| Show landrew 7 ia street laundy y in genoa prepared by national geographic society D C service MOUNTAIN recently was wa alake blown into bits near genoa to t make way for or a seaside high way between the city and ant Sampler darena one of 0 its su suburbs burba before excited genoese who crowded every vantage point tons of dynamite which had been poured into foot fool drilled holes leveled the rocky barrier thrusting a large part of it into the genoa harbor genoa may be considered the alma water mater of the americas she nurtured christopher columbus in ills his boyhood years when he dreamed the dreams that were to shape his life communicated to him a love of the sea that had bad made her great imbued lim him with a dominating for the adventure that was visa hinted at by every strange galley and caravel that crowded her harbor and all the motley throng of bronzed seamen from distant lands who jogged bogged elbows with him on her quays and having reared the boy columbus in this atmosphere the city sent him forth to battle with true genoese spirit for his dreams until that october day in 1492 when fulfilling them he be wrung a hemisphere from oblivion to add it to the map of the world the genoa of today Is a great modern city if you center your attention on its industries on its steel ships on the dwellings of its upper tiers on the business of ghevla gentl settembre of september street and the crowds of prosperous appearing well dressed people who throng that thoroughfare morning and evening to holiday proportions but genoa is not only a modern city the links that tie ile the present to the times of columbus and to days long before his still hold strongly one may step on the very stones on which young christopher walked the walls that rose beside the narrow ways that his restless young feet trod still stand block after block of them and only a few steps from the present business heart of the city where beautiful modern buildings rise about the piazza de ferrari and the via vent settembre starts starts upon its broad straight way Is the most important link of all the house of columbus this dwelling of domenico domenaco colombo fattier father of the future admiral and of susanna his mother was the place in which christopher spent his early boyhood tourists must view this historic old house from the outside unless they have bare a special permit records record all in palaces official records of the fatally family of columbus are kept in municipal offices these offices are in one of the beautiful old palaces of the genoese nobles whatever activity you search tor for in genoa it seems you find in a palace the city offices are in one the port officials transact their business in another the prefect looks after matters of state in a third and others are museums art galleries schools and telegraph offices you begin to wonder as you make your way ay from palace to palace whether the butchers and bakers and candlestick makers of genoa conduct their businesses in these sumptuous structures and to doubt that in genias palm pal lest days there were any commoners at all to live lu in mere houses in the municipal palace genoa keeps mementos of her illustrious sons whether by birth or forced adoption there are portraits of the great statesman the incomparable explorers marco polo and columbus and sundry heroes of the crusades in a glass case rest the violin and bow of the worlds master violinist Pagani nl at an end of the hie council chamber carved from one piece of marble stands a tall pedestal surmounted by a bust of columbus A recess has been cut into the pedestal and fitted with an ornamental bronze door this a custodian unlocks and takes from their marble resting place genias most precious documents three letters written by the hand of christopher columbus and signed with his curious signature and a parchment book containing copies of the documents through which various privileges and titles were conferred upon him by ferdinand and isabella all the letters were written from seville Se sille to genoa two in 1502 as the great navigator was preparing tor for his fourth and last voyage and one in 1504 1501 1 after his return from the new world two are to nicole Od erigo an important 1 citizen of genoa who he served aa is 1 ambassador from the re public to the spanish court that of march 21 1502 tells of sending his book of privileges es for sate safe keeping treasures treasure carefully guarded now the ti etters are framed now and prowled by glassi glass this was not al as so as the missing lower corner of one of the documents shows this fragment the custodian tells you was torn off years ago by a tourist who had bad been courteously permitted to examine the letter one of that inexplicable breed of vandals the soulless souvenir hunter to whom ethics apparently are beside the point As soon its as a privileged visitor has examined the treasures the watchful curator takes his treasures and locks them again in their queer place of safe keeping the columbus house Is some distance away but every step adds interest to the travelers stay in the city the narrow winding streets teem with an intimate mixture of wheeled traffic and pedestrians ans some of these ways have narrow sidewalks from which the pedestrians spill over at intervals others have no curbs and one must needs compete for space with taxis open cabs and laden carts still other ways are mere crevasses cre between old five and six storied tenement houses far too narrow for wheeled vehicles suddenly you leave these congested streets and come out into the piazza de ferrari the largest ot of the open spaces within genias business sections one side of the square is lined with the buildings of old genoa the walls of palaces for the most part art but on the opposite side a newer genoa stands forth the abe carlo felice the academy of belle arts the new bourse the post office these fine structures are relatively new and form the portal to the via settembre when this era of new const construction ruction was under way many ancient buildings svere nere demolished part of the grou ground nd so obtained was avas used as sites for the new structures and part was left vacant and added to the piazza one of the blocks of closely packed buildings marked for destruction contained the house of columbus the identity of this edifice had lone been lost but became known in 1885 after which the property was purchased by the municipality and set aside as a monument in the house of columbus the house originally had five stores les but was only one room in width it was hemmed in between taller buildings and was io in part supported by these neighboring edifices when this group was torn down the entire house bouse of columbus could not be left unsupported so the upper three stories were removed the two lower stories roofed over now stand isolated an approximate cube of rough masonry a sort of genoese baaba and like that sacred shrine a center of world interest it if not of pilgrimage inside the large wooden door the traveler finds himself in a gloomy unlighted boxlike room wholly bare it Is some minutes before ones eye can make out the details of the interior the floor Is of stone and the brick walls have a queer jagged surface overhead the beams and thick floor boards have the same pame rough nicked appearance your guide explains that tor for a long time before it had been identified ident lOed the house had been used as a tenement by poor families of the city and that when it came into possession of the niu municipality its walla valls and ceilings were encrusted with the grime of centuries scrubbing would do no good so stone cutters were put to work with chisels and mallets lets to cut away the eions of half a millennium and to bring to light a surface at once clean and nearer bearer to that of the columbian era toward the rear of the portion of the building still standing Is a na narrow winding stair of wood the front room on the second floor door has two windows in the front wall aall Is more alry airy find and la Is better lighted than that below and was probably one of the chief apartments of the columbus family its walls too have been chipped to form a fresh surface and the floor reasonably clean has probably been scraped into one of the side walls has been set a marble slab carved into a charming base relief of the santa maria the ship which chich bore columbus on his great adventure in a corner stands a little statue of columbus the boy these are the only mementos of the great man who as a child lived here for the rest the house Is harp bare I 1 |
