DOI Kapitel:
Chapter VIII: Sorrento
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.59000#0334
Naples
rapidly to the sea, and once a roaring torrent must have
dashed down the ravine. The line of the old town
wall of mediaeval times which once followed it has
now disappeared and has given place to a fine road.
Crumbling ruins are incongruous in Sorrento, and the
hand of man has not been idle in helping to remove
them. On one side of the Piazza the bright plaster
facade of a little rococo church and the pink and yellow
houses glitter in the sun. A splendid sweep of hills
forms the background of this picture. In colour these
hills behind Sorrento run to the deepest blue, and in the
early morning mists great wreaths of clouds hang about
them delightfully, now hiding, now revealing some
distant habitation or rugged mountain precipice ; or,
again, some wild garden of olives and dim tufa rocks.
On the other side the sea gleams through the steep
defile of precipitous rock overgrown with the most
lovely wilderness of creepers, which here run sheer down
to the shore. All is light and movement in the market.
Mules with shining brass ornaments, and harness which
is literally made up of charms and prophylactics, are
descending from the hills, down the mountain paths.
Rich masses of autumn fruits and vegetables are piled
on the pavement in the square. When the red water-
melons of summer are over, comes the season for the
green and black figs, together with strings of tomatoes,
baskets of the sweet fravole-wva, with its double flavour
of grape and strawberry, and the gorgeous scarlet
peperoni. All is massed up together, side by side
with the colour of the medlars and that of the shining
15b
rapidly to the sea, and once a roaring torrent must have
dashed down the ravine. The line of the old town
wall of mediaeval times which once followed it has
now disappeared and has given place to a fine road.
Crumbling ruins are incongruous in Sorrento, and the
hand of man has not been idle in helping to remove
them. On one side of the Piazza the bright plaster
facade of a little rococo church and the pink and yellow
houses glitter in the sun. A splendid sweep of hills
forms the background of this picture. In colour these
hills behind Sorrento run to the deepest blue, and in the
early morning mists great wreaths of clouds hang about
them delightfully, now hiding, now revealing some
distant habitation or rugged mountain precipice ; or,
again, some wild garden of olives and dim tufa rocks.
On the other side the sea gleams through the steep
defile of precipitous rock overgrown with the most
lovely wilderness of creepers, which here run sheer down
to the shore. All is light and movement in the market.
Mules with shining brass ornaments, and harness which
is literally made up of charms and prophylactics, are
descending from the hills, down the mountain paths.
Rich masses of autumn fruits and vegetables are piled
on the pavement in the square. When the red water-
melons of summer are over, comes the season for the
green and black figs, together with strings of tomatoes,
baskets of the sweet fravole-wva, with its double flavour
of grape and strawberry, and the gorgeous scarlet
peperoni. All is massed up together, side by side
with the colour of the medlars and that of the shining
15b