THE ABBEY OF TRINITA DELLA CAVA, SALERNO, AND THE RUINED MAJESTY OF
PAESTUM
The arms of the ancient city of Majori are the most apt that could
possibly be devised. Upon an azure field the city bears a sprig of
marjoram--in token, surely it must have been in token, of the rare and
memorable beauty of its mountain-sides, where a sea so blue that
nothing out of heaven can surpass it laps about the base of cliffs
which in spring-time are from top to bottom and from end to end one
fragrant field of aromatic and delicious odours. The scented myrtle is
knee-deep. The rosemary and marjoram root themselves in every cleft,
and a thousand other herbs growing rank along the mountain-side catch
every breeze that blows and fill the air, especially in the morning
when the shadows are still wet and the day has not yet grown
languorous, with thymy fragrances blown out of every hollow and
ravine. Meantime among the grass and herbage of the cliffs the flowers
glow like an Eastern carpet. The white gum-cistus stars the hillside
thickly, and the anemones cluster in soft banks of colour, while up
and down the banks crimson cyclamens burn little tongues of flame, and
over all waves the graceful asphodel.
It is when one climbs the hill on the Salerno road beyond Majori that
these sweet sights and odours are encountered. But first the way
passes through Minori, dipping down to the sea-level at the marina of
that little town, which now has no industry but fishing, yet once
harboured ships and traders from the East. No one of these townlets is
devoid of interest, yet when a man travels by this road he is afire to
reach the greater beauty further on, and will not tarry to collect the
broken fragments of an old tradition at this point. The road emerges
from the houses, and in a little way it frees itself from the hills
and enters the wider valley of Majori, running out on a wide, pleasant
beach, where an avenue of trees gives shelter from the sun. On the
right-hand the fishers are drawing up their nets, women hauling with
the men, while on the left the ancient town lies open in a broad,
straight street, surmounted by the castle which in old days could not
save it from the Pisan onslaught, and in modern ones has nothing left
to guard. It is not, however, this landward castle which lingers in
the memory of the traveller as he turns his memory back upon this
beautiful and breezy beach. It is rather the tower, not near so
ancient, which juts out to the sea at the very point of the cliff
formed by the downward slope of the Monte dell'Avvocata. That vast
mountain wall descends so steeply that it seems to forbid access to
this pleasant valley from the outer world; and just where the dark and
shadowy rock touches the blue sea the castle is approached by three
high and slender arches carrying a bridge. It is one of the coast
towers erected as a refuge from the incursions of sea-rovers,
belonging to the same group of fortifications as the Castello di
Conca, or the Torre dello Ziro at Atrani.
The castle stands out finely in the shadow of the hill. The blue sea
is warm and soft. Far away towards Salerno a dim gleam from time to
time betrays the mountains of Cilento, snow-capped and wreathed in
clouds. The road climbs upward from the beach, winding round the
headland with continually growing beauty. The rock forms are superb;
and as the way rises on the flank of the sweet-scented mountain it
passes ravine upon ravine, each one cleft down to the blue water's
edge, a shadowy precipice fringed by the soft spring sunshine. The
road mounts. The ravines grow deeper. The washing of the sea dies away
to a pleasant far-off murmur; and at last one attains the summit of
the Capo d'Orso, and pauses to absorb the immense beauty of the
prospect.
As one stands upon this height one perceives that the creek upon which
Amalfi is built has receded into its true position as no more than a
single inlet in a wide bay which extends from Capo di Conca to Capo
d'Orso, at least five miles as the crow flies, and includes other
indentations of no less size.
It is by the size and importance of this bay that the old consequence
of Amalfi should be measured rather than by what stood upon the city
site itself. The historian Hallam, when he visited this coast, doubted
the tradition of commercial greatness, remarking that the nature of
the ground and the proximity of the mountains to the sea can never
have admitted the growth of a city whose transactions were really
vast. He does not seem to have realised that Amalfi was a group of
cities, of which, perhaps, no one was very large, but each had its own
vigorous life, each one contributed some distinct element to the
strength and valour of the commonwealth. Doubtless, also, all vied
together to promote the glory of the whole.
After crossing Capo d'Orso the road descends, and its beauty
decreases, until one sees Cetara, the old cliff town which was the
limit of the Duchy of Amalfi, and for many years a nest of Saracens;
and further on Vietri, standing quaint and beautiful upon the sea.
At Vietri we must turn inland, for though the greater beauty of the
sea coast has led us away from the high valley of La Cava, yet the
ancient abbey on the mountain-side above that summer resort is famous
by too many titles for us to pass it by. A pleasant road leads inland
from the pretty little port. Ere long the highway up the valley is
abandoned for a winding lane, which climbs and climbs till it comes
out at last on a small white village, nestling under the slopes of
higher hills. The air is keen upon this lofty ground. Spring has not
yet advanced so far as on the coast, but all the brown coppice on the
mountain slopes is flushing into green, and the serrated ridge that
jags the skyline is lit and obscured by flying light and shadow.
All the air is musical with streams and fragrant with the scent of
fresh-sawn wood. Plodding cautiously along the mountain path come the
mules laden with sawn boughs for vine-poles; and on a stair which
mounts to the level of the abbey out of the deep valley-bottom
children are carrying up long bundles of fresh-smelling laths. The
abbey stands half-way down the narrow valley, a solitude of wood and
mountain. The church is of the period when piety proved its zeal by
destroying fine building which it was unable to replace, but beneath
it are many remnants of the ancient beauty, and even in the church
itself, glittering with gold and undistinguished paintings, one may
see in the south-east chapel a fragment of primaeval rock covered with
rough frescoes, which recalls strangely the memory of an age in which
the monks sought heaven by a ruder path than that which they tread
now. If one descends into the crypt, that austere impression grows the
deeper. Here is nothing splendid, but construction which is simple,
solid, and severe. There is a noble courtyard and a cavernous crypt,
in which lie the bones of Lombard princes loosely stacked with those
of others of less note, all equal now, the greater undistinguished
from the less. Some came hither humbly clad as pilgrims; and indeed in
early days, when faith impelled men forth on pilgrimage from every
land, this great abbey, lying so near both to Amalfi and Salerno, must
have heard the orisons of those who spoke in many tongues.
Pilgrims who sought the Holy Land travelled very frequently on ships
belonging to this coast. They came sometimes in penance and sometimes
in love. Some travelled laden with fetters made of the steel with
which they had slain a neighbour, some bore no other burden than the
staff and scrip; but both alike came over the Alps from northern
countries in astonishing numbers, and all were cared for as they came
or went by that abounding charity which is the great glory of the
Middle Ages. "In richer places," declared an ordinance of the Emperor
Lewis the Pious in the year 816, "two-thirds of the wealth given to
the clergy shall be set aside for the poor; in poorer places
one-half." Out of these funds hospitals to shelter pilgrims were
placed on every lonely tract where they might be stayed by the
necessities of travel, on mountain roads where night might overtake
them far from hospitable dwellings, by bridgeless rivers which might
be made impassable by flood. Churchmen and laity vied with each other
to ease the way of these wanderers of God, and the care with which
edicts were issued relating to the maintenance of the hospices
testifies to the greatness of the numbers which, but for the piety of
the faithful, must have perished in the wilderness.
