Italy from the Alps to Mount Etna . breed of men. Agreen-and-gold garland of fieldsand meadows surrounds the wallsof the town. Beautiful groupsof trees stand beside the streams,and the vine climbs amidst theirsunny summits. Yes, thou artfair, thou Sulmonia third of therealm of the Peligni! Fair artthou, and worthy to be sung !Here dwells the strength of Italy. At Pettorano you leave theplain, and enter into the moun-tain world of the Majella. Thedazzling white road continuesto climb ever higher among therocks. They are bare, and shinelike gold when the sun touchesthem, for they have long ago b
Italy from the Alps to Mount Etna . breed of men. Agreen-and-gold garland of fieldsand meadows surrounds the wallsof the town. Beautiful groupsof trees stand beside the streams,and the vine climbs amidst theirsunny summits. Yes, thou artfair, thou Sulmonia third of therealm of the Peligni! Fair artthou, and worthy to be sung !Here dwells the strength of Italy. At Pettorano you leave theplain, and enter into the moun-tain world of the Majella. Thedazzling white road continuesto climb ever higher among therocks. They are bare, and shinelike gold when the sun touchesthem, for they have long ago beenrobbed of their green clothing offorest. The dress of povertycovers their rugged forms : —heath, woodbine, wild balsam,and thyme, in which the beesof Solmona and Pettorano humbusily. The birds, too, are few. You only see the hawk circling above the mountainpeaks, or the shy woodlark flit across the deserted path. In winter the bear and wolfshow themselves on the heights, and the shepherd exchanges his staff for a long carbine. STREET SCENE IN THE ABRUZZI. 350 ITAL V. such as the brigands use, who from time to time appear in addition to the four-footedbeasts of prey. Here you may find the genuine shepherd of old times. For more than a thousandyears probably nothing has been changed in his manners and customs ; for even hisChristianity is only paganism slightly varnished over. These Samnite shepherds of theAbruzzi are fine hardy men, strong and handsome, and wonderfully good-natured. Theypass the summer under a slight thatch of reeds, with the great shaggy wolf-dog of theAbruzzi as their inseparable companion, a lithograph of Saint Pamphilius pasted upagainst the rock as their domestic god, and for amusement the screeching zampogna(bagpipes) hung up at the door of the hut. The women are occupied in the valleys ; theeldest boy is with his father, and looks after the young lambs. Out of their poverty manand wife build themselves a bit of a swallows nest by the stream where the
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Keywords: ., bookauthorcavagnasangiulianidig, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870
