DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0018
2 CIVITA VECCHIA. [chap. xxx.
town was almost utterly destroyed by the Saracens
in the ninth century ; but when rebuilt, the disposition of
the port was preserved, by raising the moles, quay, and
fortress on the ancient foundations, which are still visible
beneath them.1
It is possible, in ancient times, when the ruler of the
world made it his chosen retreat, and adorned it with his
own virtues and the simple graces of his court, that Cen-
tum Cellse may have been, as Pliny found it, " a right
pleasant place "—locus perjucundus? Now, it is a paradise
to none but facchini and doganieri. What more wearisome
than the dull, dirty town of Civita Vecchia 1 and what
traveller does not pray for a speedy deliverance from this
den of thieves, of whom Gasperoni, though most renowned,
is not the most accomplished 1 Civita is like " love, war,
and hunting," according to the proverb—it is more easy to
find the way in, than the way out. You enter the gates,
whether on the land or sea-side, without even a demand for
your passport; but to leave them, you must pass through
the hands of a score of custom-house officers—a fingering
which tends neither to brighten the countenance nor to
smooth the temper. This is owing to Civita being a
free port—a privilege which, in conjunction with steam-
traffic, renders it the only thriving town in the Papal
State, pre-eminently—till the quickening sun of Pius IX.
rose upon it—the land of stagnation.
It does not appear that an Etruscan town occupied this
site. Yet relics of that antiquity are preserved here, some
1 There are other remains of the arm in bronze now in the Gregorian
Roman town on the shore without the Museum, which, though of the time of
walls; and the aqueduct which supplies Trajan, is said to " surpass perhaps in
the town with water is said to be erected, beauty all ancient works in this metal
for the most part, on the ruins of that with which we are acquainted." Bull,
constructed by Trajan. On the shore, Inst. 1837, p. 5.
at this spot, was discovered that colossal 2 Plin. Epist. VI. 31.
town was almost utterly destroyed by the Saracens
in the ninth century ; but when rebuilt, the disposition of
the port was preserved, by raising the moles, quay, and
fortress on the ancient foundations, which are still visible
beneath them.1
It is possible, in ancient times, when the ruler of the
world made it his chosen retreat, and adorned it with his
own virtues and the simple graces of his court, that Cen-
tum Cellse may have been, as Pliny found it, " a right
pleasant place "—locus perjucundus? Now, it is a paradise
to none but facchini and doganieri. What more wearisome
than the dull, dirty town of Civita Vecchia 1 and what
traveller does not pray for a speedy deliverance from this
den of thieves, of whom Gasperoni, though most renowned,
is not the most accomplished 1 Civita is like " love, war,
and hunting," according to the proverb—it is more easy to
find the way in, than the way out. You enter the gates,
whether on the land or sea-side, without even a demand for
your passport; but to leave them, you must pass through
the hands of a score of custom-house officers—a fingering
which tends neither to brighten the countenance nor to
smooth the temper. This is owing to Civita being a
free port—a privilege which, in conjunction with steam-
traffic, renders it the only thriving town in the Papal
State, pre-eminently—till the quickening sun of Pius IX.
rose upon it—the land of stagnation.
It does not appear that an Etruscan town occupied this
site. Yet relics of that antiquity are preserved here, some
1 There are other remains of the arm in bronze now in the Gregorian
Roman town on the shore without the Museum, which, though of the time of
walls; and the aqueduct which supplies Trajan, is said to " surpass perhaps in
the town with water is said to be erected, beauty all ancient works in this metal
for the most part, on the ruins of that with which we are acquainted." Bull,
constructed by Trajan. On the shore, Inst. 1837, p. 5.
at this spot, was discovered that colossal 2 Plin. Epist. VI. 31.