The Shores of the Adriatic Part 6

The city was called "Julia Parentium" under the Romans, from the colony of legionaries sent by Augustus. The tribute to Rome was as much as that paid by Pola, the capital of the province. There were temples to Mars and Neptune, of which there are some remains, drums of a few of the columns and a portion of the podium and steps, now used as the lower courses of poor houses. The buildings were destroyed in the fifteenth century, the materials being used to construct the quay. The main street leading from this part of the town to the Porta a Terra may be the Via Dec.u.mana of a Roman camp. The site of the amphitheatre is indicated by the curved line of the houses built on its foundations, but there are no remains of Roman work visible. Reliefs of the tenth century are encrusted in the wall of a house on the site of the ancient church of S.

Peter; and the Casa dei Santi in the Via Predol, which probably occupies part of the area of the convent and church of S. Ca.s.siano, has two figures on brackets between the windows of the first floor, apparently late eleventh-century work. The Canonica, built in 1251, a fine piece of Romanesque domestic architecture, has six two-light windows on the first floor, and sh.e.l.l-headed niches round the door, with a cross and inscriptions. It was burnt in 1488, and in the eighteenth century was converted by the chapter into a store for the t.i.thes of wine, corn, oil, and fruit, but has been restored, together with the adjoining entrance to the atrium. There are several Venetian palaces in the main street. One, of the fourteenth century, is especially fine. It has big cable string-courses and brackets of lions' heads and necks, and a large and imposing window on the first floor.

There have been three enceintes: (_a_) Roman; (_b_) that completed about 1250 under Patriarch Warner of Gillach; (_c_) a third commenced in the fifteenth century on the same lines, but a little larger. In the eighteenth century the circuit of the walls was about a mile. There were two princ.i.p.al gates--the Porta a Mare and the Porta a Terra--and two posterns made for the convenience of the inhabitants. The city was divided into four _Rioni_--Pusterla, Porta Nuova, Marafor, and Predol.

The existing square tower flanking the Porta a Terra was erected in 1447 under Nicol Lion; he signs it with initials, and there is a coat of arms beneath the panel of the lion of S. Mark. At the bottom of the frame are the date and an inscription giving the name of the architect, "Mag. Johannes de Pari Tergestinus," and of his son Lazarus, the sculptor. His name occurs on the architrave of the rebuilt church of S.

John the Baptist of Volciana on the Carso, with the date 1429. The round tower dates from after the incursion of the Turks into the Carso in 1470, built under Pietro da Mula, 1474. On the Porta della Campana the length of the dagger which was allowed is marked, and the town still preserves one of the "Bocche de' leoni" which were used for secret denunciations. The communal palace was built in 1270, one year before Parenzo gave herself to Venice. Games of cards and dice were allowed under its portico and in the loggia, where the players were under the eyes of the guards.

During the latter half of the thirteenth century Parenzo was in constant contest with her bishop, resisting the financial demands of the ecclesiastical authority with threats and violence. A podesta, at the head of the people, broke into the cathedral, burst open the treasury, and seized the precious objects. In 1270 Marco Michiel, in the name of the commune, forbad the citizens to pay t.i.the, proclaimed liberty of fishing and pasturage, and took possession of several of the church properties, saying that they had returned to those to whom they properly belonged. In 1278 Bishop Otho excommunicated them for refusing to pay t.i.the, and because of a rising, in which the palace was invaded and all the authentic privileges and doc.u.ments thrown into the sea; but the citizens were the stronger, and bishop and canons were driven away from the city. In 1280 there was a delimitation of the land belonging to church and commune. The next bishop, Boniface, renewed the episcopal pretensions denying freehold to both commune and individual citizens.

