AFTER SO MUCH EXPLORATION INLAND, LET US RETURN TO THE SEA. WE HEAD SOUTH-WEST TOWARDS THE SORRENTINE PENINSULA, WHICH CLOSED OFF THE BAY OF NAPLES TO THE SOUTH. THE FIRST TOWN WE COME UPON IS CASTELLAMMARE DI STABIA, THE ROMAN STABIA, WHICH WAS DESTRYED BY THE ERUPTION OF A.D. 79, TOGETHER WITH POMPEI AND HERCULANEUM. THANKS TO ITS THERMAL SPRINGS, HOWEVER WHICH CONTINUED TO FLOW, STABIA WAS ABLE TO RECOVER, GOING ON TO BECOME A RENOWNED SPA. THE ANGEVINS BUILT A PALACE HERE AND CHARLES III OF BOURBON HAD ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS UNDERTAKEN. THE BOURBONS ALSO HAD A NAVAL SHIPYARD AND A COMPLEX OF THERMAL BATHS CONSTRUCTED. ONE SHOULD VISIT THE TOWN'S ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM IN PARTICULAR, FOR IT CONTAINS IMPORTANT FINDINGS FROM THE LOCAL EXCAVATIONS. IMMEDIATELY NEXT TO THE MUSEUM, THERE IS THE ELEVENTH CENTURY CASTLE, AND FURTHER ON, THE "SCRAJO", WHOSE GLEAMING WHITHE POOL WE CAN SEE CLEARLY FROM ABOVE. THE WATER IS SULPHUROUS AND SO COLD THAT IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO IMMERSE ONESELF. THE THREESTOREYED BELLTOWER WE ARE APPROACHING BELONGS TO THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY CATHEDRAL OF VICO EQUENSE, WHERE G. FILANGIERI IS BURIED. SET ON A SMALL PROMONTORY, HERE IS THE CASTELLO GIUSSO. IT WAS PROBABLY BUILT IN THE REIGN OF CHARLES OF ANJOU, BUT IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY IT WAS TOTALLY RECONSTRUCTED. ALTERATIONS WERE WEREAGAIN MADE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. IT BECAME THE PROPERTY OF THE JESUITS, AND THEN PASSED INTO PRIVATE HANDS. SET IN A LARGE GARDEN, THE CASTELLO GIUSSO STANDS SHEER ABOVE THE SEA DOMINATING THE COAST: ITS BUTTRESSES OF REDDISH STONE MAKE IT A RECOGNIZABLE FEATURE OF THE LANDSCAPE. THE SMALL TOWN WE CAN SEE NOW IS SEIANO. ITS NAME DERIVES FROM ONE OF TIBERIU'S MINISTERS PLENIPOTENTIARY, CONDEMNED TO DEATH BY THE EMPEROR ON SUSPICION OF PLOTTING AGAINST HIM. SEJANUS HAD A VILLA HERE. THE SHEERSIDED CLIFF FACES NORTH, BUT ACROSS ITS IRREGULAR SURFACE, THE PARTS IN SUNLIGHT ARE A WARM GOLDEN COLOUR, WHILE THE PARTS IN SHADOW ARE UNBELIEVABLY BLUE. IT IS THE LIGHT HERE WHICH RENDERS THE LANDSCAPE SO SHARPLY AND WITH SUCH MAGIC; COLOURS RADIATE INTENSITY. SEEN FROM A HIGH ALTITUDE, THE GREEN OF THE VEGETATION AND THE BLUE OF THE SEA, FAR FROM BLENDING, ARE EACH ENHANCED. HERE IS META DI SORRENTO. AMONG THE HOUSES HIGH UP ON THE HILLSIDE, IMMERSED IN THEIR ORANGE-BLOSSOM-SCENTED GARDENS, WE CAN JUST MAKE OUT THE BASILICA OF THE MADONNA DEL LAURO, BUILT ON THE SITE OF A PREVIOUS TEMPLE OF MINERVA. THIS SMALL CHURCH CONFIRMS CHRISTIANITY'S WISDOM IN GRAFTING ITSELF ON TO THE PAGAN RELIGION. THE LAUREL ("LAURO") WAS CONSECRATED TO APOLLO AND ALSO TO HIS SISTER MINERVA. AND THE VIRGIN MARY APPEARED IN THIS VERY PLACE. THE TOWN NOW BENEATH US IS PIANO DI SORRENTO, A SMALL LOCALITY MENTIONED BY PLINY, OVID AND HORACE, AND PARTICULARLY LOVED BY AUGUSTUS. HERE TOO THERE MUST HAVE BEEN MANY VILLAS IN CLASSICAL TIMES, AND A TEMPLE ON THE RUINS OF WHICH THE CHURCH OF S. MICHELE WAS BUILT. INSIDE THE CHURCH THERE ARE SOME FINE PAINTINGS, INCLUDING ONE BY THE SIXTEENTH-CENTURY ARTIST ANDREA DA SALERNO, AND ANOTHER BY THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY PAINTER SOLIMENA. THE GRACEFUL HOLIDAY RESORT OF SANT'AGNELLO, SET ABOVE A PICTURESQUE LITTLE HARBOUR, IS A PRELUDE TO SORRENTO. IN THE LAST CENTURY, THE COASTLINE AROUND SORRENTO WAS VERY FASHIONABLE IN EUROPEAN HIGH SOCIETY, IF WE ARE TO JUDGE BY "LA COCUMELLA", IN AN OLD MONASTERY, AND THE VILLA SIRACUSA, WHICH BELONGED TO PRINCE