The Shores of the Adriatic Part 15

[Ill.u.s.tration: ITALIAN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE BOATS, SPALATO

_To face page 303_]

The costume of the country people shows the influence of Turkish and Oriental relations, and suggests the possibility of many figures in Old Italian pictures being painted from Dalmatian models. The men are generally blonde, and wear great moustaches. They are fond of bright colours, and wear light-blue tight cloth hose, red-and-green stockings, the usual shoes, a broad red-leather girdle, which used to have weapons in it, a red waistcoat, a short brown jacket embroidered with red and ornamented at the corners with red and white stripes, and on the head a turban of a red-brown colour. These costumes may be seen in numbers in the morning in the market, on the way to the station. The women have a shawl or folded piece of stuff on their heads, and frequently wear printed calicoes of a startling pattern in the town, but outside have a modification of the usual Morlacca costume.

Along the quays many Italian boats are moored, bringing cargoes of fruit, onions, and other kindred produce, which they appear to sell retail as well as wholesale; and many picturesque subjects may be noted, to which the masts and rigging, awnings and sails, weather-beaten paint, baskets of gleaming fruit and other articles, cordage, gangway planks, &c., in careless arrangement, lend attractiveness and beauty, whether in the full glare of the midday sun, with its strong contrasts of light and shade, or in the early morning or late evening, when its level rays tend to greater simplicity of effect and greater glow of colour. On Sunday evening the long parapet of the Marina is lined with townsfolk taking the air, while those who desire to show off their toilettes march up and down the Piazza dei Signori (which appears to answer to the "Park") for an hour or so, after which it resumes its usual quiet condition. On the morning of May 1, the _municipio_ was decorated with flags, and saluted by a band which played in front of it for a short time and then marched off, still playing.

At the end of the Marina is the Franciscan convent dedicated to S.

Felice, bishop of Epetium, whose relics are said to be preserved in the church. It was built by Archbishop Giovanni IV. of Spalato in 1059, but has been modernised, and little of an early date can be seen. In the wall towards the cloister are several walled-up windows, with semicircular heads cut out of a lintel, and in the cloister itself are a few caps which appear to be eleventh-century, but the bulk of it is fourteenth-century in style, and that is the date of the three inscriptions inserted in the walls. It is a pleasant little cloister, with a school attached to it, and the church is crowded with the poor at service time.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CLOISTER OF S. FRANCESCO, SPALATO

_To face page 305_]

The situation of the city is very fine, and the harbour accommodation there and in the immediate neighbourhood led the Austrian admiralty at one time to think of it as the princ.i.p.al military port. Preference was given to Pola on account of its connection with the main railway lines, for which the archaeologist and artist may be thankful. The two ranges of Kozjak and Mosor (Mons Aureus) dip down to the pa.s.s which is guarded by the rock of Clissa. On the slopes of one lie the ruins of Salona; on the other, those of Epetium; in front is the sea, always peaceful, being sheltered by the islands of Solta and Brazza; and beyond Marjan the land-locked Salonitan port.

The museum accommodation is very insufficient, and, though several of the larger monuments are in the open air (like the second-century monument of Pomponia Vera near the Porta Argentea), the four museums are crowded with the objects which excavations have brought to light. There are an enormous number of inscriptions, a few sculptures comparatively, a great many architectural fragments, and an infinity of small objects.

Among the sculptures two or three, sarcophagi may be specially noted.

One with the subject of Hippolytus and Phaedra, found in the narthex of the little basilica at Salona in 1859, in a fifth-century stratum, is a late copy of one in the Louvre. Near it was a colossal sarcophagus of the first half of the fourth century, with the Good Shepherd upon it, which is also in the museum. At one end is a door watched by figures at each side; at the other a genius leaning on a reversed torch stands on a pedestal beneath the arch of a little gabled building with twisted columns. The columns in front are also twisted; those at the back channelled with three flutes. The one with the Hunting of the Caledonian Boar, which stood outside the baptistery, where its inscription was copied by Cyriacus of Ancona in 1436, is of the period of the Antonines, and has been used twice. One of the ends is really fine. A fourth, with the Pa.s.sage of the Red Sea on the front, and three panels on the back, was brought from the Franciscan cloister. One end has two standing figures with a Latin cross in high relief between them, and a garland with waving ribands surrounding the _labarum_ above; the other an imbrication with the s.p.a.ces in relief. The back has an Orante or Virgin in the centre, and male figures at the ends, with S-shaped striations between.

