There is a comfortable little Inn outside the gate, facing the sea. According to the legend, the Santa Casa was inhabited by Mary at Nazareth; was miraculously carried entire through the air, in 1291, to the coast of Dalmatia, near Fiume, and in 1294 was transplanted across the Adriatic to a hill, near the sea, belonging to a certain Laura, or Lauretta, who gave name to its present site. It is a brickbuilt room, 29 feet by 13 feet, and 13 feet high; with a door, chimney, window, and a niche containing an image of the Virgin, in cedar wood. Round this sanctuary a splendidly-adorned Church has been erected; which is visited by thousands of pilgrims every year.

Tasso describes the wonderful transportation of this relic in a poem beginning "Ecco frà le tempeste ed i fieri venti." A more sober and veracious account is contained in Bishop Martorelli's two folios of the Teatro Istorico della Santa Casa; the substance of which is given in an authorised handbook published here, the "Historical account of the Prodigious Translation of the Holy House of Nazareth," to which the doubter is referred for further particulars of this "most impudent and most monstrous of all the impudent and monstrous impostures" of Mariolatry, as Mr. Trollope says.

Loreto, being a modern town, which has grown out of the Santa Casa, is comparatively well built. Sixtus V. walled it round for protection against the corsairs. The chief thoroughfare is crowded with shops and booths for the sale to pilgrims of rosaries, chaplets, agnus-dei medals, ribbons, artificial flowers, devotional books, and other memorials, to the amount of £15,000 or £20,000 a year. Beggars are numerous, to exercise the piety of the .faithful. It was supplied with water by an aqueduct, by Paul V.

The fine Madonna Church, which encloses the Santa Casa, was re-built 1464-1513, by Sangallo; except the cupola and front, which are of later date, and the tall campanile, by Vanvitelli. The front was added by Sixtus V. (1587), whose bronze statue, by Calcagni, stands over the fountain facing the church.

The bronze Virgin is by G. Lombardo; and the three bronze doors, with their bas-reliefs, are by his pupils, Calcagni, T. Vercelli, &c. The church, &c., are crammed with ex-voto offerings from pil'grims, more curious than elegant; but amongst the objects of art deserving of notice, is Bramante's fine marble casing to the Holy House, with basreliefs of the History of Mary, by A. Sansovino, B. Bandinelli, Raffaello da Montelupo, G. Lombardo, G. della Porta, Tribolo, &c.

The subjects of these bas-reliefs are the Birth of Mary, her Marriage, Annunciation, Visitation, Return to Bethlehem, Birth of Christ, Adoration of the Magi, Death of Mary, and the journeys of the Santa Casa; among which figures of prophets and sibyls are introduced.

The octagon cupola over the Santa Casa, by ngallo, is painted in fresco, by Pomerancio.

The frescoes in the chapels and sacristy are by Zucchero, P Tibaldi, D. Veniziano, &c., with a Madonna, by A del Sarto. In the baptistery is a fine bronze relief, by T. Vercelli, and others.

The ugly black image of the Virgin carved, it is said, by St. Luke, and dressed in a rich robe, with crown and sceptre, is placed over a magnificent altar, the marble pavement of which is worn by the knees of her worshippers, who deposit their offerings in the Santa Scodella, a dish which the Virgin is believed to have eaten from, but which is really a coarse piece of fifteenth century ware The Treasury is a fine hall, 80 feet long, painted with frescoes, &c., and lined with presses, in which the gifts of the faithful are preserved. Here is kept the collection, dusty and battered, of Majolica pottery, the gift of Francesco-Maria, Duke of Urbino, to the Virgin. This rich treasury, the growth of five centuries, was despoiled in 1797, by Pius VI., to enable him to pay a sum due, by treaty, to the French; who, in 1798, made a further sweep of its contents; and on this occasion the sacred image made another journey as far as Paris. Splendid view from the Campanile.