In this passionate devotion to the sacred places originated the
kingdom of the Normans in southern Italy and Sicily. For a band of
Normans returning from the Holy Land on a ship of Salerno were still
in that city, then a Lombard duchy, when the Saracens landed to exact
the tribute which they extorted at certain or uncertain intervals. The
proud pilgrims resented the insolent demand, and at the permission of
the duke attacked the followers of Mahomet and drove them off. Then
followed the usual tale of profuse gratitude, territorial concessions,
and ultimate subjection to the stranger. Thus it is not for nothing
that Norman pilgrims are recalled to our memory at La Cava.
The abbey has rendered to the world priceless services by the careful
preservation of its records. Manuscripts of inestimable value lie
stored in the long presses of its library; and for the last two
centuries have formed the chief resource of historians of southern
Italy. Lying as La Cava does on the edge of the ground over which
Lombards, Saracens, and Normans wrestled for dominion, her records
have an absolutely vital interest, and many a scholar turns his mind
towards that quiet library among the mountains with reverence almost
as deep as the ancient pilgrims felt for the abbey church.
There is not very much of interest upon the way from the abbey to
Salerno, saving only the exquisite beauty of the sea, which grows
bluer as the day increases. But in approaching the old city, which was
once so famed among physicians, one passes by the arches of an ancient
aqueduct, which reminds me that I undertook to explain why the Isles
of the Sirens are called "I Galli." You think the moment has gone by
for speaking of the islets? By no means. This is the proper place, for
in this city of Salerno dwelt an enchanter who knew more about their
origin than any other man.
This enchanter was called Pietro Bajalardo--there are other forms of
his name, but we need not be exact. The aqueduct reminded me of him
because he is said to have built it by his magic powers just as Virgil
with the same black art constructed the Grotto of Posilipo. It may
have been the success of this great feat which inspired him with the
idea of rendering to Salerno a service even more important, and
providing it with a good safe harbour. This is a thing which all
Salernitans have desired ardently from very early days, and on the
possible construction of which they have based such hopes of eminence
that, as they say--
"Si Salierno avesse 'o puorte
Napule sarria muorte!"
This neighbourly aspiration it was which Pietro set himself to
encourage; and he asked of the eager townsmen one thing only, namely,
that they should forthwith slaughter all the cocks in the city, so
that when his legions of fiends were engaged in their gigantic task
they might not be disturbed and frightened by that sound which all
sinners have loathed since the days of the Apostle Peter. So light a
condition was complied with gladly. All day Salerno was filled with
the sound of expiring cackles; and night descended with the
comfortable belief that for once her stillness would reign unbroken by
the officious trumpeting which bade her go.
Pietro was at work in the window of his high tower. Through the dark
air legions of devils came and went to do his bidding. Fast they sped
over the silent sea, carrying huge blocks of limestone from the Punta
di Campanella. The sky was crossed and recrossed thickly with wondrous
potencies and powers, while all the city lay and held its breath. All,
that is to say, save one old woman, who loved her cock too much to
slaughter him. The harbour was very little to her, the cock was much.
So she hid him under an old pan, and went to bed hoping he would be
discreet. But the bird smelt the approach of dawn in his confinement,
and announced it with an indignant screech. Away flew the demons,
tumbling over each other in their fright. In their haste to be gone
they let drop into the sea the big blocks they were carrying, and
never by any art could be induced to take up their task again. The
blocks they dropped are now the islands of "I Galli," that is to say,
"The Cocks," and if any man is so incredulous as to doubt this tale,
he may very fairly be asked to keep his incredulity to himself until
he has found another explanation of the name.
In the cathedral of Salerno many men will be interested in many
things. Some will delight in its beautiful forecourt, arcaded with
antique pillars and adorned with marbles brought from Paestum. Some
will marvel at the fine mosaic of the pulpit, others at the ancient
chest of ivory kept in the sacristy, while some will even take
pleasure in the gorgeous decoration of the lower church, with its huge
statue of St. Matthew, or rather its two statues set back to back, so
that the apostle turns a face toward either altar, thus giving point
to the local gibe, "He is double faced (tene doje facce) like San
Matteo." But I set aside these things and others with a passing
glance, and go straight up to a chapel in the eastern end of the great
church, on the south side of the choir, where, slumbering in a peace
which rarely blessed him while he lived, lies the greatest of all
popes, Gregory the Seventh.
[Illustration: GOSSIP--NAPLES.]
In the Duomo at Naples we paused before the tomb of Innocent the
Fourth, who fought and won the last battle between Papacy and Empire,
the last, that is to say, which really counted in that long and awful
rivalry. Never after the victory of Innocent did the Emperor, the
great world Sovereign, occupy the same pinnacle in men's minds again.
The theory of his position was not altered; but in practice the Pope
had demonstrated its futility, and set himself, Christ's Vicar upon
earth, supreme at the head of all mankind. Once or twice the Empire
flickered into life, but the issue was unchanged.
This overthrow of the Empire by the Pope is one of those events which
have profoundly modified the history of Europe and the world. If
Innocent completed it, Gregory began it. He, first of all popes, dared
to initiate the fight. His clear brain, his high, stern courage,
planned the complete release of the Papacy from dependence upon the
Empire. With a quick perception of the legal weakness of his cause, he
linked the support of privilege with that of chastity, and thus
appealing to that which mediaeval men esteemed the loftiest and most
saintly of all virtues, gave his attitude a moral greatness which it
did not derive from inherent principle. He attacked the Empire while
it was still near its highest power, clothed in the traditions of
Charlemagne and Otho the Great. He did not fear to question the
prerogative of the lord of the world, the King of the Romans, who made
or unmade popes. When the Emperor resisted, he dared to declare him
dethroned; and ere long after the issue of that declaration the great
Caesar had crossed the Alps a suppliant for pardon, and stood
bareheaded, clothed in the woollen garment of a penitent, in the
courtyard of the castle at Canossa, waiting humbly till the Pope
should admit him to his presence.
There, prostrate in the snow, lay the only power which could measure
itself against the Pope. There fell, once and for all, the supreme
dominion of the Empire. Three days and nights the Emperor waited upon
Gregory's will. It was an awful victory, the humiliation of the lord
of kings, the temporal head of all mankind became the footstool of his
spiritual brother. In vain that very Emperor ere long abandoned his
humility, and drove Gregory to exile in Salerno, where he died. In
vain many another Emperor fought and struggled for the old supremacy.
The world had seen the Emperor a suppliant waiting in the snow, and
could not forget it. This, for good or evil, was the deed of Gregory
who sleeps here at Salerno. "I have loved justice and hated iniquity,"
he said in dying, "therefore I die in exile." Did he in truth act only
from those pure motives? It may be so, for indeed he and other popes
of the same age were great idealists. He died in exile thinking his
cause lost, when in fact it was absolutely won. There are those among
us who look on the Papacy with fear, and some with hope; but all
alike, if they think at all, regard it as big with destiny, and
charged with most potent influences on the future of mankind.