There is also a very beautiful torso of Venus accompanied by Cupid, and in one of the more distant museums two fine fragments of a relief of undoubtedly Greek work. There are many striking fragments of architectural carving, among which one of the most interesting is a bal.u.s.trade bearing close resemblance to the carving upon an ambo at S.

Agata, Ravenna, but constructed of many pieces, whereas that is an adaptation of a portion of a fluted column. There are also a good many pieces of ninth and tenth-century work, and a large collection of Christian lamps. The most ancient object in the collection is a Corinthian vase with cover of the sixth century B.C., found at Salona, and ornamented with animals and rosettes in black and violet on a yellow ground. A new museum is to be built near the agricultural college on the way to the monastery of the Paludi, which lies on the sh.o.r.e on the Salona side of Marjan, with cypresses in its gra.s.sy forecourt, and a garden beyond the cloister.

This convent is Franciscan, but was founded by Benedictines in the eleventh century, the Franciscans taking their place in the fifteenth century. Near the entrance is the inscribed lid of a sarcophagus upside down, used as a water-trough. The convent was fortified by the Spalatines in 1540, of which fortification the machicolated tower to the left of the church remains. The church is early Renaissance in appearance, and is dedicated to S. Maria delle Grazie. It was a favourite place of burial for distinguished Spalatine families, and the floor was covered with fine gravestones in relief, mainly of the sixteenth century, worked in a hard white Dalmatian limestone. These have now been taken up (in 1900) and arranged along the wall of the cloister. Many of them are beautiful in design, with borders of early Renaissance ornament. Perhaps the most charming is that of Caterina Cvitic, but the historic interest of that of Tommaso de Nigris of Scardona and Trau who died in 1527 in Spalato, is greater. There is a half-length portrait of him in the library by Lorenzo Lotto. Behind the high-altar in the monks' choir is an important picture by Girolamo da Santa Croce (1549). It consists of ten panels. In the upper row the centre is occupied by a Madonna and Child surrounded by child angels, flanked by SS. Helena and Scolastica, beyond whom are SS. Catherine and Mary Magdalene. In the centre of the lower row is S. Francis in ecstasy, with SS. Antonio and Bernardino, flanked by S. Doimo (with the city of Spalato) and S. Louis of Toulouse, beyond whom are SS. John the Baptist and Jerome. In the gable of a much restored frame is a dove. On the right side is a curious lintelled door with dull arabesques emphasised by lines of drilling and pictures on either side. One is a Carpaccio in tempera on canvas, a "Madonna auxilium Christianorum," with the Child in a vesica on her breast, and S. Sebastian and a bishop (S. Doimus), one on each side. She holds her cloak out to shelter a crowd of kneeling men on one side, and women on the other, from the darts which G.o.d the Father is showering from above. In the sky are cherub heads; two child angels hold a crown above the Virgin's head; in the background are Venetian towers and hills. The frame is architectural, with painted arabesques. Close by is an inlaid black marble slab, with music, the words of a psalm, and flowers in colour. On the other side of the door is a Virgin and Child, with SS. John, Peter, and Scolastica in front, and two little angels on the steps of the throne, a tempera picture on panel, rather grey in colour. A ghastly painted crucifix, with a great deal of blood, stands near the door. On one of the wells in the cloister is the date 1453; they are decorated with roundels bearing various devices. The remarkable thing which brings tourists to the Paludi is, however, the antiphonary of Padre Bonaventura Radmilovic, painted with vegetable colours, and finished after ten years' labour in 1675.

Not far away, among the vineyards, is the ninth-century church of SS.

Trinita, of which the earliest known mention is in the eleventh century.

It consists of six niches surrounding a circle of the same diameter as the similar buildings already described at Zara. At the springing of the arches a cornice runs right round the building. The niches terminate in semi-domes, and two of them are pierced with doors, one of which is of a later date than the rest of the building. The exterior of each niche has a rough arcading of three arches. The springing of the dome and ornamented rosettes in the semi-domes still remain. The courses are horizontal, and the niches terminate outside in a slightly sloped roof.

