DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4098#0031
8 ISLAND AND TOWN OF LESSINA.
morning a violent sirocco, or s. e. wind, obliged us to make the same
island again. We landed in the port of the capital, which we were
surprised to find a neat and elegant town, delightfully situated in a
small but commodious bay, formed by two rocky promontories
covered with verdure. The houses are built with stone, and are
interspersed with trees, which gives the town a beautiful appearance.
The general style of the place is Venetian; it has its piazza neatly
paved, at one end of which is the episcopal church, and at the oppo-
site end the coffee-house. The capital contains about 1,000 inha-
bitants, three churches, and two convents, and is the see of a bishop.
On a hill rising from the town are the ruins of the fortress. We en-
tered into conversation with some of the people, who gave us the fol-
lowing information concerning their island. Its length is between
sixty and seventy miles, and its greatest breadth twelve. It con-
tains several villages ; and the entire population amounts to about
14,000 persons. Its principal trade is with Trieste, and the shops
are well stored with different commodities. Its chief produce is
wine, which is exported. Lessina is a curious mixture of fertility
and barrenness. Its general face is rocky ; but, wherever a little
bit of soil can be found it is planted with corn, figs, vines,
oranges, and lemons. The mulberries were quite ripe, and the
almond trees covered with fruit. Every thing appeared as forward
here in the beginning of May as at the end of July in England.
The corn was nearly ripe, the roses in full bloom ; the aloes, which
were growing among the rocks, were in bud. Olives, carobas,1 and
pomegranates, also abound here; and the fences are made with rose-
mary and myrtle. The island abounds with curious plants, so strongly
aromatic, that the whole air is scented with them. They exsude a
glutinous matter, which, attaching itself to our clothes, as we walked
1 The Kfpoma of Theophrastos ; Kcpana of Dioscorides; ceratonia siliqua of Linna?us;
and the ZvXoKeparca of the modern Greeks. It is sometimes called, by the Italians, the
locust tree, or St. John's bread, from a supposition that its long sweet pod was the food of
St. John in the wilderness.
morning a violent sirocco, or s. e. wind, obliged us to make the same
island again. We landed in the port of the capital, which we were
surprised to find a neat and elegant town, delightfully situated in a
small but commodious bay, formed by two rocky promontories
covered with verdure. The houses are built with stone, and are
interspersed with trees, which gives the town a beautiful appearance.
The general style of the place is Venetian; it has its piazza neatly
paved, at one end of which is the episcopal church, and at the oppo-
site end the coffee-house. The capital contains about 1,000 inha-
bitants, three churches, and two convents, and is the see of a bishop.
On a hill rising from the town are the ruins of the fortress. We en-
tered into conversation with some of the people, who gave us the fol-
lowing information concerning their island. Its length is between
sixty and seventy miles, and its greatest breadth twelve. It con-
tains several villages ; and the entire population amounts to about
14,000 persons. Its principal trade is with Trieste, and the shops
are well stored with different commodities. Its chief produce is
wine, which is exported. Lessina is a curious mixture of fertility
and barrenness. Its general face is rocky ; but, wherever a little
bit of soil can be found it is planted with corn, figs, vines,
oranges, and lemons. The mulberries were quite ripe, and the
almond trees covered with fruit. Every thing appeared as forward
here in the beginning of May as at the end of July in England.
The corn was nearly ripe, the roses in full bloom ; the aloes, which
were growing among the rocks, were in bud. Olives, carobas,1 and
pomegranates, also abound here; and the fences are made with rose-
mary and myrtle. The island abounds with curious plants, so strongly
aromatic, that the whole air is scented with them. They exsude a
glutinous matter, which, attaching itself to our clothes, as we walked
1 The Kfpoma of Theophrastos ; Kcpana of Dioscorides; ceratonia siliqua of Linna?us;
and the ZvXoKeparca of the modern Greeks. It is sometimes called, by the Italians, the
locust tree, or St. John's bread, from a supposition that its long sweet pod was the food of
St. John in the wilderness.