To the Chekhovs, 1891. Bolonya.

A brief postcard-length note of 28 March (9 April) 1891, from Bologna, addressed to the Chekhov family in Moscow and, per the envelope, to his sister Maria Pavlovna Chekhova. Part of the celebrated spring 1891 European travel series (with Suvorin, through Vienna, Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples, and on to Nice and Paris); his party has now moved on from Venice (source/headnote) to Bologna, en route to Florence. dateline, header date, a one-paragraph travel report, a play-signature, and the envelope’s reverse-side address block.

Chekhov reports himself in Bologna, noting the city’s arcades, its leaning towers, and Raphael’s painting of "Cecilia" (the Ecstasy of Saint Cecilia, then attributed to Raphael and held in Bologna’s Pinacoteca). They leave for Florence that same day. He is alive and well and sends his greetings and good wishes to the family, signing again as "Antonio," the mock-Italian persona he adopts throughout this leg of the trip. The envelope address (Russia, Mosca / Moscow, Malaya Dmitrovka, the Firgang house / to Maria Pavlovna Chekhova) is preserved from the reverse of the postcard.