This inscription is interesting as showing that there was a school attached to the basilica before the fourth century. The third panel surrounded the altar, the rectangle of which is marked by the sunken places in the marble slab where the columns stood. A piece of marble of the same size as the sinkings was found not far away. At the right is a square of about 3 ft. 3 in., with a framing of white bands and triangles of colour 10 in. broad, reducing the internal square to 19 in. In the centre is a portion of a cross based on the swastika, and a fish. On the left a cross, formed by the intersection of two oval rings, appears above the fish. These symbolic crosses point to a very early date. The doorstep of the oratory shows signs of considerable wear, and the mosaic has been roughly repaired near the word picinvs. The fishes are apparently insertions, later in date than the original mosaic (which has the structural characteristics of the second century). This suggests that the first basilica may have been a portion of the house of a Christian of position, of which examples occur in Rome. It was probably burnt when Diocletian ordered the destruction of all Christian churches in 303 A.D., since charcoal was found amongst the masonry. The pavement, much broken up by tombs and by the old cistern constructed in the garden, extended under the north aisle of the present building; and the site of the altar is shown by lifting a trap-door in the chapel in the north arm of the cross, for the present basilica was made cruciform in plan in 1846-1847, by the erection of two chapels. The mosaics found in the garden have been completely excavated; they are covered over with glazed outhouses, and can be easily seen. Later excavations made in 1900 have proved that this first basilica had two equal naves, and remains of a marble chancel recalled the phrase in the S. Maurus inscription found beneath the high-altar in 1846: "ideo in honorem duplicatus est locus."

The second basilica was probably Constantinian. The present one coincides with it, except that the apse is polygonal and projects towards the east, and that the lines of the walls bend a little to the left from a line drawn across between the modern chapels. The floor of this basilica is about 2 ft. 9 in. below that of the present one. The mosaic pavement is well preserved nearly all over the surface; and the sacristan opens numerous trap-doors, and puts down tapers, to show the most interesting portions. The cills of two of the doors still remain 9 in. higher and much worn by traffic; the third was destroyed to place a sarcophagus against the wall of the church. Between the two pavement levels several unfinished caps and columns of limestone were found, and also two pedestals and one base among the foundations of the present nave arcade.

Beneath the presbytery is a choir and presbytery of the form used in the most ancient Constantinian basilicas. A sloping platform led up to the step upon which the bishop's seat stood at the centre of the semicircle, flanked by seats on each side for presbyters, the places being marked by red lines painted upon the fine plaster which covers the low wall, rising about 8 in. above the floor, itself 2 ft. 3½ in. above the level of that of the nave. The diameter of the semicircle is about 18 ft., and it is floored with mosaic. Outside runs a white band 6 in. wide, within which is a band of ornament with two black lines at each side; one of them dentilled. This feature is 20 in. wide, with a waving stem with volutes and leaves of ivy occupying the central 12 in., black and grey on white. In the centre of all are other black leaves and scrolls in red, damaged by a mediæval tomb. Three steps led down to the choir, for the singers, sub-deacons, and deacons. It has a plaster floor of a porphyry purple colour, and reaches as far as the third column of the present nave, counting from the east. It was afterwards extended on a lower level, reached by steps on each side, one of which is still in place. The mosaic pavement of this lower nave continues as far as a line which cuts across the central apse, appearing outside the ends of the aisles, as well as outside the semicircle of the presbytery just described, as at S. Maria, Grado. The presbytery wall is rough masonry, as if it had been external, and there are no signs of its having been decorated in any way; but the oblong plan with the apse some way within is found also at Salona, and in Syria and North Africa. Traces of a wall parallel to that of the north aisle, and beyond it, suggest the existence of rooms to the north.

An excavation in front of the door of the sacristy discovered a square mosaic on this level with inscription—

THEOFRASTVS [et]
IANVARIVS DIAC
FEC · P · CCC

—which commenced beneath the chord of the existing apse and terminated in a line with the end of the wall of the earlier presbytery. West of it, and separated by a smooth and even division, as if a wall or screen had been there, mosaics previously discovered stretched to the west door. On the south side a similar division of the mosaic was found, a bit of a colonnette and a few fragments as of a balustrade or cancellum. The spaces thus marked off were probably prothesis and diaconicon, the latter being to the left, where the two deacons gave the pavement. In the left aisle were five different designs given by as many donors. The right aisle was simpler. In the nave an inscription was found mentioning the Clamosus who was named on the earlier pavement, but in conjunction with Victorina, either his daughter or a second wife. This proves that no great time intervened between the erection of the second and the regular use of the first basilica. The inscription found beneath the high-altar, already referred to, mentions two churches, and states that the first was repaired by the prayers of S. Maurus, and that his body was transferred to that place; and calls him bishop and confessor. Till 1354 his relics remained there, when the Genoese admiral, Pagano Doria, took them to Genoa as booty when he had sacked the city, placing them in the abbey church belonging to his family. The Marquis Doria soon returned them. In mediæval documents the district of the city of Parenzo is called "territorio, terra di S. Mauro."