Therefore this tomb in the Duomo of Salerno is one of the most
interesting upon earth. In days far distant from our own the bones of
him who first lifted St. Peter's chair to world-wide supremacy may be
cursed or blessed, but forgotten they can never be.
We men and women of to-day, regardful only of the accomplished fact,
contemptuous of the power of ideals, and profoundly careless of the
teachings of history, dismiss these matters very lightly from our
minds as having been settled in the "Settanta" when the Italians
entered Rome. This is a mere error bred of ignorance. The old strife
of Guelf and Ghibelline is raging still. Once again the Papacy is at
war with a monarchy, with one, moreover, which is by no means founded
on the rock of Christ, as was the Holy Roman Empire, nor supported by
the prescriptive glories of Charlemagne or of the Caesars. The rival
which possessed those vast advantages was brought to stand humbly in
the snow at Canossa. What will be the issue of the present contest? It
is idle to speculate. Faith and asceticism, two strong weapons of the
mediaeval popes, no longer stir mankind to action. We can only sit and
watch, remembering that thirty years are but as a day in the judgment
of the oldest of all human institutions. Kingdoms rise and fall. They
change their form and develop into other constitutions. The Church of
Rome is the only organism on earth which neither changes nor develops.
How should it do either, when it claims to be a mere expression of
eternal law?
It was a weary journey which one made in old days from Salerno through
Battipaglia to Paestum. The plain which in Greek hands overflowed with
fertility has long been but roughly cultivated, and fever has wrought
its fatal work with little check among the dwellers on the neglected
flats. It was an unsafe journey too, for the main road through the
lonely country was infested by brigands who, though they practised
chiefly among the native proprietors, yet rejoiced greatly when they
met a wealthy stranger unattended by carabineers. The years following
the expulsion of the Bourbons in 1860 witnessed a terrible
recrudescence of the scourge. Manzi was the most ferocious of the
bandits in this region. He haunted chiefly the oak forest of Persano,
on the further side of Paestum, and on any alarm his band used to
disperse to hiding-places which they only knew among the mountains.
But now the brigands have been hunted down, and the land sleeps in
peace. The fever, too, is less, thanks to the eucalyptus, whose red
stems and glossy foliage spread far and wide across the swampy ground
beside the milky rivers. The time may yet come when Paestum will be a
rose garden again, though never more, so far as human intelligence can
make a forecast, will the crafts or eager life of a crowded city
displace the husbandmen from the wide plains between the mountains and
the sea. The Italian races, compact into one strong people, have fixed
the centre of their life on other spots, and the day of Paestum will no
more return.
How great a day it was! Time, which has dealt so hardly with the
cities of the Italian mainland, has preserved here, in solitary
grandeur, the evidence of splendours which elsewhere are but a dream.
Cumae is a rubbish heap, Sybaris and Croton have perished
everlastingly. Taranto is overbuilt into the semblance of a mediaeval
if not a modern city. Brindisi is paltry and Otranto dead. At Paestum
only on the mainland, thanks to the expulsion of the last handful of
its citizens eleven centuries ago, three temples stand erect out of
the waste of herbage which has strewn itself over the ruined streets
and market-places. There alone we can comprehend the lost greatness of
that Hellenic people whose submersion by barbaric onslaught must be
counted as the greatest misfortune which has befallen the human race.
It is no great wonder that the Greeks, having once overcome the
terrors of the ocean on the night side of the world, crossed over in
large numbers to the fair coasts which are in sight from the Albanian
mountains. So short a ferry must have been constantly at work. There
are still Greeks in Italy--not Greeks by descent alone, nor of Greek
origin mixed with other elements, but Greeks of pure blood and speech.
No less than twenty thousand of them dwell in two colonies in southern
Italy, one in the Terra d'Otranto, the other some twenty miles
south-east of Reggio. Neither maintains communications with the other,
nor does either possess traditions of its origin. Both maintain
themselves apart from the surrounding people, whom they call
"Latinoi." Their language is unwritten. It differs from modern Romaic,
and is apparently not derived from the Greek spoken in the cities of
Magna Grecia. The colonists are probably descendants of immigrants who
came from Greece not later than the eleventh century, or perhaps in
those earlier days when refugees crowded into Italy for shelter from
the fury of the iconoclasts.
But whencesoever these mysterious colonies came, they have shown not a
trace of the great heart and spirit which animated the earliest
settlers of their race upon Italian shores. Paestum, or rather
Poseidonia, to give it its Greek name, was a city less ancient than
Cumae. It was not founded by settlers direct from Greece. It was a
colony thrown off by Sybaris, that great city of Calabria which became
a byword of luxury while Rome was young and counted for little in the
Italian land. Five centuries before Christ was born that mighty city
was destroyed by its rival Croton, destroyed so utterly that the River
Krathis was led over the ruins; yet Poseidonia, its distant colony,
still remembered the greatness of her origin, and grew and flourished
splendidly, till she became the mightiest town of all this coast,
powerful upon sea, potent to thrust back the swarming tribes which
looked down enviously from the mountains on her wealth.
All the city's life is lost and forgotten. What we know of her
greatness and her beauty is revealed by no records, but by the
tangible evidence of indestructible things. Her coins are numerous
exceedingly and of the purest beauty. They prove her abounding wealth.
Whence that wealth came is suggested by the fact that the city gave
her name to the whole gulf, which could scarcely have happened had she
not been great upon the sea. Poseidon was the tutelary deity of the
city, and on her coins he appears brandishing his trident, a mighty
emblem of sea empire. These coins prove, too, the perfection of the
art for which the city was renowned. When Phocaean Greeks founded the
once famous city of Velia, some twenty miles away, it was to
Poseidonia that they came for instruction in the art of building,
drawn doubtless by the desire to match the superb temples which we see
to-day, the envy of our builders as of theirs, though we, less
fortunate, can summon no citizen of Poseidonia to teach us what our
hearts and minds cannot of themselves design.
It must have been a proud and splendid life which throbbed itself out
upon this spot. At last the savage mountaineers stormed the city.
Greek aid from Epirus gave back its liberty, but to no purpose. The
mountain warriors returned and were quelled at last only by the onward
march of Rome, which imposed on Poseidonia another servitude and
changed its name to Paestum. Thenceforwards nothing was left to the
Greek citizens but their regrets, which they wept out yearly in a
mournful festival, telling over the greatness of the days that had
been. Even the mourning has been done these twelve centuries and more,
yet still the temples stand there silent and deserted, and the walls
mark out the empty circuit of the city.
