reason why modern Rome cannot compare with the ancient city. Its
streets no longer radiate from a centre towards all the points of the
compass, as they did of yore. The Appian Road, which on first leaving
the city passes through a curious avenue of tombs, is typical of the
old roads, constructed in straight lines, and shortening distances. It
is true that these ancient highways have been superseded by railways,
but they are still few in number, and Rome is not situated on a trunk
line. Elsewhere railways were built from the capital of the country
towards its periphery; in Italy, on the contrary, it was Florence,
Bologna, and Naples which constructed lines converging upon Rome.
* * * * *
Rome is one of those large cities which are least able to exist upon
their own resources, and having no port, and its immediate vicinity
being rendered uninhabitable by miasmata, it has attached to it
outlying places, and occupies a position similar to that of a spider
in the centre of its web. Its gardens, rural retreats, and industrial
establishments are all in the hill towns of Tivoli, Frascati (near
which on a ridge are the ruins of Tusculum), Marino (near which the
confederated nations of Latium held their meetings), Albano (joined
by a magnificent viaduct to Ariccia), Velletri (the old city of the
Volsci), and Palestrina (more ancient than either Alba Longa or Rome,
and occupying the site of a famous temple of Fortune, the pride of
ancient Præneste). Its watering-places are Palo, Fiumicino, and Porto
d’Anzio, which adjoins the little town of Nettuno, so famous because
of the {281} haughty beauty of its women. Its only seaport is Cività
Vecchia, a dreary town on the Tyrrhenian Sea, with a magnificent
harbour.[93] The ancient harbours to the south of the Tiber are very
little resorted to in our day. Terracina, hidden amidst verdure at the
foot of white cliffs, is only used by Rome-bound travellers coming by
the coast road from the south.[94] Nearly every other town of Latium
is built on one or other of the two great roads, of which one leads
northward to Florence, whilst the other penetrates the valley of the
Sacco towards the south-east, and finally issues upon the campagna of
Naples. Viterbo, the “city of nice fountains and pretty girls,” is the
principal town in the north. Alatri, on the slope of the Garigliano,
and commanded by a superb necropolis enclosed by cyclopean walls,
occupies a similar position in the south. In the east, in one of the
most charming valleys of Sabina, traversed by the ever-cool waters of
the Anio, lies Subiaco, the ancient Sublaqueum, thus named after the
three reservoirs constructed by Nero, who used to fish trout in them
with a golden net. It was in a holy cave (_sacro specu_) near Subiaco
that St. Benedict established his famous monastery, which preceded the
still more famous monastery of Monte Casino, and conjointly with that
of Lérins, in Provence, became the cradle of monachism in the West.[95]
[Illustration: Fig. 102.—CIVITÀ VECCHIA.
Scale 1 : 8,888.]
{282}
Perugia, the capital of Umbria, on the road from Rome to Ancona, is
one of the ancient cities of the Etruscans, and excavations carried
on in its vicinity have revealed tombs of the highest interest. After
every war and disaster this city has arisen from its ruins, for its
position in the midst of a fertile plain, and at the point of junction
of several natural high-roads, is most favourable. It is both a Roman
and a Tuscan city, and at the period of the Renaissance it gave birth
to one of the great schools of painting. There still remain numerous
monuments at Perugia which date back to that famous epoch, and although
no longer one of the artistic head-quarters of Italy, it is still the
seat of a university; its trade, especially in raw silk, is active;
and its clean houses and streets, its pure atmosphere, and charming
inhabitants annually attract to it a large number of the foreigners who
spend the winter at Rome. Perugia has by far outstripped its rival,
Foligno, which was formerly the great commercial mart of Central Italy,
and still carries on a few branches of industry; amongst others, the
tanning of leather. As to Assisi, it is justly famous because of its
temple of Minerva, and its gorgeous monasteries decorated with the
frescoes of Cimabue and his successor, Giotto, the last of the Greek
and the first of the Italian painters. Assisi is only a small place
now, but its environs are fertile and densely inhabited. It gave birth
to Francesco d’Assisi, the founder of the order of St. Francis.
