HANDBOOK FOR TRAVELLERS IN SOUTHERN ITALY. ROUTES. MANY lines of communication lead from Central Italy to Naples, the principal starting-points of which are Rome, Terni, and Ancona. routes es; Terracina, and thence to Formia and Gaeta, and Capua. It follows in a great part of its course the ancient Via Appia, and presents perhaps rail-rical interest than any of the other more objects of classical and histonow since the opening of the rly. but it is seldom followed along Rte. I. A rly., however, is projected, which, leaving the direct Rome and Naples rly. at Velletri, and rejoining it at Sparanisi, a few miles N. of Capua, will nearly follow the course of the old road. (Rte. 141.) I. From Rome the direct way leaves that city by the Porta San Lorenzo, and passes by Albano, Velletri, Valmontone, Frosinone, Ceprano, San Germano, and Capua. It follows the direction of the ancient Via Latina, passing through a beautiful country: and affords an opportunity of visiting the celebrated Benedictine monastery of Monte Casino, the Pelasgic remains at Segni, Ferentino, Alatri, and Arpino, and the falls of the Liris at Isola. This route forms the most frequented line of communication between Rome and Southern Italy (Rte. 140). A service of trains is now organised so as to run direct to Naples from Genoa, Turin, Milan, Venice, and Verona, starting in the evening. See the Indicatore Ufficiale. II. From Rome the road leaves the city by the Gate of S. Giovanni, and, passing through Albano and Velletri, crosses the Pontine Marshes to [S. Italy.] traveller must be prepared to under- | it offers; especially as a portion of it go a great deal of discomfort in this respect. A rly. is projected from Terni, and is completed between Aquila and Solmona (Rte. 142). Another road from Terni, along which a rly. is projected, leads by Avezzano and Sora to Isoletta, where it joins Rte. I. IV. From Ancona travellers coming from Romagna and the Marshes, or by sea, can go direct by rly. to Naples, passing by Loreto and Pescara to Foggia, and thence crossing the Apennines by Benevento (Rte. 143). Variations of this route may be made either by leaving the rly. at Pescara, and proceeding by Chieti to join Rte. III. at Popoli; or leaving it at Termoli, and following the road leading by Campobasso to Benevento, on the Foggia and Naples line. Railways are projected along both these lines of route, and between Pescara and Popoli the line is complete. near V. From Rome there is another route which is scarcely followed but by some artist or stray tourist disposed to undergo privations and discomforts for the sake of the fine scenery which can only be travelled on horseback. It leaves Rome by the Porta di S. Lorenzo, follows the Via Tiburtina to Tivoli, and afterwards the Via Valeria to Tagliacozzo, and by Avezzano, Civitella di Roveto, Sora, and Isola, it joins at the Roccasecca Stat., Rte. I., passing through very wild and picturesque scenery. It will afford an opportunity of visiting the Lake Fucino, the Claudian Aqueduct, and the great engineering works now in progress to drain the lake, the source of the Liris, and its falls to Isola; but there are scarcely any inns on it, and those very indifferent and dirty: though an improvement may be expected when the rly. in progress from Avezzano to Roccasecca is complete (see Rte. 144). VI. From "Rome, Naples may also be reached by sea viâ Civita Vecchia. The journey from Rome to Civita Vecchia by rail (see Handbook for Central Italy) takes from 2 to 4 hrs., and the voyage thence to Naples by sea about 12 or 15 hrs. Valery and the Peirano Danovaro Companies have steamers running between Civita Vecchia and Naples, consult the Indicatore Ufficiale. The ROUTE 140. ROME TO NAPLES BY VELLETRI [CORI AND NORMA], FERENTINO [ALATRI COLLEPARDO, VEROLI, &C.], CEPRANO, AQUINO, [PONTECORVO], SAN GERMANO [MONTE CASINO], CAPUA AND CASERTA.-RAIL. Distance, 162 m.; time, two express trains in 7 hrs., one stopping train in 9 hrs. This is now the great highway be. tween Rome and Naples, and the route traverses one of the most interesting regions of Italy, enabling the traveller to visit many of the most classical sites of Latium, of the country of the Volsci and Hernici, and of the Campania. During a great portion of its course, the rly. follows the line of the ancient Via Latina* to the *The VIA LATINA commenced at Rome from the Porta Capena of the Servian wall, and from the Porta Latina of the Aurelian, and fell into the Via Appia at Capua. The Stations on it were: near Ciampino. junction of the latter with the Via Appia, at Capua. From the different stations on the line, and where conveyances can generally be obtained, Cori, Norba, Segni, Anagni, Veroli, Alatri, Collepardo, the extinct volcano of Pofi, Piperno, Sonino, and even Terracina, can be reached; as well as the interesting towns of Sora, Arpino, Atina, Aquino, Pontecorvo, the