Virgil, when he came near the end of his poem upon husbandry, and,
perceiving the limits of his space, sketched out briefly what other
subjects he might have treated, spoke of the twice-flowering roses of
Paestum as if the gardens where they bloomed were the loveliest he
knew. There are none now. Only such flowers grow at Paestum still as
flourish in a rough, coarse soil, or can exist in the scant foothold
of mould which has collected on the friezes of the temples. High up,
where the shattered reddish stone seems to touch the cloudless sky,
the blossoming weeds run riot. The mallow flaunts its blood-red
flowers on the architrave, and the ruddy snap-dragon looks down into
the inmost places of the temple. Over all there is a constant
twittering of little birds. The lizards, green and brown, flash in and
out among the vast shadows of the columns. They will stop and listen
if you whistle to them, raising their heads and peering round in
delight with any noise which breaks the long, deathly silence of the
city. Beyond the shadow white oxen are ploughing languidly in the
thick heat, and across two fields the sea is breaking on a shore as
lonely as it was when the Greeks from Sybaris first beached their
galleys there. Perhaps they found a city there already. Lenormant was
inclined to think so; and it is certainly strange that the Greek name
was so completely driven out by the Roman, unless the latter be an
older name revived. But though all men use the Latin appellation, and
though their scanty knowledge of the city is largely gained from Latin
writers, yet the glory of the place is Greek, and neither Roman nor
barbarian added to its lustre. Some day men will excavate upon this
ground, of which the surface has been barely scratched. They will
unearth the tombs outside the city gate, in some of which remarkable
paintings have been found already. They will lay bare the foundations
of all the crowded city, houses, streets, and temples, and declare
once more in the clear sunlight how great and splendid was this city
of Neptune, which the course of time has reduced to three vast temples
standing in a lonely waste.
The grandest of the three temples is that assigned, probably enough,
to Poseidon. It cannot be much less ancient than the city itself, and
out of Athens there is not a nobler example of Greek architecture,
unless it be at Girgenti, where the Temple of Concord is perhaps as
fine and somewhat more perfect. It is Doric in style. Its fluted
pillars, somewhat short in proportion to their mass, give the building
an aspect of gigantic bulk; its heavy architrave, the austerity of its
design, the dull red hues with which rain and storm have stained the
travertine, all combine to leave a rare impression on the mind. The
space within seems strangely narrow. One realises why the early
Christians rejected the Greek form of temple, designed for acts of
worship paid by individuals singly, and took the model of their
churches from the Basilica, in whose spacious hall the congregation
which professed to be a brotherhood might assemble at its ease. No
congregation could have met in this vast Neptune temple. From the busy
market-place outside, the central spot of all the crowded city,
worshippers slipped in one by one beneath the shadowy colonnade.
There is a so-called Basilica here, but the name is of no authority,
and the building is probably a temple. Wide differences of opinion
exist about its date, but none about its beauty. The third temple
shows marks of differing styles, and while in part it may be coeval
with the foundation of the city, it was probably retouched during the
period of Roman rule.
Such are the visible remains of Paestum. In all Italy there is no more
interesting spot. Not Rome itself, which ruled the habitable world,
has cast over mankind a spell so mighty as these Greek cities, which
scarcely aimed at rule beyond their walls, and cared nothing for the
lust of wide dominion. Conquest was not in their hearts, but the
desire of beauty burned there more passionately than ever before or
after, creating loveliness which has gone on breeding loveliness and
wisdom which has not ceased begetting wisdom, while kingdoms have
crumbled into dust and conquerors have earned no better guerdon than
forgetfulness; so that still men look back on the life of the Greek
cities as the very flower of human culture, the finest expression of
what may be achieved by heart and soul and brain aspiring together.
The cities perished, but the heritage to mankind remains, kindling
still the desire for that beauty in form, thought, and word which was
attained upon these coasts more than twenty centuries ago. And if the
heritage was for mankind, it was first of all for Italy, that noble
land which has been the scene of every kind of greatness, which has
been burdened with every shame and sorrow that can afflict mankind,
yet is rising once more into strength which will surely dismay her
slanderers and shame those who seek to work her ruin. And so I lay
down my pen, with a faith in the future which turns ever back to the
noblest song yet sung of Italy:--
"Salve magna parens frugum, Saturnia tellus,
Magna virum; tibi res antiquae laudis et artis
Ingredior...."
APPENDIX
_Page 6._ The story of the French knights who misunderstood the
warning shots from Ischia is told in Brantome's Life of Dragut, No. 37
of the "Vies des Hommes Illustres." Concerning Vittoria Colonna there
is, of course, a considerable literature. A pleasant and readable
account of her life is contained in _A Decade of Italian Women_, by T.
A. Trollope (Chapman and Hall, 1859).
_Page 7._ The tale of Gianni di Procida is Novella VI. of the fifth
day of the _Decameron_.
_Page 9._ The common tale about the origin of the Sicilian Vespers is
that Gianni di Procida, who is sometimes spoken of as having suffered
in his own family from the lustful dealings of the French soldiery,
and sometimes only as sympathising with the islanders in their
intolerable wrongs, went through the island in disguise, beating a
drum and capering up to whomsoever he met. If it were a Frenchman, he
screamed some mad jest in his ear; if a Sicilian, he whispered some
information about the projected rising, which was to take place at the
signal of the Vesper bell ringing in Palermo. But for this tale there
is no historical authority. Procida had certainly some connection with
the revolt; but so far as can be discovered, the actual outbreak was
unpremeditated, and the name of the Sicilian Vespers is applied to the
massacre by no writer earlier than the latter part of the fifteenth
century. The great authority on this subject is of course Amari, _La
Guerra del Vespro Siciliano_.
_Page 9._ Virgil the enchanter. See note on p. 55.
_Page 21._ It is impossible to give separate references to all the
authorities which I have consulted in writing this chapter. The work
which I have found most valuable--incomparably so--is the _Campanien_
of Beloch, which outstrips both in learning and in judgment all works
known to me upon the Phlegraean Fields. It may be said, once for all,
that with hardly one exception, the best works upon the region of
Naples are by Germans. English scholarship does not appear to
advantage. If a man will not read German, he may seek information
usefully from Breislak, _Topograpia Fisica della Campania_ (Firenze,
1798). Other useful works are:--Phillips, J., _Vesuvius_ (Oxford,
1869); Daubeny, C. G. B., _A Description of Volcanoes_ (London, 1848);
Logan Lobley, _Mount Vesuvius_ (London, 1889); to which should be
added the "Physical Notices of the Bay of Naples," by Professor
Forbes, in Brewster's _Edinburgh Journal of Science_, vol. x. All
these works treat of the Phlegraean Fields, as well as of Vesuvius.
_Page 24._ The treatise of Capaccio will be found in the collection of
chronicles which bears the name of Graevius, but was, in fact,
completed after the death of that great scholar by Peter Burmann. The
collection is an honour to Leyden, where it was published full half a
century before Muratori commenced his work.
_Page 26._ This gossip about the Grotta del Cane is derived chiefly
from a small guide to the locality, published early in the present
century.
_Page 37._ Petrarch's account of his visit to the Phlegraean Fields
will be found among his Latin verse epistles (_Carm._ lib. ii. epist.
7).
_Page 41._ Upon the theory that Cumae was founded so early as a
thousand years before Christ, I translate as follows from Holm
(_Geschichte Griechenlands_, vol. i. p. 340), the most recent of
authorities, and perhaps the most judicious:--"It is scarcely credible
that an organised Greek city existed in these regions in such early
times. But it need not be questioned that scattered settlements of
Greeks were already established on the Campanian coast a thousand
years before Christ; and it cannot be doubted that Cumae is the
earliest Greek colony, recognised as such, in the West.... Cumae also
became the mother city of Naples, but at what precise date cannot be
determined."
