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