A WANDERER IN GENOA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20005, 23 November 1927, Page 12

A WANDERER IN GENOA

ANIENT and modern CONTRASTS City of Departed Glories (By FREDERICK STUBBS, F.R.G.S.)

Genoa is not half as well known to tourists as it deserves to be. Every visitor to Italy aims at seeing Venice. Rome, Florence. He cannot help seeing (and smelling!) Naples, so many Lines call there. But Genoa, one of the greatest, most prosperous, and most interesting of Italian cities—formerly I known as La Superba—is passed by. W'hen I last landed there, in 1925, I was the only British passenger tb remain. And I am very glad I did remain (though I had to pay a tenshilling landing tax), for reasons which I hope will appear in this article. Genoa, a city of 350,000 inhabitants, is built in the form of an amphitheatre around the bay, with the Appennines in the background. As one enters the port, one secs the city rising in terraces —houses, palaces, churches—higher and higher until the summits of the nearer hills are reached. The harbour is deep and spacious, the business of the port rivalling that of Marseilles. The coast on either side is extremely picturesque, the hills near the shore being covered with luxuriant vegetation oranges, lemons, palms, olives, flowers—and the climate is mild and dry, indeed, judging from my | own experience, the winter climate is i milder than that of either Rome or I'lorence, though these are farther south. No doubt the proximity of the sea accounts for the difference. Genoa’s History. Genoa has had a stirring and glorious history. It must be a very ancient city, for it is mentioned by the Greek geographer, Strabo, and also by the Roman historian (hated by schoolboys!) Livy. Our own poet, Chaucer, set out for Genoa in 1373, meeting Petrarch at Padua. In the 13th and 14th centuries, Genoa was deemed superior even to its powerful rival, Venice, these two celebrated cities being at that time the seats of two rival Republics, both of which possessed settlements in the Mediterranean and an extensive commerce in the Orient. It was the home of great bankers and the depositary of vast hordes of gold. It may be of interest to business men to recall the fact that the familiar bill of exchange had its origin here. At one time the city possessed fleets which pillaged and sacked the ports of the Mediterranean and were the terror of neighbouring States. It crushed Pisa—then a powerful State —in 1284, but was itself defeated by Venice in 1379. The Genoa of the 16th century is said to have weighed as much in the councils of Europe as England does to-day. The figures seem almost incredible, but it is said to have possessed at one time 1000 warships and 100,000 fighting men—indeed, it was its wealth and prosperity that led—as in the case of the great empires of antiquity—to its decline and fall. Luxury—accompanied as it always is by an increase of vice, enfeebled the people: their courage, their public spirit, their industry declined. The well-to-do employed others to do the hard work and the fighting: they wanted to remain at home and enjoy their pleasures undisturbed. This might have been all right if other States had been of the same mind but they were not, and gradually the wealth, commerce, and importance of the city declined until it no longer counted in the councils of Europe.

Taken by Britain.

The fortunes of the city enter even into British history. Genoa at the close of the 18th century, along with most of the cities of the Continent, had fallen into the hands of Napoleon. In the year 1800, the long, deadly struggle between France and Britain was iii full swing, and the British fleet determined on the reduction of Genoa, which was held by the French and defended by the brilliant General Massena. The city was blockaded by the British for 60 days, during which 15,000 of the unfortunate inhabitants died of famine or disease, and when at length it surrendered, of the 5000 French troops that garrisoned the city only 2000 able-bodied men remained. Incorporated with the new kingdom of Italy in the middle of last century, Genoa is still a great and busy city, retaining the memorials of past splendours and delighting the visitor with its quaint streets and customs. It is a city of contrasts, a combination of the old and the new: of mountain and plain; of great modern docks and wharves and of stairways rising almost vertically; of spacious thoroughfares, and miserable, yet most interesting, alleys called vicos, too narrow for wheeled traffic, and therefore almost unknown to fastidious visitors. In some places I have simultaneously touched the walls on either side. Above one’s head the family washing is observed hanging out on lines which cross from window to window. Looking still higher, one sees a narrow ribbon of blue sky. The more spacious thoroughfares are all modern. Two hundred years ago Lady Mary Wortly Montague thought the Via now the Via Garibaldi, the finest street in Europe. It is almost exactly 21 feet wide, with no footpaths! This shows what the streets of Europe were like at that period. It is only in recent times that broad, -well-paved streets have appeared in Genoa and elsewhere. A City of Marble. Fifty palaces may be counted, the ancient dwellings of great families; most of them erected in the 16th century; solidly built of marble or stone, a square court in the centre containing statues, fountains, beds of flowers; around this, a covered piazza supported by arches or columns. From the sides of the court noble staircases ascend, each step formed gf a single slab of white marble six Inches in height, so that the ascent ,*.all be gentle. On the first floor one generally finds the State apartments: the family lived above where the air was purer. Frequently there were roof-

