latter forming many of the picturesque insulated peaks, on which are perched the towns high above the valley, to protect them from the effects of war and malaria. In some instances, whole villages, like Pertosa, Padula, Montemurro, and Saponara, placed on these beds of conglomerate, have been overturned like a pack of cards on a table, and the ruins deposited in the ravines beneath. The number of persons killed during this awful catastrophe is said to have been 10,000, but it is probable that it was much larger, and the amount of distress caused was very considerable. W. bank of the river, which is crossed | and Tito, Marsico Nuovo, Saponara, and by a Roman bridge, called Ponte di Montemurro on the opposite side of the Silla, is Diano or Teggiano (7018 same ridge, the two latter places, with Inhab.), the Tegianum of the Lucani, Padula and Polla, being all but comwhich gives its name to the valley. pletely ruined. The chain of hills that In 1497 Diano withstood a siege extends from N. to S. between Avigliano under Antonio Sanseverino, Prince and Lagonegro, is composed of compact of Salerno, against Frederick of limestone, probably of the Neocomian Aragon, who could only take it or cretaceous period, covered on its by granting favourable terms. 3 m. declivities by beds of tertiary marine farther the road leaves on the 1. Pa-marl, sands, and conglomerates, the dula (8662 Inhab.), the ancient Consilinum, the site of which is supposed to be marked by some ruins on the hill above the town. Below it are the ruins of the once famous Carthusian monastery La Certosa di S. Lorenzo, ruined by the French during their occupation of Calabria, but almost now uninhabitable from the effects of the earthquake of 1857. It is a fine and extensive building, but so despoiled of its ornaments that little remains to attract the attention of the traveller. [From Padula a path of 12 m., skirting the Monte S. Elia, proceeds through the valley of the Agri to Montemurro (3844 Inhab.), and Saponara (2620 Inhab.), situated on a hill, below which, on the rt. bank of the river, the remains of an amphitheatre and some fragments of reticulated sonry mark the site of Grumentum, one of the principal towns of Lucania.] Montesano (5617 Inhab.) and the adjacent Capuchin convent are passed half-indifferent, the resting-place of the vetway between Padula and the poststation of Casalnuovo, at the extremity of the valley, which contracts considerably hereabouts. ma Passing the eminence on which Casalnuovo is situated, the road crosses several small streams, the tributaries of the Negro, and then ascends for 6 m. in a serpentine course between the mountains, and crosses the Trecchina before it reaches (64 m. from Eboli) 26 m. Lagonegro (4412 Inhab.-Inn, turini), the chief town of a district situated in a wild position at the extremity of a narrow glen, overhung by the lofty heights of Monte Cocuzzo, Monte del Papa, and Monte Cervoro. One of the first battles between the Neapolitans and the French army of Joseph Buonaparte, after the invasion of Naples in 1806, was fought at Lagonegro, when Gen. Regnier defeated a detachment of Neapolitans commanded by Col. Sciarfa. Lagonegro and other towns on this route occupied by the French were the scenes of the most cruel executions. Colletta the historian affirms that he himself saw a person It was along the district through which we have passed, between La Duchessa and the small village of Casalnuovo (1800 Inhab.), and especially along the range of hills bordering the Val di Diano on the E., and separating it from the plains of the Basilicata, that the effects of the severe earthquake of Dec. 16, 1857, were most severely felt; the limits as regards its greatest violence, for it was felt as far as Terracina to the N.W., and extended in a meridional direction from Melfi on the N. to Lago-impaled by order of a French colonel negro on the S., the principal places that suffered being Potenza, La Polla, Diano, Sala, and Padula in the Val di Diano, who had been in the Levant. From Lagonegro the road crosses two branches of the Rio delle Noce by bridges thrown across the deep and narrow ravines in which they flow, and proceeds thence through a bleak and gloomy defile. leaving on the rt. Rivello (4039 Inhab.) and its dependent hamlets, occupying the crests of hills overlooking the valleys of the Trecchina. Here a road from Sapri, upon the coast, crosses. On the 1. is the gloomy valley of Monte Serino, where the river Sinno, the Siris of the Greeks, takes its rise, and flows thence into the gulf of Taranto. The road passes on the 1. the small pool called Lago di Serino, the ancient Lacus Niger, halfway between Lagonegro and 12 m. Lauria (10,696 Inhab.), on the side of a steep and lofty mountain, and opposite to the imposing mass of Monte Sirino. It is separated into two portions, the upper and lower towns, with a cascade dashing from the rock on which the upper town is built. It is surrounded