ed by a
smiling old peasant with gold rings in his ears, who in the expectation of
_forestieri_ coming this way has been patiently sitting for hours on a
boulder. Doffing his battered hat and putting a sunburnt hand to his
mouth, the old fellow in a deep musical bass wakens all the sleeping
echoes that lie in the many folds of the valley, so that we hear the words
of welcome repeated again and again, growing fainter and fainter as the
sound of the voice travels from cliff to cliff. The performer is delighted
with a few _soldi_, and the jaded scarecrow of a horse seems pleased with
his momentary halt. _Iterum altiora petimus_; by degrees we reach the airy
platform upon which Ravello stands, and finally alight at the comfortable
old inn so long associated with the excellent family of Palumbo.

Ravello undoubtedly owes its early foundation to certain patrician
families of Amalfi, which after securing their fortunes decided to leave
the hot close city beside the shore, and to seek new homes in the bracing
air of the hill-top above. Placing itself under the protection of the
powerful Robert Guiscard, Ravello became faithfully attached to the Norman
interest, and in 1086, at the suggestion of the great Count Roger, who
cherished a deep regard for the Rufolo family, the town was created a
bishopric by Pope Victor III. As a subject city of the Norman princes,
Ravello was during this period at the zenith of its fame and importance.
Its actual population is unknown at this distant day, but we learn that
under Count Roger the large area of the city was entirely girdled by
strong walls set with towers; that it contained thirteen churches, four
monasteries, many public buildings, and a large number of private palaces.
Its cathedral was founded in honour of Saint Pantaleone by Niccolo Rufolo,
Duke of Sora and Grand Admiral of Sicily, the head of the powerful family
whose name is still gratefully remembered in this half-deserted town. In
1156 Ravello was honoured by a state visit from Pope Adrian IV.--the
English monk, Nicholas Breakspear, the only Briton who ever succeeded in
gaining the papal tiara and who gave the lordship of Ireland to Henry
Plantagenet--and during his stay the Pontiff was entertained as the guest
of the all-powerful Rufoli. Born of humble parents in the village of
Bensington, near Oxford, Nicholas Breakspear became a monk at St Alban's,
and having once entered the religious life, he rose by sheer force of
intellec