad nor show it her best side; even if one is watching, there may be disap pointment. One must go to her, walk her streets, linger on her bridges, idle in her churches, gossip in her market, drink sweety syrups and eat tiny ices under her stars, absorbing every murmur of her breezes, every moaning of her ancient stones, and then one may know not Verona only, but Italy. RUSKIN TRIBUTE TO VERONA It is old-fashioned today to read Rus kin, but a line comes back: "She [Ve rona] has virtually represented the fate and beauty of Italy to me." We have not all Ruskin's eyes to see nor language to describe, but Verona's history is that of northern Italy; Verona's beauty - ah, well! there are those that deny it; Venice is so near and ever her rival. They are so different, however, these two Italian cities; there can be no comparison, so let us make none; certainly Verona was the richest and loveliest city on the Venetian "terra firma." Just when the few little hillocks by the Adige came to be tenanted no one cer tainly knows, but Rhaetians, Euganeans, and Cenomani had come and gone before Verona became a Roman colony, in 89 B. C. Seated by a great river coming straight from the Alps, a swift highway for every ambitious northern tribe, it was inevitable that Verona should suffer and profit from invasion. "There are no trag edies like the tragedies of Verona under the Gothic and Lombard kings;" but through them all the city prospered fairly: the history written in blood and passion lends her beauty to that tragic veil which so adorns her today. Much beloved she ever was by her con querors, Theodoric the Ostrogoth, the Dietrich of Bern of German legend, loved to linger there, although Ravenna was his capital. On the fortified height of Veronetta, the little old city on the Adige's left bank, he built a spacious castle and fortress and robbed the old Roman structures, the Theater and the Arena, to strengthen his fortifications. ROSAMUNDA'S TRAGEDY SFifty years later Rosamunda, wife of the Lombard King Alboin (568), gave Verona one of its gruesome tragedies. Rosamunda's father, Cunimond, King of the Gepidee, third of the Gothic nations who maintained a home in the Balkan plain, had been conquered by Alboin and slain, his skull being mounted as a drink ing cup for the victor. Rosamunda, prize of conquest, became Alboin's bride. One evening at Verona, flushed with many successes, inflamed by much beady wine, Alboin forced his consort to drink a toast with him from her father's skull. Now, Rosamunda had naturally never loved Alboin, and had loved, with none too nice taste or discrimination, the King's armor-bearer and, so rumor has it, one or two of his men. Hate flamed in her heart and tools for vengeance lay ready to her hand; her lovers were easily in cited to slay the King. It profited Rosamunda little, however. Verona rose against the murderers. She and the two men fled, but never so fast that punishment could not overtake them. One was slain; the other she caused to be poisoned, and he, dying, slew her. Alas ! Verona can tell more than one such tale. PEPIN'S LOVE FOR VERONA The Frankish rulers loved Verona too; Pepin, son of Charlemagne, made it his best-beloved town and Charlemagne him self tarried gladly there. One of his wives was Desideria, daughter of the last Lombard King, Desiderius, and Charle magne's repudiation of her adds another to Verona's sorrowful tales. But it is with the della Scala family that Verona reaches her greatest importance: it is after the bitter and bloody struggles of Guelphs and Ghibellines that Mastino della Scala, a man of no particular birth 563
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