any town gates of particular distinction, but not far away from here, in an almost deserted hamlet, is the handsome old affair shown in the accompanying lithograph, guarded by a squad of Stygian cypresses. The facade of this gate is formed by six flat planes whose varied surfaces are caressed by a
shifting sun. A more romantic bit of rural Italy could hardly be uncovered.
If the hill regions of Italy appear to be richest in old gateways, the cities on the coast are by no means unadorned by them. Noli, a sleepy village of lolling fishermen and industrious barmaids on the Italian Riviera, has an unusual gateway of a purely decorative, almost domestic character. The pointed slate roof is reminiscent of France, but the painted pink panels and the rococo niche belong exactly where they are. Pietrasanta is a shimmering
village south of Genoa which gives a first intimation of the marble splendors in store in the neighboring cities of Pisa and Lucca. The quarries of Carrara are not far away, and the churches and public buildings dazzle one with their clean marble surfaces, their creamy carved detail and the deep sea green of their horizontal stripes. A brilliant little gateway lurks in the dusty outskirts of Pietrasanta, framed in the newly-sprouted foliage of gnarled trees. What it lacks in balance it atones for in picturesqueness.
The incomparable Lucca, rich in every type of architectural monument, has several spectacular gateways, two of which are illustrated in these pages. The lithograph shows a lofty archway which is incorporated in a towering old Florentine house. It frames a vista of shimmering tenements
RIMINI
ROMAN GATE, PERUGIA
GATEWAY NEAR ORVIETO
FROM THE ORIGINAL LITHOGRAPH