DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0183
166 VOLTERRA.—The City. [chap. xl.
of similar character opening in various directions, and
extending into the heart of the hill, how far no one can
say. In short, this is a perfect labyrinth, in which, with-
out a clue, one might very soon be lost.
By whom, and for what purpose these passages were
formed, I cannot hazard an opinion. Though I went far
into the hill, I saw no signs of tombs, or of a sepulchral
appropriation—nothing to assimilate them to catacombs.
That they have not lost their original character is proved
by the marks of the chisel everywhere still fresh on the
walls. They are too low for subterranean communications,
otherwise one might lend an ear to the vulgar belief that
they were formed to connect the Palazzo Inghirami in the
town, with the Villa. They have no decided Etruscan
character, yet are not unlike the tortuous passages in the
Poggio Gajella at Chiusi, and in the Grotta Regina at Tos-
canella. The cave at the entrance is lined with rude
masonry, probably of comparatively recent date. Another
tradition ascribes their formation to the Saracens, once the
scourges, and at the same time the bugbears of the Italian
coast. Though these infidel pirates were wont to make
descents on these shores during the middle ages, carrying
off plunder and females, they were often creatures of
romance rather than of reality ; every trace of wanton
barbarity and destruction is attributed to them, as to
Cromwell's dragoons in England; and as they have also
the fame of having been great magicians, many a marvel
of Nature and of Art is ascribed to their agency. In this
case, tradition represents them as having made these
passages to store their plunder, and keep their captives.
Twenty miles from the sea, forsooth ! Hence the vulgar
title of Buche de' Saracini, or " the Saracens' Dens."
of similar character opening in various directions, and
extending into the heart of the hill, how far no one can
say. In short, this is a perfect labyrinth, in which, with-
out a clue, one might very soon be lost.
By whom, and for what purpose these passages were
formed, I cannot hazard an opinion. Though I went far
into the hill, I saw no signs of tombs, or of a sepulchral
appropriation—nothing to assimilate them to catacombs.
That they have not lost their original character is proved
by the marks of the chisel everywhere still fresh on the
walls. They are too low for subterranean communications,
otherwise one might lend an ear to the vulgar belief that
they were formed to connect the Palazzo Inghirami in the
town, with the Villa. They have no decided Etruscan
character, yet are not unlike the tortuous passages in the
Poggio Gajella at Chiusi, and in the Grotta Regina at Tos-
canella. The cave at the entrance is lined with rude
masonry, probably of comparatively recent date. Another
tradition ascribes their formation to the Saracens, once the
scourges, and at the same time the bugbears of the Italian
coast. Though these infidel pirates were wont to make
descents on these shores during the middle ages, carrying
off plunder and females, they were often creatures of
romance rather than of reality ; every trace of wanton
barbarity and destruction is attributed to them, as to
Cromwell's dragoons in England; and as they have also
the fame of having been great magicians, many a marvel
of Nature and of Art is ascribed to their agency. In this
case, tradition represents them as having made these
passages to store their plunder, and keep their captives.
Twenty miles from the sea, forsooth ! Hence the vulgar
title of Buche de' Saracini, or " the Saracens' Dens."