by vineyards. There is no inn, but there is a tolerable osteria about 2 m. farther on the high road. 11 m. Castelluccio (5904 Inhab.), divided into the upper and lower towns. The lower town, in the plain, is the largest, and contains the post-house. The upper town, on a rocky eminence, is very cold. Castelluccio is built above one of the branches of the Lao, the Laüs of the Greeks, between the S. flanks of Monte Sabino and the range of mountains called the Costiera d'Agromonte. The woods around abound with game. On the slope of the hill on which the upper town is built, Sciarfa defeated the republican army in 1799. S. of Castelluccio is Laino, picturesquely placed on the hills bounding the Lao, by which it is divided into two portions; the one called Laino Borgo, the other Laino Castello. 7 m. Rotonda, a town of 4764 Inhab., prettily built round a conical hill in the centre of that rich tract of the fron tier of Basilicata which lies between the two branches of the Lao. The province of Calabria Citeriore is entered 1 m. beyond Rotonda. A tedious ascent leads to the long and narrow strip of table-land stretching from N. to called Campo Tenese, one of the bleakest mountain plains in the kingdom. In winter it is covered with snow, and at all times it wears a desolate and chilly aspect. In 1806 Campo Tenese was occupied by the entrenched camp of General Damas, commanding the Neapolitan army and volunteers, amounting to 14,000 men. General Regnier advanced with the French army, drove the royal forces from Campestrino and Lagonegro in his passage, and ascending the heights above Campo Tenese, descended without opposition into the plain. The Neapolitans fled at the first fire, abandoning their entrenchments with their artillery and baggage. Campo Tenese is a post-station. At the extremity of the plain, a winding descent leads down the defile, called the Dirupata di Morano, and through the narrow valley at the base of Monte Pollino, 6875 ft. high, to 11 m. Morano (8910 Inhab.), the Lucanian Muranum, beautifully situated in a well-wooded dell beneath the W. flanks of the Pollino, among which the Coscile, the ancient Sybaris, rises. The town is highly picturesque, being on a conical hill, the summit of which is occupied by a fine feudal Gothic castle. The road beyond is shut in by lofty and well-wooded mountains. 9 m. Castrovillari (9396 Inhab.), upon an eminence surrounded by lofty mountains. It is divided into two portions, the more modern of which contains many good streets and residences of the proprietors of the district. The Castle is supposed to belong to the Norman period. [A good road of about 10 m. turns off from Castrovillari, through Frascineto and Porcile, to Cassano Stat., on the rly. along the Gulf of Taranto (Rte. 156).] The post-road from Castrovillari proceeds directly S. to 8 m. Cammarata, a post-station; from whence crossing several tributaries of the Coscile, it reaches 14 m. Tarsia (1813 Inhab.), supposed to be the ancient Caprasia, situated not far from the 1. bank of the Crati. The rly. in progress to Cosenza, passing through Tarsia from Buffaloria (Rte. 156) is not quite complete, there | demands, by representing that their brethren at S. Sosti had renounced their errors by attending mass; but the deception was discovered, and the inhab. joined their neighbours in the woods. The monks sent troops in pursuit of the fugitives from S. Sosti, who were hunted down, until a party who had taken possession of an inaccessible hill organized an attack, in which the soldiers were put to flight. This success exasperated the Church; and at the desire of the Pope, the Viceroy de Toledo marched into Calabria, with a large body of troops. S. Sosti was delivered up to fire and sword; the fugitives were tracked to their recesses, and either killed upon the spot, or left to die of hunger in the caverns. The inquisitors now proceeded to Guardia. The town was fortified, but they gained possession of it by inducing the citizens to agree to a pretended exchange of pri The town of Tarsia consists of one long street, at the extremity of which are the ruins of the ancient castle of the Spinelli family. It is the birthplace of Marco Aurelio Severino, a distinguished anatomist and surgeon of the 17th cent. The road now ascends the 1. bank of the Crati, through a highly cultivated and beautiful country, bounded by well-wooded hills, and leaves on the 1., and beyond the river, Bisignano (4450 Inhab.), supposed to be the ancient Besidia, an episcopal city, situated on a hill near the junction of the Mucone with the Crati. It gives the title of prince to the Sanse-soners. verino family. A long ascent leads above the Crati to 13 m. Ritorto, a post-station. 