The door has been made into a window, and the lintel bears a bit of antique egg-and-tongue moulding. Three Latin inscriptions of the ninth century have been found, and various pieces of ornament, which are in the museum, also quant.i.ties of bones, testifying to its long use as a cemetery chapel. On the way back to Spalato the Casa Katic may be noted, in the walls of which many antique fragments are encrusted.

There was another early church, that of S. Eufemia, within the military hospital, which was destroyed in 1877. It had a central elliptical dome without windows resting on four pillars; two more on each side made the nave four bays long. The apse and aisle ends were square, and the nave was vaulted with a wagon vault.

The great excursion from Spalato is to Salona, a city large enough to quarter the entire army of the Consul L. Cecilius Metellus in 119 B.C., and then known as Colonia Martia Julia. The walls extend for a long distance upon the roads to Trau and to Clissa after crossing the Jader, and the city also stretched some distance up the mountain slopes, the debris from which have done so much to hide its remains. Several burial-places have been discovered, of greater or less extent, an amphitheatre, basilicas, a baptistery with the buildings appertaining, city gates, and more than one circuit of walls. Salona may be reached by rail or road; in the latter case the aqueduct may be observed, originally constructed by Diocletian for his palace, and restored in 1879 by Dr. Bajamonti for the use of the Spalatines. It is six miles long, and taps the source of the Jader. The road descends by long curves to the valley, and enters the village, where the Clissa road diverges, under the pleasant shade of trees, beyond which is a marshy field, white in spring with the giant snowdrop. Half-way down the hill is a fountain which muleteers and pedestrians find most refres.h.i.+ng, especially if they are pressed for time as we were on one occasion when we had an appointment in Spalato, and, missing the train, had to return on foot in the middle of the day. The railway customs are rather curious. On one visit I asked for return tickets, and, as they were not taken on leaving the station at Salona, supposed I had them. In the train the guard told us as we were returning that they were not available, and that we must therefore pay a fine of a florin! I, of course, protested, detailed the circ.u.mstances, and pleaded the ignorance of a foreigner; and on arrival at Spalato the matter was referred to a higher official, who was graciously pleased to refund the fine, and accept the fare for a single journey. The traveller in Austria must not calculate on paying his fare on the train, as he would do on the Italian light railways.

Near the station at Salona is a little _osteria_, in and about which a number of antique fragments are disposed. It was stopping to have some wine here that caused us to miss our train. There were some eight or ten children playing beneath the pergola, and I found by experience how small a sum may suffice to make a human being happy, since the distribution of three halfpence in h.e.l.ler, the small copper coin which is the basis of calculation, delighted them all! As we left the station on arriving we saw a crowd of peasants kneeling at the cross roads, with three banners, a big crucifix, a chandelier with three candles, and other objects rising above their bent heads. The priest in the centre was blessing the fields, sprinkling holy water in all directions, whilst prayers and responses went up from the kneeling people, the smoke from the censers which the acolytes were slowly swinging hanging round the group like a cloud. Afterwards they came down the road in procession.

The priest held a little silver crucifix on a base; near him were the acolytes bearing their various, utensils, and a choir of male singers.

The men and boys went first, in two rows down the sides of the road, just as we had often seen in Italy. The women and girls followed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OSTERIA AT SALONA

_To face page 310_]

The oldest part of the city is towards the Clissa road, for it spread westwards. The Basilica Urbana is quite close to the wall, and only a little farther south are the Porta Suburbia and the Porta Caesarea. Of the latter the arches no longer exist, but the ruts in the stone show the carriage-way, flanked by two footways. The Basilica Urbana, with its accompanying buildings, has been fully excavated. It was used for religious purposes till its restoration in the ninth century, for Salona was not entirely abandoned after its destruction in 639. The soil removed showed evident traces of its destruction by burning. It consisted of nave and aisles with a western narthex, and buildings both to the north and to the south. The nave appears to have had twelve columns on either side, with projecting piers from the narthex and from the eastern wall. There was one apse with an ambulatory surrounding it, as in the Lycaonian buildings recently described by Miss Lowthian Bell.