Facing the church is the Palace of the King, and that of the Bishop; a handsome pile by Bramante; containing a picture gallery, with works by Titian (Woman in Adultery), A. Carracci, Guercino, &c.; and a collection of Majolica. Here are the houses of the canons; the back of which looks towards the country, upon the little town of

Castel Fidardo, on a hill, over the Musone, noted for the defeat of the Papal troops, under Lamoricière, by Cialdini, 18th September, 1860. Lamoricière had 11,000 men and fourteen guns, organised by Cardinal de Merode, including an Irish brigade, commanded by Major O'Reilly; and was supported by the garrison from Ancona. Cialdini took 600 prisoners, six guns, arms, &c., with General Pimodan. Lamoricière capitulated at Ancona, on the 29th September, and the Sardinians were enabled to march on the Abruzzi, over the Neapolitan frontier, to join Garibaldi.

Porto Recanati (Stat.), at the mouth of the Potenza, where there is an anchorage for a few small craft. It is the port to the town of Recanati, about 5 miles inland; the high road to which, and the town beyond, is direct from Loreto.

[RECANATI, a cathedral town (population, 4,400). on a hill, 1,000 feet high, with several churches, and a bronze statue to the Virgin, in the public square. The town is one long street. It was taken and burnt by the Papal party, 1313. The next place is

RECINA, on the Potenza, near the site of Ricina, or Elvia Recina, on the direct Roman way from Ancona, towards Rome. There are remains of an Amphitheatre, built by Septimus Severus. Cross the river to

MACERATA, the capital of a province, and a bishop's see, in the March of Ancona, on a hill, between the Pontenza and Chienta, with a view of the sea and the Apennines, and of the hill towns

around. It was founded by the Goths in the fifth or sixth centuries. It is a well-built, bustling place, having a population of 10,063. One of its gates, Porta Pia, is a triumphal arch, erected by Cardinal Albornoz, with his bust over it. The Cathedral of S. Giuliano has a Madonna, and other paintings, by Umbrian masters. At S. Giovanni is an Assumption, by Lanfranco. Among the others worth notice are the Town Palace; the University, with a library of 20,000 volumes; a College for priests; Court of Appeal, for the province; the Palazzo Compognone, which has collections of antiquities and inscriptions from Ricina; and several other Palaces built of white brick, and mostly deserted by their owners. Outside the walls is the Del Vergine Church, by Bramante; besides a large brick-built amphitheatre, used for the game of pallone, &c.

Monsignor Savelli, a former Legate here, was, says Count Arrivabene, "nicknamed the 'Corsican mad dog,' for his eagerness in persecuting citizens suspected of liberal opinions. A wretched criminal condemned to death, refused in his last moments to receive the ministers of the Catholic religion. The Legate, hoping to bring the convict to a more religious frame of mind, went to see him in the Confortatorio, and urged him to repent. He promised he would confess and receive the communion if fifty scudi were given to his family, which was done. Communion was then administered, and the next day he was executed. He was hardly buried when Savelli sent for the wife and demanded back the money; which he gave her, he said, because he only wanted her husband to die as a penitent and good Catholic." Gregory XVI. dismissed the Legate for this mean piece of treachery, and sent the wife two hundred scudi; but the same man was made a Cardinal, and President of the Consultà, by Pius IX.

A road turns south-east to Fermo (26 miles); winding among hills crowned by towns and castles. It passes S. Claudio; Montolino, the birth-place of Lanzi, the historian, and the site of Pausulæ, an ancient town and bishop's see, destroyed in the fifth century; S. Giusto Monte Granaco; and the River Lete Morta, or "Dead Lethe."

Ascend the Chienti to

TOLENTINO.

A small cathedral town, once fortified, celebrated for the Treaty of Tolentino, signed between Bonaparte and Pius VI., in February, 1797; and also for the decisive Battle of 3rd May, 1815, gained by the Austrians under General Bianchi, over Murat, King of Naples, by which he lost his kingdom. Its site is marked by the Castello della Rancia, on the Macerata Road. The Duomo is dedicated to S. Niccolò. It is the ancient Tollentinum, and was under the Accoromboni family, before it was annexed to the Papal States. Here a road turns off to S. Severino (population, 3,000), on the Potenza; and the old town of Matellica (population, 3,000).

