nto a broad vase of malachite. It has about a hundred houses and seven
hundred inhabitants, a large church and two small ones, a fine stone
campanile with excellent bells, and seven or eight little inns. But it
is more important than its size would signify, for it is the capital of
the district whose lawful title is Magnifica Comunita di Ampezzo--a name
conferred long ago by the Republic of Venice. In the fifteenth century
it was Venetian territory; but in 1516, under Maximilian I., it was
joined to Austria; and it is now one of the richest and most prosperous
communes of the Tyrol. It embraces about thirty-five hundred people,
scattered in hamlets and clusters of houses through the green basin
with its four entrances, lying between the peaks of Tofana, Cristallo,
Sorapis, and Nuvolau. The well-cultivated grain fields and meadows, the
smooth alps filled with fine cattle, the well-built houses with their
white stone basements and balconies of dark brown wood and broad
overhanging roofs, all speak of industry and thrift. But there is more
than mere agricultural prosperity in this valley. There is a fine race
of men and women--intelligent, vigorous, and with a strong sense of
beauty. The outer walls of the annex of the Hotel Aquila Nera are
covered with frescoes of marked power and originality, painted by the
son of the innkeeper. The art schools of Cortina are famous for their
beautiful work in gold and silver filigree, and wood-inlaying. There are
nearly two hundred pupils in these schools, all peasants' children, and
they produce results, especially in intarsia, which are admirable. The
village orchestra, of which I spoke a moment ago, is trained and led by
a peasant's son, who has never had a thorough musical education. It must
have at least twenty-five members, and as we heard them at the Festa
they seemed to play with extraordinary accuracy and expression.

This Festa gave us a fine chance to see the people of the Ampezzo all
together. It was the annual jubilation of the district; and from all
the outlying hamlets and remote side valleys, even from the neighbouring
vales of Agordo and Auronzo, across the mountains, and from Cadore,
the peasants, men and women and children, had come in to the Sagro at
Cortina. The piazza--which is really nothing more than a broadening of
the road behind the church--was quite thronged. There must have been
between two and three thousand people.

The ceremonies of the day began with gen