FILIO . PIISSIMO
ANN . XVIII . M . VIIII . D . XII
IVLIVS . NICOSTRATVS.

[Illustration: PLAN OF PULPIT, MUGGIA VECCHIA]

Upon the piers and walls are remains of paintings of various dates. On
the first pier to the left is S. Catherine, vested as a Byzantine
empress. Further to the east are the Madonna "Blacherniotissa" and S.
Dominic, and near the ambo figures of the four Evangelists; the last
apparently of the period of the foundation of the church, the ninth or
early tenth century. On the last pier, which is broader than the others,
and suggests a later addition (perhaps in the thirteenth century), is a
gigantic S. Christopher, roughly painted, and with the well-known
inscription stating that whoso looks at it will not die a sudden death
that day. The aisles have lean-to roofs, and the nave roof we found
shored up, the supporting timbers being wreathed with garlands of
artificial flowers. The dedication is to SS. Peter and Paul.

As we descended the hill our guide, observing that flowers interested
us, made a sudden dive through the gate of a garden full of wallflowers
and picked a bunch for us, presenting it with as much grace as if they
had been his own! a proceeding to which the rightful owners appeared to
have no objection. The more modern town lay below us with its walls and
towers, some of them ruinous and some restored, and looked picturesque
enough except for the ancient castle which has been turned into a modern
house by its latest purchaser, who has tried with more zeal than
judgment to copy the style of the older portions. Through the postern by
which we had left the town a number of workmen from the iron-works
straggled, grimy and weary; in their modern dress and employment marking
a contrast with their surroundings. Muggia Nuova first appears in
history in 1235. When Paganino Doria destroyed Monticula (Muggia
Vecchia) in 1354, the port Vicuna Lauri (now Muggia) increased, and
twenty years later was surrounded with walls by the Patriarch Marquand
da Randeck after his triumphal entry. It had nine square towers, a
bastioned keep on the east, and a barbican with unequal sides, which
covered the Porta a Mare, or of S. Rocco. Three other gates, the Porta
Grande, which faced to the country, the Porta S. Francesco or Del
Castello, and the Portizza, which joined the Imperial road of Zaule with
a drawbridge, added to the defences, and a chain closed the port.

The nave of the church is of th