LEOPOLD OF BOURBON, AND WAS DECORATED WITH A MOST BEAUTIFUL MAJOLICA-TILED FLOOR DESIGNED BY FILIPPO PALIZZI. TODAY BOTH BUILDINGS HAVE BEEN CONVERTED INTO LUXURY HOTELS. STILL MORE VILLAS, ELEGANT HOTELS, ORANGE GROVES A PROFUSION OF ORANGE AND LEMON-GROVES. FLYING ABOVE THEM, THE POET'S LINES COME TO MIND: " GUARDA QUA' CHISTI CIARDINE / SIENTE SIE' 'STI SCIURE ARANCE / 'NU PRUFUMO ACCUSSI' FINE / DINT'A LL'ARIA SE NE VA " ( "LOOK ON THESE GARDENS / SMELL THESE ORANGE BLOSSOMS / SUCH A PENETRATING FRAGRANCE, / IT FILLS THE AIR" ). THE SONG "TORNA A SURRIENTO" IS FAMOUS ALL OVER THE WORLD. IT SEEMS TO BE WRITTEN FOR A SWEETHEART, BUT IT WAS IN FACT MEANT TO CATCH THE ATTENTION OF A FINANCE MONISTER! HERE WE ARE FINALLY ABOVE SORRENTO: A DELIGHTFUL TOWN SITUATED ON A TERRACE OF TUFO ROCK IN THE NORTH-WEST PART OF THE PENINSULA NAMED AFTER IT. SORRENTO IS VERY FAMOUS AS A SEASIDE AND HEALTH RESORT. GREEN PARKS AND GARDENS ARE EVERYWHERE, WHILE INLAND, ON THE HILLSIDE, THERE ARE VILLAS SET AMONG OLIVE-GROVES, PALMTREES AND ORANGE-AND LEMON-GROVES. WITH ITS MILD CLIMATE AND BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE, IT IS NOT SURPRISING THAT THE EARLIEST SETTLEMENTS HERE DATE BACK TO NEOLITHIC TIMES. IT IS SAID THAT SORRENTO WAS FOUNDED BY THE SAME PEOPLE WHO COLONIZED CAPRI, AND AFTERWARDS ISCHIA. THE ONE CERTAINTY IS THAT BEFORE THE FIFTH CENTURY B.C., IT WAS GREEK. IT THEN BECAME A CAMPANIAN, OR MORE PRECISELY, AN OSCAN TOWN.AS SUCH, IT HELPED HANNIBAL DURING THE SECOND PUNIC WAR AGAINST ROME. IT ALSO FORMED PART OF A LEAGUE HEADED BY NOCERA; AND YET, IT IS ON RECORD THAT, IN 89, SURRENTUM WAS MADE A ROMAN CITIZEN COLONY AS A REWARD FOR NOT HAVING TAKEN PART IN THE SOCIAL WAR WHICH ALMOST EVERY CAMPANIAN CITY HAD FOUGHT IN ORDER TO REMAIN INDEPENDENT FROM ROME. WHEN IT BECAME A ROMAN MUNICIPALITY, EMPERORS AND NOBLE FAMILIES CAME TO PASS THEIR HOLIDAYS THERE. IN 420 IT BECAME AN INDEPENDENT DIOCESE, GOVERNED BY DUKES AND ARCHONS. IT WAS THEN OCCUPIED BY THE GOTHS, AND WAS SUBSEQUENTLY A BYZANTINE TOWN, FOR ABOUT THREE HUNDRED YEARS. IN THE NINTH CENTURY, IT BECAME AN AUTONOMOUS DUCHY, AND IN ORDER TO PRESERVE ITS INDEPENDENCE FOUGHT AGAINST THE REPUBBLIC OF AMALFI, THE LOMBARDS FROM SALERNO AND THE SARACENS. THE WATCHTOWERS WE HAVE SEEN ALL ALONG THE COASTLINE WERE BUILT TO DEFEND THE TOWN FROM THE SARACEN RAIDS. THE DUCHY ENDED IN 1137, AS IN NAPLES, WITH SURRENDER TO THE NORMANS. YET SORRENTO WAS ALWAYS A COMBATIVE TOWN, ESPECIALLY UNDER THE ARAGONESE; EVEN BEFORE THAT, HOWEVER, IT HAD BEEN DIVIDED BETWEEN ANGEVINS AND DURAZZESCHI. IN 1558 IT WAS ATTACKED AND PLUNDERED BY BARBARY CORSAIRS; IN 1648 IT PUT UP A VALIANT RESISTANCE TO THE DUC DE GUISE. TORQUATO TASSO IS THE MOST CELEBRATED NATIVE OF THE TOWN: HE WAS BORN THERE IN 1544. TOWARDS THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY SORRENTO BECAME A LEADING HOLIDAY RESORT. THE REMAINS OF PRE-ROMAN SORRENTO ARE SCARCE SOME REMMANTS OF AN ARCH AND A STRETCH OF WALL DATING BACK TO THE FOURTH OR FIFTH CENTURY WHILE THERE ARE NUMEROUS ROMAN REMAINS ALL OVER THE TOWN, LIKE THE VILLA OF AGRIPPA POSTUMUS, THE SITE OF WHICH IS NOW PARTLY OCCUPIED BY A HOTEL, AND THE VILLA AT PUNTA DEL CAPO, CELEBRATED IN VERSE BY STATIUS AND PRESUMABLY BUILT FOR POLLIO FELIX, ALTHOUGH IN LATER PERIODS IT WAS GENERALLY KNOWN AS THE "BATHS OF QUEEN GIOVANNA". FRAGMENTS OF ROMAN BUILDINGS ARE FOUND IN ALMOST ALL THE CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE: FOR EXAMPLE, THE BEAUTIFUL BELLTOWER OF THE CATHEDRAL WAS BUILT IN THE ELEVENTH CENTURY, BUT INCORPORATES ROMAN MARBLES, CAPITALS, COLUMNS AND RELIEFS.