The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-11-29
OLD NAPLES CRUMBLING AWAY.
Many of IT'S Ancient Structures IN
dermined by the Recent Floods.
F5-aS,1 the Jo51doy, Name

dermlned py the recent FLOODS.
From the London Ne,rS.
The term inundation does not correctly
express the effect of the two violent storms
of rain which burst over Naples on Sept. IS
and on the 10Th inst. 1t is not possible for
Naples to be inuneated in the common
sense of that word, for no water can lie in
any part of the city. But the defective
vater-oourses which carry off the water
from the hills which surround the town
and the fact that on
large tract of land on the summit
of the Vomero at the west end, an en-
tirely new quarter has sprung up, the
drainage of which is as yet incomplete, have
caused a real torrent of water to burst many
of the drains on that side of the city. A
veritable river of water rushed down the
hill, heavy with earth and stones, after each
of the two storms, and on it's way DESTROYED
gardens, threw down walls, filled cellars
and ground-hoor dwellings, and covered the
Riviera di Chiai with a sort of alluvial de-
post two or three feet deep. 1t is in this
quarter that Sig. Crispi's house is situated,
and it was on both occasions seriously dam
aged.
After the first storm a watsr-course was
made for the water from the Vomero, so
that it might not follow the disastrous
course it took in September. But it did
still greater damage, as no precaution had
been taken for carrying off the water, and
the consequence was that il carried away
about 100 yards of the beautiful Via Tasso,
a road which winds along the side of the
Vomera higher up and parallel to the Corso
Vittorio Emanuele The road was destroyed
from side to side, leaving the foundations
of palace on its edge exposed, so that it
| threatened to fall. The debris were
which was as yellow as the Tiber, on to
the gardens below; they blocked the Corso
| Vittorio Emanuele; they burst a portion Of
the causeway and destroyed the wall of
Prince Amedee's palace on their way
through Sig. Crispi's house to the sea. At
the same time the newly-built buttress
which supports the lettering rocks at
| Fosilipo was damaged, and there also cellars
were filed with water, aud all traffic was
stopped, while at innumerable points in the
| city drains fell in and houses were mum
dated. There were not sufficient ponlpteri,
municipal guards, or military sappers and
miners to respond to the calls for help
But these storms, though they served to
show how badly the city is protected from
the effects of heavy rain, are not the most
destructive agents at work. Scarcely day
passes without some ouGWardly seeming
solid house falling in, and the aspect Of the
city, with some hundreds OF large palaces"
propped with beams or buttressed with
stone, is hardly reassuring. While new
Naples is gradually being built the old
Naples is crumbling away, and in many
streets the people are half panic-stricken.
A commission has been appointed by the
syndic to examine the state of the city, and
it has already presented re-
port, embodying a scheme Of recon-
struction and repair. Work is to be
begun Immediately. There is no doubt
that the defective pipes of the new water
works, together with the fact that the taps
IN the houses are carelessly allowed to run
all day into drains not fit to hold the water,
which consequently percolates and under.
mines the fou ndatious, and the neglect Of
the old water cisterns, and probably also an
imperceptible but constant vibration OF our
volcanic soil-all contribute to the rapidly
increasing cruInbling of houses, which has
been observable since the year 1854, when
the new water works were inaugurated.
But all the damage done owing to these
causes, and accelerated by the late heavy
rains, certainly might have been prevented
by forethought aud honest work, but those
are .wo things difficult to be met with 10
this land Of ".far nieRte."