The podesta, Jacopo Soranzo, the commune, and citizens were so enraged that the bishop, in fear of his life, fled to Rovigno, and from thence to Venice. The podesta lodged soldiers in his palace during the war; and in 1284 Boniface fulminated a comprehensive excommunication from Venice against podesta and city. Matters were arranged and he returned to Parenzo, but only to renew his claims. In 1293 the podesta, Jacopo Querini, was disputing with him over a feud at Cervera which he claimed, though it had been in the possession of others for eighty years, and both lost their tempers. The podesta turned to the bishop and said: "I promise you that when my term of office is over I will do you all the harm I can, both publicly and privately; and I pray G.o.d and His saints to let me live long enough to see with my own eyes the prophecies fulfilled of the destruction of the Church of Rome, for one may well see that the time is near." On September 14, 1296, the podesta, Giovanni Soranzo, attacked the bishop's palace at the head of the armed populace, intending, as the bishop a.s.serted, to kill him. The prelate took refuge in the Franciscan convent, and escaped by ship to Pirano. Thence he went again to Venice, and excommunicated the whole of his opponents. The podesta threatened to cut off hand and foot from whoever published or executed the ban; and Boniface ordered the _prepositum_ of Pisino to send it to the clergy, which was done next year, but without the desired effect. He acted in the same way with other podestas, and was often absent from his seat in consequence, thus incurring reproofs from the patriarchs Raimondo and Pietro Gerra. The latter went so far as to attack and destroy the castle of Orsera, where the bishop took refuge.

The people of Parenzo now are more concerned with developing their commerce than with insisting upon their rights, and the quay presents a busy scene when the wine-boats are lading. The casks are so large that two are a load for a yoke of oxen. The cart has sloping sides, and a bed of fresh-cut boughs and hay acts as springs. One of the sides of the cart (of wicker or staves) is removed at the quay, and the casks are rolled down an inclined plane. There were much excitement and some danger as the lumbering weight was turned at right angles to its former course, which was towards the water. The fishermen were busy too; they catch spider-crabs with long spears ending in five p.r.o.ngs, at right angles to the shaft, and forming a kind of cage, which the crabs find it difficult to negotiate when they are raked out of the crannies of the rocks. There was a semi-lunar implement in the boats also, with four internal p.r.o.ngs, at the end of a long shaft, used for catching cuttle-fish.

At the hotel in which we stayed on our first visit there was a green-and-yellow parrot which was very tame. His accomplishments included the saying "Marietta, padrona, and h.e.l.lo" quite clearly, singing and laughing. Its mistress made it flirt with a highly coloured young lady on a poster in a very diverting fashion. At Fiume we saw two parrots of the same kind on perches outside a shop; and my friend, recollecting the friendly bird at Parenzo, made overtures to them, which were not received in the proper spirit, and I am sorry to say that his finger was sore for days after.

There is record of a joust held at Parenzo as late as February 14, 1745.

There must have been diverting incidents on that occasion, since the combatants contended with unfamiliar weapons which had been long out of use!

Parenzo is poor in records of craftsmen, and its only artist of repute is Bernardo of Parenzo, who was much employed in his day; pictures by him are preserved in the Accademia at Venice, the Doria Gallery, Rome, in the Louvre, and at Modena. He studied at Padua with Mantegna, under Squarcione, and executed frescoes and chiaroscuro arabesques in the cloister of S. Giustina in that city. When the Austrians converted the convent to military uses the paintings were plastered over, and, although again uncovered in 1895, they were found to be in a much damaged condition. Bernardo died in 1531.

X

TO POLA BY SEA

From Parenzo Pola may be reached either by land or sea, the latter being the more convenient way. The only place of importance pa.s.sed is Rovigno, though the Ca.n.a.l di Leme, an arm of the sea 7- miles long, from 70 to 100 ft. deep, and some 500 yds. broad, which affords accommodation for much more shipping than ever makes use of it, leads up towards Due Castelli, now ruinous, but at one time a thriving and important town. On the way, near Orsera, the little island of "Scoglio Orlandino" is pa.s.sed, rocky and divided into two portions by a chasm or crack. Legend says that Orlando, pa.s.sing that way, made a slash at it and left it as it now is.

Rovigno is thought to be the ancient Arupenum or Rubinum, but is first mentioned by the anonymous Ravennese chronicler, and was probably founded in the third or fourth century. In the walls of the princ.i.p.al church are fragments of sixth-century work. There is a tradition that it was founded when Cissa sank into the sea in the seventh century. The site of this city was near the modern lighthouse, and remains of its buildings are believed to be recognisable beneath the water at the point called Barbariga, on the further side of the Bay of S. Pelagio. The large beds of murex sh.e.l.ls in certain places are an indication that there were purple dye-works here, an industry for which Cissa was celebrated. Rovigno is situated upon a rock, and was surrounded with walls. Within their area the houses, as seen from the sea or from the railway station behind the town, seem to be piled one over the other, and culminate very picturesquely in the campanile at the top. Beyond the railway station on the Bay of S. Pelagio are the Berlin aquarium for the study of the marine fauna of the Adriatic, and a sanatorium for scrofulous children, opened in 1888. The neighbourhood being fever-stricken the peasants live in the city, going and returning to their work morning and evening. Their Sunday costume consists of ornamented leather shoes, tight white hose of wool, a broad-sleeved white shirt with a frill in front, dark waistcoat, and flat black cap.