The present cathedral was erected by Euphrasius between 531 and 542. This is proved by his mosaic inscription, which states that "in the eleventh year of his episcopate" (543) he had endowed it; for the endowment would naturally come after the building. He found the second basilica likely to fall, with the roof only kept up by chains. The columns are of Greek cipollino, like those at S. Vitale, Spirito Santo, S. Francesco, SS. Apollinare Nuovo and in Classe, Ravenna, and in S. Maria, Pomposa, and were worked by the same workmen in the Proconesos workshops: for on columns at S. Vitale and Parenzo, and also at Pomposa, are found the same mason's marks, monograms uniting the letters ΠΤΕ for Petrus and Ιω for Joannes. The bases are Attic, as at Ravenna and SS. Sergius and Bacchus, Constantinople; and, of the eighteen caps in the nave, six are exactly similar to those of the lower arcade of S. Vitale, several are like others at Grado, two are like a damaged one at Pomposa, and others are much like some at Otranto and Rome. At Venice, too, capitals of the same types occur in considerable number. The super-abaci are of Greek marble, with a circular plaque bearing the monogram of Euphrasius. On the north the soffits of the arches retain the original stucco ornaments, all different; on the south they have disappeared.

The mosaics in the apse closely resemble those of the Arian baptistery at Ravenna in style. The figure of S. Maurus might almost have been worked from the cartoon of one of the Apostles there. In the centre of the semi-dome is a figure of the Virgin with the Infant Saviour, clothed in white and gold. Above, a hand holding a crown emerges from clouds. On each side are an angel and three large figures; on the left are Archbishop Claudius, Euphrasius the bishop, with a small figure of his son, and S. Maurus, holding a jewelled urn; Euphrasius holds his church. The three figures on the other side are unnamed; one bears a book, and the other two crowns. The ground is gold, and below, at the springing of the dome, is the long dedicatory inscription in gold letters on a blue ground. On the wall below are mosaics between the windows. An angel occupies the central pier, and on the piers on either side is a saint, probably SS. Maurus and John the Baptist. On the wide wall spaces beyond the windows are the Annunciation on the north, and the Salutation on the south. The soffit of the triumphal arch has medallions of female saints within wreaths, and at the summit an Agnus Dei. The lower part of the wall is separated from the mosaics by an ornamental plaster moulding, and is decorated with a remarkably fine series of panels in opus sectile, eight designs in couples answering to each other on either side, with a single design above the bishop's seat in the centre, on which the monogram of Euphrasius again occurs. The colours and materials used are green and red porphyry, two blues, a green vitreous paste, a dull-red marble, and a bluish-green marble which has perished a good deal and is now preserved under glass plates cut to fit the shapes, occasional spots of a beautiful orange colour, like a marble used in inlays at S. Vitale, a very dark blue, almost black, a pale yellow-green, and a pale purple like chocolate powder. The white is generally mother-of-pearl, or marble, veined with a pale grey, and a good deal of Oriental alabaster is used. The panel above the simple bishop's throne has a hill, with a golden cross on a green ground diapered with mother-of-pearl, and with tall panels at the sides with the seven golden candlesticks. On a lower level than the throne a marble seat runs round the apse, terminated by two slabs carved with dolphins.

The architect, Signor Tommaso Natale, discovered a mosaic above the triumphal arch a few years ago, which had been hidden by the late Renaissance "improvements." It consisted of a long strip of gold, on which the Apostles stood, clothed in white robes gemmed with crosses, six on each side of a central figure of Christ, robed in purple and seated on the globe. He has a cruciferous nimbus, and is blessing with the right hand, whilst with the left He holds an open book inscribed "Ego svm lvx vera." On the right are S. Peter with the keys, S. Andrew with a book, S. James with a crown, SS. Bartholomew and Thomas with books, and S. Simon with a crown; on the left S. Paul with two scrolls, S. John with a crown, SS. Philip and Matthew with books, S. James Alpheus with a crown, and S. Jude with a book. The names are inscribed above the figures, and a band of dark red with golden gems surrounds the whole. The heads of Christ and SS. Bartholomew and Matthew were damaged by brackets belonging to the roof. The whole of these mosaics have been restored by a Roman mosaicist, Signor Bornia.