Benedictine monastery of Casino, and the volcanic Grotta d'Opi, or district of Rocca Monfina. There are few countries which offer such an interest or which can be now more near Lugnano (?). Ferentino. Frosinone. Ceprano? S. Germano. Fine. near S. Pietro in easily visited. We would, however, advise the tourist, before leaving Rome, to send on his heavy luggage to Naples, as it will save him trouble and anxiety, the deposit of it at the smaller stations on the railway being attended with inconvenience. Teano. From Teanum a branch line of the Via Latina was carried to Beneventum, passing by Alifa, xvii. Alife. Telese. Benevento. Calvi. Modern Capua. From Capua the Via Appia was continued to Beneventum by Calatia, v. Ad Novas, vi. daloni. N.B. The places mentioned before reaching Velletri will be found more fully described in the Handbook for Rome. The railway, on quitting the central station at the Piazza dei Termini, imLe Galasse, between mediately passes on the 1. a very reCaserta and Mad-markable fragment of the Servian Wall, composed of huge blocks of Alban peperino, running parallel to the city walls from the Porta San Lorenzo, and on the rt. the Church of St. Bibiana, and the so-called Temple of Minerva Medica, and soon after cuts through the City Wall, not far from the Porta Maggiore and the tomb of the Baker from here it runs for some Eurysaces; distance along the line of the modern aqueduct of the Acqua Felice, and the arches of the Claudian Aqueduct, and the Anio Novus, crossing the road to Frascati near a mound, called the Monte di Grano, surmounted by a tower and the remains of an ancient tomb. near S. Eleuterio. Bitonto. Canusium, xxvi. Canosa. Rubi, xxiii. Ruvo. Brindisi. Lecce. Otranto. Beneventum to Taren or Scala Sub Romula, xxi. Pons Aufidi, xxii. Venusia, xviii. Blera, xiii. Sub Lupatia, xiv. Canales, xiii. Mirabella. near Bisaccia. The view is fine of the Sabine Le Grotte, near Apennines from Soracte to Palestrina, and of the Alban Hills before Ponte di Santa Ve- its line of ruined sepulchres on the us, with the Via Appia marked by rt., and the verdant Campagna. The railway runs nearly parallel to the Appian Way as far as the first station out of Rome; the ruins passed on the 1. are those of Roma Vecchia. nere. Castellaneta. 14 kil. Ciampino Junct. Stat. [Branch line, 11 m., to Frascati, see Handbook for Rome.] 4 kil. Marino Stat. The town of Marino (6509 Inhab.) is 13 m. distant, on the declivity of the hills. Beyond this station is the so-called Solfatara on the rt., of the existence of which the traveller will be made aware by the fetid emanations of sulphuretted hydrogen gas. From this point the line assumes a more southerly direction, crossing the high road and the line of the Via Appia, near the Osteria of Le Frattochie, at the foot of the ascent to Albano; and gradually approaching the hills, it traverses the vineyards and olive-grounds that clothe their slopes, and cuts through numerous rents of lava descending towards the plain from the extinct volcanos of the Alban range. Passing along, there are lovely peeps of Castel Gandolfo, Albano, Lariccia with its viaduct, and the Monte Cavo towering above. About 6 kil. from Marino the small stream issuing from the Emissarium, which flows from the Lake of Albano, is crossed. Soon after we reach cur 11 kil. Albano Stat. From here Albano is about 5, and Lariccia 4 m. distant. There is an omnibus to the former on the arrival of the trains; by a cross road up the Val Lariccia the pedestrian can reach the latter. A good road of 18 m. to Porto d'Anzio, for which a diligence starts every day in summer, in correspondence with the early train from Rome. Beyond La Cecchina, which is on the Alban peperino beds, the line passes through some deep cuttings, crossing the stream descending from the Emissarium of the Lake of Nemi, leaving the tower of Monte Giovi, the site of Corioli, on the 1., beyond which is seen Genzano, and on rt. the blue Mediterranean across the flat wooded plains. On this part of the line the geologist will observe the superposition of the last dejections of the Alban volcanos, which have furnished the peperino, so much used as building-stone, reposing on red tufa. 4 kil. Cività Lavinia Stat., at the base of the hill on which that classical village (Lanuvium), with its picturesque medieval tower, stands. The rly. here cuts through a current of lava. Between Cività Lavinia and Velletri the line crosses numerous ravines descending from the hills on the 1., and passes through a country richly cultivated in vines, which furnishes some of the best wine known under the name of Genzano. There is a road from the Cività Lavinia stat. to Genzano, the nearest on the rly. to that pretty town. Before reaching Velletri, the rly. crosses the ravine by a handsome iron viaduct. 