for savage picturesqueness-" gli orrori," the natives call it is almost unrivalled.

"I have never seen anything more majestic than the approach to Tagliacozzo. It is a precipitous ravine, almost artificial in appearance; and by some, indeed, considered as having been partly formed by the Romans, for the transit of the Via Valeria. A monastery, with a Calvario, or range of shrines, stands at the entrance of this extraordinary gorge, the portals of which are, on one hand, huge crags, crested with a ruined castle; on the other, perpendicular precipices: between them is placed the town, receding step by step to the plain below, while the picture is completed by the three peaks of the towering Monte Velino, entirely filling up the opening of the ravine.

"The lines of Dante have rendered the name of this town familiar to the reader of Italian poetry; not that the battle between Conradino and Charles was fought within a considerable distance, and one wonders why the celebrated though decayed city of Alba, or the modern Avezzano, near which the engagement actually took place, did not rather connect their names with so great an historical event. Tagliacozzo was then, perhaps, the more important place. At present, the town contains upwards of three thousand inhabitants, and is the most thriving in all the Marsica.

"There is no record of Tagliacozzo having been the site of any ancient city; though Tagliaquitum, Taleacotium, have called forth a great deal of ingenuity from various antiquarian etymologists. It seems to have been a stronghold of importance, and its possession was often contested during the divisions of the middle ages, as commanding a passage between the Papal and Neapolitan dominions: the counts, or dukes of Tagliacozzo, were consequently powerful barons. In 1442 A. D., it was bestowed on the Orsini by King Alfonso: and, in 1497, Fabrizio Colonna received it from King Ferrante; and the Colonnesi still hold much of the territory round the town. Tagliacozzo is much resorted to by the devout, from its containing the remains of the Bishop Tommaso di Celano, whose bones rest in the church of S. Francesco. The Madonna, called dell' Oriente, is also an object of great veneration."-Lear's Excursions in Italy.

There is a bridle road from hence to Arsoli, which is only a short distance off the high road between Tivoli and Subiaco. Tivoli is only about 30 miles distant, so that this is the short

est way of returning to Rome, but it is necessary to ride for some hours. The path, for the most part, follows the ancient Via Valeria: and it passes Carsoli, on the site of Carseoli, where the Equi sacrificed foxes to Ceres, and where Bitis, son of the king of Thrace, was imprisoned by the Romans. Ovid speaks of the coldness of its climate:

"Frigida Carseoli, nec olivis apta ferendis,

Terra, sed ad segetes ingeniosus ager.
Hac ego Pelignos, natalia rura, petebam;
Parva, sed assiduis uvida semper aquis.

Fast. iv. 683.

Cavaliere, beyond this, was built by a Cavaliere of the Colonna family, who was nearly lost on these desolate hills in the snow.

A third excursion, and one which should on no account be omitted, may be made from Avezzano to Luco. The road passes along the shore of what once was the Lago di Fucino, sometimes called the Lago di Celano. It is 2181 feet above the level of the sea, had an area of 36,315 acres, and was 35 miles in circumference. Having no natural outlet, the villages on its banks were subject to frequent inundations, and, as early as the time of Julius Cæsar, the Marsi petitioned help and advice for carrying off the superabundant waters. The Emperor Claudius undertook the construction of an emissary at his own cost, on condition of receiving all the land reclaimed by the drainage. It was the intention to carry the waters into the Liris by a tunnel 3 miles in length, and hewn, for a great part of the way, out of the solid rock. For this work, 30,000 men were employed for eleven years.

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The Emissary was opened by Claudius and Agrippina with a great gladiatorial display in A. D. 52.

"A passage having been cut through the mountain between the lake Fucinus and the river Liris, in order that a greater number of persons might be induced to come and see the magnificence of the work, a seafight was got up on the lake itself; in the same manner in which Augustus before exhibited one on an artificial pool on this side the Tiber, but with light ships, and fewer men. Claudius equipped galleys, of three and four banks of oars, and manned them with 19,000 mariners; surrounding the space with a line of rafts, to limit the means of escape, but giving room enough, in its circuit, to ply the oars, for the pilots to exert their skill, for the ships to be brought to bear upon each other, and for all the usual operations in a sea-fight. Upon the rafts, parties of the prætorian guards, foot and horse, were stationed, with bulwarks before them, from which catapults and balistas might be worked: the rest of the lake was occupied by marine forces, stationed on decked ships. The shores, the adjacent hills, and the tops of the mountains, were crowded with a countless multitude, many from the neighbouring towns, others from Rome itself; impelled either by desire to witness the spectacle, or in compliment to the prince; and exhibited the appearance of a vast theatre. The emperor presided, in a superb coat of mail, and, not far from him, Agrippina, in a mantle of cloth of gold. The battle, though between malefactors, was fought with the spirit of brave men; and, after great bloodshed, they were excused from pressing the carnage to extremities.