The altar of Euphrasius was retained till the time of Bishop Folcherius (1208-1220), who substituted a larger one to contain more relics. A few years after, Bishop Adalpert raised the level of the choir about eight inches, and the altar to correspond, reconsecrating it May 8, 1233. The present ciborium was put up in 1277 by Bishop Otho, using the old columns and caps. It has slightly pointed arches, with Venetian dentil borderings, and mosaics in the spandrils. On the west side is the Annunciation, and on the other three sides heads of saints in circles; the vault is also covered with mosaic. A long inscription in Lombardic letters gives the date and the name of the donor.

The pala was made in 1452, and cost 600 ducats of gold, half of which the commune contributed by selling useless church objects, while half was paid by Bishop Giovanni, a Parentine by birth. It is a fine work in the style of the early Renaissance, with a Virgin and Child in the centre, S. Mark to the right, and S. Peter to the left, and outside of them a bishop with an elaborate crozier, and a deacon holding a model of the town—SS. Maurus and Eleutherius. The figures are within classical niches, the sides of which vanish in perspective towards the central point. Along the cornice runs a series of small medallions with busts of the Apostles. In the chapel of the Sacrament are some stalls to which the same date (1452) is given. They are quite Gothic as to the ornament and structure, and even the figures present considerable contrast with those of the pala. There are five seats with backs, canopy, and ends at each side of the altar. At each end are well-executed figures among foliage scrolls, which are out of scale—on one side, a Virgin and Child and a bishop; on the other, two saints, one of whom is an ecclesiastic. The uprights between the seats are faced with twisted colonnettes, and the backs have a quatrefoil pattern made by cutting the bars of a rectangular framing ornamentally.

In the sacristy is a picture by Antonio da Murano in the original frame. Both frame and picture are in a bad state, the gesso having scaled off in places. In the centre is the Madonna and Child, flanked by two full-length saints on each side, SS. Francis and Nicholas, S. Simeon, and another male saint; above the Virgin is a half-length of the dead Christ; and, above the other saints, half-lengths of SS. Mary Magdalene and Christopher, Catherine and Anthony. It is signed "Antonius de Muriano, 1448." In the treasury is a Greek Benedictional cross, with subjects carved in wood, and a silver-gilt enamelled case. There are five subjects on each face, well carved and traditional in their design. On one side is the Annunciation at the top; in the centre, the Baptism, with angels assisting; at each end, an Evangelist seated; below, Christ as Judge between two saints, and at His feet men in the abyss. On the other side is the Presentation in the Temple at the top; in the centre, the Crucifixion, with the thieves, the Virgin, and holy women. Two Evangelists are seated in the arms, and below is either the Resurrection, or the Harrowing of Hell. The case has jewels and pearls inserted plentifully, and is decorated with floral enamelled ornament in green, blue, and red enamel. It is made to take to pieces. The handle bears the name of the maker, "Ezechiel, monk of the monastery of Laura." It is ascribed to the thirteenth century, but is very like those at Kloster Savina in the Bocche, which are seventeenth-century, the character of the floral design agreeing well with that period.

In 1847 Bishop Peteani made considerable alterations, which included the re-arrangement of the high-altar to face the east; and at that time the relics of SS. Julian and Demetrius were found in a square chest of white marble inscribed with the date of consecration and the name of the maker, Adalpert. The ambo in the right aisle, made up of columns and carved slabs of the sixth century, is due to him, as are the chapels to right and left of the nave. The present pavement was laid down in 1880, when some inscriptions of the Euphrasian period were removed to the baptistery. The triapsidal chapel, entered through an elliptical ante-room, beyond the sacristy, was probably a relic chapel, and is of the sixth century—a mosaic of that date was found here five feet below the surface; but the vaulted passage by which it is approached is of the thirteenth century, while the superstructure of the chapel is Venetian, added to assist in the defence of the place from this side, for the sea is quite close. To the east of the city towards Torre Nuova a Christian cemetery was discovered in 1893 close to the road, consisting of three little apsed buildings close together, a larger one with a small one contiguous, with buildings belonging to the original villa which occupied that site at the end of the first or beginning of the second century. A coin of Vespasian was found at the time, and a ring with a palm engraved on it. There are several tombs of the kind in Rome belonging to the fourth century. The mosaics found in the fifth building are now in the baptistery. It is believed that these buildings were memorial chapels erected over the tombs of the Parentine martyrs, and that the greater part of the materials was used in the erection of the church of S. Eleutherius near, after the translation of the relics to the cathedral.