They have the curious custom of wearing one large earring in the left ear. Rovigno is a good market for wine--considered the best in Istria--olives, sardines, and hazel-nuts which are reputed the finest in the world. Consequently, amongst the inhabitants are many merchants, and the fishers' guild is very numerous; but the steep streets are narrow and, in wet weather, noisome, and the children do not look as healthy as in many other places. During our stay we saw two funerals in the _Colleggiata_ within a few hours, both attended by a red-robed confraternity which included boys and men. The spectacle in the darkening nave (for it was late afternoon) of the two rows of red-robed figures holding lighted tapers, with two or three ensigns or symbols in the background, was impressive, but marred by atrocious singing. The officiating priest was a fine man; and, as the cortege departed to the cemetery just below the church on the seaward side, there was an impression of solemnity which is often lacking in English funerals. A few late Venetian palaces, with fine loggias at the top to catch the sea-breezes, show above the other houses, and the arch between the fish-market and the Piazza S. Damiano, erected in 1680 under Daniele Balbi, still stands, with the Venetian lion holding a book proudly inscribed: "Victoria tibi Marce Evangelista meus"; but the walls have entirely disappeared, with the exception of one ruinous tower, the "Torre del Boraso," which has been in that state since the sixteenth century. At the beginning of the fourteenth century it belonged to the bishop of Pola; the Colleggio dei Cinque Savi acquired it in 1332, and ordered its occupation by the captain of the Pasenatico and the podesta of Rovigno, asking whether it was best to preserve or destroy it, the former course being determined on.

A curious heptagonal building, the Oratory of the Trinity, which stands some distance outside the ancient walls, appears to be rather early in date. It has a polygonal drum rising from the roof of the lower portion, and two curious little pierced and carved windows about three feet high; one of them is too much broken to make out the design. The other has a crucifix with half-length figures, and consecration cross among the piercings, very roughly cut. The head is slightly pointed. The _Colleggiata_ has been rebuilt in late Renaissance style; and the campanile, crowned by a figure of S. Eufemia, the patron saint of the town, is a copy of that of S. Mark's, Venice. The chapel to the right of the high-altar contains the shrine of the saint, a large unfinished sarcophagus of Greek marble. It has two arches on the side with figures scarcely begun, and an octagonal tablet with curved sides in the middle.

The legend is that the body of the saint floated over the waves in the great sarcophagus, and was driven by a storm into a little inlet called the "Armo di S. Eufemia," a short way from the pier, where a square pillar with an inscription of 1720 and the communal arms marks the place where it grounded. Some fishers who went out at dawn were attracted by the miraculous light which shone around it. Several days pa.s.sed before the heavy sarcophagus could be moved. A certain pious widow, with the suggestive name of "Astuta," had a dream, as a consequence of which a pair of bullocks was yoked to it by her little son, and so it went up the hill to the summit at such a rate as to run over one of the bystanders, who was nearly killed, and fainted. When he revived he revealed the name of the saint, and her bones were found within the sarcophagus together with the history of her martyrdom. From that time the hill has had the name of S. Eufemia. The relics were taken by the Genoese in 1380 and carried to Chioggia. The Venetians rescued them, but carried them to S. Canciano, Venice, where they stayed for thirty years. On their return to Rovigno in 1410 a storm drove the ship to the salt-works in the Ca.n.a.l di Leme, where certain cattle-boats were sheltering. The cattle jumped into the water and danced round the ship!

So, at least, a ma.n.u.script in the capitular archives relates. Scenes from this legend are painted on the walls of the chapel. In the sacristy is a fourteenth or fifteenth-century picture on a gold ground--a figure of S. John the Baptist, with incidents from his life. It came from a church dedicated to him which was destroyed in 1839.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SARCOPHAGUS OF S. EUFEMIA, ROVIGNO]

Rovigno and the neighbourhood have suffered much from piracy. In 965 the Slavs sacked the city. Into the harbour the Uscocs entered one night at the beginning of 1597, and sacked a galley and ten ships laden with rich merchandise belonging to Venice. In the port of Vestre (the birthplace of Maximian of Ravenna), about three miles from Rovigno, an Uscoc ship, with 150 men, attacked a ship of Cattaro which carried letters from the doge of Venice, 6,000 ducats of public money and 4,000 of private, with valuable merchandise. They took everything and also stripped the other Venetian ships in the harbour, leaving the sailors nothing but their shirts!