"When the spectacle was concluded, the channel through which the water passed off was exhibited to view, when the negligence of the workmen became manifest, as the work was not carried to the depth of the bottom or centre of the lake. The excavations were, therefore, after some time, extended to a greater depth; and, to draw the multitude once more together, a show of gladiators was exhibited upon bridges laid over it, in order to display a fight of infantry. Moreover, an erection for the purpose of a banquet, at the embouchure of the lake, caused great alarm to the assembly; for, the force of the water rushing out, carried away whatever was near it, shook and sundered what was further off, or terrified the guests with the crash and noise. At the same time, Agrippina, converting the emperor's alarm to her own purposes, accused Narcissus, the director of the work, with avarice and robbery; nor did Narcissus repress his anger, but charged Agrippina with the verbearing spirit of her sex, and with extravagant ambition."-Tacitus, xii. 56, 57.

Owing to various errors in its construction, the Emissary of Claudius continued to be practically a failure, and though Hadrian and Trajan attempted to improve it, it soon became choked up. Frederick II. vainly attempted to re-open it. In 1852 the lake was granted by the government to a Swiss company, on condition that they would undertake to drain it, and their rights were purchased by Prince Torlonia, who at his sole cost about £1,400,000-has carried out the work. One engineer after another has perished from fever while employed in its construction, and the expense has been so enormous, that it has become a popular saying, "O Torlonia secca il Fucino, o il Fucino secca Torlonia."

After all, the work may still in one sense be esteemed a failure. Though the redeemed land is wonderfully rich, it is considered that the profits of a thousand years will not repay the Torlonias for the expenses they have undergone; the inhabitants of the towns along the lake, who formerly gained an abundant livelihood as fishermen, are reduced to the utmost poverty; and, while the air was formerly extremely salubrious, the natives are now a constant prey to fevers from the exhalations of the marshy land. It is hoped that this experience may preserve the beautiful lakes of Thrasymene and Bolsena.

About two miles from Avezzano, at the spot called Incile, we pass the works of the Emissario. The modern work has destroyed the whole of the interesting remains of the time of Claudius, and though the mountains cannot be spoilt, there is little else to remind us of the scene of a few years ago, which Lear has beautifully described:

"The plain of Avezzano; the clear blue lake; Alba, and Velino, with its fine peaks, alternately in bright light, or shaded by passing

S. MARIA DI LUCO.

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clouds; the far snow-covered mountains beyond Solmona; the bare pass of Forca Carusa; the precipitous crag of Celano,-all these at once, brilliant with the splendour of Italian morning, form a scene not to be slightly gazed at, or lightly forgotten-the utter quiet of all around! the character of undisturbed beauty which threw a spell of enchantment over the whole !

"A herd of white goats blinking and sneezing lazily in the early sun; their goatherd piping on a little reed; two or three large falcons soaring above the lake; the watchful cormorant sitting motionless on its shining surface; and a host of merry flies sporting in the fragrant air,—these are the only signs of life in the very spot where the thrones of Claudius and his Empress were placed on the crowd-blackened hill: a few fishingboats dotted the lake where, eighteen centuries ago, the cries of combat rent the air, and the glitter of contending galleys delighted the Roman multitude.

"The solitary character of the place is most striking; no link between the gay populous past, and the lonely present; no work of any intermediate century breaks its desolate and poetical feeling.”—Excursions in Italy.

About 5 miles from Avezzano we reach Luco. There is nothing to see in the town, except a miraculous Madonna in the principal church. But on the right, just before reaching the town, we pass the Church of S. Maria di Luco which occupies the site and looks down upon the walls of the ancient city of Angutia, identified by inscriptions. Here also, at an earlier time, was the sacred grove (the Lucus Angutia of Virgil) of Angutia, the sister of Circe and Medea.

The church, which rises on the ancient walls, is of great age, having been given to the Benedictines, by Doda, Contessa de' Marsi, in A. D. 930. It is a very interesting building with round-headed doorways. The interior has been used as a Campo Santo, and there is a chapel filled with. skulls and human bones. The situation, surrounded by oak-trees, is lovely, and must have been surpassingly so, when it looked out upon the vast expanse of lake-waters.