The plan of the atrium of the cathedral is Roman, not Byzantine like those at Grado, Ravenna, and Constantinople, which have a portico and the baptistery at the side, separate from the basilica. In this case the pavement of the atrium was seven or eight inches above that of the narthex. Along the façade a herring-bone pattern pavement of white and red tesseræ was found which continued farther to the north. The gable of the church was decorated with mosaic; between the windows the seven Apocalyptic candlesticks were represented, and there were figures at the sides, all within a containing border. This has been restored. Above, in the centre, the feet of a figure of Christ seated on the globe may be traced, and folds of the draperies of figures at the sides. Scarcely any of the tesseræ remain, but the lights of the drawing appear in relief. A certain test of the age of the different parts of the building is afforded by the quality of the mortar used. By this it is proved that the eastern apse is due purely to Euphrasius, the foundations being set in mortar of the kind used by him; and also that he kept the atrium pretty much as it was, only adding the columns with Byzantine caps. The baptistery on the other side also was very little altered. It had a floor of stucco, and was circular internally; enough was found between the campanile and the door from the piazza into the atrium to develop the whole curve. Euphrasius made it octagonal, and surrounded the font with marble slabs, the marks of which still remain; a few fragments were found, together with some gilded and coloured tesseræ, showing that it had mosaic enrichments. It is now used to store discarded portions of the early buildings. Here is the Euphrasian altar, standing on a slab of marble with sunk squares in the corners for the bases of the ciborium columns, and enough panels and colonnettes to make a restoration of the chancel of the choir, though it is equally likely that they belonged to a baldacchino above the font, similar to that which still exists at Cividale, and once existed at Pola and at Cittanova. Here are also two caps from the fourth-century church, fragments of mosaic pavement found in mediæval tombs, and a good many pieces of eighth and ninth-century carving.

The survival of the Constantinian plan is explained by the slight alterations made by Euphrasius. The walled-up doors in the baptistery show that it was not an isolated building. They probably gave entrance to dressing-rooms for the two sexes attached to it, waiting-rooms for the baptized and their relations, &c.; and an arch of the fourth century, near to which the herring-bone pavement runs, was probably the entrance to a portico joining the basilica with the baptistery, or the consignatorium, where the bishop anointed the neophytes directly after baptism, before they made their solemn entry into the church. This latter building still exists as the "cantina" of the bishop's palace—a true basilica, with a nave almost square, and with a double-walled apse on the north, and corridors east and west, approached on the south side by a portico. In front was an oblong court. The walls are all of Roman work, and the outer apse has an arcade on pilasters, with large arched windows. A few years ago repairs to the roof led to the discovery of windows in the inner apse. The work round the doors is Euphrasian. The corridors were spanned by arches, which are now built up, and thus make small rooms. There was a second story, which was the bishop's palace; but the second floor of the west wing is mediæval, and it is probable that the great hall was made at that period by dividing the basilica horizontally on the level of the second story. After the custom of anointing the newly baptized in the consignatorium was abandoned, it became the chapel of S. Nicolò, then of S. Mary Magdalene, and the original use was quite forgotten. The campanile is of the fifteenth century and uninteresting.

It was Easter Eve on the occasion of our first visit to Parenzo, and while we were studying the architecture women were constantly bringing their Easter cakes and other food to be blessed at the altar of S. Maurus in the north aisle. Later there was a Resurrection service with a fine procession, with many men and boys robed in scarlet carrying long candles. A crucifer in purple bore the capitular cross, followed by canons in violet and other officials, the bishop's coachman in a long blue buttoned coat, two little acolytes in surplices, with cloths embroidered with crosses on their shoulders and censers, deacons in dalmatics of cloth of gold, a suffragan bishop in cope of cloth of gold and a white mitre, and the bishop similarly robed. A large painted flag of red silk was carried in the procession, and two small painted figures of our Lord, one on the cross, and the other, a half-length, emergent from the tomb. The bishop, fully robed, went first into the capitular chapel and then to the chapel of the Holy Sacrament, where the dead Christ was laid out in a tomb, took the Host and brought it out, being then bareheaded beneath a canopy. The procession then filed out into the atrium, leaving it by the bishop's door at the side of the baptistery, and, passing through the street, regained the atrium by the usual entrance. The Host was then placed on the high-altar, and a kind of benediction service held, in which a fine bass sang several solos. The church was thronged by a devout crowd of both sexes and all classes.

