JOTTINGS FROM A TRAVELLER'S JOURNAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 999, 19 July 1883, Page 4

JOTTINGS FROM A TRAVELLER'S JOURNAL.

'[WRITTEN SPECIALLY fob the ‘ ‘ashbubton GUARDIAN. ”J Nd. TCfTC: —Continued. An Extraordinary Fortification A Mabbt.t! Country Carrara—Pisa — ; AvFaued City—A Historical Rbtro- : spkct—The Leaning Tower.

The principal object that drew my atv tention on. passing Sarzana, the next place "' oh the journey, was a remarkable fortification. * On enquiry I was told that it was called Sarzanella. Had I been a military man or professionally interested in such matters, I, should have been inclined to stop and .study, the striking peculiarities , ef this defensive and offensive structure, : biit I was content to learn that it was .erected by the ;orice formidable Caatruccio Castrdcani, who, at one time, was all powerful in Pisa and Pistajo. But while the prominent appearance of the fortress attracted T my attention the ancient historic .1 associations •of Sarzana • were matters of deeper interest to my mind. I remembered the fluctuating fortunes of the place; how, in 1467, Lorenzo de Medici took possession of it; how, shortly afterwards, the Florentines wore compelled to yhfld their acquisition to Charles Via., of France ; and how, in turn, the Gen op so became its masters, only to be • feptaced,"as the wheel of time revolved, by fbe Sardinians! And if nothing else remained to attach unfading notoriety to Sarzana she could still claim the distinction of having been the birthplace of at least one eminent man—a patron of literature, and the founder of the Vatican Library, Tomraaso Parentucelli, afterwards-. more * generally known as Pope - ' . - • -- At this point of my journey I got a fine view of the mountain ranges, rich with the veins of the far-famed Carrara marble.' Before reaching Avenza we ; passed lihe ruins of the ancient Luna, an Etruscan settlement that flourished during the • early, days of the Roman Republic, but began to decline under the disintegrating influences of the Empire, and was finally, destroyed by the - Arabs. The remains of an amphitheatre and circus still serve to give some idea of the pristine glory of the place. : Avenza is distinguished by nothing beyond a castle with towers and battlements, once occupied by the bold Castracani already mentioned. ..-From this station a branch line tuns up to the town of Carrara and the adjacent quarries. Isaw some fine blocks of marble ready to bo conveyed for shipment to the small harbor that lies to toe right of the line. There are no less than 400 quarries in the Carrara district, , giving,employment to 6,000 men. There are also marble quarries at Massa, a few miles farther on, the stone is s-iid to be equal in quality to that obtained at Carrara. Massa was once the capital of a Duchy : and it still boasts of a palace, in which the sister of the first Napoleon resided, when she enjoyed the title of Duchess of Modena. 1 pass over the ruined c&stle of Montignoao that 1 saw. at a distance on a rugged eminence; Pietrasanta, famous for its quicksilver .mines, and Viareggio, a small settlement on the coast, sheltered by groves of pine trees, as undeserving more special notice. After running along a swampy plain for some i.istance, and crossing the river, we reached the once celebrated city of Pisa, the principal portions of which are situated on the left . bankof the Arno. I took up my quarters in ihe comfortable Hotel des Londres. The comparative quietude and almost deserted appearance of many of the stree: s of Pisa'in the present day hardly enable the modern traveller to recall .the period of her power and glory, when as far back as the days of Augustus and Hadrian, she ranked high amongst the cities of the empire; and was adorned with temples, theatres, and triumphal arches; and when in (later times she disputed commercial pre-eminence with Venics and Genoa, i But few relics now remain of her ancient grandeur.. Nevertheless, history estab- . fishes the fact that early in the eleventh century: Pisa was a powerful city, basing her claims for honor and renown not exclusively, or even principally, upon the enterprise, of her merchants, but upon the prowess of her arms against the f Saracens. She took the lead in opposing their encroachments. By the valour of her soldiers, Sardinia was wrested from the; Infidels in the year 1025, and tho island, became the possession of th a conquerors. And before the expiration of the century they still) further signalised -themselves by defeating the Saracenic forces at Tunis, and destroying their fleet at Palermo. A few years after this they . extended their conquests to the Balearic Islands ; and earned fresh laurels by the prominent part they took in the Crusades. The power of Pisa reached its zenith between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and the commerce of the republic extended over the Mediterranean from La Spezzia to Oivita Vecchia, and the Italian Islands. But the tide of Pisan prosperity was turned by the disastrous defeat sustained at the hand of Genoa in the battle of Meloria, to which I alluded in a former letter. FiOm that period Pisa declined in power and influence, and now she occupies a subordinate position amongst the cities of Italy. But political reverses have not deprived her of some architectural structures of - .beauty and curiosity that still constitute the city of Pisa a place of attraction. The Basilica of St Pietro in G- ado, on the ’’ road'to Leghorn, is an interesting memorial. It is said to occupy the spot on ■ which the Apostle rested where he .first landed in Italy ; and one feels loth to strip 5 the'beauty from the romantic legend bj recalling the stern fact that neither • sacred* nor secular history gives authentic assurance that Peter ever set foot on the peninsula. Everyone has heard of the leaning

tower of Pisa—that unique struct are at the Duomo or cathedral and the Baptis- ■ tery stand in close proximity in the Piazzi del Duomo, and are the most interesting objects in the city. It is strange that no authentic document . is known to exist whereby to determine whether the Campanile, or Leaning Tower as it is more frequently called, was designedly built obliquely, or accidentally left the perpendicular by settlement of the foundations. From whatever cause, ’it inclines fully thirteen feet; and one can hardly imagine that to have been accidental, and that after the foundation had once given away, the structure should remain so long without apparent danger. j 1 ascended to the summit, and strange to say, the heaviest of the seven bells that are hung in the tower, weighing upwards of six tons, hangs on the depressed side. The view from this elevation is splendid; and well repays the toil of ascending two . hundred and ninety-four steps. Immediately beneath lies the city, with its , clustering houses; the course of the Arno , in distinctly seen, a fine stretch of level country all around, dotted with farms and rural dwellings; the distant sea, dimly ’ discernible in the west and away to the north east, mountain .ranges form the background of the prospect. . (To be continued.)