_Page 45._ The dyke of Hercules. See Beloch, _Campanien_.
_Page 52._ For the Villa of Vedius Pollio, as well as for all the
other antiquities of this region, see Beloch, _Campanien_.
_Page 53._ The story of the Grotta dei Tuoni is one of the interesting
pieces of folklore collected by Signor Gaetano Amalfi, to whose
unwearied labours I acknowledge gratefully many debts. It was
published in the periodical called _Napoli Nobilissima_ in 1895.
_Page 55._ For the stories of the enchanter Virgil, see Comparetti,
_Virgilio nel Mediaevo_. The tale of the plundering of Virgil's tomb in
the reign of Roger of Sicily is taken from the same work, where it is
told on the authority of Gervasius of Tilbury. It was a widely
credited tale, and will be found also in Marin Sanudo, _Vite dei
Dogi_, p. 232 of the fine new edition of Muratori, now (1901) being
issued under the direction of Giosue Carducci, an enterprise which is
remarkable both for scholarship and beauty, and deserves the more
praise since it emanates from no great city, but from the printing
house of Scipione Lapi at Citta di Castello, on the upper valley of
the Tiber.
_Page 65._ The traditions of Queen Joanna are well set out by Signor
Amalfi in _La Regina Giovanna nella Tradizione_ (Naples, 1892), a
little work which, though no other exists upon the subject, the
British Museum disdains to purchase. Mr. Nutt procured me a copy,
though with some difficulty. The book is not as complete as it might
be; it contains, for example, no reference to the traditions of the
Queen at Amalfi.
_Page 71._ For Alfonso of Aragon, see Guicciardini, _Istoria
d'Italia_, lib. i. cap. 4. Most of my history is taken from this
writer.
_Page 72._ For an account of San Lionardo, as well as for the
subsequent tale of the Torretta, see _Napoli Nobilissima_ (1892).
_Page 81._ Niccolo Pesce. See _Nap. Nob._ (1896). Schiller's ballad,
"Der Taucher," will of course be found in any collection of his works.
_Page 88._ The best book on the Hohenstaufen is Von Raeumer,
_Geschichte der Hohenstaufen_, a very fine and interesting work.
Frederick loved more than Arab art, unless history is unjust. Amari
speaks of him and his grandfather, King Roger, as "i due Sultani
battezzati di Sicilia."
_Page 97._ Upon the vexed question where Palaeopolis stood, or if it
stood anywhere at all, Beloch seems a little wilful, arguing stoutly
that there never was such a city. "But," says Mr. Hodgkin, "in the
face of Livy's clear statement (viii. 22) as to the situation of the
two cities, and the record in the Triumphal Fasti of the victory of
Publilius over the 'Samnites Palaeopolitanei,' this seems too bold a
stroke of historical scepticism" (_Italy and Her Invaders_, vol. iv.
p. 53).
_Page 108 et seq._ See Camillo Porzio, _La Congiura de' Baroni_.
_Page 121._ Upon the churches of Naples there are two works which
surpass all others--namely, _Documenti per la storia, le arti e le
industrie_, by Prince Gaetano Filangieri, a monument of vast learning;
and _Denkmaeler der Kunst des Mittelalters in Unter Italien_, by H. W.
Schulz, whose work forms the basis of almost every guide-book
published on southern Italy.
_Page 123._ This tale of the graceless Duke of Calabria is in
Giannone, _Storia di Napoli_, lib. xxii. _ad init._
_Page 126._ Those who desire more information on the everyday life of
Naples will do well to seek it in Kellner's work, _Alltaegliches aus
Neapel_, the tenth volume of the well-known series, "Kennst du das
Land," which is sold everywhere in Italy.
_Page 137._ The account of this storm is in book v. epist. 5, of
Petrarch's letters. The storm may, or may not, be the one which
destroyed Amalfi. I know of no evidence pointing either way, save the
improbability that two tempests should have wrought such devastation.
_Page 140._ Fucini's work is called _Napoli a Occhio Nudo_.
_Page 141._ Any history of Naples will give the facts of the struggle
between Frederick the Second and Innocent. See especially von Raeumer
or Giannone.
_Page 143._ La Colonna della Vicaria. Signor Amalfi quotes from
Voltero, _Dizionario filosofico_, _s.v._ "Banqueroute," the following
passage:--"Le negociant _fallito_ pouvait dans certaines villes
d'Italie garder tous ses biens et frustrer ses creanciers, pourvu qu'il
s'assit le derriere nu sur une pierre en presence de tous les
marchands. C'etait une derivation douce de l'ancien proverbe romain,
_Solvere aut in aere, aut in cute_, payer de son argent ou de sa peau"
(_Tradizioni ed usi_, p. 123).
_Page 146._ The facts about the descent of the Turks upon Otranto in
1480 will be found stated briefly in all the histories. But they are
sufficiently curious to make it worth while to consult the admirable
and detailed report made to Ludovic Sforza, Il Moro, by the commissary
who served him in his capacity as Duke of Bari. As ruler of the chief
Apulian coast town, Il Moro was of course painfully anxious for exact
information about the proceedings of the Turks. The report will be
found in volume vi. of the _Archivio Storico_, published by the
"Societa di Storia Patria," of Naples.
_Page 150 et seq._ The story of Conradin's expedition and death is
told best in von Raeumer, _Geschichte der Hohenstaufen_. It will be
found also in Amari, _La Guerra del Vespro_. The two historians report
the circumstances of Conradin's death with some differences of detail,
having relied on different chronicles. The variations are not
essential.
_Page 158._ Details concerning the examination of Conradin's tomb will
be found in Filangieri, _op. cit._
_Page 161._ For the story of Mas'aniello's revolt I have followed
Sign. Gabriele Tontoli, _Il Masaniello, overo Discorsi Narrativi, La
Sollevatione di Napoli_, printed at Naples in 1648. I selected this
work (1) because it is rare; (2) because it is full of detail; (3)
because it is the narrative of an eye-witness.
_Page 178._ The literature of Vesuvius is immense. As general
references, I can only indicate again the works named in the note on
page 21.
_Page 182._ Braccini's narrative was published at Naples in 1632 under
the title _Dell'Incendio fattosi nel Vesuvio_.
_Page 190._ Palmieri's account has been translated. _The Eruption of
Vesuvius in 1872_ (London, 1873).
_Page 196._ Herculaneum. Once more it is well to refer to Beloch,
_Campanien_.
_Page 201 et seq._ The work of Signori Comparetti and de Petra was
published at Turin in 1883, under the title _La Villa Ercolanense dei
Pisoni_. It is one of those monuments of patient, well-directed
learning and research which fill one with high hopes for the future of
Italian scholarship. I presume the British Museum acquired its copy
shortly after publication. I may add that I cut its pages in July,
1900--a fact that says worlds about British scholarship.
_Page 209._ The translation of Mau's _Pompeii, its Life and Art_, was
published at New York in 1899.
