The Project Gutenberg EBook of By the Ionian Sea, by George Gissing

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Title: By the Ionian Sea
Notes of a Ramble in Southern Italy

Author: George Gissing

Posting Date: July 7, 2009 [EBook #4354]
Release Date: August, 2003
First Posted: January 14, 2002

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BY THE IONIAN SEA ***

Produced by Charles Aldarondo. HTML version by Al Haines

BY THE IONIAN SEA

NOTES OF A RAMBLE IN SOUTHERN ITALY

BY

GEORGE GISSING

CONTENTS

I FROM NAPLES
II PAOLA
III THE GRAVE OF ALARIC
IV TARANTO
V DULCE GALAESI FLUMEN
VI THE TABLE OF THE PALADINS
VII COTRONE
VIII FACES BY THE WAY
IX MY FRIEND THE DOCTOR
X CHILDREN OF THE SOIL
XI THE MOUNT OF REFUGE
XII CATANZARO
XIII THE BREEZY HEIGHT
XIV SQUILLACE
XV MISERIA
XVI CASSIODORUS
XVII THE GROTTA
XVIII REGGIO

CHAPTER I

FROM NAPLES

This is the third day of sirocco, heavy-clouded, sunless. All the
colour has gone out of Naples; the streets are dusty and stifling. I
long for the mountains and the sea.

To-morrow I shall leave by the Messina boat, which calls at Paola. It
is now more than a twelvemonth since I began to think of Paola, and an
image of the place has grown in my mind. I picture a little _marina_; a
yellowish little town just above; and behind, rising grandly, the long
range of mountains which guard the shore of Calabria. Paola has no
special interest that I know of, but it is the nearest point on the
coast to Cosenza, which has interest in abundance; by landing here I
make a modestly adventurous beginning of my ramble in the South. At
Paola foreigners are rare; one may count upon new impressions, and the
journey over the hills will be delightful.

Were I to lend ear to the people with whom I am staying, here in the
Chiatamone, I should either abandon my project altogether or set forth
with dire misgivings. They are Neapolitans of the better class; that is
to say, they have known losses, and talk of their former happiness,
when they lived on the Chiai