Goth and Saracen, Norman, Teuton and
Turk, seized, pillaged, and abandoned, each in turn, this stronghold
overlooking the narrow sea. Then the earthquakes, ever menacing
between Vesuvius and Etna; that of 1783, which wrought destruction
throughout Calabria, laid Reggio in ruins, so that to-day it has the
aspect of a newly-built city, curving its regular streets,
amphitheatre-wise, upon the slope that rises between shore and
mountain. Of Rhegium little is discernible above ground; of the ages
that followed scarce anything remains but the Norman fortress, so
shaken by that century-old disaster that huge gaps show where its
rent wall sank to a lower level upon the hillside.
At first, one has eyes and thoughts for nothing but the landscape.
From the terrace road along the shore, Via Plutino, beauties and
glories indescribable lie before one at every turn of the head.
Aspromonte, with its forests and crags; the shining straits,
sail-dotted, opening to a sea-horizon north and south; and, on the
other side, the mountain-island, crowned with snow.
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