Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-04-05

| the water and accessible only by stairwavs
cut in the rock or built in ascending zigzags
against its face From the balcony Of our
room look down so perpendicularly to the
beach and il is so far down that n fisher
boy digging his toes into the sand looks like
| a crab The water of the ''wrinkled sen, y
which softly laps the shore, il n transparent
green, shading away into "robin's-egg
blue, - and the eve follows it across the Bay
of Salerno TO the hills behind Postum and
| to Point G.ecosa, on the opposite shore
| marking on the way the sails of the fishing
bonts which dot with white the broad bosom
OF the bay. We drove hither from Cava,
by way of Nictr over the New Road
along the shore, which is, | suppose, the
finest drive in Italy, surprising, as travel
| lers who have seen both tell rs, even the
famous Cornch. road in the Riviera. The
| roadway, for u miles, has been blasted ont
Of the face of the cliffs, save where it crosses
the gorgeS by vast viaducts of solid masonry.
At no point is it less than 80 feet above
the sea. and where it passes Cape Tumolo
it is over 500 feet above the water below,
while the rocks, rising into jeogel volcanic
peaks, often overhhng tho road to a height
| of many hundred feot. A parapet of sub
stantia masonry guards the brink for the
and fortresses crown the heights
and the ruins of old watch towers
built for defence against the pirates, 300 or
400 years ago. stand along the shore. Such
a bare and precipitous coast as this would
seem to forbid all attempts at husbandry,
and even all human habitation; but in the
| - miles the road passes through no loss than
| five villages, stuck into the cletts of a. many
rocky ravines. The slopes about these--too
steep indeed to he called such-are terraccd
| in n most wonderful way from bottom TO
| top. AT one spot, in one Of these villages.
! ] counted - terraces. each rising about -
| feet above the one below, and each sustain
ing strip of earth 10 or ~ feet wide. AS
the terraces, here and all along the way. IRE
| faced with substantial stone walls the square
wards of masonry must considerably exceed
! the surface Of earth sustained by them.
This is planted thickly with lemon trees.
trained on horizontal trellises. AMI now
loaded with their golden fruit. We saw
perhaps 1000 bushels Of lemons and or
angcS Of splendid size thus hanging
from the trees. during this drive.
! We have visited Ravello, near here, going
| ththrr in carriage drawn By three stout
| horses. by road which winds up the rocky
| hillsides and I'm Ter tremendous preciriCcs to
| plateau, lltO iceu above tue sea, over
which tower still taller heights. Most mag
nificcnt views Of the Bay Of Salerno and its
surroundings. a 'i'it to an old cathe lrnl. Il
handsome village, and some old buildings
! showing remain, Of Sar7cenic art would
have richly repaid us for the drive, even if
it had not been in itself, a il was, exciting
ly wild, interesting and delightful. We
leave here tomorrow. D. V, for Sorrento,
going part OF the way by row boat. for six
miles, past an uucompleted gap Of the new
road, and thence by carriage. Our stay in this
quarter. if we carry out our plan, will com
prise visits to Castelamare and Capri, and
another week in Naples. We then return to
Rome to see n few omitted things and we
expect to go thence to Paris by way of Pisa
and Nice. We shall make short stays
wherever we stopin the next month, and
may not have much time Tor letter writing.
| But perhaps the FREE Press will get one
| moro letter from Italy. G. G. Is.