The Ca.n.a.l of Fasana, between the Brioni Islands and the mainland, a little to the south, was the scene of the crushing defeat of the Venetians by the Genoese in 1379. The quarries in these islands, together with those of Rovigno, provided stone for the ducal and other palaces, the Procuratie at Venice, the _murazzi_ at Chioggia, and the mole at Malamocco. It is but a short distance hence to the entrance to the magnificent harbour of Pola.

Craftsmen of Rovigno have made the name of the town celebrated, such as the sculptors Lorenzo and Antonio del Vescovo, who worked in 1468 at the Camaldulan church of Murano, and Taddeo da Rovigno, who did much decorative carving in Venetian palaces. A more distinguished man was Fra Sebastiano da Rovigno, the lame Slavonian (il Zoppo Schiavone), the teacher of the still more celebrated _intarsiatore_, Fra Damiano of Bergamo. Some of his works are in the choir and sacristy of S. Mark's, Venice. The name of Donato of Parenzo is also coupled with these Rovignese craftsmen.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN ISTRIAN FARM-HOUSE

_To face page 133_]

XI

TO POLA BY LAND

One Easter Sunday we drove in lovely weather from Parenzo to S. Lorenzo in Pasenatico, and on to Canfanaro. By the road we pa.s.sed every now and then farmers' houses, such as the one ill.u.s.trated, and met groups of peasants going into Parenzo to the _festa_. As we got further from the city the men were collected in groups, talking, smoking, or playing bowls; whilst the women also by themselves, in knots of as many as twenty, were seated together enjoying a gossip. The landscape was pleasant, but rather featureless, except for the bulk of Monte Maggiore blue to the south-east. We reached S. Lorenzo at the moment of the elevation of the Host, and found the ancient basilica crowded with worshippers, while several men knelt with rosary in clasped hands outside the open doors, their eyes fixed intently upon the altar. After a time the congregation poured out, dressed in most picturesque costumes, and evidently found our appearance quite as interesting and strange as we found theirs. The men had one big earring (as at Rovigno), and wore white shirts with full sleeves, sometimes embroidered, hose of woven wool, a jacket hung loosely over the shoulders, and a little black cap on the head. The women had full skirts of beautiful tertiary colours, rows of coral round their necks, and large silver-gilt brooches, and rosette ornaments on their b.r.e.a.s.t.s with chains attached.

On their heads, tied round the base of the skull, they had white handkerchiefs, sometimes with ornamented borders. Over the bodice a kind of loose waistcoat was worn.

The church is a basilica with nave and aisles, all terminated by semicircular apses, with an arcade of nine arches of unequal width, owing perhaps partly to the obliquity of the west wall, itself caused by the close proximity of the palace of the Count, which was still in existence till 1833. The three easternmost bays are enclosed as presbytery, and this and other alterations are the work of the seventeenth century; but two of the original pierced window-slabs are still in position in the side apses, traces of the small clerestory windows are visible, and in a wall to the left of the facade are encrusted several fragments of carving which apparently formed part of the original chancel of the ninth or early tenth century. The style of the caps of the nave arcade, the irregularity in their size, and in that of the plain super-abaci above them, also point to the same period. The apses have shallow arcading outside; the campanile is an addition built on to the tower of one of the town gates, the exterior arch of which is stopped; about the height of the nave cornice two great brackets project. Another of the wall-towers near at hand still retains the staircase by which it was ascended. Along the south wall of the church runs a loggia supported on slender columns, and in the piazza in front is the base of the flagstaff which once supported the standard of S.

Mark. A gateway with a very pointed arch at the bottom of this piazza forms the entrance to the town. The walls are all of the early Venetian period, and a well-head ordered to be carved in 1331 by Giovanni Contarini has a rampant winged lion half-length, crowned and nimbed, and with a closed book.

[Ill.u.s.tration: INTERIOR OF THE BASILICA, SAN LORENZO IN PASENATICO

_To face page 134_]

The city swore fealty to Venice in 1271, and became in 1304 the seat of the captain of the Pasenatico, an officer who had charge of the fortresses and town walls throughout Istria, and the duty of enlisting foot soldiers, sailors, and oarsmen. Marco Soranzo was the first captain. Fifty-two years after his time a second captaincy was created in Umago, afterwards transferred to Grisignana. At some time between 1312 and 1328 Marino Faliero was governor here. In 1394 the captaincy was removed to Raspo, and subsequently to Pinguente. In 1595 it was given to the podesta and captain of Capodistria, except as regarded Pirano.

