DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0573
chap. xxiv.J CASTRO. 465
nature, you will be charmed with the bold forms and rich
colouring of the ilex-hung cliffs—with the varied covering
of the slopes—with the picturesque windings of the sheep-
tracks, the only signs of life in these wilds—with the
meanderings of the rivulet, which " singeth its quiet tune,"
now to the darkling canopy of foliage, now to the bright
blue sky. Or if a lover of antiquity, you will find interest
in tombs hollowed in the rock—some of several chambers,
some full of pigeon-holes, as at Toscanella, others mere
niches, or long shelf-like recesses, one over the other, as
are seen in the necropolis of Falerii—in fragments of rock-
cut cornices—in the ruins of two bridges—and in vestiges
of an ancient road.
High in the cliff, opposite the extremity of the town, a
hundred feet or more above the stream, is a curious circular
hole, inaccessible from below, which seems to be a window
to a tomb sunk in the plain above. Such a feature I have
observed on no other site.
The columbaria are generally in the cliffs immediately
beneath the city-walls. Of the ancient fortifications I per-
ceived no fragments, but considerable remains of mediaeval
date are extant on the south side, in small cemented
masonry cut from the yellow tufo cliffs on which they
stand. In these walls are sundry apertures like tall arched
doorways, which, from their position, can only be the
mouths of sewers. More ancient drains also are not
wanting, of the usual upright form, cut in the cliff itself,
and determining the antiquity of the town.
I left Castro with something like disappointment. Not
that it is not worthy of a visit; but my expectations
had been too highly raised, and I looked for more nume-
rous and curious relics of Etruscan antiquity. Yet the
only verbal reports of it that had reached my ears were
from the peasantry of the neighbouring villages, since I
TOL. I. H H
nature, you will be charmed with the bold forms and rich
colouring of the ilex-hung cliffs—with the varied covering
of the slopes—with the picturesque windings of the sheep-
tracks, the only signs of life in these wilds—with the
meanderings of the rivulet, which " singeth its quiet tune,"
now to the darkling canopy of foliage, now to the bright
blue sky. Or if a lover of antiquity, you will find interest
in tombs hollowed in the rock—some of several chambers,
some full of pigeon-holes, as at Toscanella, others mere
niches, or long shelf-like recesses, one over the other, as
are seen in the necropolis of Falerii—in fragments of rock-
cut cornices—in the ruins of two bridges—and in vestiges
of an ancient road.
High in the cliff, opposite the extremity of the town, a
hundred feet or more above the stream, is a curious circular
hole, inaccessible from below, which seems to be a window
to a tomb sunk in the plain above. Such a feature I have
observed on no other site.
The columbaria are generally in the cliffs immediately
beneath the city-walls. Of the ancient fortifications I per-
ceived no fragments, but considerable remains of mediaeval
date are extant on the south side, in small cemented
masonry cut from the yellow tufo cliffs on which they
stand. In these walls are sundry apertures like tall arched
doorways, which, from their position, can only be the
mouths of sewers. More ancient drains also are not
wanting, of the usual upright form, cut in the cliff itself,
and determining the antiquity of the town.
I left Castro with something like disappointment. Not
that it is not worthy of a visit; but my expectations
had been too highly raised, and I looked for more nume-
rous and curious relics of Etruscan antiquity. Yet the
only verbal reports of it that had reached my ears were
from the peasantry of the neighbouring villages, since I
TOL. I. H H