The city was called "Julia Parentium" under the Romans, from the colony of legionaries sent by Augustus. The tribute to Rome was as much as that paid by Pola, the capital of the province. There were temples to Mars and Neptune, of which there are some remains, drums of a few of the columns and a portion of the podium and steps, now used as the lower courses of poor houses. The buildings were destroyed in the fifteenth century, the materials being used to construct the quay. The main street leading from this part of the town to the Porta a Terra may be the Via Decumana of a Roman camp. The site of the amphitheatre is indicated by the curved line of the houses built on its foundations, but there are no remains of Roman work visible. Reliefs of the tenth century are encrusted in the wall of a house on the site of the ancient church of S. Peter; and the Casa dei Santi in the Via Predol, which probably occupies part of the area of the convent and church of S. Cassiano, has two figures on brackets between the windows of the first floor, apparently late eleventh-century work. The Canonica, built in 1251, a fine piece of Romanesque domestic architecture, has six two-light windows on the first floor, and shell-headed niches round the door, with a cross and inscriptions. It was burnt in 1488, and in the eighteenth century was converted by the chapter into a store for the tithes of wine, corn, oil, and fruit, but has been restored, together with the adjoining entrance to the atrium. There are several Venetian palaces in the main street. One, of the fourteenth century, is especially fine. It has big cable string-courses and brackets of lions' heads and necks, and a large and imposing window on the first floor.

There have been three enceintes: (a) Roman; (b) that completed about 1250 under Patriarch Warner of Gillach; (c) a third commenced in the fifteenth century on the same lines, but a little larger. In the eighteenth century the circuit of the walls was about a mile. There were two principal gates—the Porta a Mare and the Porta a Terra—and two posterns made for the convenience of the inhabitants. The city was divided into four Rioni—Pusterla, Porta Nuova, Marafor, and Predol. The existing square tower flanking the Porta a Terra was erected in 1447 under Nicolò Lion; he signs it with initials, and there is a coat of arms beneath the panel of the lion of S. Mark. At the bottom of the frame are the date and an inscription giving the name of the architect, "Mag. Johannes de Pari Tergestinus," and of his son Lazarus, the sculptor. His name occurs on the architrave of the rebuilt church of S. John the Baptist of Volciana on the Carso, with the date 1429. The round tower dates from after the incursion of the Turks into the Carso in 1470, built under Pietro da Mula, 1474. On the Porta della Campana the length of the dagger which was allowed is marked, and the town still preserves one of the "Bocche de' leoni" which were used for secret denunciations. The communal palace was built in 1270, one year before Parenzo gave herself to Venice. Games of cards and dice were allowed under its portico and in the loggia, where the players were under the eyes of the guards.

During the latter half of the thirteenth century Parenzo was in constant contest with her bishop, resisting the financial demands of the ecclesiastical authority with threats and violence. A podestà, at the head of the people, broke into the cathedral, burst open the treasury, and seized the precious objects. In 1270 Marco Michiel, in the name of the commune, forbad the citizens to pay tithe, proclaimed liberty of fishing and pasturage, and took possession of several of the church properties, saying that they had returned to those to whom they properly belonged. In 1278 Bishop Otho excommunicated them for refusing to pay tithe, and because of a rising, in which the palace was invaded and all the authentic privileges and documents thrown into the sea; but the citizens were the stronger, and bishop and canons were driven away from the city. In 1280 there was a delimitation of the land belonging to church and commune. The next bishop, Boniface, renewed the episcopal pretensions denying freehold to both commune and individual citizens. The podestà, Jacopo Soranzo, the commune, and citizens were so enraged that the bishop, in fear of his life, fled to Rovigno, and from thence to Venice. The podestà lodged soldiers in his palace during the war; and in 1284 Boniface fulminated a comprehensive excommunication from Venice against podestà and city. Matters were arranged and he returned to Parenzo, but only to renew his claims. In 1293 the podestà, Jacopo Querini, was disputing with him over a feud at Cervera which he claimed, though it had been in the possession of others for eighty years, and both lost their tempers. The podestà turned to the bishop and said: "I promise you that when my term of office is over I will do you all the harm I can, both publicly and privately; and I pray God and His saints to let me live long enough to see with my own eyes the prophecies fulfilled of the destruction of the Church of Rome, for one may well see that the time is near." On September 14, 1296, the podestà, Giovanni Soranzo, attacked the bishop's palace at the head of the armed populace, intending, as the bishop asserted, to kill him. The prelate took refuge in the Franciscan convent, and escaped by ship to Pirano. Thence he went again to Venice, and excommunicated the whole of his opponents. The podestà threatened to cut off hand and foot from whoever published or executed the ban; and Boniface ordered the prepositum of Pisino to send it to the clergy, which was done next year, but without the desired effect. He acted in the same way with other podestàs, and was often absent from his seat in consequence, thus incurring reproofs from the patriarchs Raimondo and Pietro Gerra. The latter went so far as to attack and destroy the castle of Orsera, where the bishop took refuge.

