WANDERINGS IN ITALY

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 313, 30 September 1926, Page 13

WANDERINGS IN ITALY

BY FREDERICK STUBBS, F.R.G.S. (Written for The Dominion.) The Latin countries are all of them beautiful and inexpensive, and in Italy one may live luxuriously for IDs. a day. A bottle of fair wine may be bought for fid. Before the war, at Sorrento, 1 made the acquaintance of an Italian wine merchant, who told me he sold a genuine claret at Hid. a gallon. Only last year, in Naples, morning after morning, I paid for two rolls, an egg, coffee, and milk the sum of -id., while a cup of coffee or of coffee and brandy could be had for a penny. A carriage could be hired before the war for Is. an hour ,and even now could be had for 2s. Many kinds of wearing apparel, especially hosiery, are extremely cheap, while for 2s. or 3s. one can book an excellent seat at the theatreA Much-Taxed Land. At the same time, travel for the foreigner is not quite as inexpensive as these figures might appear to indicate, for m Italy as well as in France there are special taxes for visitors. In Italy, for example, there is a luxury tax of from 1 to 10 per cent.; service is 10 to 15 per cent.; a tourist tax of from l-sth to 2 per cent.; a taxe de sojour; the vise of your passport will cost you 22 lira. And in addition to these 1 found I had to pay 10s. before being allowed to land at all. And the visitor has to pay a tru for the benefit of the soldiers wounded in the late war. There is also, quite properly, a heavy tax on expensive wines and other luxuries demanded bv the profiteer. There are taxes on theatre seats, on boardinghouses, on hotel rooms. Every advertisement —even the small price-card Hl the shop window —has to bear a stamp. I never knew a country with such a multitude of taxes, though—with the exception of those enacted for the benefit (?) of visitors—it must be admitted that they are mostly small.

Travel by Rail. Railway travel is especially cheap. There are four classes, and I should think one might travel the whole length of Italy for about £l. The railroads arc not as well laid as in England,, but better than in some of the Dominions. The stationmasters wear gorgeous redpeaked caps, braided with gold. There is often much delay in getting tickets, as the hooking clerk has to enter in a book a description of every ticket he issues. The guard docs not blow a whistle to start a train, but a horn. .At the booking offices the fares (as at many British stations) are written so faintly and placed so high up on the wall, that it is impossible for a man of ordinary stature to read them. In the metropolitan cities there is always an information office, but on several occasions I found the clerk unable cither to speak English or to give information. The chief object seems to be to sell tickets, upon which there is a small commission. If you travel first or second-class your companions will mostly he tourists, who will glare at you as an intruder on their space and comfort. In the third or fourth-class you will sit on a wooden seat, but will be treated as a princely guest, your poorer fellow-passengers offering you food and wine and handling your luggage for you. J have had experience of all classes. The windows arc nearly always kept closed; lew nations share the Britisher's craving for fresh air. Italian Manners. 1 have referred with pleasure to the kindness of the poorer Italians, hut,

speaking generally, the Italian people are not nearly as polite as they used to be. This is largely the result of the war, which has affected manners everywhere—the working classes especially, I am sorry to say, proclaiming their newly-realised strength and independence by lessened politeness. A further cause operating just now is the lessened popularity ot Britain. This, too, is owing to the war, as so many other unpleasant things are, the Italian people thinking that Great Britain got too much out of it and Italy too little. They think they were treated unfairly in the settlement, and, above all, they owe Great Britain £55-1,000,000, which they have no intention of paying. One seldom feels verv cordial towards one’s creditors! The voices of the Italian people have always (though not in every instance) been unpleasantly loud, though the language itself is beautifully soft. In the churches there are notices begging worshippers not to expectorate on the floor; not to walk about during Divine service; not to bring dogs into church (I have known one to occupy a seat), but I have seen all these things done again and again without any notice being taken. After the midday meal most people take a siesta, but they make up for it by staying up late into the night. Some of the restaurants never close their doors at all.. Shops keep onen till an hour that would entail a iieavv fine in Australia or New Zealand, and both men and women work long hours (women are fortunatelv permitted to work long and late even in this country: a male worker would certainly not tolerate a limit for his wife or mother). The Churches. The churches seemed to me better attended last year than formerly. Tins I think is partly due to the war and partlv to the fact that Mussolini and ascism are favourable to the. Church. ■\s a high dignitarv at the Vatican Secretariat said' to me, “We like Mussolini; he has done a great deal for the Church.” He certainlv has. Everyone knows what glorious churches Italy possesses. Formerly, the altar was always lighted with candles which were sold at the doors. Wax or tallow seemed almost essential to worship. One never thought to see these replaced by the electric light as they are to-ilay--the Church so far yielding to the spirit of the age. A custom that seems strange to ns is the hiring of a sea during service. I do not remember eier seeing pews in an Italian church; von hire a chair for the service and place it where yon please. I sometimes it were possible to hire a lounge chai in our own churches 1

An indication of the eftect ■- e dole upon the oned.mie , of Great Britain is illustrate 1 d >" following letter to a well known M Zealander from a relative in Ln„l< (says the ’’Daily Telegraph ). riatin. that two servants who were getting „<> wages aud wore well treated in 1 - . wav, suddenly decided to Jeaie situations. The mistress ot la. „ lm>- • mooting tho mother of tho gnl-. n k how the family was go Hing on. '’. verv well." snid the lady; 1 m on the dole, me ’usbaml’s on the dole and n « mo two daughters is on the dole. M ith tho four of them on the dole ti er was apparently little necessity for them t That old problem—is a fomn to a f » nr a r —has been finalh bv a little Napier girl of a dozen Mi - niers (says the "Daily lolegiaph 1. M r (ng in that town’s slumping. ri; essay competition on Die . >.l of ' the "Uses and . Value " Fruit.’’ she firmly maintained that a tomato is both a frnfl and •. vegetable. She said that one o. ifchief values was that if purified Hie blood aud cleansed the liver.