The foundations of the chancel were found, and of an enclosure which reached to the second column on the right. In the north aisle wall were two doors, one towards the baptistery, the other to the catechumens'

room, and all along the wall there was a seat. The _prothesis_ is an irregular s.p.a.ce to the north of the apse, entered by a door at the end of the aisle, with a short column in the middle, probably the central column of a table. For ritual reasons this arrangement (the _diakonikon_ communicating directly with the presbytery, while the _prothesis_ does not) is usual in the Greek Church. The nave appears to have been flagged, but the aisles were covered with a mosaic pavement, now more or less damaged. Fragments of gla.s.s were found, and an inscription of the fourth or fifth century discovered in the cemetery, "Pasc[asi]o vitriario," shows that gla.s.smaking was a Salonitan industry. Beneath the presbytery remains of an earlier building were discovered with a pagan mosaic of the second or third century, representing the poetess Sappho and the nine muses. The ambulatory is also floored with mosaic, in which is this inscription:

NOVA POST VETERA COEPIT SYNFERIUS ESYCHIUS CJUS NEPOS c.u.m CLERO ET POPULO FECIT HAEC MUNERA DOMUS XPE GRATA TENE.

The two names here recorded are those of bishops of the end of the fourth and beginning of the fifth centuries, judging from the palaeography of other inscriptions. Esychius was bishop, 406-426. The baptistery is accessible by steps both from the basilica and the narthex. Attached to it is the _consignatorium_, as at Parenzo. This retains its mosaic pavement, with a design of stags drinking at a vase, and the text "Sicut cervus," &c. It is kept covered with pebbles to preserve it. The baptistery itself is octagonal externally and circular internally, with niches and several doors. It appears to have had six columns (fragments of three of cipollino remain) and grey stone bases.

The font is somewhat cruciform in shape, about 3 ft. deep, and with a little step at one end. The slabs at the bottom and the conduit for the water still remain. North of this is the house of the Director of the Excavations, with a pergola composed of fragments from the campanile, &c., among which is a cap the exact counterpart of one in the cathedral at Veglia.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BASILICA OF THE CHRISTIAN CEMETERY, SALONA

_To face page 312_]

North-west of the house is the Christian cemetery, a bewildering ma.s.s of sarcophagi and foundations of several epochs, from among which many objects have been taken to the museum. All the sarcophagi had been broken into and plundered; with a single exception, that of a little Greek girl who still had the earrings in her ears. Apparently apses were built round the martyrs' tombs, pointing in all directions, and many burials took place close to them. When the Goths destroyed the city they plundered the tombs; and when the Christians returned they levelled the ground, and built another basilica properly orientated; and here, also, burials took place. The Avars descended upon this and destroyed it, and the soil washed down from the hills covered much of it to the depth of 15 ft. Fragments found of the eighth and ninth centuries, however, show that the place was not abandoned; the theatre was only demolished at the end of the tenth century to build S. Michele, and the amphitheatre lasted till the close of the thirteenth. Upon the extinction of the Croatian dynasty in 1102, Salona rapidly declined, and when the Turks appeared in the sixteenth century it became a neglected ruin.

At Marusinac, some distance to the north of the station and the amphitheatre, is another basilica, dedicated to S. Anastasius, and a Christian cemetery. The children are on the look-out for chance visitors, and ready to point out the road; and sell copper coins and tesserae of mosaic at a price which lowers remarkably as the basilica is approached. It is to be feared that they come from the great mosaic, which is necessarily unguarded. The basilica consists of nave and aisles, separated apparently by six columns on each side, with a single apse, which seems to have had external b.u.t.tresses, but there is no trace of the usual internal bench. The total length approaches 150 ft., the nave is 39 ft. wide, the left aisle about 14 ft., and the right 17 ft. 6 in. The _prothesis_ and _diakonikon_ are square, and a long _schola cantorum_ forms a continuation to the presbytery westward, though it is less in width. The westward angles of the aisles also have rectangular rooms walled off. The whole surface was covered with mosaic, of which a great deal is still preserved, consisting of geometrical pattern work for the most part, without inscriptions, though there is one panel showing a vase with scrolls issuing from it. A large drawing to scale has been made of it, which is in the communal palace. It took a full year's labour to complete. The basilica was built between 425 and 443, but there was a villa there previously, of which considerable remains were discovered in 1890, at the same time that the first sarcophagi came to light.

