ossamer threads of a fancy revelling in the
thoughts of long-extinct principalities and powers. It is the whistle of a
railway-engine descending the slope from Vietri above us down to Salerno;
it is the neighing of the iron horse that has not yet pranced along the
unconquered Costiera d'Amalfi, nor befouled its crystal-clear air with his
smoky breath. For at Vietri we re-enter the every-day world, and leave
behind us the sea-girt fairy-land; Vietri, not Cetara, is the true
frontier town to-day. But the lights of Salerno are drawing nearer and
nearer, and in a few moments of time we are tearing along the broad
lamp-lit Marina of the town, in the middle of which our driver pulls up
suddenly at the entrance of that old-fashioned comfortable inn, the
Albergo d'Inghilterra:

"Another day has told its feverish story,
Another night has brought its promised rest."

[Illustration: MINORI AT SUNSET]

CHAPTER VIII

SALERNO AND THE HOUSE OF HAUTEVILLE

Backed by gentle slopes well wooded and well tilled, and screened from the
northern blasts by its guarding amphitheatre of grey crags, Salerno
occupies a delightful position upon the Bay to which it gives its own
name. The long stretch of its Marina, tolerably clean to the eye if not at
all points agreeable to the nostrils, follows the broad curve of the
strand, and an idle hour or so may pleasantly be whiled away in watching
the fishing craft moored beside the mole and the attendant sailors. At the
northern end of this promenade, in what constitutes the most fashionable
quarter of the place, is a tiny garden with palms and daturas, whilst hard
by stands a large theatre, evidences of the gentility of modern Salerno.
But the whole town appears sleepy and dead-alive to a stranger, though at
the sunset hour a band occasionally plays in this open space, the music
attracting hither a crowd composed of all the divers elements of society
in the quiet old city. Yet though not possessing any great attractions for
a sojourn in itself, Salerno makes an excellent centre whence to explore
the neighbourhood, for it lies within easy reach of the great Benedictine
Abbey of Santa Trinita; of beautiful La Cava, "that Alpine valley under an
Italian sky"; of Nocera, with its ancient cathedral that was once a pagan
temple; and last, but very far from least, of that glorious group of
temples at Paestum. It has tolerable hotels, and if