70 of the principal inhab. were seized and conveyed in chains to Montalto, where they were submitted to the most horrible tortures. Some were sawn through the middle; some thrown from high towers; others beaten to death with iron rods and burning torches; others had their bowels torn out; and On the chain of hills which bounds the valley on the E. are Luzzi (3844 Inhab.), Rose (2567 Inhab.), Castiglione (1318 Inhab.), the ch. of which contains paintings by Lo Zingaro and Pas-one, Bernardino Conti, was covered with qualotti, and numerous other villages. pitch, and publicly burnt to death in Among those on the W. range are the streets of Cosenza. Neither females Montalto (6095 Inhab.) and S. Sosti, nor children escaped the fury of the two colonies of the Waldenses who inquisitors. These events took place settled in the province towards the about 1555. A few years afterwards close of the 14th cent. Guardia, 10 m. another more successful attempt was N.W. near the coast, was another colony. made to extirpate the heresy. In 1560 At the Reformation these colonies were the Protestants of Montalto were put to joined by missionaries from the valleys of death, one by one, under the superinPragela and from Geneva, under whose tendence of the Marchese di Bucchianico. teaching the reformed doctrines spread A Roman Catholic eye-witness, quoted around Cosenza. The Court of Rome by Dr. M'Crie in his History of the despatched two monks into Calabria to Reformation in Italy,' states that "they suppress the Waldensian churches. They were all shut up in one house. The arrived at S. Sosti, and warned the inha-executioner went, and bringing out one bitants against the consequences of persisting in their heresy, and desired them to attend the mass, which would be celebrated on a certain day. At the time appointed, the whole population quitted the town, and retired into the surrounding mountains. The monks then proceeded to Guardia, where they induced the inhab. to comply with their of them, covered his face with a napkin, led him out to a field near the house, and causing him to kneel down, cut his throat with a knife. Then taking the bloody napkin, he went and brought out another, whom he put to death after the same manner. In this way the whole number, 88, were butchered." The same eye-witness states, that "the amounts to 1600, all of whom are con- number of heretics taken in Calabria, were interred after his death near Pandosia. It was a town of importance during the war with Spartacus, and in B.C. 40 was unsuccessfully besieged by Sextus Pompeius. It was taken by the Saracens in 1009. In 1270, as Philippe le Hardi was returning through Calabria to France with the dead bodies of his father, brother, brother-in-law, and son, his first wife, Isabella of Aragon, died as they were passing through Cosenza. The town suffered greatly in 1461, when it was taken by Roberto Orsini, and has been much damaged by earthquakes. The Cathedral has been spoilt by restorations. It contains the tomb of Louis III., Duke of Anjou, who died here in 1435, 18 months after his marriage to Margaret of Savoy, which was solemnised in this cathedral in 1433. Aulus Janus Parrhasius, the celebrated grammarian, was born here in 1470; also Antonio Serra, one of the earliest writers on political economy, his work having been printed in 1613; and Bernardino Telesio (1509-1588), one of the most acute philosophers of the 16th centy. Cosenza was the seat of the sanguinary military commission_established in Calabria during the French occupation in 1808. Between Tarsia and Cosenza the road crosses numerous tributaries of the Crati. The Busento, which is passed before entering Cosenza, flows, near its juncture with the Crati, over the grave of Alaric King of the Goths. A portion of his army was advancing S. for the invasion of Sicily, when the design was defeated by his premature death at Cosenza. "The ferocious character of the barbarians," says Gibbon, "was displayed in the funeral of a hero whose valour and fortune they celebrated with mournful applause. By the labour of a captive multitude, they forcibly diverted the course of the Busentinus. The royal sepulchre, adorned with the splendid spoils and trophies of Rome, was constructed in the vacant bed; the waters were then restored to their natural channel, and the secret spot where the remains of Alaric had been deposited was for ever concealed by the inhuman massacre of the prisoners who had been employed to execute the work." 4 m. before reaching Cosenza a road branches off on the rt. to Paola on the sea-coast (p. 407). 15 m. COSENZA Rly. Stat. (15,962 Inhab.