_Page 217._ The only works worth mentioning about the pictures at
Pompeii are those of Helbig, _Untersuchungen ueber die Campanische
Wandmalerei_ (Leipzig, 1873), and his earlier _Wandgemaelde_ (Leipzig,
1868). A summary of Helbig's conclusions will be found in _Promenades
Archeologiques_, by Gaston Boissier (Paris, 1895).
_Page 223._ On Stabiae a work comparable only to that cited above on
Piso's villa has been written by Signor Michele Ruggiero, _Degli Scavi
di Stabia_ (Naples, 1881).
In connection with the Roman country life, I might have mentioned the
recent excavations at Bosco-reale, where the villas were doubtless
similar to those upon Varano. The first discoveries on that spot are
set down by the superstitious peasants to the credit of a priest, who
is said to have indicated a place where treasure would be found by
digging. The real fact is that about the year 1868 a small proprietor
named Pulzella discovered, while hoeing his field, the entrance to a
buried chamber. He enlarged the aperture, and found a second room; but
could not penetrate further without entering a neighbouring property,
which belonged to Signor de Prisco. Of this discovery he said nothing
for twenty years. In 1888 the ground passed into the possession of the
de Prisco family, who, learning what had occurred, continued the
excavation, found in 1894 all the apartments of a bath, and in one of
them a great treasure of money and silver plate of exquisite
workmanship, which was bought by Baron Rothschild and presented to the
Louvre. A full account of the villa then unearthed is given by August
Mau.
Six years passed, and recently the excavations have been resumed. A
larger villa has been unearthed, near the former one. No treasure was
found in it, nor any portable articles. Possibly the owners had been
able to return and recover their property, or more probably they had
fled on earlier warning. But the interest of this new house lies in
its frescoes, which are of great beauty, both architectural and figure
pieces. There can be no doubt that we are on the verge of a great
expansion of our knowledge of Roman life; and it is to be hoped that
the works at Bosco-reale will be vigorously pushed and carefully
supervised.
An interesting account of the discoveries, with illustrations, will be
found in the Italian magazine _Emporium_ for December, 1900.
_Page 229._ Trade routes in the Sorrento peninsula. I cannot discover
that anyone has written with scholarship on this most interesting
subject. There is none more important to a clear comprehension of
history, nor any more generally neglected.
_Page 230._ Santa Maria Maggiore. Gsell-Fels gives a good account of
this remarkable church, based on that of Schulz.
_Page 231._ Catacombs at Castellammare. I regret that the passage in
Schulz, _Denkmaeler der Kunst des Mittelalters in Unter Italien_, vol.
ii. p. 224, referring to these catacombs, did not come under my notice
in time to admit of my making a personal examination of them. They
appear to be so completely forgotten that several well-informed
persons to whom I applied denied their existence. They do exist,
however, upon the road to La Cava. I cannot indicate the spot exactly,
nor does Schulz do so. I translate from him as follows:--"To the
largest grotto one goes by a broad passage hewn in the rock, in whose
sides are squared niches, apparently designed for flasks, lamps,
inscriptions or children's coffins. The uncertain line between ancient
and modern alterations makes decision difficult. Then one goes through
a sort of rock gateway of more modern construction.... In the
background of the grotto, which has five niches on either of its
longer sides, there are more graves under a vault. The greater number
of the pictures are on the left as one enters. In the first recess
stands a woman's figure in the Norman-Greek style of painting, badly
damaged. Near her is a smaller figure of a saint holding a book.
Higher up, in a disc set with white pearls, hovers the figure of
Christ with a nimbus; and by it are other circles, with busts of
angels. Over the upper one is written 'RAFA' (Raphael), above another
'MICAH, SCS VRVS' (?). The painting is in the ancient style with
black, white, and red--that peculiar dark brown-red of early Christian
pictures, as in the lower church at Assisi, the catacombs of Syracuse
and Naples, etc.... The inscriptions, mostly white on a green ground,
are in characters of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, or yet
later times," etc., etc.
I cannot too emphatically express my sense of the great value of
Schulz' work. Much is changed since 1860, when he wrote; yet still his
survey must be the starting-point for every other writer.
_Page 236._ La Madonna di Pozzano. I take this legend from _Storia
dell'Immagine di S. Maria di Pozzano_, written by Padre Serafino de
Ruggieri. It was published at Valle di Pompeii in 1893.
_Page 237._ The facts about the Iconoclasts will be found in any
Church history; _e.g._ Milman, _Hist. of Latin Christianity_, bk. iv.
chap. 7.
_Page 238._ My chief authority for the stories of madonnas in this
chapter and the next is Signor Gaetano Amalfi, whose invaluable work,
_Tradizioni ed Usi nella Penisola Sorrentina_, forms volume viii. of
the "Curiosita Popolari Tradizioniali," published by Signor Pitre at
Palermo. Those who are acquainted with the bookshops in Naples will
not be surprised to hear that I searched them vainly for a copy of
this work, great as its interest should be for all visitors to the
city. The book is largely written in the local dialects, and would be
of little use to those who cannot read them.
_Page 241._ The old road from Castellammare towards Sorrento.
Breislak, who wrote so recently as in 1800, says, "Le chemin est le
plus mauvais possible, et ne peut se faire avec surete qu'a pied."
_Page 245._ Quaresima. I refer once more to Signor Amalfi, _op. cit._
_Page 255._ These various scraps of folklore are from the same work,
as are also the legends in this chapter.
_Page 260._ For the tufa of Sorrento, see Breislak, _Voyages
physiques_.
_Page 270._ On the archaeology of Sorrento the best work known to me is
that of Beloch, _Campanien_.
_Page 273._ Not much has been written well on Capri. _Storia
dell'Isola di Capri_, by Mons. A. Canale, is sold throughout the town,
but has little value. _Die Insel Capri_, by Ferdinand Gregorovius, is
a book of great beauty and merit; the reputation of Gregorovius stands
in no need of praise. Kopisch' narrative, _Die Entdeckung der blauen
Grotte_, is volume 2,907 of Reclam's "Universal Bibliothek."
_Page 301._ It is much to be desired that some German or Italian
scholar--I fear none other would have the necessary patience--might
undertake to elucidate the history of that collection of communes
which passed by the name of Amalfi. Two histories exist--a modern one
by Camera, an ancient one by Pansa. Both comprise interesting facts,
but neither attempts to solve the puzzles which beset the traveller on
every side. Nor will it be of any use for other writers to attempt
solutions without long study; yet for one who might be willing to
bestow the labour, there will certainly be reserved a rich reward of
fame. Probably there is scarce any spot where thorough investigation
might teach us so much of the tangled yet splendid history of Italy in
the Middle Ages.
_Page 305._ The Knights Hospitallers of St. John were settled at
Cyprus for a time after their expulsion from Acre; but were not long
contented to remain vassals of the king of that island, and
accordingly obtained the Pope's permission to turn their arms against
the Greek Empire, from which they took Rhodes on 15th August, 1310.
Finlay, _History of Greece_, vol. iii. p. 410.
_Page 306._ No one need concern himself with the works of Volpicella.