Up the Chienti, past the villa in which the Pope signed the treaty, towards the Apennines, to VALCIMARA, in a valley, above which are Ponte della Trave and the narrow pass and village of

SERRAVALLE, on the boundary of Umbria, with remains of an old Gothic castle which guarded the defile. Monte Pennino, and Monte Sibilla, the ancient Mons Tetricus, 7,000 feet high, are close at hand.

CAMERINO is reached by a zigzag turning off to the right from the Chienti, after leaving Valcimara as above. This is an old Duchy and cathedral town (population, 11,854), on a solitary hill, 2,030 feet high, shut in by the Apennines, on the site of Camerinium in Umbria, which furnished Scipio with 600 soldiers for his African expedition. It has several churches and silk factories, and is the. birthplace of Carlo Maratti, the painter. The earthquake of 1799 entirely destroyed the former cathedral, and ruined an ancient renovated church of the thirteenth century, down the hill. But the large palace of the Varani family escaped. They were lords of the town till it came under the Papacy, and were nearly extirpated by its adherents in 1431. Their old feudal castle is on the Chienti, at the junction of the Scortachiari. While the men of the family were generally worthless, the women were remarkable for beauty and talent. The women of Camerino are distinguished for good looks. Its history has been written by C. Lilli.

Pioracco, to the north of this, on the Potenza, is the site of Prolaqueum, and from it the Roman road went through the Apennines to Nucerea or Nocera. The present road turns south-west to Serravalle.

From the Serravalle pass the road crosses the Apennines by

COL FIORITO, 2,700 feet high, by a narrow way cut on the face of the cliffs, which are covered with snow several months in the year; so narrow that carriages can hardly pass each other Here is a little lake in the midst of verdure and wild flowers. The descent is rugged and winding along the precipices to Case Nuove and Scopoli; after which the country improves to Belfiore and the beautiful valley in which Foligno is placed. (See route 27.)] Following the rail along the coast, the next place to Porto Recanati is

Potenza Picena (Stat.) A long strip between the coast and the hills, was the ancient Picenum, full of old cities and sites; whose history by Brandimarte in his "Plinio Seniore, illustrated in a description of Picenum," is the best guide to their investigation.

Porto Civitanova (Stat.), at the mouth of the Chienti. From here a line to Pausula was opened January, 1855, and will be continued to Matellica, completing the connection with Albaccina (see page 155).

S. Elpidio (Stat.), between the small port and town of S. Elpidio. The town, on a hill, is the. site of Cluana or Cluentum. These ports are no ports at all, but only anchorages for a few fishing boats, and the coast is almost uniformly flat, sandy, and uninteresting.

Porto S. Giorgio (Stat.), the nearest to Fermo, the site of the ancient Firmum Picenum, destroyed by the Goths; an archbishop's see and the head of a province in the kingdom of Italy, on a steep hill, 6,100 feet high, near a small stream, the mouth of which makes a little port, 4 miles below the town. Population, 18,996.

It is reached by a winding road, and consists of many narrow and abrupt streets, shut in by old picturesque walls. On the very top of the hill, in Piazza Girone, stands the Cathedral, commanding a wide prospect of the towns and villages around, and half way over the Adriatic. It was the site of a castle, which was razed in 1447, to prevent it being turned against them by the powerful families of the town. It was so strong that an old punning rhyme declares

That is

"Quando Fermo vuol fermare, Tutta l'Marca fa tremare."