9 kil. VELLETRI Stat. (16,310 Inhab. Inns: Locanda del Gallo, near la Porta Romana; Campana). The station is close to the town at the S. base of the hill, on which it stands. Velletri is the capital of the district and see of a bishopric conjointly with Ostia, always held by the Cardinal Dean of the Sacred College. The city is picturesquely situated on an eminence upon the lower slopes of the Monte Artemisio, which forms the N. boundary of the Pontine Marshes. It occupies the site of the Volscian city of Velitra, whose hostilities with Rome date from the reign of Ancus Martius. It was surrounded with a fosse and vallum by Coriolanus, and was so frequently in collision with the Romans that they at length, after the close of the great Latin war in B.C. 338, destroyed its walls and transported its local senators to Rome, where they are said to have become the ancestors of the distinct caste called the Trasteverini. The family of Augustus came originally from Velitræ, and Suetonius states that the house in which that emperor was born was in his time still shown. In the sixth century Velletri was occupied by Belisarius, and it subsequently suffered from the Lombard invasion which ruined so many towns on the Appian. In 1744 the hills on the N. of the town were the scene of the battle in which Charles III. of Naples gained a victory over the Austrian army under Prince¡ cese was Latino Orsini, better known Lobkowitz, which secured for the time as the Cardinal Latinus, one of the most the kingdom of the Two Sicilies to learned prelates of the 13th cent., who the Spanish branch of the house of is believed by some writers to have been Bourbon. the author of the beautiful hymn " Dies ira, Dies illa." Velletri has little to detain the tra veller. Its medieval walls and towers are falling into ruin. The lofty belltower of Santa Maria in Trivio, in the principal square, erected, according to the inscription upon it, in 1353, is supposed to have been an offering for the deliverance of the city from the plague which desolated it in 1348, during its siege by Nicola Caetani, Lord of Fondi. This tower is in the same style as many of those in Rome of the 14th cent., and consists of a basement story, with 4 others separated by projecting cornices, surmounted by an 8-sided pyramidal spire. From this piazza to the cathedral the street traverses nearly the whole city. The Palazzo Lancellotti, built by Martino Longhi, is celebrated for its staircase, its fine terraces and loggie, from which the view over the subjacent plain and the Volscian Mountains, embracing Cori, Rocca Massimo, Cisterna, Sermoneta, Terracina, and Montefortino, is very beautiful. In the Palazzo Pubblico is preserved an inscription called the Lapide di Lolcirio, referring to an ancient amphitheatre in the time of Valens and Valentinian. On the Palazzo del Commune opposite, a large bas-relief to commemorate the return of Pius IX. from Gaeta in 1849. The cathedral, near the gate leading to the rly. stat., dedicated to St. Clement, rebuilt in 1660, has a picture of the Coronation of the Virgin, and some legends of saints, by Giovanni Balducci. The columns of the subterranean chapel evidently belonged to ancient buildings. The paintings which covered the walls, many of which were attributed to the school of Perugino, have mostly perished. In the sacristy is a lavamano, or basin for ablution, presented by Cardinal della Rovere, afterwards Julius II., when bishop of Ostia and Velletri. Another eminent bishop of this dio- | The ch. of Santa Maria dell' Orto has a picture by Gio Battista Rositi, representing the Virgin and Child in a temple, sustained by angels in Roman costume! It is praised by Lanzi for its colouring. Velletri is badly built, and its streets are narrow and inconvenient. The hill on which it stands is volcanic, several eruptions of lava being seen in the numerous quarries in its outskirts which supply the building and paving stones for the town. The peasant women are generally handsome, and their graceful costume on feast-days adds much to the dignity of their persons. The neighbourhood of the city, as of all the hilly region from Genzano, is celebrated for its wines. Diligence daily to Terracina, and thence through Formia, rejoining the Rly. at Sparanisi Stat., see Rte. 141. EXCURSION TO CORI AND NORMA. Cori and Norma, the ancient Cora and Norba, contain some very important ruins. Light vehicles for the excursion can be procured at Velletri. Cori is 12 m. from Velletri, by a good road on which a diligence runs. It has a small Locanda, where travellers will find tolerable fare. About midway from Velletri the road passes a small lake called Lago di Giulianello, and a little farther on the village of the same name. 3 m. before reaching Cori the road runs at the foot of the peak of Rocca Massima, on the summit of which is perched one of the most inaccessible villages in Italy. It is supposed |