In the modern chapel of S. Caius, pope and martyr, the side of an antique sarcophagus serves as altar-frontal. It is sculptured with the deeds of Hercules. The subjects are the Killing of the Dragon of the Hesperides (which the peasantry mistake for the Garden of Eden), Alcestis being brought back from Hades, and the Binding of Cerberus. The water which filtered into the sarcophagus believed to be the tomb of S.

Caius was credited with the same miraculous powers as the "Manna" of S.

Nicola at Bari.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A MORLACCO FAMILY, BETWEEN SALONA AND CLISSA

_To face page 314_]

A path skirts the wall of Salona to the Porta Andetria upon the Clissa road, which climbs the hillside in well-graded curves. To the north the ridge of Kozjak rises to the height of 2,000 ft.; across the gap up which the Roman Via Gabiniana ran, the course of which the modern road follows, beyond Clissa, the still higher crests of Mosor frown. The isolated rock on which the fortress stands appears to have been an outwork of Salona in Roman times, and some a.s.sume that it was Andetrium, which others place farther off; the Byzantines called it Clausura. It is the key between Sinj and Spalato, its possession effectually closing the pa.s.s to an enemy. The Avars took it in 640 by stratagem, disguising themselves as Romans. It was Turkish from 1537 till 1669, except for a short period, and one of the attempts of the Spalatines to possess themselves of it has been referred to. The fort has three terraces, and retains a characteristic building, a mosque of Turkish times, now used as an ammunition store. Round arches which sustain the dome spring from stalact.i.te-shaped brackets. There is also a Venetian wall-fountain, but considerable additions have been made to the buildings in modern times by the Austrian military authorities, who have held the place since 1813; and permission from the command at Spalato is necessary to enter the fort. To the south-east are the ruins of the Roman camp.

XXII

THE SOUTHERN GROUP OF ISLANDS

The chain of islands which forms a natural breakwater to the coast of Dalmatia is broken into two groups by the Punta Planka, the ancient Promontorium Syrtis, south of Sebenico. To the northern group belong Veglia, Cherso, Ossero, Arbe, Pago, and a number of smaller and less important islands, including Ugljan, opposite Zara, and Pasman, a little farther south. Of these the first four have been described at length, and the others are mentioned briefly in the chapter dealing with Zara and its surroundings. The southern group lies south of the harbour of Spalato, and includes Solta, Brazza, Lesina, Curzola, Meleda, the more distant Lissa, Busi, and Lagosta, and a few small islands which belonged to the Republic of Ragusa. The interest of these varies a good deal, some containing much to delight the traveller, while others are scarcely worth a visit. Most of them have historical memories reaching from the dawn of history to times which are within the memory of many now living, and some of them are remarkable for their geological formation or luxuriant Southern vegetation. The planning of a tour among them requires the most careful comparison of the time-tables of the various s.h.i.+pping companies, and the scheme, once decided on, must be strictly adhered to under pain of the risk of being stranded in some little visited place for three or four days without any of the comforts which the average traveller now expects to find everywhere; for the weather cannot be relied on for twenty-four hours together in the seasons when travellers are most numerous, the sea frequently rising under an unfavourable wind so rapidly as to make escape by a fis.h.i.+ng-boat a doubtful experiment.

The direct boats, on leaving Spalato, steer between Solta and Brazza, and round the point of Lesina, proceeding by the Ca.n.a.ls of Curzola and Meleda towards Gravosa; and we cannot do better than visit the islands in much the same order.

Solta is the ancient Olinthia, celebrated for its honey; Olinthian honey was held to be superior to all other, except that of Hymettus. The bees are of a special kind, which work hard, and go out in wind and slight rain; but the excellence of the honey was probably due to the rosemary blossoms, on which they feed by preference, only visiting other flowers when these have been completely rifled. Of late years the inhabitants have cleared a great part of the land in order to cultivate vines or chrysanthemum, so the yield of honey is much reduced. Remains of mosaic pavements found here and there show the sites of Roman villas.

