r portion is now a wine-store; the
upper, reached by steps, is vaulted like a crypt, nine spans resting on
four low columns. It has been modernised, but the three apses are
untouched externally, crowned with a corbelled arcuated cornice, the
centre one being the largest. The cathedral has a doorway on the south
side not now used; the round arch has a torus moulding, pilaster strips,
and caps beneath a gabled hood, made of the local marble and bleached by
the sun to a delightful varied yellow.

[Illustration: IN THE HARBOUR, BESCA NOVA

_To face page 175_]

Close to the Porta di Su is another Romanesque church--S. Maria. The
interior has been modernised, though a few caps resembling those in
the cathedral remain; but the tower (at the west end) has two stories,
with two circular-headed windows with buttress between unspoilt. At the
other side of the road is S. Francesco, which has a tower of five
stories near the east end, and long trefoil-headed windows. The
high-altar-piece in this church (a Madonna with saints) is ascribed to
Pordenone (1531), and there is an interesting pulpit with five marquetry
panels, S. Francis receiving the stigmata in the centre, and
personifications of four Christian graces in the others, good work of
the seventeenth century.

The Venetian clock-tower, now a cafe, bears the date 1493 on a panel of
the winged lion above the pointed arch, but must be earlier than that
date, as it also bears the Frangipani escutcheon. The loggia was behind
it. In this piazza are carved panels from a Venetian well or fountain,
with an inscription of 1558 ascribing its erection to Antonio Gradenigo,
swags of flowers and fruit, a S. Mark's lion with a tower by the sea,
&c.; and in the walls here and there are encrusted a few antique
inscriptions.

A walk of about forty minutes brings one to the shore of Val Cassione, a
nearly semicircular bay with only a narrow entrance from the Quarnerolo.
The water is generally smooth like a pond, the mountain of Treskavac,
which rises to the north-east, sheltering it. The island of Zoccolante,
girdled with ilex and maples, lies opposite the village of Ponte, and on
it is the Franciscan monastery of Cassione. A pergola shelters the path
from the boat-house to the porch, and the cloister is full of flowers
and bushes. The church has an altar-piece by Girolamo da S. Croce,
signed and dated 1535, and a Raffaellesque Virgin and sleeping Child.
The library contains a few early pr