Every vetturino who is returning to Rome, on passing by, buys a
quantity, for a mere trifle, from the peasantry, who employ themselves much
a la chasse, and he is certain to sell them again at Rome for three or
four times the price he paid, and even then it appears marvellous cheap to
an Englishman, accustomed as he is to pay a high price for game in his own
country.
We arrived a little before six at Terracina, which is on the banks of the
Mediterranean and may be distinguished at a great distance by its white
buildings. The chain of mountains on the left of our road hither form a
sort of arch to the chord of the linea Pia and terminates one end of the
arch by meeting the linea Pia at Terracina, which forms what the sailors
call a bluff point. Terracina stands on the situation of the ancient Anxur
and the description of it by Horace in his Brundusian journey;
Impositum saxis late candentibus Anxur[94]
is perfectly applicable even now. It is a handsome looking city and is the
last town in the Pope's territory: part of it is situated on the mountain
and part on the plain at its foot close to the sea.
The fine white buildings on the heights, the temple of Jupiter Anxurus (of
which the facade and many columns remain entire) towering above them, the
orange trees and the sea, afford a view doubly pleasing and grateful to the
traveller after the dreary landscape of the Pontine Marshes. There is but
one inn at Terracina but that is a very large one; there is, however, but
very indifferent fare and bad attendance. The innkeeper is a sad
over-reaching rascal, who fleeces in the most unmerciful manner the
traveller who is not spesato. He is obliged to furnish those who are
spesati with supper and lodging at the vetturino's price; but he always
grumbles at it, gives the worst supper he can and bestows it as if he were
giving alms. As the road between Terracina and Fondi (the first Neapolitan
town) is said to be at times infested by robbers, few travellers care to
start till broad daylight. We did so accordingly the following morning. On
arriving at a place called the Epitafio, from there being an ancient tomb
there, we took leave of the last Roman post. At one mile and half beyond
the Epitafio is the first Neapolitan post at a place called Torre de'
Confini, where we were detained half an hour to have our passports
examined and our portmanteaus searched. Three miles beyond this post is the
miserable and dirty town of Fondi, wherein our baggage again underwent a
strict search. On leaving Terracina the road strikes inland and has
mountains covered with wood to the right and to the left, nor do we behold
the sea again till just before we arrive at Mola di Gaeta, which is an
exceeding long straggling town on its banks; several fishing vessels lie
here and it is here that part of the Bay of Naples begins to open. The
country from Terracina to Fondi is uncultivated and very mountainous;
between Fondi and Mola di Gaeta it is pretty well cultivated; Itri, thro'
which we passed, is a long, dirty, wretched looking village.
The next day at twelve o'clock we arrived and stopped to dine at St Agatha,
a miserable village, with a very bad tho' spacious inn the half of which is
unroofed. We arrived at Capua the same evening having passed the rivers
Garigliano and Volturno, and leaving the Falernian Hills on our left during
part of the road. The landscape is very varied on this route, sometimes
mountainous, sometimes thro' a rich plain in full cultivation.
Capua is a fortified town situated in a flat country and marshy withal. It
is a gloomy, dirty looking city and whatever may have been its splendour
and allurements in ancient times, it at present offers nothing inviting or
remarkable. The lower classes of the people of this town are such thieves
that our vetturino recommended us to remove every thing from the carriage
into our bed rooms, so that we had the trouble of repacking every thing
next morning. Capua is the only place on the whole route where it is
necessary to take the trunks from the carriage. From Capua to Naples is
twenty miles; a little beyond Capua are the remains of a large Amphitheatre
and this is all that exists to attest the splendour of ancient Capua. The
road between Capua and Naples presents on each side one of the richest and
most fruitful countries I ever beheld. It is a perfect garden the whole
way. The chaussee is lined with fruit trees. Halfway is the town or
borgo of Aversa which is large, well-built, opulent and populous. We
entered Naples at one o'clock, drove thro' the strada di Toledo and from
thence to the largo di Medina where we put up at the inn called the
Aquila nera. A cordon of Austrian troops lines the whole high road from
Fondi to the gates of Naples; and there are double sentries at a distance
of one mile from each other the whole way.
NAPLES, Octr. 5th.
In Naples the squares or Piazze are called Larghi; they are exceedingly
irregular as to shape; a trapezium would be the most appropriate
denomination for them. The Largo di Medina is situated close to the Mole
and light house and is not far from the Largo del Palazzo where the Royal
Palace stands, nor from the Strada di Toledo, which is the most bustling
part of the town. On the Mole and sometimes in the Largo di Medini
Pulcinello holds forth all day long, quacks scream out the efficacy of
their nostrums and improvisatori recite battles of Paladins.
