Eustace, John Cretwode: A classical tour through Italy An. MDCCCII (Vol. 3): 3. ed., rev. and enl (London: J. Mawman, 1815)

498

CLASSICAL TOUR

Ch. 'XV.

takes in the outworks of Genoa intersecting· the
brows of the hills, and just catches a glimpse of
the sea on each side ; for Genoa itself lies covered
by its guardian mountains. The Bocchetta is one
of the few mountains where the road runs nearly
over the summit, while in the other passages over
the Alps and Apennines it commonly winds
through a defile; it is represented as one of the
Apennines, though, as I suspect, without sufficient
grounds, as it does not appear to rise more than
five thousand feet at the utmost above the level of
the sea, an elevation far below several points of
this chain of mountains. The descent is almost
as long and tedious as the ascent, but neither is
dangerous, excepting in a few places where there
is no parapet on the brink of the precipices. We
spent about six hours in the passage of the Giogo
(Jugwn) of the Bocchetta, and entered Voltaggio
about ten o’clock at night.
Next morning we set out early ; the road (the
Via Posthvmia) traverses the defile, sometimes
on level ground, sometimes on the verge of a pre-
cipice suspended over a torrent. The scenery is
very romantic, alternately open and wooded,
here green and fertile, there barren and rocky,
thus presenting all the delightful contrasts of shade
and nakedness, of wildness and cultivation, which
characterize the Apennines. One of the most