The Cities of Lombardy

the wanderer afoot, or better, as I think, in Lombardy, though not in Tuscany, in automobile, that is a good way which leads him first eastward just south of the frontier through Olgiate to Varese and then due south through Saronno to Milan. By this way, which is three good days afoot, one sees not only Varese and its lake, Saronno and its pictures, but Castiglione d' Olona also, where one of the greatest of Tuscan masters has left us in the church and baptistery there some wonderful evidence of his genius. And there is more than this. Few days' journey anywhere in Lombardy will prove half so delightful as that over the hills from Como to Varese, for it holds every sort of surprise and every sort of beauty, of hill and valley and mountain, of vineyard and olive garden, of shadowy stream and country town and village. It is little known to strangers. No great spectacle lies upon that way where all is so fair, and it is not till one comes to Varese itself that one is reminded of the tourist and all that he brings with him. Even in Varese, if one is lucky one may forget such things as these. For Varese, to tell the truth, is not itself very charming.A very little place, its arcaded streets are in fact its only attraction, unless, indeed, the ancient Baptistery, in the small Piazza by S. Vittore, may be said to be such. What makes Varese so popular a town are its delicious environs, that Italian countryside which might stand for a picture or a symbol of all that...