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TOMBS OF CORNETO.

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'Guardia Nobile.' The wrestling is between Nucertetes, or Nicotetes, and 'the Greek' perhaps some celebrated freedman or slave. The boxing is between Anthasi and Verenes the son of Mea. This at least is a probable version of the story, and satisfied us after a very long and careful study of this tomb. The deceased Lar himself is not mentioned amongst the inscriptions, for his name and simple epitaph would be deeply engraved upon his ponderous coffin, which lay, with his likeness in full length upon the lid of it, on one side of this painted chamber."Mrs Hamilton Gray.

"To recapitulate these painted tombs in the order of their antiquity. First, I should place the Grotta delle Iscrizioni. Second-the Grotta del Barone, as partaking of the same archaic character, yet with advancement in certain of the figures. Third-the Camera del Morto, as being of very similar style, yet with less rigidity. Fourth-Grotta del Triclinio, which, though retaining certain archaicisms in attitude and design, shows much of Greek feeling. Fifth-Grotta Francesca, which, though of inferior merit to the last-named tomb, shows more freedom, its defects being rather the result of carelessness than of incompetence. Sixth-Grotta della Scrofa Nera (almost impervious to visitors), which, though of less pure Greek feeling than the Grotta Triclinio, betrays more masterly design, and less of that conventionality which in various degrees characterizes all the preceding. Seventh-Grotta Querciola, which displays great advancement in correctness and elegance, and much of the spirit of Hellenic art. Eighth-Grotta delle Bighe, whose upper band shows an improvement even upon the Querciola. All these must be referred to the time of Etruscan independence, for not one arrives at the perfection of the later painted vases, which date as far back as the fifth century of Rome. To a subsequent period belong-Ninth-the Grotta Cardinale; and, tenth-the Grotta Pompei, which can hardly be earlie than the latter days of the Roman Republic.

"It is worthy of remark, that all the painted tombs now open are beneath the level surface; not one has a super-incumbent tumulus, though such monuments abound on that site. More than six hundred, it is said, are to be counted on the Montarozzi alone; and they may be considered to have been originally much more numerous. They seem to have been all circular, surrounded at the base with masonry, on which the earth was piled up into a cone, and surmounted probably by a lion or sphinx in stone, or by a cippus, inscribed with the name of the family beneath. After the lapse of so many ages, not one retains its original form, the cones of earth having crumbled down into shapeless mounds, though several have remains of masonry at their base. One (popularly known as "Il Mausoleo ") is nearly perfect in this re

spect. It is walled round with travertine blocks, about two feet in length, neatly fitted together, but without cement; forming an architectural decoration which, from its similarity to the mouldings of Nor chia and Castel d'Asso, attests its Etruscan origin. It rises to the height of five or six feet, and on it rests a shapeless mound, overgrown with broom and lentiscus. The entrance is by a steep passage, leading down to a doorway beneath the belt of masonry. The sepulchral chamber is not in this case remarkable; but beneath a neighbouring tumulus is one of very peculiar character. The rock is hollowed into the shape of a Gothic vault, but the converging sides, instead of meeting in a point, are suddenly carried up perpendicularly, and terminated by a horizontal course of masonry. The form is very primitive, for it is precisely that of the celebrated Regulini tomb at Cervetri, one of the most ancient sepulchres of Etruria, and also bears much resemblance to the Cyclopean gallery of Tiryns in Argolis."—Dennis.

Beneath one of the tumuli of the Montarozzi, the Gonfaloniere of Corneto, Signor Carlo Avvolta, opened, in 1823, the wonderful virgin tomb, whose discovery led to all the other excavations near Corneto. He was digging for stones for road mending, when he came upon a large slab of nenfro. Gazing through a crevice beneath it, he says :—

"I saw a warrior stretched on a bed of rock, and in a few minutes I saw him vanish, as it were, under my eyes; for, as the atmosphere entered the tomb, the armour, entirely oxydized, crumbled away into the most minute particles; so that in a short time scarcely a vestige of what I had seen was left on the couch. . . Such was my astonishment, that it would be impossible to express the effect produced upon my mind by this sight; but I may safely affirm that it was the happiest moment of my existence.'

Turning down from the Montarozzi by the Grotta del Cardinale into the valley, the tourist should not fail to mount the opposite heights of Turchina, or Piano di Civita, for, though there are no remains of the city except a few blocks of the masonry which formed the foundations of its walls, the view is most beautiful of the orange-coloured cliffs

LA MERCARECCIA.

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which are crowned by the towers of Corneto, and, beyond, of the wide expanse of blue sea with the beautiful headland of Monte Argentaro, its neighbouring islets of Giglio and Giannuti, and, in the distance, Elba, and even Monte Cristo.

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Some extraordinary caverned tombs, once adorned with bas-reliefs, which may still be traced here and there, exist at the spot called La Mercareccia, about a mile from Corneto, reached by a lane which turns off to the left above the road to Civita Vecchia.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

VOLCI (PONTE DEL ABBADIA).

(It is possible for those who wish to visit Volci to find rooms at Montalto, not in the miserable inn, but in a private house. But those who are not greatly pressed for time will do better to return from Corneto to sleep at Civita Vecchia, and go by the first morning train to Montalto, whence it is a drive or walk of five miles to Volci.

Volci (Ponte del Abbadia) should only be visited in the winter or early spring. It is one of the most fever-stricken places in the whole country. A rough country cart is the only conveyance to be obtained at Montalto.)

OON after leaving Corneto the railway crosses the little

SOON

river Marta, close to the mouth of which, on its northern side, are some remains of Roman buildings, and a large arch of Etruscan masonry, with traces of a quay and port, which have been identified by Dennis* with Graviscæ, the port of Tarquinii. The place is still as fraught with fever as in classical times, but its pine trees have disappeared.

"Inde Graviscarum fastigia rara videmus,
Quas premit æstivæ sæpe paludis odor.
Sed nemorosa viret densis vicinia lucis,
Pineaque extremis fluctuat umbra fretis."

Rutilius, Itin. i. 279.

A little south of this is the little malaria-stricken port of

* Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, i 393.

THE RIVER FIORA.

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San Clementino, whence corn and salt are exported in large quantities. Here Gregory XI., brought from Avignon by the remonstrances of S. Catherine of Siena, landed Oct. 18, 1376, thus ending what was termed "the Babylonish captivity of the popedom."

The dismal

At Montalto there is nothing to be seen. town stands on a hill around its castle about 1 mile from the station, and is only remarkable as having given a Cardinal's title to Sixtus V., whose father, Peretto Peretti, a gardener, had lived there in the utmost poverty, till driven by his debts to Fermo, shortly before the birth of the future Pope.

A most desolate track leads from Montalto to Ponte del Abbadia, exposed to every wind, and, when we visited it in March, to driving snow storms. The country is piteously bare, and owing to the prevalence of malaria is entirely uninhabited. A tumulus called the Cucumella is the only feature which breaks the bare outline of the treeless moors.

This dismal prelude makes the transition all the more striking, when a path, turning down a hollow to the right, leads one into the beautiful ravine of the sparkling river Fiora, which forces its way through a rocky chasm overhung with a perfect wealth of ilex, arbutus, and bay, and is one of the most beautiful streams in Italy. The views near the bridge no one will omit, but there is a most lovely spot about a mile lower down the river called "Il Pelago" (where an Etruscan bridge is said once to have existed), at which the river forms a deep rocky pool overhung by rocks and evergreens, which should also be visited, and, if possible, be painted.

Hence an ill-defined path along the edge of the cliffs

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