-Inn: Albergo dei due Lionetti, very fair, with a beautiful view), the capital of Calabria Citeriore, and the see of an archbishop, is situated in a deep glen at the junction of the Busento with the Crati, by which it is divided into two portions. The lower part of the city is much exposed to malaria; but the upper, on the E. bank, is healthy, and contains the fine building of the Tribunale, and numerous public establishments. The houses and palaces of the rich proprietors of the province are usually well built. The streets, however, are frequently narrow and crooked; there are extensive silkworks. Cosenza occupies the site and retains the name of Consentia, the metropolis of the Bruttians, where the mutilated remains of Alexander, King of Epirus, From Cosenza a path of 4 m. along the bed of the Arconte, a tributary of the Crati, leads to Mendicino (3566 Inhab.), situated on a triple hill, and considered by most Italian antiquaries to mark the site of Pandosia Brutiorum, which witnessed the defeat and death of Alexander King of Epirus by the Bruttians, B.C. 326. The similarity of the name Arconti with the ancient Acheron, which was associated by the oracle with the prediction of the fate of the Grecian prince, gives additional confirmation to the locality. [Rly. N.E. 20 m. to Frassia, whence diligence, as mentioned above, to Majolungo and Rly. 16 m. to Buffaloria, on the Taranto and Reggio line, in Rte. 156.] EXCURSIONS TO LA SILA, AND TO PAOLA AND THE WESTERN SHORE. The traveller who is disposed to spend a few days at Cosenza can make some sequantur: very interesting excursions in its neigh-Quis nemori imperitet, quem tota armenta bourhood, making inquiries first as to Illi inter sese multa vi vulnera miscent, the safety of the district. Cornuaque obnixi infigunt, et sanguine largo Colla armosque lavant: gemitu nemus omne remugit. En. XII. 715. As there is no accommodation to be found within the range of La Sila, the only mode of visiting it will be by procuring letters of introduction at Cosenza to the resident proprietors in the summer season, who are very hospitable. when it strikes off on the 1., and, following for 3 m. the 1. bank of the Emuli, leaves on a hill on the 1. Rende (5286 Inhab.), supposed to be the ancient Arintha (?), and ascends to S. Fili (4128 Inhab.), 9 m. from Cosenza. From S. Fili the road, through a series of windings and ascents, crosses the ridge of the mountains which separates the upper valley of the Crati from the Mediterranean, and descends to I. Eastward of Cosenza, beyond the dense cluster of villages, here called Casali, which cover the hills on the 1. bank of the Crati, is the vast tract of mountain table-land still called by the ancient name of SILA, which is perhaps less known and explored by travellers than any mountain district in the S. of Europe. It is about 40 m. long, II. A road of 21 m. leads from Coand from 15 to 20 broad, commencing near the Mucone, S. of Bisignano nature of the road, will require 6 hrs. in senza to Paola, which, owing to the and Acri, and stretching through the going, and 8 in returning. It follows the whole of Calabria Citeriore into Cala-high road from Naples for the first 4 m., bria Ulteriore II., nearly as far as Catanzaro. Many of the higher peaks are covered with snow from Nov. to April. The upper range of hills is clothed with impenetrable forests of firs; the lower abound in oaks, beeches, and elms, and present a succession of rich pastoral plains, intersected by beautiful ravines and watered by copious streams. These table-lands are used as summer pasturage. At the breaking up of winter not only the shepherds, but many of the landowners themselves, remove to La Sila; whole families the chief town of a district, situated accompany this annual migration. The higher mountains command both seas. The scenery of the district is magnificent, combining every possible variety of forest and mountain; the woods abound in game, and the rivers in fish; and many of the proprietors look forward to their summer residence in the Sila with feelings of no ordinary pleaAt Longobuco, on its E. flanks, are some lead-mines. The forests and pasturages of Sila were well known to the ancients, and are described by Pliny, Dioscorides, and Strabo, who says that it was 700 stadia in length. It supplied the Sicilians and Athenians with timber for their fleets; and it is still the source from which the Neapolitan shipbuilders derive their principal supplies. Virgil describes it in the following beautiful passage: sure. Ac velut ingenti Sila, summove Taburno, Paola (8468 Inhab. Inn, indifferent), It is at a short distance from the shore, on the borders of a deep ravine which is crossed by a fine bridge. supposed to be the Patycus of the Greeks. It contains some good houses and a feudal castle, and, like the other towns on this coast, it has extensive silkworks. It is the birthplace of S. Francesco di Paola, the founder of the order of the Minims. The steamers from Naples to Messina touch here twice or thrice a-week each way, and afford an easy way of reaching Cosenza from Naples. Along the coast, N. and S. of Paola, there are several interesting villages, beautifully situated, but, as there is no carriage-road along the shore, they can only be visited on horseback, or in a boat. We shall notice a few of them, beginning with the most distant one northwards. Scalea (2825 Inhab.), picturesquely built in terraces, whence its name is supposed to have been derived, and surmounted by a ruined castle. 5 m. |