The church is said to contain the bodies of SS. Victor and Corona, taken from Due Castelli during the war of Chioggia. The "Chronicle" relates that a Genoese squadron was in the Ca.n.a.l di Leme, and the people of S.

Lorenzo sent a deputation suggesting co-operation in an attack on Due Castelli, between which town and itself there were rivalry and hatred.

The enterprise was successful, and Due Castelli was sacked and burnt.

Tommasini records that the marks of fire were visible in his time. The bodies of the saints were carried off as spoil; but it seems probable that it was a Venetian and not a Genoese fleet which co-operated with the men of S. Lorenzo, since Due Castelli belonged to the patriarch, who was allied to the Genoese.

The road from S. Lorenzo to Canfanaro crosses the Draga valley (which is 600 or 700 ft. deep) by long zigzags, from which the ruins of Due Castelli are seen towards the west. They can be visited from Canfanaro.

Where the valley narrows upon two projecting spurs, nearly opposite to each other, were Monte Castello, or Moncastello, and Castello Parentino, given to the church of Parenzo by Otho II., but entirely destroyed long ago. These were the "Due Castelli" (two castles). The sea is five kilometres away. The walls and towers (which were built about 1616 by the _provveditore_, Marco Loredan) from a distance appear well preserved, but the only buildings remaining within are two churches and the castle.

The double girdle of walls of the castle, with well-preserved battlemented towers, is the princ.i.p.al factor in the effect. The gateways are pointed: outside the walls, towards Castel Parentino, is the pedestal for the munic.i.p.al standard; on the other side is an illegible inscription in which the date 1475 may be deciphered. The more important church, S. Sofia, still has its outside walls, the three apses, with traces of frescoes in the central one, and the walls of the sacristy. At the beginning of the fourteenth century it appears to have belonged to the Castropola, and then to the Count of Gorizia; but in 1420 the Venetians appointed a podesta. In 1616 the Uscocs sacked the place, and the plague of 1630-1631 slew many of the remaining inhabitants. The district grew malarious; and at the beginning of the next century the rector, the ministers, the chapter, and the few people who remained took the precious things which the church still retained and moved to S.

Silvestro, Canfanaro. S. Sofia was abandoned on June 7, 1714. The fourteenth-century pulpit, brought with them, is hexagonal, with subjects in the panels, and supported on six columns. In one panel a female figure holds two triple-towered castles of the same shape as those in the arms of Muggia. Malaria still keeps the district clear of houses, though the land is cultivated.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ENTRANCE TO THE CASTLE, PISINO

_To face page 137_]

A few miles from Canfanaro to the north-west is Pisino, the capital of Istria, situated upon and about the rock beneath which the river Foiba disappears. The railway winds round the sides of green and wooded hills, rising with each curve till it is some height above the city. The landscape is more striking than is usual in Istria, hills of some size appearing on the horizon, while in the middle distance the Foiba meanders through a fruitful valley, occasionally broken by a low waterfall. The copses which clothe the hillsides here and there are vocal with the song of birds, and nightingales may be heard in plenty in the spring. The situation is magnificent. The town stands upon the summit of a promontory spreading out like the fingers of a hand, and at its base the river foams and rushes, entering a deep winding ravine and plunging beneath a rocky precipice several hundred feet high, on the top of which a few houses appear. The steep sides are green with trees to a certain height, and then the grey rock appears scantily covered with gra.s.s in places; above the abyss swallows dart and hawks hover. On all sides the rushing of water is heard, and fountains in the streets betoken an unusual supply, for Istria is generally a thirsty land. The castle is so close to the chasm that from one of the windows a stone can be tossed into the water. The dwarf wall shown in the ill.u.s.tration runs along the top of the precipice. Upon the door the date of 1785 is cut, but the greater part of the walls with their machicolations belongs to a reconstruction of the ancient castle in the fifteenth century. It is still inhabited, and part of it is used for district offices, but there is little of archaeological interest in city or castle. In the courtyard is a well on a platform ornamented with stone b.a.l.l.s to which twelve steps ascend, a rather curious arrangement. The place for the bar which fastened the doors is still there, but in these peaceful times they appear to stand open day and night; at all events they were open when we reached the place about 7 a.m., having left Pola soon after 5. In the cathedral are a silver processional cross with figures of saints, and a tabernacle of 1543, rich of its kind, also a picture by Girolamo da S.