Other towns of Umbria, though not now of much importance, may boast of
having once played a great part in history, or of possessing beautiful
monuments. Spoleto, the gates of which Hannibal sought in vain to
force, has a superb basilica, a Roman viaduct carried across a deep
ravine, and mountains clad with pines and chestnuts. Terni is proud of
its famous cascade (see p. 270). Orvieto, to the north of the Tiber,
near the frontier of Tuscany, is haughty and dirty, but justly famous
on account of its marvellous cathedral, one of the most costly and
tasteful buildings in the world. Città di Castello, on the Upper Tiber,
and Gubbio, in the very heart of the mountains, are the two principal
towns in the Umbrian Apennines. Both are delightfully situated, and
possess efficacious mineral springs. At Gubbio are shown the famous
“Eugubian Tables,” seven plates of bronze covered with Umbrian
characters, and the only relics of that kind known to exist. The little
town of Fratta, now known as Umbertide, half-way between Perugia and
Città di Castello, is only of local importance.[96]
Ancona is the Adriatic port of the Roman countries. It is an ancient
city of the Dorians, which still retains the name given it by its
founders, on account of its being situated at the “angle” formed by
the coast between the Gulf of Venice and the Southern Adriatic. A
fine triumphal arch near the mole attests the importance which Trajan
attached to the possession of this port. Thanks to its favourable
position and the labour bestowed upon the improvement of its harbour,
Ancona is one of the three great places of commerce on the Adriatic;
it ranks next to Venice, and is almost the equal of Brindisi, though
not one of the stages on the road to India. Its commerce is fed by
Rome, the Marches, and Lombardy; and {283} amongst its exports are
fruits, oil, asphalt from the Abruzzos, sulphur from the Apennines,
and silk, “the very best in the world,” if the native estimate of its
quality can be accepted.[97] The other ports along this coast offer but
little shelter, and their commerce is small. Pesaro, the native town
of Rossini, is only visited by vessels of twenty or thirty tons. Fano
merely admits barges. The small river port of Sinigaglia (Senigallia)
was formerly much frequented during the fair, at which commodities
valued at £1,000,000 sterling used to change hands, but since its
abolition in 1870 it has been deserted.
[Illustration: Fig. 103.—VALLEYS OF EROSION ON THE WESTERN SLOPE OF THE
APENNINES.
Scale 1 : 403,000.]
With the exception of Fabbriano, which occupies a smiling valley of the
Apennines, and of Ascoli-Piceno, on the river Tronto, the inland towns
of the Marches are built upon the summit of hills, but extend through
their suburbs to the cultivable plains. The principal amongst them are
Urbino, whose greatest glory consists in having been the birthplace
of Raphael, and which, like its neighbour Pesaro, formerly produced a
kind of faience much valued by connoisseurs; Jesi; Osimo; Maxerata;
Recanati, the native place of Leopardi; and Fermo. One of the most
famous of these hill towns is Loreto, formerly the most-frequented
place of pilgrimage in the Christian world. Before the Reformation, and
at a time when {284} travelling was far more difficult than now, as
many as 200,000 devotees visited the shrines of Loreto every year. They
were shown there the veritable house in which the Virgin Mary was born,
and which was carried by angels to the spot it now occupies, where it
is sheltered by a magnificently decorated dome. At Castelfidardo, close
by, was fought the battle which cost the Pope the greater part of the
“patrimony of St. Peter.”