They belong to the bad period of archaeology, when sentiment overcame
both reason and sense. Schulz remains the safe and trusty guide; it
being remembered always that changes have occurred since he wrote.
_Page 311._ The bronze doors at Amalfi and Ravello. Schulz remains the
chief authority on this very interesting subject; but there is a good
article on the subject in Lenormant, _A travers l'Apulie et la
Lucanie_, under the heading "Monte Sant'Angelo."
_Page 312._ Monte Gargano, one of the most picturesque and interesting
spots in Italy. There was a shrine for pagan pilgrims on this mountain
in Strabo's time. He describes the crowd who came to consult the
demi-god in his cavern, and lay sleeping in the open air around the
cave, resting on skins of the black sheep they had slaughtered. In due
course the heathen demi-god was replaced by a miraculous apparition of
the archangel Michael, and Christian pilgrims came in crowds. It was
the common process. The priests recognised a tradition of pilgrimage
which they could not check, and legalised it by a Christian legend.
See Lenormant, _A travers l'Apulie et la Lucanie_ (Paris, 1883).
_Page 330._ Vietri is of great age. Strabo, quoted by Camera,
indicates it under the name Marcinna as the only city between the
rocks of the Sirens and Paestum. Possibly he looked on Salerno and
Vietri as one.
_Page 331._ The facts about pilgrims are from Ducange, _s.v._
"Peregrinatio," and Muratori, Dissertation 37.
_Page 338._ The best account of Paestum known to me is in Lenormant,
_op. cit._
INDEX
A
Agnano, Lake, 26, 78
Agrippina, Empress, her murder, 45 _et seq._
Alcala, Duke of, 77
Alfonso of Aragon, first king of that name, 104, 160;
second king of that name, 70, 72, 107 _et seq._, 130, 146
Amalfi, 58;
its trade, 229, 295, 297, 299 _et seq._
Anacapri, 282, 284, 288, 289, 298
Angelo, Monte Sant', 6, 181, 232, 256, 285, 297
Anicetus, 46, 47
Anjou, Charles, King. See "Charles"
Anjou, House of, 8, 70, 91, 103
Anna, Palazzo di Donna, 54, 65
Aragon, House of, 8, 16, 86, 91, 97, 108, 122, 130
Arco Naturale, 296, 297
Arcos, Duke of, 162 _et seq._
Augustus, Emperor, 57, 292
Avernus, Lake of, 37, 38, 43
B
Baiae, 23, 40, 43, 44, 217
Barbaro, Monte, its legend, 37
Barbarossa, Corsair, 6, 145, 274, 287, 288, 308
Bauli, 46
Beloch quoted, 346 (App.), 353 (App.)
Bembo, Pietro, epitaph on Sannazzaro, 75
Bisignano, Prince of, 110, 111;
Princess of, her escape, 110
Blue Grotto, 275 _et seq._
Boccaccio, 5, 7, 112, 123, 124, 134, 233, 235, 317
Bolgaro, Restituta, 7
Bosco Reale, 179, 187, 350 (App.)
Braccini, Abate, 182, 184 _et seq._, 350 (App.)
Brantome quoted, 8, 160
Breislak quoted, 346 (App.), 353 (App.)
C
Calabria, Duke of, 123, 348 (App.);
Alfonso, Duke of. See "Alfonso of Aragon."
Camorra, The, 119, 145
Campagna Felice, 12, 18, 181, 286
Campana, Monte, 37
Campanella, Punta di, 6, 77, 264
Cane, Grotta del, 26-8, 346 (App.)
Capaccio quoted, 24, 61, 346 (App.)
Cappuccini Convent, Hotel, 307 _et seq._
Capri, 5, 18, 68, 273 _et seq._
Capuana, Porta, 57, 145, 146, 220
Capuano, Cardinal, 307
Capuano, Castel, 66, 101, 143, 145
Caraccioli, Francesco, 76
Carmine, Church of, 13, 112, 116, 156, 158, 160, 170 _et seq._
Carmine, Madonna del, 158
Casamicciola, 5, 38, 183
Castellammare, 6, 81, 126, 179, 220, 226 _et seq._;
its catacombs, 231, 295, 352 (App.)
Castles. See "Elmo," "Nuovo," "Uovo," etc.
Charles of Anjou, King, 89, 90, 94, 97, 112, 124, 152
Chiaia, Riviera di, 10, 68, 69, 78
Churches: Carmine, see above;
Cathedral, 140 _et seq._;
Gesu Nuovo, 108, 121;
Santa Caterina a Formello, 147;
Santa Chiara, 123-5, 135;
San Domenico Maggiore, 128, 129;
San Lionardo, 10, 72-4, 79, 105, 110, 111, 168;
San Lorenzo, 135, 136, 138, 162
Cigliano, Monte, 37
Colonna, Vittoria, 6, 131, 345 (App.)
Conca, Ravine of, its legend, 257 _et seq._
Conca, Capo di, 304, 329
Conradin, 89, 90, 126, 150-8, 161, 349 (App.)
Coppola, Monte, 232, 249;
family of, 109
Cumae, 41, 45, 97, 215, 346 (App.)
D
Damecuta, Tower of, 275, 276, 280, 282
Decuman ways in Naples, 117, 118
Deserto, The, 262 _et seq._
Dragut, Corsair, 6, 77, 274, 287, 345 (App.)
E
Elmo, St., Castle, 10, 16, 17, 62, 97
Epomeo, Monte di, 5, 59, 183, 250
F
Faito, Monte, 6, 249, 251
Ferdinand First of Aragon, King, 71, 72, 105, 107-11;
the Second, 98
Fiammetta (Princess Marie of Anjou), 5, 134, 135, 235
Filamarino, Cardinal Ascanio, 167 _et seq._
Fiorelli, director of excavations at Pompeii, 212
Folklore. See "Galli," "Giovanna," "Madonnas," "Nicolo Pesce,"
"Rufolo," "Sorrento," "Vico," "Virgil," etc.
Fra Diavolo, bandit, 242 _et seq._
Frangipani betrays Conradin, 155
Frederick the Second, Emperor, 88, 89;
his struggle with the Papacy, 141, 142, 348 (App.)
Frederick of Baden, comrade of Conradin, 154, 156, 157
Fucini, Renato, quoted, 140, 349 (App.)
G
Galli, I, Legend of, 333
Gargano, Monte, 88, 312, 354 (App.)
Garibaldi, 127
Gennaro, San, 13, 57;
his miracle, 140, 185, 188
Gioja, Flavio, 302
Giotto, 5, his residence in Naples, 124, 125
Giovanna, Queen, Traditions of, 65-7, 90, 148, 313, 347 (App.)
Gregorovius, F., 353 (App.)
Grillo, Monte, 37
Guicciardini quoted, 70, 98, 100
H
Helena, Queen, wife of Manfred, 90, 94, 95
Herculaneum, 178, 183, 185;
how discovered, 196;
amphitheatre, 197;
how destroyed, 199;
how searched, 200;
Piso's villa, 201 _et seq._;
the library, 204;
new excavations, 207
Hodgkin, T., quoted, 221, 348 (App.)