Brazza is the largest of the Dalmatian islands, the most populous, and the richest in wine and oil. The stone for Diocletian's palace came mainly from this island; and Professor Bulic has found abandoned fragments partially worked in the quarries, as well as inscriptions. The greater part of the stone with which Salona was built also came from Brazza. Its history commences with the destruction of Salona and Epetium in the seventh century, much of the population taking refuge in the island, though it is believed that Greeks inhabited it before the Romans. The legend that S. Helena, the mother of Constantine, was born here (though most historians regard her as English) probably arose from the name of Brettanide, which is said to have been the Greek name for the island, though Brattia is also met with. The most ancient doc.u.ment preserved is a privilege of 1077, given to the n.o.bles by Demetrius Zvonimir; but the island belonged by turns to Byzantium, Venice, the Ostrogoth, Frank, Narentan, and Hungarian, becoming finally Venetian in 1420, except for the disturbed period which closed in 1815; since then it has been Austrian. In a convent of Dominicans at Bol, on the south coast, is a Gothic church, with a restored altar-piece representing the Marriage of S. Catherine, with SS. Mary Magdalene, Paul, and Dominic as witnesses. An entry in the convent register attests the authors.h.i.+p--"to Master Jacomo Tintoretto, painter, a further payment of 200 ducats for the high-altar piece." In the convent is a collection of coins and a Lombard lintel with ninth-century interlacings; and on the Casa Nisiteo a knocker resembling that at Curzola--a female figure with an anchor in the middle, a lion on each side with head turned up, a sh.e.l.l below and a s.h.i.+eld with arms above, charged with a sun and dolphin one above the other; a crowned lion and an eagle as supporters.

In a hut at Birce, near Serip, Andrea, son of Salomon the exiled king of Hungary, lived as a shepherd and died.

Lesina was once a Venetian a.r.s.enal and station of the fleet. The vegetation is sub-tropical. Rosemary fills the air with its aromatic scent, oleanders, lemons, lofty palms, carob and bay trees are continually met with, and aloes are often used for hedges. It was the island Pharos of the Greeks, a colony from the aegean Paros, founded in 385 B.C., and a free republic. Coins which have been found are similar to the most ancient ones of Greece and Asia Minor, and the remains of walls appear to be Pelasgic. From 221 B.C. it belonged to the Roman province of Dalmatia, and shared the fate of its neighbour Brazza. The Illyrian pirates mastered it, and under their lords.h.i.+p the celebrated Demetrios was born, who was like a condottiere of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and whose treachery led to the destruction of the Greek city. Many Christian martyrs were buried here, and it became known as "the Holy." The population is Slav, and the Greek name "Pharia" is preserved to some extent in the Slav name "Hvar." It is the longest of the Dalmatian islands, being 70 kilometres long by 10 broad.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PORTA MAGGIORE, LESINA]

The town of Lesina lies on the south-west coast, and still retains a great part of its crenellated walls. It is decayed, and there are many ruined palaces of the Venetian period, some of which are fine. The piazza is the largest in Dalmatia, and beyond it the houses form a semicircle interspersed with gardens. On the east is the cathedral, Lombardesque in style; on the south a large building, the so-called Venetian a.r.s.enal. The present ground floor, with broad-arched door opening on the water, was arranged to house the galleys belonging to the Republic, and was used till 1776, when the a.r.s.enal was transferred to Curzola. The upper floor, divided into two, was the theatre and communal hall. The Loggia of Sanmichele is to the north, close to the remains of the palace of the count. It has seven rather narrow arches on piers with columns, and a whole order attached in front, a bal.u.s.trade between the pedestals and above the frieze, with obelisks supported on b.a.l.l.s as crowning features. The door is in the centre; above it a panel with the lion of S. Mark replaces the bal.u.s.ters. It is now the hall of a sanatorium which has been erected behind it, thus destroying two of the towers of the palace of the count, and spoiling a very picturesque composition. The "Fondachi" are used for military purposes; other Gothic palaces remain along the side of the piazza. Above the town is Fort Spagnuolo, which probably occupies the site of an older castle besieged by the Hungarians and their allies in 1358; an inscription states that the present building is due to the Spaniards, and was built in 1551 under Charles V., when he was allied to Venice against the Turks. Higher still to the east is Fort S. Nicol, constructed after the Russian attack in 1807.

