Studies of Travel: ItalyFreeman, Edward A. (Edward Augustus)
History
Studies of Travel: Italy
Freeman, Edward A. (Edward Augustus)
Italy -- Description and travel
One thing is plain, that the builders of the walls of Anagnia, like the
builders of the _cloaca_ at Rome, but most unlike the elder builders
of Cora and Signia, knew as well as any men how to turn arches. On
the highest point of the town, by the modern gate which looks out
towards Ferentino, within the circuit of the ancient _arx_, we may
still see, blocked, partly hidden by the modern gate, disguised
by the arrangements of the mediæval castle, the double gate of the
ancient wall. It is perfectly plain, but with arches thoroughly well
turned, with a double range of voussoirs. A smaller arch of the same
workmanship beside them looks almost as if it had been blocked from the
beginning. The _arx_ itself, it should be remembered, had its separate
wall within that of the city, a noble fragment of which, of exactly the
same character as the town wall, is still to be seen in a narrow street
a little lower down.
When we actually reach Anagni, there can be no doubt that the character
in which it chiefly strikes us is that of the city of the Hernican
walls, if Hernican walls we may call them. But historically Anagni is
so far more famous as the city of mediæval Popes that it is fitting
that it should have something to show in that character also. The
town is rich in mediæval fragments. The main street, in its winding
courses, displays long ranges of blocked arcades, round and pointed,
which, when open, must have given it, narrow and often dim as it is,
no small measure of stateliness. Not a few buildings stand out with
arches of vast height and boldness, suggesting, as it is fit that one
papal city should suggest to another, the mighty works of Rome's absent
Bishops at Avignon. Not remarkable for height, but most remarkable for
their span, are the exceedingly bold arches which support the communal
palace, once, it is said, the dwelling of the Popes, a building which,
on its northern side, shows a range of windows which savour of France
or England rather than of Italy. The houses with their staircases
often present highly picturesque shapes, which in one house in the
main street, where the outside staircase is sheltered by two arches
resting on a graceful column, grow into a form of genuine beauty. And
an elegant form of double window, two round arches divided by a slender
shaft, is characteristic of the architecture of Anagni. It is needless
to add that at Anagni, as everywhere else in Italy, most of these
relics of the skill of former times have been mercilessly disfigured
and mutilated.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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