Days near Rome . tants of the Sabina passed with their pur-chases of Ostian salt. Every artist will sketch the Castle of Ostia, and willremember as he works, that Raphael sketched it long ago,and that, from his sketch, Giovanni da Udine painted it inthe background of his grand fresco of the victory over theSaracens, in the Stanza of the Incendio del Borgo in theVatican, for here the enemy who had totally destroyed theancient town in the fifth century, were as totally defeated in 42 DA YS NEAR ROME. the reign of Leo IV. ( 847—856). Procopius in thesixth century wrote of Ostia as * a city ne
Days near Rome . tants of the Sabina passed with their pur-chases of Ostian salt. Every artist will sketch the Castle of Ostia, and willremember as he works, that Raphael sketched it long ago,and that, from his sketch, Giovanni da Udine painted it inthe background of his grand fresco of the victory over theSaracens, in the Stanza of the Incendio del Borgo in theVatican, for here the enemy who had totally destroyed theancient town in the fifth century, were as totally defeated in 42 DA YS NEAR ROME. the reign of Leo IV. ( 847—856). Procopius in thesixth century wrote of Ostia as * a city nearly present town is but a fortified hamlet, built by GregoryIV., and originally called by him Gregoriopolis. It wasstrengthened by Nicholas I. in 858. In the fifteenth cen-tury Cardinal dEstouteville employed Sangallo, who livedhere for two years, in building the castle, and Giulianodella Rovere, afterwards Pope Julius II. and then cardinalbishop of Ostia, continued the work. Here he took refuge. Castle of Ostia. for two years from the persecution of Alexander he imprisoned Cssar Borgia here in 1513, whoseescape was connived at by Cardinal Carbajal, to whosecare he was intrusted. Nothing remains of the internaldecorations but some mouldering frescoes executed byBaldassare Peruzzi and Cesare da Sesto for Cardinal dellaRovere, but the outer walls are so covered with theescutcheons of their different papal owners as to form averitable chapter of pontifical heraldry. Conspicuousamongst these grand coats of arms are the oak-tree (Robur)of the Della Rovere, and the wreathed column of the OSTIA. 43 Colonna. On the battlements above, masses of the blue-green wormwood, which is a lover of salt air and scanty-soil, wave in the wind. Artists will all regret the destruc-tion of the tall pine, so well known till lately in pictures ofOstia, which stood beside the tower, till it died in 1870. The tiny town, huddled into the narrow fortified space,which forms as
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectromeita, bookyear1875