"As long as Fermo stands up firm,

She makes the Marches tremble." "There is a rather unusual, but not unique feature in the construction of the Cathedral, consisting of a sort of porch or pronaos at the west end, across the entire width of the nave and aisles, so placed that the west front wall, instead of giving access to the church, is but the side wall of this adjunct to the building, which is entered through it by a door in that part of the north side which is the north end of the porch.-(T. A. TROLLOPE'S Lenten Journey.) Here are tombs of a Visconti, by Tura (Bonaventura) da Imola, and a member of the Enffredicci family. Another member, Oliveretto, who figured here, and is buried in S. Francesco Church, is cited by Machiavelli as a model tyrant, in a chapter of his "Il Principe," relating to those who have raised themselves to power by their atrocities.

Fermo is one of the richest bishoprics in Italy, worth about £11,600, and was held by Cardinal de Angelis, who was designated by Pius IX. as his successor. Lattanzio, surnamed Fermiano, was born here.

The next place along the line is

Pedaso (Stat.), at the mouth of the Aso, which comes down from Monte Sibilla, 7,200 feet high, 30 miles inland.

Cupra Marittima (Stat.), at the mouth of the Tesino, near the site of Cupra Maritima, where there was a temple of the Cyprian Venus. Grottamare (Stat.)

A little distance inland, on a hill, is RIPATRANSONE, or Cupra Montane, a small cathedral town (population, 2,200). It is near the Josina, on the other side of which are the old castles of Cassignano and Affida.

S. Benedetto del Tronto (Stat.), near Porto d'Acoli, at the Tronto (ancient Trenutum), which was formerly the boundary of the Pontifical and Neapolitan States. Here a road, the ancient Via Salaria, turns up the river to Ascoli and Spoleto. It is now partly superseded by a line to Ascoli, 20

miles long, which passes through Offida Castel di Lama.

[Ascoli Piceno, 20 miles from the sea, is the ancient Asculum Picenum, the chief town of the Picentes, and a large, well-built cathedral town, with a population of 11,200, on a hill, in a fertile plain, at the junction of the Castellano with the Tronto, both of which are crossed by old Roman Bridges. Another piece of antiquity is the Porta Romana, a triumphal arch over the Via Salaria, which runs through the town. There are also remains of a theatre, &c. Ascoli is still sometimes called Eschio, supposed to be derived from æscu'us, an oak. It took a prominent part in the Social War against Rome, but was captured and plundered by Pompeius Strabo, Pompey's father.

It is surrounded by walls of travertine, and contains nine Churches full of paintings, by Trasi, Ghezzi, and other native artists, with sculptures by Giozafatta.

S.

The Duomo, an ancient structure on the site of one founded by Constantine, has paintings by C. in the churches of Santa Margherita, &c. Crevelli, a Venetian, whose works are to be found Gregorio Magno contains the Corinthian pillars of a Roman temple, which stood on this spot. The Palazzo Anzianale, near the Duomo, includes a museum, library, and theatre. In Piazza del Popolo is the Town Hall. The citadel was built by Sangallo.

In the medieval period, Ascoli was governed by the Falzetta and Miglianitti families; and it was the birthplace of Nicholas V.; of B. Bassus, the orator and friend of Cicero; and also of Ventidius Bassus, who was a child when P. Strabo took the town, and who afterwards defeated the Parthians, under M. Antony. Another native was F. Stabili, called the Cecco d'Ascoli (blind man of Ascoli), a scholar of Dante's time.

The road ascends the Tronco, past Acqua Santa, or Ad Aquas, still known for its sulphur springs, to ARQUATO (20 miles from Ascoli), near another Roman station, Ad Centesimum, on the Via Salaria From this there is a way, by the Pass of Castelluccio, near Monte Sibilla, over the Apennines, to NORCIA (10 miles), an old episcopal town at the head of the Nera, and the birthplace of St. Benedict. From this it is 16 miles to SPOLETO, in Route 27.