gardens where the family might sit in I hot weather. To-day these palaces are for the most part converted into ofI flees or tenements. What an illustraI tion of the transitoriness of human glory! Even the Royal Palace wears an air of decay. Most of the apartments are gaudy and the decorations in poor taste, which is surprising, for the Italian people are unquestionably artistic, though I doubt if the present generation is as artistic as those that existed wh>: these great palaces and churches were built. The gardens of the Palace though small are very pretty. But what amused me most was a notice in Italian, English, and French, stating that gratuities were strictly forbidden; the custodian who accepted them would be severely punished, and visitors found giving any would be required to leave the premises. Yet, will it be believed? When I offered one of these men a modest tip, he neither expelled me nor showed any signs of annoyance! The Churches. Few of the churches are attractive to the visitor, the exteriors usually being dirty and neglected, and decayed, though inside one may find something of ancient splendour, marble pillars and floors, pictures, etc. In the church of St. Ambrose the fire escape is kept! The cloisters of the Doria’s private chapel must have been very beautiful with its 100 slender marble columns, whilst within the church, above the altar, Andrea Doria’s sword, point downwards, is still suspended. The most beautiful church in Genoa is the Church of the Annunciation, which was built at the cost of a single family—the Lomenellini. It belongs to the Jesuits, and is covered with rich marbles, frescoes, and gilding. The Church of St. Ambrose was also built by a single family—the Pallavicini, a member of which I remember seeing play cricket in London. What would his noble forbears have said had they seen him running after a ball hit by a commoner? The cathedral is heavy and uninteresting, though one of its chapels is said to contain a portion of the body of John the Baptist. Ladies Not Admitted! No female is allowed to enter this chapel without special permission, because it was through a female (the daughter of Herodias) that he was beheaded. In the Treasury there is a vessel which is said to have been presented by the Queen of Sheba to Solomon, though others aver that it is the dish in which the head of the Baptist was presented. W’hich is right, I must leave the reader to decide. But to me the most interesting place in Grnoa is the Campo Santo, built up the side of a hill, terrace by terrace; a city of the ' dead as populous as that of the living; justly famous for its wonderful statuary, its tombs and gilded epitaphs. As I walked along the vast corridors reading the inscriptions on the timbs, I thought what a wonderful people! Of all these scores of thousands of men and women, not one was a rascal; every one of them was virtuous, honest, a friend of the poor. It does one good to visit a cemetery after walking the ways of this wicked worlcL I congratulate the Genoese! One of the most interesting features of this very interesting cemetery is the Crematorium. On my last visit I had the pleasure (?) of seeing a body burned, though not in the dramatic style that one sees on the shores of the Ganges. Beneath the main building is a furnace arranged so that the flames surround the corpse, which is thus speedily and completely reduced to ashes. This seems to me much the most sensible way of disposing of the poor remains after the spirit has fled, and the only hygienic. Above, one sees hundreds of small oblong urns or boxes containing the ashes of the deceased, whilst on the shelves are vases similarly employed. These are labelled so that relatives who wish may visit the remains. Here, as in all cemeteries, pathetic signs of grief are to be witnessed—women decorating graves with flowers, lighting lamps, praying, weeping. But to me the most pathetic sight of all was an old man bowed down with years and infirmities—not less than 80 I should say—walking there among the tombs, almost certainly Linking of the time—not far distant—when he too would be called to dwell in this eity of the dead. The Black-Shirts. It was in this city that I first saw a procession of the Black-shirts. It was thb anniversary of the Fascisti and a great procession paraded the street# with bands of music, flags, and banners; soldiers in neat grey uniforms, helmets, tarbnshes, black shirts, and coloured sashes; civilians in ordinary clothing; Boy Scouts, etc. One could not help admiring the physique of the young Fascisti and their determined enthusiastic mien. They were evidently in deadly earnest; it was no play to them; love of country was in their blood, and there must have been few that were not making sacrifices for their country’s good. I should not care to defend all that they have done, but one could not doubt their sincere patriotism. They have even submitted without complaint to a reduction of wages for the sake of their country. Many spectators bared their heads as the procession passed, and I did not observe a single sign of dissent. Perhaps it was as well!

I will only add that in the very centre of the city there are gardens in which a military band plays high-class music, admission and seats being free. Living in Genoa may be quite inexpensive. Two years ago a long tram-ride cost me only three halfpence; a shave twopence farthing; a hair cut threepence; a cup of coffee with milk, roll and egg, sixpence. There has been a rise in the value of the lire since then, but I doubt if prices have appreciably advanced. Genoa remains a cheap and attractive city to visit.