5 OCTOBER 1912, Page 8

Plain-Towns of Italy. By E. R. Williams. (Smith, Elder and

Co. 12s. 6d. net.)—Mr. Williams writes pleasantly of a number of

places which most people hurry by on their way to the great centres of attraction such as Venice or Milan. After reading this book a traveller will want to stop at a great many of the smaller towns, at Cividale with its curious early Lombard sculptures, at Bassano for the sake of its towered and embattled city wall, and along the course of the Brenta for the sake of the villas, with grandiose Stra among them, or at Padua for the matchless bronzes of Donatello.