Thomas Gray

“… you now are not far from the Bay of Miseno the station of the Roman fleet upon this sea, & consequently almost at the end of the promontory : one ascends up the charming hills cover’d with Vineyards, & Plantations, about ¾ of a mile, & passes in the way by rows of ruin’d sepulchres, in some of which is a little mosaic, & a few grotesque ornaments of painting. This place they now call Mercato di Sabbato, & the country about it Campi Elisii, it is indeed of miraculous fertility, & beauty. One has here a view of the Mare Mortum, a pleasant lake, or rather bay, for it communicates with the sea, & is only separated from it by a little tongue of land, a few paces in breadth, & M.Miseno beyond it which rises gradually without precipices, & is cultivated up to the very top, where it spreads into a plain, a fine situation for some Temple, or lofty building. There once was a Pharos upon it, but nothing now, it joins to the land by a narrow and low Isthmus. We tasted the wine of this country, which is of a full red, strong, and rough, like Bourdeaux Claret, and might with time come to be excellent. Beyond Misenus are the isles of Ischia & Procida

( Arimae or Inarime, & Prochyta ) the former much the larger, very lofty, especially to the N.East; the more plain End of it has a large town, & several buildings, that make a great figure in the prospect, for it is much frequented in account of it’s baths: Procita is much lower, less, & not so well inhabitated. Between the Mare Mortum & Mercato di Sabbato is the huge ancient Reservoir, call’d Piscina Mirabilis; one descends into it by 40 steps, it is supported by 148 square Pilastroni. The whole work cover’d with a plaister as hard as stone itself. There are Spiracula in the roof for the passage of air and light. Some attribute this work to Lucullus, others to Agrippa & say it was a Conservatory of fresh water for the use of the fleet, that lay at Misenum...”

Thomas Gray

from: “Naples and its Environs” by G.Capuano and R.Boardman