There are only a few towns in the uplands of the Abruzzos. The
principal of these is Aquila, founded in the thirteenth century by the
Emperor Frederick II. The other towns are difficult of access, and,
far from attracting inhabitants from beyond, they send their vigorous
sons to the lowlands, where they are known as _Aquilani_, and highly
appreciated as terrace gardeners. The most populous places are met with
in the lower valley of the Aterno, or command the road leading to the
coast and the fertile fields of the Adriatic slope. Solmona is embedded
in a huge garden, anciently a lake, and overlooked in the south by the
steep scarps of Monte Majella. Popoli, at the mouth of a defile, where
the Aterno assumes the name of Pescara, is one of the busiest places
between the sea and the uplands. Chieti, lower down on the same river,
is said to have been the first town in the old Neapolitan province to
introduce steam into its spinning-mills and other factories. Teramo and
Lanciano are likewise places of some importance, but the only ports
along the coast, Ortona and Vasto, are merely frequented by small
coasting vessels.[98]
A small district in the Marches, joined to the coast by a single
road, has maintained its independence through ages. Monte Titano,
which rises in one of the most beautiful parts of the Apennines, and
the base of which has been used as a quarry since time immemorial,
bears upon its summit the old and famous city of San Marino. From its
turreted walls the citizens can see the sun rise above the Illyrian
Alps. San Marino, with some neighbouring hamlets, constitutes a “most
illustrious” republic, and is now the only independent municipality
of Italy. Named after a Dalmatian mason who lived as a hermit on
Monte Titano, San Marino has existed as a sovereign state from the
fourth century, its citizens having at all times known how to turn
to advantage the jealousies of their neighbours. The constitution of
this republic, however, is anything but democratic. The citizens, even
though they be landed proprietors, have no votes, and are at most
permitted to remonstrate. The supreme power is vested in a Council
of sixty members, composed of nobles, citizens, and landowners. The
title of councillor is hereditary in the family, and when a family
becomes extinct the remaining fifty-nine choose another. The Council
appoints the various officials, including a captain for the town and
one for the country. San Marino has its little army, its budget, and
its monopolies. A portion of its income is derived from the sale of
titles and of decorations, and on the payment of £1,400 it has even
created dukes, who take rank with the highest nobility of the kingdom.
Taxation is voluntary. When the public chest is empty a drummer is
sent round the town to invite {285} contributions. Though perfectly
independent, this republic accepts a subsidy from Italy, and claims
the special protection of the King. Its criminals are shut up in an
Italian prison, its public documents are printed in Italy, and an
Italian judge occupies the bench of the republican prætorium. There is
no printing-office in the little state, for the Council is afraid that
books objectionable to the surrounding kingdom might be issued from
it.[99]
[Illustration: Fig. 104.—RIMINI AND SAN MARINO.
Scale 1 : 250,000.]
{286}
VI.—SOUTHERN ITALY, NAPLES.
Amongst the various states which have been welded into the modern
kingdom of Italy, Naples, though second to others in population and
industry, occupies the largest area.[100] It embraces the whole
southern half of the peninsula, and its coast has a development of 995
miles. Formerly the country was better known than any other portion of
Italy as Magna Græcia, but now many parts of it are scarcely known at
all.
The Apennines of Naples can hardly be described as a mountain chain.
They consist rather of distinct mountain groups joined by transverse
ranges, or by elevated saddles. In the first of these groups the
serrated crest of the Meta (7,364 feet) rises above the zone of trees,
and is separated from the Abruzzos by the deep valley of the Sangro,
which flows to the Adriatic. Farther to the south, beyond the valley
of Isernia, which gives birth to the Volturno, rise the mountains of
the Matese, culminating in the Miletto (6,717 feet), the last bulwark
of the Samnites. Other summits, less elevated, but equally steep and
imposing, rise near Benevento and Avellino. They abound in savage
defiles, in which many a bloody battle has been fought. The valley of
the “Furcæ Caudinæ,” where the Romans humbled themselves before the
Samnites, and made promises which they never meant to keep, may still
be recognised on the road from Naples to Benevento. The memory of this
event lives in the Caudarola Road, and the village of Forchia d’Arpaia.
This mountain region, which might fitly be called after its ancient
inhabitants, is connected in the south with a transversal chain,
running east and west, and terminating in Cape Campanello, to the south
of the Bay of Naples. The beautiful island of Capri, with its white
cliffs and caverns flooded by the azure waters of the Mediterranean,
lies off this cape.
The eastern slope of the cretaceous mountains of Naples is gentle,
and gradually merges in argillaceous _tavolieri_, or table-lands,
deposited during the Pliocene epoch. The _tavoliere de la Puglia_ is,
perhaps, the most sterile and dreary portion of Italy. It is cut up
into terraces by deep ravines, through which insignificant streams find
their way to the Adriatic, and the centres of population must be looked
for at the mouths of valleys or along the high-roads. The country
itself is a vast solitude, deserted by all except nomad herdsmen. There
are no shrubs, and a kind of fennel, which forms the hedges separating
the pasturing grounds, is the largest plant to be seen. Hovels,
resembling tombs or heaps of stone, rise here and there in the midst of
these plains. Fortunately the old feudal customs which prevented the
cultivation of these plains, and compelled the mountaineers to keep
open wide paths, or _tratturi_, through their fields for the passage of
sheep, have been abolished, and the aspect of the tavoliere improves
from year to year.