The people of Parenzo now are more concerned with developing their commerce than with insisting upon their rights, and the quay presents a busy scene when the wine-boats are lading. The casks are so large that two are a load for a yoke of oxen. The cart has sloping sides, and a bed of fresh-cut boughs and hay acts as springs. One of the sides of the cart (of wicker or staves) is removed at the quay, and the casks are rolled down an inclined plane. There were much excitement and some danger as the lumbering weight was turned at right angles to its former course, which was towards the water. The fishermen were busy too; they catch spider-crabs with long spears ending in five prongs, at right angles to the shaft, and forming a kind of cage, which the crabs find it difficult to negotiate when they are raked out of the crannies of the rocks. There was a semi-lunar implement in the boats also, with four internal prongs, at the end of a long shaft, used for catching cuttle-fish.

At the hotel in which we stayed on our first visit there was a green-and-yellow parrot which was very tame. His accomplishments included the saying "Marietta, padrona, and hello" quite clearly, singing and laughing. Its mistress made it flirt with a highly coloured young lady on a poster in a very diverting fashion. At Fiume we saw two parrots of the same kind on perches outside a shop; and my friend, recollecting the friendly bird at Parenzo, made overtures to them, which were not received in the proper spirit, and I am sorry to say that his finger was sore for days after.

There is record of a joust held at Parenzo as late as February 14, 1745. There must have been diverting incidents on that occasion, since the combatants contended with unfamiliar weapons which had been long out of use!

Parenzo is poor in records of craftsmen, and its only artist of repute is Bernardo of Parenzo, who was much employed in his day; pictures by him are preserved in the Accademia at Venice, the Doria Gallery, Rome, in the Louvre, and at Modena. He studied at Padua with Mantegna, under Squarcione, and executed frescoes and chiaroscuro arabesques in the cloister of S. Giustina in that city. When the Austrians converted the convent to military uses the paintings were plastered over, and, although again uncovered in 1895, they were found to be in a much damaged condition. Bernardo died in 1531.

X

Rovigno is thought to be the ancient Arupenum or Rubinum, but is first mentioned by the anonymous Ravennese chronicler, and was probably founded in the third or fourth century. In the walls of the principal church are fragments of sixth-century work. There is a tradition that it was founded when Cissa sank into the sea in the seventh century. The site of this city was near the modern lighthouse, and remains of its buildings are believed to be recognisable beneath the water at the point called Barbariga, on the further side of the Bay of S. Pelagio. The large beds of murex shells in certain places are an indication that there were purple dye-works here, an industry for which Cissa was celebrated. Rovigno is situated upon a rock, and was surrounded with walls. Within their area the houses, as seen from the sea or from the railway station behind the town, seem to be piled one over the other, and culminate very picturesquely in the campanile at the top. Beyond the railway station on the Bay of S. Pelagio are the Berlin aquarium for the study of the marine fauna of the Adriatic, and a sanatorium for scrofulous children, opened in 1888. The neighbourhood being fever-stricken the peasants live in the city, going and returning to their work morning and evening. Their Sunday costume consists of ornamented leather shoes, tight white hose of wool, a broad-sleeved white shirt with a frill in front, dark waistcoat, and flat black cap. They have the curious custom of wearing one large earring in the left ear. Rovigno is a good market for wine—considered the best in Istria—olives, sardines, and hazel-nuts which are reputed the finest in the world. Consequently, amongst the inhabitants are many merchants, and the fishers' guild is very numerous; but the steep streets are narrow and, in wet weather, noisome, and the children do not look as healthy as in many other places. During our stay we saw two funerals in the Colleggiata within a few hours, both attended by a red-robed confraternity which included boys and men. The spectacle in the darkening nave (for it was late afternoon) of the two rows of red-robed figures holding lighted tapers, with two or three ensigns or symbols in the background, was impressive, but marred by atrocious singing. The officiating priest was a fine man; and, as the cortège departed to the cemetery just below the church on the seaward side, there was an impression of solemnity which is often lacking in English funerals. A few late Venetian palaces, with fine loggias at the top to catch the sea-breezes, show above the other houses, and the arch between the fish-market and the Piazza S. Damiano, erected in 1680 under Daniele Balbi, still stands, with the Venetian lion holding a book proudly inscribed: "Victoria tibi Marce Evangelista meus"; but the walls have entirely disappeared, with the exception of one ruinous tower, the "Torre del Boraso," which has been in that state since the sixteenth century. At the beginning of the fourteenth century it belonged to the bishop of Pola; the Colleggio dei Cinque Savi acquired it in 1332, and ordered its occupation by the captain of the Pasenatico and the podestà of Rovigno, asking whether it was best to preserve or destroy it, the former course being determined on.

