Italy from the Alps to Mount Etna . sunshine. The ships cruising out at sea yonder are no piratecraft; they are fishing barks, and the procession even now descending from that old sea-robbers nest, Positano, to the shore, is about to bless the boats, the nets, and the fisher- 3 G 2 412 ITALY. men. The chanting of the priest is heard across the waves, the little bell of the chapelsounds, and the fishermen pause on their oars, pull off their red caps, and repeat the wordsof the prayers in reverent faith. May Mary, the golden star of these sea folks, be gracious to this coast! For when theScirocc
Italy from the Alps to Mount Etna . sunshine. The ships cruising out at sea yonder are no piratecraft; they are fishing barks, and the procession even now descending from that old sea-robbers nest, Positano, to the shore, is about to bless the boats, the nets, and the fisher- 3 G 2 412 ITALY. men. The chanting of the priest is heard across the waves, the little bell of the chapelsounds, and the fishermen pause on their oars, pull off their red caps, and repeat the wordsof the prayers in reverent faith. May Mary, the golden star of these sea folks, be gracious to this coast! For when theScirocco blows, the waves beat here with resistless fury against the land, and there are butfew spots to which the little boat tossed between sea and sky can run for shelter: perhaps,indeed, only one,—the little creek of Prajano; and then further on at the end of the rangeof rocks before Salerno, the harbour of Vietri. The fisherman of Amalfi knows thisdanger, and is at once more skilful and more bold than the mariner of the soft Bay of. SALERNO. Naples. To this strength and boldness of character was due the founding of the Republicof Amalfi, which once gave laws (the Tabula; Amalphitancc) to the Mediterranean watersas far as Byzantium, and possessed colonies on the distant soil of Asia and Africa. Theflag of Amalfi was respected, and her sword feared, on every coast. But Pisa at lengtlibroke the sword, the Genoese tore down the flag, the sea broke devastating into the town,—and, from a population of fifty thousand inhabitants clad in gold-embroidered robes, andliving in marble palaces filled with the treasures of the East, the town diminished to apopulation of five thousand, who carry on a modest trade in fruits, carobs, and wine, andabove all in the celebrated and excellent Amalfi maccaroni. The present town is poor and dirty; but the traces of its noble descent are still to beseen in it. Its origin dates from the earliest period of the Middle Ages, and its chiefprosperity was a
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Keywords: ., bookauthorcavagnasangiulianidig, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870
