A Traveller in Italy

by Morton, H.v.

• ISBN13: 9780306810787
• ISBN10: 0306810786
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-03-28
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• More Book Details
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Summary

The Tuscan landscape, writes H. V. Morton, "is embroidered everywhere by human living, and there is scarcely a hill, a stream, a grove of trees, without its story of God, of love or death." Morton's stories and observations of Tuscany, Lombardy, Emilia, and Veneto, whether relating to the fantastic reconstruction of the La Scala opera house or the superstitious lovers at Juliet's Tomb, make his style as engaging as the landscape and people he evokes.

Author Biography

Henry Vollam Morton was born in 1892 near Manchester, England. He became an international celebrity by scooping the world's press in the sensational discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in the early 1920s. His newfound fame subsequently led to a series of extraordinarily popular vignettes on English city and country life, which went on to sell millions of copies worldwide. He died in South Africa in 1979 at the age of eighty-six.

Table of Contents

To Lombardy by Settebello -- Milan and its Cathedral -- The Bones of S. Ambrose -- The Conversion of S. Augustine -- English Travellers in Milan -- The Visconti -- Chaucer and Milan -- A Visit to La Scala -- The Tomb of Verdi	13	(54)
The Castle of the Sforza -- Ludovico il Moro, and Beatrice d'Este -- Murder in the Cathedral -- The Last Supper -- Leonardo's Scientific Inventions -- Byron in the Ambrosiana -- Lucrezia Borgia's Hair -- Pavia and its University -- The Certosa and the Story of a Tomb	67	(41)
The Canals of Ancient Lombardy -- Lake Maggiore and Isola Bella -- A Visit to Pliny's Villa on Lake Como -- How Mussolini Died -- The Iron Cross of Lombardy -- Theodolinda's Chickens and Her Oil Bottles -- The Town of Gorgonzola	108	(37)
The Beauty of Bergamo -- Colleoni's Chapel -- A Renaissance Farm -- San Pellegrino -- The Violin -- Markers of Cremona -- Mantua and the Gonzaga -- A Mysterious Scotsman -- The Palace of Isabella d'Este -- An Admirer of Henry VIII -- An Early Glimpse of Ireland -- The Ghost Town of Sabbioneta -- Lake Garda and Sirmione	145	(63)
The Via Emilia -- Parma and Marie Louise -- Parmesan and Parma Ham -- The Etruscan Liver of Piacenza -- Where Verdi was Born -- A Visit to the Composer's Country House -- The Este Archives at Modena -- Mary of Modena -- Bologna -- The Law Schools of the Middle Ages -- Undergraduates of the Renaissance -- Women Professors -- The Stuarts in Bologna	208	(46)
Rimini -- The Temple of Malatesta -- A Man who was sent to Hell -- Crossing the Rubicon -- Ravenna and its Revival -- The Tomb of Galla Placidia -- The Mosaics -- The Fall of Rome -- Ferrara and the Estensi -- England's First Greek Scholars -- Renaissance Space Travel -- Where Lucrezia Borgia was Buried	254	(39)
Verona, a City of Red Marble -- The Roman Amphi -- theatre -- The Tomb of Juliet -- Vicenza -- The Palladian Theatre -- Padua and its University -- The Anatomy Theatre -- English Medical Students -- S. Anthony of Padua -- The Road to Venice	293	(39)
Arriving in Venice -- The Beadle of S. Mark's -- The Theft of S. Mark's Body -- The Greek Horses -- A Table at Florian's -- The Doges of Venice and the Dogaressas -- A Gondola on the Grand Canal -- Byron's Palace -- The Old German House -- Brother Fabri	332	(37)
The Pigeons of S. Mark's -- The Arsenal of Venice -- The Mediaeval Assembly Line -- Life in a Venetian Galley -- Women of Venice -- Choppines -- Tom Coryat and the Courtesan -- Bellini and Carpaccio -- Painters and their Dogs -- Titian and Aretino -- Teriaca -- The Glass Works of Murano	369	(33)
Florence -- The Ponte Vecchio -- The Pazzi Conspiracy -- The Secret of the Medici -- The Benefactress of Florence -- The End of the Medici -- A Modern Troubadour -- The Gozzoli Fresco -- Innocents at Play -- Alone in a Palace -- The Boboli Gardens -- The Brownings and the Anglo-Florentines	402	(90)
The Towers of S. Gimignano -- Siena and the Palio -- The Sienese Contrade and their Origins -- Blessing the Horse -- The Race -- A Pope's Adventures in Scotland -- Arezzo -- The House of Vasari -- The Madonna of Carda -- La Verna and S. Francis -- The Hermits of Camaldoli -- The Improvvisatori of Tuscany	492	(70)
Into Umbria -- Hawkwood's Castle -- S. Margaret of Cortona -- Perugia, the City of Popes and Conclaves -- Rise of the Flagellants -- Visit to Gubbio -- Assisi -- S. Francis -- How the Saint's body was lost and Found -- A Bird Sanctuary -- The Waters of Clitumnus	562	(50)
Appendix I: The Elevation of the Ceri at Gubbio	612	(4)
Appendix II: Famous Families of Italy The Visconti of Milan -- The Sforza -- The Gonzaga of Mantua -- The Estensi of Ferrara -- The Scaligeri of Verona -- The Medici of Florence -- The Borgias	616	(4)
Bibliography	620	(4)
Index	624