I
Iconoclasts, The, 237
Ischia, 1, 5, 6, 8, 50, 53, 59, 81, 99, 176, 183, 286
K
Kopisch, August, discoverer of Blue Grotto, 275 _et seq._
L
La Cava, Valley of, 230;
Abbey, 330
Lakes: Agnano, 26, 78;
Avernus, 37, 38, 43;
Lucrine, 45, 47
Leopardi, Giacomo, 25
Lionardo d'Oria, 73
Lionardo, San, 10, 72-4, 79, 105, 110, 111, 348 (App.)
Loria, Roger di, Admiral, 7, 286
Lucia, Santa, 54, 93, 101-3
Lucrine, Lake, 45, 47
Luigi, San, Church of, 166
M
Machiavelli quoted, 108, 109
Maddaloni, Duke of, 170
Maddaloni Palace, 117
Madonnas, Legends of: della Carmine (La Bruna), 159, 163;
di Casarlano, 238;
delle Galline, 239;
di Meta, 254;
di Positano, 303;
di Pozzano, 236;
di Sorrento, carried in procession, 270;
di Villanto, 253;
authority, 353 (App.)
Majori, 229, 301, 306, 327, 328
Mammone, bandit, 244
Manfred, King, 89, 94, 95, 104, 124, 150
Marcellus, 57
Martino, San, 16, 116
Mas'aniello, 115, 116, 120, 164 _et seq._, 350 (App.)
Mercato of Naples, 122, 149, 157, 161, 163 _et seq._, 220
Mergellina, 76, 79
Minori, 229, 301, 306, 328
Mirichicchiu, Apparition of, 266
Misenum, 29, 40, 44, 45, 48, 49, 185, 199, 286
Monforte, Count, 233
Munaciello, 'O, Apparition of, 252
N
Nero, Emperor, 45, 46
Nisida, Island of, 50, 52, 53, 79
Nocera, 95;
dominates trade route, 229, 230
Nuovo, Castel, 11, 16, 17, 20, 74;
its age, 97, 98;
described, 104;
vault of, 106;
cruelties wrought there, 108, etc.
Nuovo, Monte, 40
O
Otranto, Martyrs of, 146-8, 349 (App).
P
Paderni, C., report on Herculaneum, 201 _et seq._
Padulano, The, 126
Paestum, 215, 251, 299, 302, 337 _et seq._
Pagano, host at Capri, 275 _et seq._
Palaeopolis, 97, 348 (App.)
Palermo, 7
Palmieri, of Vesuvius Observatory, 190, 194
Pantaleoni, Family of, 311
Parthenope, 2, 4
Pesce, Nicolo, Legends of, 81, 348 (App.)
Petrarch visits Phlegraean Fields, 37, 346 (App.);
56, 124;
at San Lorenzo, 134, 205
Petronius quoted, 218
Philodemus, his library at Herculaneum, 205 _et seq._
Phlegraean Fields, 9, 23, 37;
authorities on, 346 (App.)
Piedigrotta, 25
Piso, his villa at Herculaneum, 201 _et seq._, 350 (App.)
Pizzofalcone, 10, 92, 93, 97, 99, 101
Pliny quoted, 44, 199, 200, 218
Pompeii, 13, 44;
its plan, 133, 178, 179, 183, 197, 199;
general aspect, 210;
houses, 213-7;
pictures, 217-20;
authorities, 350 (App.)
Portici, 195
Poseidon, Temple of, 342
Posilipo, 9, 19;
how formed, 22;
its caverns, 24, 53, 60;
described, 49 _et seq._, 199
Pozzano, Convent and Madonna of, 236-8, 352 (App.)
Pozzuoli, 3, 24, 29;
its trade and fall, 32, 33;
Serapeon, 34;
Greek origin, 41, 62
Prajano, 301, 303
Procida, Gianni, 7, 8;
Giovanni, 9, 345 (App.)
Q
Quaresima, Figure of, 245
R
Ravello, 229, 301, 312 _et seq._
Resina, 186, 194, 197, 209
Robert, King, 122, 123, 126, 135, 137
Rufolo, Landolfo, Tale of, 314
Rufolo, Palazzo, 322
Ruggiero, work on Stabiae, 223, 350 (App.)
S
Salerno, City, 58, 229, 251, 299, 300, 332 _et seq._
Salerno, Prince of, his escape, 109, 121, 122
Salto di Tiberio, 273, 292, 293
Sannazzaro, 75, 76, 79
San Severino, family of, 108, 121
Sarno, River, 221
Scala, 319
Scarpi, bandit, 242 _et seq._
Schulz, H. W., quoted, 231, 348, 352
Sejanus, Grotto of, 50
Serapis, Temple of, 34, 35
Severo, San, Chapel of, 132
Sicilian Vespers, 8, 9, 90, 95
Sicily, 7, 8;
how it floats on the sea, 83
Sirens, The, 4, 269, 299
Solaro, Monte, 274, 284, 285, 289, 298
Solfatara, The, 29, 32, 36
Somma, Monte, 37, 178 _et seq._, 286
Sorrento, 5, 22, 229, 251 _et seq._;
its folklore, 266, 267;
Good Friday procession, 270
Stabiae, 223 _et seq._, 230, 350 (App.)
St. John, Knights of, 305, 354 (App.)
Strabo quoted, 181, 355 (App.)
Struscio, Lu, 113
Styx, 29
T
Tiberius, Emperor, 279, 283, 291;
Villa of, 290
Toledo (Via Roma), 18, 113, 115, 116, 165
Tontoli, don Gabriele, quoted, 167 _et seq._
Torre dell'Annunziata, 21, 184, 187, 209
Torre del Greco, 21, 183-5, 187, 188, 209
Torretta, la, 77, 79
Tribunali, Strada di, 101, 117, 131, 133, 149, 168, 209
Tuoni, Grotta dei, legend of, 53
U
Uberti, Messer Neri degli, Tale of, 233 _et seq._
Ulysses, 4
Uovo, Castel dell', 10, 17, 61, 62, 64, 69;
its caverns, 82;
its name, 96;
besieged, 99, 125, 166
V
Vasto, Marchesa del, 78
Vesuvius, 12, 18, 21, 22, 30, 37;
held in check by Virgil, 56;
by San Gennaro, 13, 57, 68, 185, 188;
how formed, 178-81;
Eruptions of, 79 A.D., 44;
1631, 182 _et seq._;
1707, 57;
1767, 189;
1861, 189;
1872, 190 _et seq._;
authorities on, 346 (App.)
Via Roma (see Toledo)
Vicaria, La, 143, 349 (App.)
Vico Equense, 81, 228, 253 _et seq._
Vietri, 330, 355 (App.)
Virgil, 5, 9;
founder of Castel dell'Uovo, 10;
his enchantments, 56-9;
legend of his tomb, 62, 347 (App.)
Virgilio, Scoglio di, 55
Vittoria, Piazza di, 85
Volpicella quoted, 306, 354 (App.)
PLYMOUTH
WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD.
PRINTERS
End of Project Gutenberg's Naples Past and Present, by Arthur H. Norway