October 22 Saturday – At the Villa Viviani in Florence Sam wrote to Sue Crane of their satisfaction with the place and the setting.

We are getting wonted. The open fires have driven away the cold & the doubt, & now a cheery spirit pervades the place. Livy & the Kings [Grace and Nan] & Mademoiselle having been taking their tea a number of times, lately, on the open terrace with the city & the hills & the sunset for company. I stop work, a few minutes, as a rule, when the sun gets down to the hilltops west of Florence, & join the tea-group to wonder & exclaim. There is always some new miracle in the view, a new & exquisite variation in the show, a variation which occurs every 15 minutes between dawn and night. Once, early this morning, a multitude of white villas not before perceived, revealed themselves on the far hills; then we recognized that all those great hills are snowed thick with them, clear to the summit [MTP]. Note: Livy added their address at the top.

Sam also wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore. He answered a solicitation from “that Englishman who sends a lot of fac simile rubbish”; authorized payment for the Charles Noel Flagg portrait (see Dec. 16, 1890 before) to be framed; and waxed eloquent about the weather.

The weather is magnificent, the ever-changing aspects of Florence & the hills a continuous intoxication to the eye. The variety of it is bewildering — yes, & unbelievable. I have never seen anything that remotely approached it. I am content to stay up here. The others go to town daily to visit the galleries, but I believe I have not been down since about the first of the month, except once in the night of the 8th to ship Clara to Berlin [MTP]. Note: Sam misdated his send-off to Clara. See Oct. 6.