Croce.

There was a cattle-fair on the day we were in the town; the place was full of _contadini_, and the roads were thronged with cattle being driven in for sale. The lambs were slung on donkeys' backs in couples, confined in sacks with their heads out of the mouths, and one lively little black fellow escaped and caused much excitement before he was caught and reimprisoned. The type of the peasants is quite different from that of those lower down the coast; the head is long, the nose aquiline, and the countenance seamed with many deep wrinkles. The older men wore one large earring in the right ear, hose of a thick whitish woollen material, or brown or blue trousers which sometimes reached but a little below the knee, a white shirt, and a brown jacket hung over the shoulder. The daughter of the house, who served us at a rough restaurant where we had _dejeuner_ together with some of the country folk, was anxious to know whether the language we were speaking together was Russian. I fancy English travellers are very rare in that part of the country.

A few miles south of Canfanaro is the little town of San Vincenti, in which is one of the best preserved of the Istrian castles, showing indeed little sign of ruin externally. It occupies one side of the main piazza. At right angles to it is the church, with a facade recalling the work of the Lombardi, and there is a loggia and a public cistern, made in 1808 to ensure a good supply of drinking-water. In this piazza a joust was held as late as June 24, 1713. There Maria Radoslavich was hung and then burnt as a witch on February 25, 1632.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN ANGLE OF THE CASTLE, SAN VINCENTI

_To face page 130_]

The castle is quadrilateral with a round and an octagonal tower at the angles of the northern face. The opposite side has a square tower at the angle to the right, and to the left the house of the governor just beyond the entrance-gate; the walls splay out widely to the bottom of the ditch. The slits for the chains of the drawbridge are on each side of a little grated window, and above the door are the date 1485 and the arms of Marino Grimani, with an inscription recording a restoration in 1589 after a fire in 1586. On a small door inside is the date 1728, showing that the castle underwent restorations and rebuildings. In the middle of the cornice is an arch for the castle-bell. The town was part of the feud of S. Apollinare, and was destroyed in 1330 by the soldiers of the Patriarch Pagano della Torre. The castle belonged first to the Castropola, then to the Morosini, and finally to the Grimani. It was dismantled by Bernardo Tiepolo after the war of Gradisca (during which Loredano used it as his quarters general), with the object of freeing the people from forced service of various kinds. Low buildings used as harness and store-rooms, &c., still remain against the walls inside, but the stair to the suite of princ.i.p.al rooms is ruinous. It is external, and led to a terrace beneath which were prisons, and from which another flight rose to a door of entrance, walled up but still traceable, at a considerable height. Other prisons were in the towers, which were bound together by the gallery which ran round the interior. The ground floor of the seventeenth-century house which occupies the ancient keep was arranged as guard-rooms and soldiers' lodgings; an internal stair conducts to a few rooms which look into the courtyard; the floors of the rest have been destroyed. Externally there is no opening for half the height; then there are two pointed windows with a considerable s.p.a.ce between; above these in the middle is a large loggia with two pointed doors, at the sides quadrangular windows, and higher up, beneath the eaves, four more small window-openings. Some of the towers are ivy-grown.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WAYSIDE CHAPEL OUTSIDE SAN VINCENTI]

In the church in the piazza is a S. Sebastian ascribed to Schiavone. The most ancient church is, however, in the cemetery to the north, a simple nave with pointed windows. The little chapel ill.u.s.trated, at a crossing of the ways, is characteristic of this part of Istria. The people still speak Venetian Italian, though there are a good many Slav _contadini_, brought from Dalmatia by the Grimani in 1628. The type has regular and marked features, with dark eyes and hair. The costume is not quite that of the Morlacchi, being all black except the shoes, which are of natural leather. The women have short skirts, black stockings, and shiny shoes, many chains round the neck, and earrings, and on festas have a coronal of pins in their carefully arranged hair, like the women of the Brianza.

Their weddings are celebrated amid great gatherings of friends; two pipers, with instruments timed in thirds, march first, playing a kind of tarantella; then follows a company of _contadini_ two and two, not arm-in-arm, but with a coloured handkerchief from one head to the other.