From Arquato, as above, the Via Salaria continues to ascend the Tronto, past Ad Martis; then over the Apennines and Monte Teja to Civita Reale, at the head of the Velino, and down that river to Civita Ducale, to Rieti, and thence to Rome; or past Ad Martis to Amatrice and Montereale, at the head of the Pesaro, and down that river to AQUILA (in Route 31), the capital of the Farther Abruzzi, or Abruzzi Ültra.]

The coast railway, after crossing the Rivers Tronto and Vibrata, in the province of Abruzzi Ultra, comes to the Salinello, up which is CIVITELLA DEL TRONTO, a fortified town, with a population of 5,700; and then reaches

Giulianova (Stat.), or GIULIA (population, 4,759), near the Castrum Novum, on the Via Valeria. The next river, one of the many short streams from the neighbouring mountains, is the Tordino, or ancient Batinus. Branch (10 miles) up this river to

Teramo, the Roman Interamna Prætutiana, a Cathedral town (population, 8,634), and the capital of Abruzzi Ultra, between the Tordino and Oiciola, and in view of the white precipitous face of the Gran Sasso range. Here are remains of baths, aqueducts, an amphitheatre, &c., with several churches, a college, seminary, provincial law court, &c.

Cross the Vomano to

Atri-Mutignano (Stat.), population, 1,927, near the town of Atri (which once gave a dukedom to the Acquaviva family), the ancient Hadria; whose bishop was captured by brigands, in September, 1863, but rescued, just in time, by a party of soldiers. It overlooks the Piombo, which subsides into a salt lake near the sea, close to the mouth of the Selino. This last stream comes down Monte Carno, or Corno, the highest point of the range called Gran Sasso d'Italia (Great Rock of Italy), and the highest mountain in the Apennines, being 9,580 feet above sea level; it was first ascended, 1874, by an Englishman (Mr. D. G. Freshfield); the ascent is not difficult. It is covered with snow all the year round. The view from the top embraces the whole width of the Adriatic to the opposite coast of Dalmatia and Istria.

Monte Silvano (Stat.) is followed by

Castellammare Adriatico (Stat.)-See page 233. Junction for Aquila and Terni, see Routes 31 and 27.

Pescara (Stat.), about half-way to Foggia and Trani. (See Route 34).

ROUTE 31. Terni, to Aquila, Solmona, Popoli, Chieti, Pescara, and Castellammare; or, to Solmona, Isernia, Capua, and Naples.

1. The distances, past Terni Falls, are

Miles. 65

Rieti..........
Antrodoco
The distances by road are shorter, viz. :-Rieti,
16 miles; Antrodoco, 33 miles; Aquila, 49 miles.

2. Aquila to Miles.

Miles.

42

46

50

51

58

62

64

For the part from Aquila to Pescara, sce Route 33, in reverse order.

From the Falls of Terni (sce Route 27) ascend the Velino to

SANTA CROCE, at the junction of the Turano, or the Telonius, on whose banks the Consul P. Rutilius was defeated in the Social War.

Rieti (Stat.), the ancient Reate, a Sabine city and a bishop's see, on the slope of a hill (in a plain), 1,400 feet above the sea, below the Velino and Turano. Pop., 13,187. It has a large massive Town Hall above the town, commanding a fine view; a Cathedral of the twelfth century, with tombs by Bernine and Thoriwaldsen; several other churches, a college, &c. Rieti is noted for its breed of asses called reatini. The plain around having been well drained by the Terni Fall (cut by the Consul Dentatus), is highly cultivated with mulberries, vines, wheat, Indian corn, &c. It is the dewy mead, "Rosea rura Velini," of Virgil.

The old city of Reate, on the Via Valeria, was named after the goddess Rhea, and was the capital of the Sabini, the ancestors of the Abruzzi people, a race known then as now, for their simple and virtuous habits, superstition, and faithful attachment to Rome. The great Flavian gens came from Reate; but that branch of it from which Vespasian sprung was obscure. He himself was born at Falacrina, above Reate, and there, at a villa erected by him, he and his son Titus, the "delight of human kind," died. Remains of Roman baths are to be

seen here.

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