The cathedral is not remarkable for its architecture. The facade has a semicircular termination, quadrants above the aisles, and an early Renaissance doorway. The stalls are carved and pierced like those at Arbe and Zara, but have lost the tops and the carved divisions. At each side is an ambo of stone supported on four columns, but with an octagonal body above, arcaded, with shafts at the angles. The arches are all round, but the change in the plan produces a curious pointed appearance in perspective in the lower arcade. On the high-altar is a picture by the younger Palma, a Madonna and the Child in the clouds, with S. Stephen vested as pope below, and SS. Jerome and Carlo Borromeo.

There is also a more ancient picture by Antonio Gradinelli, a dead Christ supported by angels. Near the west end is a carved reredos of Venetian-Gothic style; S. Luke in the centre with his ox, and S. John the Baptist are recognisable among the well-carved figures of saints beneath pointed arches with sh.e.l.l-heads to the niches. Two Venetian lions have closed books with the date 1475. The sacristy contains some fine embroidered vestments and several interesting pieces of metal-work--a ciborium of the fifteenth century of silver, with a pyramidal roof, a large silver chalice of Venetian late fifteenth-century work in _repousse_, a monstrance with round upper part and an angel with a scroll and the inscription "O Salutaris," &c., decorated with translucent enamel.

There is also a very curious sixteenth-century crozier of gilded copper enriched with silver bands and rosettes, which repeats and enlarges on the idea of Bishop Valaresso's crozier at Zara. Inside the crook (which is a complete circle) is the Coronation of the Virgin, above whose head is a dove, and beneath her feet the head of the serpent, which terminates it. She is crowned by a half-figure emerging from a flower, wearing the kind of high mitre which is frequently given to G.o.d the Father; behind her is a similar half-figure of Moses bearing a scroll, and with his shoes on the ground before him. On the outside are busts of Christ and six Apostles, right and left in profile, also springing from flowers, all with nimbi; lower down are the twelve prophets, holding labels with their names, and set close one above the other. At the top of the stem are six figures, four Evangelists, S. John the Baptist, and Elijah. Below are twelve little busts of patriarchs named on labels. The knop has twisted colonnettes at the angles, with swags hanging from the lower parts, and half-length figures above a canopy with one arch and two half-arches on each face; on the flat surfaces between are miscellaneous saints; below are three bishops and three other saints, and below them are representations of the six days of creation; the words "Opvs Presbyteri Pavli Silvii Tivnio lavs Deo" can be deciphered. The stem is sheathed with silver plates with stamped patterns.

The ruined church of S. Marco, now undergoing restoration, has a fine campanile, rather dilapidated, and sepulchral slabs of members of patrician families, and the Franciscan convent, S. Maria delle Grazie, has a similar campanile, both of which were probably rebuilt after the Turkish raid of 1571 under Uluz-Ali, the Calabrian renegade. The door in the western facade of this church resembles that of the cathedral at Ossero, and appears to belong to the original building of 1471. Within it are three interesting altar-pieces by Francesco da Santa Croce; one above the high-altar has two rows of panels with figures of the Madonna, SS. Helena, Lucy, Clara, Elizabeth, Stephen, Peter, Francis, Anthony, Bernardino of Siena, and Bonaventura; another shows seven prophets; and a third has the Madonna in the centre, with three little angels below, and S. Jerome on the left, and S. John on the right. The church also contains a S. Francis by Jacopo Palma, and a S. Diego and S. Francesco di Paola by Jacopo Ba.s.sano, restored. The princ.i.p.al treasure of the convent, however, is the great Last Supper by Matteo Rosselli, a very impressive picture, which fills the end wall of the refectory above the panelling, and contains his own portrait (1578-1650). The table at which the Apostles are seated is in the form of a horseshoe, with Judas on the near side. The story goes that Rosselli went to Ragusa to deliver some paintings commissioned from him, and on his way back fell ill, and was obliged to land at Lesina, where the Franciscans took care of him and nursed him back to health; in grat.i.tude he painted this picture for them. The great cypress, which spreads almost like an oak, he may have sat under during his convalescence.