"ITALIAN SKIES."

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 14, 17 January 1931, Page 14

"ITALIAN SKIES."

TENNIS AT MILAN. After a trip abroad extending over eleven months, Miss Eina Pagni, daughter of the late Mr. Pagni, Italian Consul, has returned to Auckland. Six weeks were spent by Miss Pagni in Italy, ahd while she was there she, a tennis enthusiast hers.elf, witnessed the Italian championships at the tourna lent held at Milan. She also attended the Paris tournament, and later was at Wimbledon, where she considered the best tennis was to be seen. The match between Tilden and Borotra was an experience, she said, which would be remembered by her for a long while.. Florence, said Miss Pagni, was a place of indescribable beauty. At the time of her arrival there the wistaria was in bloom, and literally cascades of the lovely blue flowers poured down everything it trailed over. The weather was [beautiful, and the clearness of the air land the bright sun combined to make everything that she had imagined about "Italian skies." The women of Italy, she noticed, were very well dressed. At the tennis tournament they presented a very attractive sight. It was spring, and floral ninon was holding sway. The frocks of floral ninon were worn with pastel-shaded tweed coats lined with ninon. The fashionable length was 11 inches from the ground.

The departmental shops in Italy were much the same as anywhere else, but the .exclusive shops were' l particularly fine. Many of these specialised in exquisite jewellery. The general cost of living was low if the right places to go were known.

Italian food had a distinct "personality," Miss Pagni said, and the national methods or preparation were much preferable to the copy of English cooking which was served in the restaurants. In the latter menus veal was the outstanding meat, and very tough at that. "Minestrone" soup and bread formed the staple diet .of the poorer people of the country. It was composed of a great deal of spaghetti mixed with vegetables of every description, and although called soup was so thick that it was more like a thick stew.

A motor tour through England and Scotland and the city ot London stood out most vividly in Miss Pagni's mind of all the places she went during her trip. Scotland reminded her very much of New Zealand.. For London she felt the indescribable fascination that enthralls so many travellers. Foodstuffs there were dear, a single chop being 1/7, but materials anc clothing were, in comparison with colonial prices, very cheap.