Naples Past and Present Part 18

An interesting account of the discoveries, with ill.u.s.trations, 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 pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sage 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 a.s.sisi, 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 p.e.n.i.sola 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 sc.r.a.ps 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. Ca.n.a.le, 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 pa.s.sed 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 va.s.sals 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-G.o.d 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-G.o.d 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._