Abbot McClure to Katherine Norris, 18 July 1924

[From Abbot McClure in Gossensass, Italy, to Katherine Norris. He describes the motor trip he's taking with his friend Mr. Savage (with a chauffeur) to Munich, Germany, through northern Italy and Austria, including time spent in Padua, Venice, Cortina, and Bolzano; says from Gossensass they'll head for Innsbruck, Austria, spend two days, and reach Munich on 29 July in time for the Wagner Festival, stay 3-4 weeks, then return to Italy; and says he may stay in Merano on the way back for the month of September to escape the heat of Florence.]

Palace Hotel Gossensass
Tyrolo
July 18th [1924]

Dear Miss Norris,

My friend Mr. Savage1 with whom I am doing this motor trip have reached this beautiful spot on our way to Munchen. We left Florence on the 6th and our first stop was Bologna where we spent the night. The following afternoon we went on to Padova stopping off at Farrara to see the beautiful cathedral built in the XI century.2 The terrible heat of Florence we found at Padova, so we spent one night there and went on to Mestre3 where we left the motor in a garage and took the train, only a twelve minute ride, to Venice.

We spent three days in Venice and I had two fine swims at the Lido.4 We had to go to Venice in order to get our Austrian visas, but of course I was very glad for an excuse to see that enchanting city again. We returned to Mestre and proceeded from there through the fertile and beautiful Brenta up to Cortina in the Dolomites, where we spent three delightful days. Cortina is 4600 feet, so we revelled in the cool air after the heat of the low lands. From Cortina we crossed the Falzerego Pass5 and the Pordoi6 and reached Karasee where we spent one night at the foot of the famous Rusengarten.7 From Karasee we went down through a beautiful valley to Bozen, now Bolzano, and there spent one night, as the heat again was really too much to bear after our mountain top rests.

We left Bolzano for this spot, stopping off for lunch at Brixen.8 This is the last town before reaching the Austrian frontier, of course before the war all this teritory was under Austrian rule. The people here are a strange mixture of Italians and Austrians, some speaking only German but having this new tongue, and others only Italian trying to pick up Italian.

It's difficult motoring up in this part of the world as all the towns have been changed and it at times is most perplexing. For instance, Franzenfest9 is now Fortezza, Brixen Bressanone and so on. This town is both called Gossensass and Colle Isarco10 for the Italians. All signs are in both languages, and the menus likewise. Think what work it means for the printers?

From here we motor to Insbruck and will be there two days and may take some little side trips in and about that town. Then we go to Munchen getting there on the 29th so as to have a couple of days rest before the Wagner Festival begins on the first. I shall have to be the interpreter as neither Mr. Savage or the chauffeur speak German. My German was fairly good when I was in Munchen in 1909 and I find it gradually coming back again. I am most anxious to visit Munchen again, but of course fully realize it will not be the same Munchen I knew sixteen years ago. But the comparison I think is going to be very interesting, unless of course conditions are, as so many say, impossible.

We now plan to be in Munchen three weeks or a month and then return to Italy. I may stop off at Merano11 for September so as to escape the September heat of Florence. My winter plans are more or less confused, but I hope to be in Florence, whether with the Carreres12 or not I can not say now.

This hotel is wonderfully situated in the valley of the Isark. My window look out upon wooded mountains and Tyrolian chalets with their stone weighed roofs. From the terrace of the hotel one looks up a rugged valley walled in with high snow capped mountains, and at the extreme end glistens the beautiful Isark glacier.

I can not begin to describe the wonders of this trip, and I now feel I can never travel by train again. It sounds very expensive to be motoring through Italy, Austria, and Germany, but I assure you I would not be doing it if it was America. Here prices are within ones humble pocket book and I am doubly thankful it is so.

Rain and mist fills the valley today so the high tops are all hidden, and one feels that a thin veil has been stretched from peak to peak. A freight train has just come in sight, winding its way down the mountain side and drawn by two huge engines that puff and snarl like living things. We are only 3,600 feet up, but high enough to make the air clear and cool.

At Cortina the Duke of Genova13 and his suite were in the hotel. At the little hotel on the top of the Pordoi Pass the Duchess d'Asta14 and her ladies in waiting lunched at the table next ours. This morning the Duchess of Peno [?] of Spain left the hotel for Cortina with her son the Prince of Burbon. So you see we have been meeting with royalty all the way along.

Now I hope this letter reaches you in due time, and as I have my address book at hand it will not be sent to 7 Waverly Place. Write me to Haskard & Casardi,15 Florence as all my mail will be forwarded me from there. With ever so much love,

Ever affectionately,

Abbot

My next letter will be from Munchen.

  1. Frank Savage (1877-1939)
  2. Ferrara is in northern Italy, about 31 miles north-northeast of Bologna. The Cathedral was originally built in the 12th century. See Ferrara and Ferrara Cathedral.
  3. The principal urban area in the mainland part of Venice. See Mestre.
  4. Lido is a 7-mile long island separating the Venitian Lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. Much of the Adriatic side is a sandy beach. See Lido di Venezia.
  5. A mountain pass in the Dolomites in northern Italy, at 6906 feet. See Falzarego Pass.
  6. A mountain pass in the Dolomites in northern Italy, at 7346 feet. See Pordoi Pass.
  7. A famous group of mountains in the Dolomites in northern Italy. See Rosengarten group.
  8. A town in South Tyrol in northern Italy, about 25 miles north of Bolzano. See Brixen.
  9. Actually Franzensfeste, a village in South Tyrol in northern Italy, famous for its large fort and historic railway station. See Franzensfeste.
  10. The main village in the municipality of Brenner in South Tyrol in northern Italy, on the Austrian border. See Brenner, South Tyrol.
  11. A town in South Tyrol in northern Italy, surrounded by mountains, and known for its resort spas. See Merano.
  12. Robert Bruce Maxwell Cochran Carrere (1893-1959) and Ann Parke (1892-1964)
  13. Tommaso of Savoy (Tommaso Alberto Vittorio) (1854-1831), Duke of Genoa from 1855-1931. See Prince Thomas, Duke of Genoa and Duke of Genoa.
  14. Princess Hélène of Orléans (1871-1951), Duchess of Aosta from 1895-1931. See Princess Hélène of Orléans and Duchess of Aosta.
  15. A British bank with a branch in Florence.