hich the ruins of Due
Castelli are seen towards the west. They can be visited from Canfanaro.
Where the valley narrows upon two projecting spurs, nearly opposite to
each other, were Monte Castello, or Moncastello, and Castello Parentino,
given to the church of Parenzo by Otho II., but entirely destroyed long
ago. These were the "Due Castelli" (two castles). The sea is five
kilometres away. The walls and towers (which were built about 1616 by
the _provveditore_, Marco Loredan) from a distance appear well
preserved, but the only buildings remaining within are two churches and
the castle.

The double girdle of walls of the castle, with well-preserved
battlemented towers, is the principal factor in the effect. The gateways
are pointed: outside the walls, towards Castel Parentino, is the
pedestal for the municipal standard; on the other side is an illegible
inscription in which the date 1475 may be deciphered. The more important
church, S. Sofia, still has its outside walls, the three apses, with
traces of frescoes in the central one, and the walls of the sacristy. At
the beginning of the fourteenth century it appears to have belonged to
the Castropola, and then to the Count of Gorizia; but in 1420 the
Venetians appointed a podesta. In 1616 the Uscocs sacked the place, and
the plague of 1630-1631 slew many of the remaining inhabitants. The
district grew malarious; and at the beginning of the next century the
rector, the ministers, the chapter, and the few people who remained took
the precious things which the church still retained and moved to S.
Silvestro, Canfanaro. S. Sofia was abandoned on June 7, 1714. The
fourteenth-century pulpit, brought with them, is hexagonal, with
subjects in the panels, and supported on six columns. In one panel a
female figure holds two triple-towered castles of the same shape as
those in the arms of Muggia. Malaria still keeps the district clear of
houses, though the land is cultivated.

[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE CASTLE, PISINO

_To face page 137_]

A few miles from Canfanaro to the north-west is Pisino, the capital of
Istria, situated upon and about the rock beneath which the river Foiba
disappears. The railway winds round the sides of green and wooded hills,
rising with each curve till it is some height above the city. The
landscape is more striking than is usual in Istria, hills of some
size appearing on the horizon, while in the middle distance the Foiba
meanders through a fruitfu