These tavolieri completely separate the mountains of the peninsula
of Gargano—the “spur” of the Italian “boot”—from the system of the
Apennines. The northern slopes of these rugged mountains are still
clad with forests of beeches {287} and pines, which supply the best
pitch of Italy, and by thickets of carob-trees and other plants, whose
flowers are transformed by the bees into delicious honey; but the very
name of the most elevated summit—Monte Calvo (5,150 feet), or “bald
mountain”—proves that the deplorable destruction of forests has been
going on here as in the rest of the peninsula. In former times the
recesses of Monte Gargano were held by Saracen pirates, and they defied
the Christians there for a long time, in spite of the many sanctuaries
which had been substituted for the ancient heathen temples. The most
famous of these was the church on Monte Sant’ Angelo, at the back of
Manfredonia, which was frequently resorted to by the navigator about to
leave the shelter of the bay for the dangerous coasts of Dalmatia or
the open sea.
[Illustration: Fig. 105.—MONTE GARGANO.
Scale 1 : 950,000.]
The Neapolitan Apennines terminate in the south with the ancient
volcano of Monte Vultur (4,356 feet). Farther south the country
gradually sinks down into a table-land intersected by deep ravines,
which discharge their waters in three directions—towards the Bay of
Salerno, the Bay of Taranto, and the Adriatic. The Apennines, far from
bifurcating, as shown on old maps, are cut in two by the low saddle
of Potenza, and on the peninsula forming the “heel” of Italy only low
ridges and terraces are met with.
The peninsula of Calabria, however, is rugged and mountainous. The
Apennines, near Lagonegro, again rise above the zone of forests.
Monte Polino (7,656 feet) is the highest summit in Naples. The group
of which it forms the {288} centre occupies the entire width of the
peninsula, and along its western coast it forms a wall of cliffs even
less accessible than those of Liguria. Towards the south it opens out
into wooded valleys, where the inhabitants collect manna, an esteemed
medicinal drug. The deep valley of the Crati separates these mountains
from the Sila (5,863 feet), which is composed of granites and schists,
and still retains its ancient forests, haunted by brigands. The
shepherds who pasture their flocks in the clearings of these woods are
said to be the descendants of the Saracens, who formerly occupied this
“Country of Rosin,” by which name it was known to the Greeks.
To the south of the isolated Sila the peninsula narrows to a neck of
small elevation, where raised beaches attest the successive retreats
of the sea. A third mountain mass, of crystalline formation, rises to
the south of this depression, its furrowed slopes clad in forests.
This is the Aspromonte (6,263 feet), or “rugged mountain.” One of its
spurs forms the palm-clad promontory of Spartivento, or “parting of the
winds.”
Naples, like Latium, has its volcanic mountains, which form two
irregular ranges, one on the continent, the other in the Tyrrhenian
Sea, and are, perhaps, connected beneath the sea with the volcanic
mountains of the Liparic Islands and Mount Etna. One of these is Mount
Vesuvius, the most famous volcano of the world, not because of its
height or the terror of its eruptions, but because its history is that
of an entire population who have made its lavas their home.
Scarcely have we left the defile of Gaeta and entered upon the
paradisiacal Terra di Lavoro than we come upon the first volcano,
the Rocca Monfina (3,300 feet), which rises between two calcareous
mountains, one of which is the Massico, whose wines have been sung by
Horace. No eruption of this volcano is on record, and a village now
occupies its shattered crater. To judge from the streams of lava which
surround its trachytic cone, its eruptions must have been formidable.
The entire Campania is covered to an unascertained depth with ashes
ejected from it, and the marine shells found in them prove that the
whole of this region must have been upheaved at a comparatively recent
epoch.
[Illustration: THE BAY OF NAPLES]
The hills which rise to the south of the Campania cannot boast of the
grandeur of the Rocca Monfina, but they have been looked upon from
the most remote times as one of the great curiosities of our earth.