A curious heptagonal building, the Oratory of the Trinity, which stands some distance outside the ancient walls, appears to be rather early in date. It has a polygonal drum rising from the roof of the lower portion, and two curious little pierced and carved windows about three feet high; one of them is too much broken to make out the design. The other has a crucifix with half-length figures, and consecration cross among the piercings, very roughly cut. The head is slightly pointed. The Colleggiata has been rebuilt in late Renaissance style; and the campanile, crowned by a figure of S. Eufemia, the patron saint of the town, is a copy of that of S. Mark's, Venice. The chapel to the right of the high-altar contains the shrine of the saint, a large unfinished sarcophagus of Greek marble. It has two arches on the side with figures scarcely begun, and an octagonal tablet with curved sides in the middle. The legend is that the body of the saint floated over the waves in the great sarcophagus, and was driven by a storm into a little inlet called the "Armo di S. Eufemia," a short way from the pier, where a square pillar with an inscription of 1720 and the communal arms marks the place where it grounded. Some fishers who went out at dawn were attracted by the miraculous light which shone around it. Several days passed before the heavy sarcophagus could be moved. A certain pious widow, with the suggestive name of "Astuta," had a dream, as a consequence of which a pair of bullocks was yoked to it by her little son, and so it went up the hill to the summit at such a rate as to run over one of the bystanders, who was nearly killed, and fainted. When he revived he revealed the name of the saint, and her bones were found within the sarcophagus together with the history of her martyrdom. From that time the hill has had the name of S. Eufemia. The relics were taken by the Genoese in 1380 and carried to Chioggia. The Venetians rescued them, but carried them to S. Canciano, Venice, where they stayed for thirty years. On their return to Rovigno in 1410 a storm drove the ship to the salt-works in the Canal di Leme, where certain cattle-boats were sheltering. The cattle jumped into the water and danced round the ship! So, at least, a manuscript in the capitular archives relates. Scenes from this legend are painted on the walls of the chapel. In the sacristy is a fourteenth or fifteenth-century picture on a gold ground—a figure of S. John the Baptist, with incidents from his life. It came from a church dedicated to him which was destroyed in 1839.

Rovigno and the neighbourhood have suffered much from piracy. In 965 the Slavs sacked the city. Into the harbour the Uscocs entered one night at the beginning of 1597, and sacked a galley and ten ships laden with rich merchandise belonging to Venice. In the port of Vestre (the birthplace of Maximian of Ravenna), about three miles from Rovigno, an Uscoc ship, with 150 men, attacked a ship of Cattaro which carried letters from the doge of Venice, 6,000 ducats of public money and 4,000 of private, with valuable merchandise. They took everything and also stripped the other Venetian ships in the harbour, leaving the sailors nothing but their shirts!

The Canal of Fasana, between the Brioni Islands and the mainland, a little to the south, was the scene of the crushing defeat of the Venetians by the Genoese in 1379. The quarries in these islands, together with those of Rovigno, provided stone for the ducal and other palaces, the Procuratie at Venice, the murazzi at Chioggia, and the mole at Malamocco. It is but a short distance hence to the entrance to the magnificent harbour of Pola.

