"A morning's ramble made me acquainted with all the characteristic beauties of the place, which is a perfect tame oasis among much uninteresting scenery. The picturesque buildings of the city (which seems to occupy the site of some ancient place); the valley below it, with its clear stream and great walnut-trees; the numerous fountains ; the innumerable caves in the rocks around, now used as stabling for goats, which cluster in swarthy multitudes on tiers of crags ; the convents and shrines scattered here and there in the suburbs ; the crowded houses and the lofty spires of the interior ; and the perfectly Poussinesque castle, with its fine corner tower commanding the whole scene: so many fine features in a circumscribed space it is not common to see, even in Italy."
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Original Language: English
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Sources
Edward Lear, as quoted in Journals of a landscape painter in southern Calabria, & c., R. Bentley, 1852, p. 237-238.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Melfi
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Melfi
Melfi is an Italian city in the Basilicata region. Inhabited by the Daunians and Lucanians, Melfi gained notability under the Normans, who raised it as capital of the Duchy of Apulia. Emperor Frederick II emanated here the so-called "Constitutions of Melfi", considered the basis of the modern administrative state. From the Angevin domain, the city lost its importance and began a period of decline. After the Italian unification, Melfi was a focal point of the brigandage and was conquered by the l
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