Standing upon the commanding height of the Camaldoli (518 feet), the
Phlegræan Fields lie at our feet. Acquainted as we now are with the far
more formidable volcanoes of Java and the Andes, this verdant sea-bound
country may not strike us as a region of horrors. But our Græco-Roman
predecessors looked upon it with very different eyes, and being unable
to account for the phenomena they witnessed, they ascribed them to the
gods. The quaking soil, the flames bursting forth from hidden furnaces,
the gaping funnels communicating with unexplored caverns, lakes
which disappeared at irregular intervals, and others exhaling deadly
gases—all these things left their impress upon ancient mythology and
poetry. At the time of Strabo the shores of the Bay of Baiæ had become
the favourite resort of {289} voluptuaries, and sumptuous villas
rose upon every promontory; but the terrors inspired by hidden flames
and mysterious caverns had not yet departed. A dreaded oracle was
said to have its seat there, guarded by Cimmerians, to whom strangers
desirous of consulting the gods had to apply. These troglodytæ were
doomed never to behold the sun, and only quitted their caverns during
the night. The Phlegræan Fields were likewise supposed to have been the
battle-ground of giants struggling for the possession of the fertile
plains of the Campania. During the Middle Ages Pozzuoli was looked upon
as the spot from which Christ descended into hell.
[Illustration: Fig. 106.—THE ASHES OF THE CAMPANIA.
According to Carl Vogt. Scale 1 : 835,400.]
The number of craters still distinguishable is twenty. If we were
to suppose {290} the country to be deprived of its vegetation, its
aspect would resemble that of the surface of the moon. Even the city of
Naples occupies an ancient crater, the contours of which have become
almost obliterated. To the west of it several old craters can still
be traced, one of them occupying a promontory of tufa, surmounted by
what is called the tomb of Virgil. Passing through the famous grotto of
Posilippo, we find ourselves in the Phlegræan Fields. On our left rises
the small conical island of Nisita, its ancient crater invaded by the
sea. Farther on we reach the crater known as the Solfatara, the Forum
Vulcani of the ancients. Its last eruption took place in 1198, but it
still exhales sulphuretted hydrogen. The Park of Astroni lies to the
north. The interior slope of its enclosing wall is exceedingly steep,
so as to render impossible the escape of the deer and boars which are
kept within. The only access is through an artificial breach. Another
crater, less regular in shape, is now filled with the bubbling waters
of the Lake of Agnano. Near it is the famous Grotto of Dogs, with its
spring of carbonic acid. Other springs of gas and sulphurous water
rise in the neighbourhood, and to them Pozzuoli is indebted for its
name, which is said to mean the “town of stinks.” The town, in turn,
has given its name to the earth known as pozzuolana, which supplies an
excellent material for the manufacture of cement.
The coast of the bay of Pozzuoli has undergone repeated changes of
level, in proof of which the three columns of the temple of Serapis
are usually referred to. At a time anterior to the Romans this temple,
together with the beach upon which it stands, sank beneath the waters
of the sea, and its columns must have been exposed to their action
for many years, perhaps centuries, for up to a height of twenty feet
they are covered with tubes of serpulæ, and perforated by innumerable
holes bored by pholadidæ. In the course of time it rose again slowly
above the waters. This happened, perhaps, in 1538, when the Monte
Nuovo sprang into existence. In the short period of four days this new
volcano, 490 feet in height, rose above the surrounding plain, and
buried the village of Tripergola beneath its ashes. A beach now known
as La Starza was formed at the foot of the cliffs, and two sheets
of water to the west of Monte Nuovo were cut off from the sea. One
of these, the Lago Lucrino, is famous for its oysters; the other is
the Lago d’Averno, which Virgil, in conformity with antique legends,
described as the entrance to the infernal regions. It occupies an
ancient crater, and its pellucid waters abound in fish. There are no
exhalations of poisonous gases now, and birds fly over the lake with
impunity. Still its vicinity is haunted by the memories of the old
pagan mythology. Lake Fusaro is referred to by the ciceroni as the
Acheron; close to it they point out the den of Cerberus; the sluggish
stream of Acqua Morta has been identified with the Cocytus; Lake
Lucrino, or rather a spring near it, with the Styx; and the remains
of a subterranean passage which connected the Averno with the sea are
pointed out as the whilom grotto of the Sibyl. The inhabitants of
Cumæ, which was founded by a colony from Chalcis, and the ruins of
which still exist on the Mediterranean coast, to the east of Pozzuoli,
brought with them the myths of Hellas, and Grecian poetry, which took
possession of them, has kept their memory alive.