Craftsmen of Rovigno have made the name of the town celebrated, such as the sculptors Lorenzo and Antonio del Vescovo, who worked in 1468 at the Camaldulan church of Murano, and Taddeo da Rovigno, who did much decorative carving in Venetian palaces. A more distinguished man was Fra Sebastiano da Rovigno, the lame Slavonian (il Zoppo Schiavone), the teacher of the still more celebrated intarsiatore, Fra Damiano of Bergamo. Some of his works are in the choir and sacristy of S. Mark's, Venice. The name of Donato of Parenzo is also coupled with these Rovignese craftsmen.

XI

One Easter Sunday we drove in lovely weather from Parenzo to S. Lorenzo in Pasenatico, and on to Canfanaro. By the road we passed every now and then farmers' houses, such as the one illustrated, and met groups of peasants going into Parenzo to the festa. As we got further from the city the men were collected in groups, talking, smoking, or playing bowls; whilst the women also by themselves, in knots of as many as twenty, were seated together enjoying a gossip. The landscape was pleasant, but rather featureless, except for the bulk of Monte Maggiore blue to the south-east. We reached S. Lorenzo at the moment of the elevation of the Host, and found the ancient basilica crowded with worshippers, while several men knelt with rosary in clasped hands outside the open doors, their eyes fixed intently upon the altar. After a time the congregation poured out, dressed in most picturesque costumes, and evidently found our appearance quite as interesting and strange as we found theirs. The men had one big earring (as at Rovigno), and wore white shirts with full sleeves, sometimes embroidered, hose of woven wool, a jacket hung loosely over the shoulders, and a little black cap on the head. The women had full skirts of beautiful tertiary colours, rows of coral round their necks, and large silver-gilt brooches, and rosette ornaments on their breasts with chains attached. On their heads, tied round the base of the skull, they had white handkerchiefs, sometimes with ornamented borders. Over the bodice a kind of loose waistcoat was worn.

The church is a basilica with nave and aisles, all terminated by semicircular apses, with an arcade of nine arches of unequal width, owing perhaps partly to the obliquity of the west wall, itself caused by the close proximity of the palace of the Count, which was still in existence till 1833. The three easternmost bays are enclosed as presbytery, and this and other alterations are the work of the seventeenth century; but two of the original pierced window-slabs are still in position in the side apses, traces of the small clerestory windows are visible, and in a wall to the left of the façade are encrusted several fragments of carving which apparently formed part of the original chancel of the ninth or early tenth century. The style of the caps of the nave arcade, the irregularity in their size, and in that of the plain super-abaci above them, also point to the same period. The apses have shallow arcading outside; the campanile is an addition built on to the tower of one of the town gates, the exterior arch of which is stopped; about the height of the nave cornice two great brackets project. Another of the wall-towers near at hand still retains the staircase by which it was ascended. Along the south wall of the church runs a loggia supported on slender columns, and in the piazza in front is the base of the flagstaff which once supported the standard of S. Mark. A gateway with a very pointed arch at the bottom of this piazza forms the entrance to the town. The walls are all of the early Venetian period, and a well-head ordered to be carved in 1331 by Giovanni Contarini has a rampant winged lion half-length, crowned and nimbed, and with a closed book.

The city swore fealty to Venice in 1271, and became in 1304 the seat of the captain of the Pasenatico, an officer who had charge of the fortresses and town walls throughout Istria, and the duty of enlisting foot soldiers, sailors, and oarsmen. Marco Soranzo was the first captain. Fifty-two years after his time a second captaincy was created in Umago, afterwards transferred to Grisignana. At some time between 1312 and 1328 Marino Faliero was governor here. In 1394 the captaincy was removed to Raspo, and subsequently to Pinguente. In 1595 it was given to the podestà and captain of Capodistria, except as regarded Pirano.

The church is said to contain the bodies of SS. Victor and Corona, taken from Due Castelli during the war of Chioggia. The "Chronicle" relates that a Genoese squadron was in the Canal di Leme, and the people of S. Lorenzo sent a deputation suggesting co-operation in an attack on Due Castelli, between which town and itself there were rivalry and hatred. The enterprise was successful, and Due Castelli was sacked and burnt. Tommasini records that the marks of fire were visible in his time. The bodies of the saints were carried off as spoil; but it seems probable that it was a Venetian and not a Genoese fleet which co-operated with the men of S. Lorenzo, since Due Castelli belonged to the patriarch, who was allied to the Genoese.

The road from S. Lorenzo to Canfanaro crosses the Draga valley (which is 600 or 700 ft. deep) by long zigzags, from which 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 podestà. 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.