part of the priest was officially
acknowledged, for the humble curate of Casamicciola was afterwards made a
prelate by Pope Leo XIII. in recognition of his signal services. Even
to-day people are inclined to be somewhat chary of spending any length of
time in this unfortunate spot, where the ruined streets and shapeless
mounds of earth, only too suggestive of a latter-day Pompeii, speak so
eloquently of terrible experiences in the past and of possible dangers in
the future. Nevertheless, if one can triumph over these gloomy feelings,
Casamicciola affords a delightful centre whence to explore the whole
island, and many are the pleasant walks to be found on the overhanging
slopes of Mont' Epomeo, and many the boating expeditions to be made from
the Marina below the upper town.

[Illustration: ON THE PICCOLA MARINA, CAPRI]

It is a two-mile walk through stony lanes overhung by branches of fig and
orange from Casamicciola to Lacco, a large village well situated on a
little bay which is distinguished by a curious mushroom-shaped rock, aptly
nicknamed "Il Fungo" by the natives. This place, which also suffered
severely in the earthquake of 1883, is the head-quarters of the
straw-plaiting industry of the island, the women and children noisily
beseeching every chance visitor to buy their wares in the guise of
baskets, hats and fans; the pretty coloured tiles (_mattoni_), which are
used with such good effect in the churches and houses of the island, are
likewise manufactured here. Lacco is particularly associated with the
great annual festival of St Restituta on May 17th, which is always marked
by religious processions and by universal merry-making, followed by
illuminations and fireworks at nightfall. This saint, of whom an early
mosaic portrait still exists in her ancient chapel within the Neapolitan
Cathedral, was once the patroness of the city of Naples, but since
medieval times she has been honoured as the special guardian of this
island, whither her body (so the legend runs) was miraculously conveyed
from Egypt in a boat rowed by angels. A local tradition also asserts that
on her landing by the beach of Lacco, an Egyptian lotus bloom was found in
the saint's hand, as fresh as when it had been plucked months before from
the banks of the Nile.

Leaving the little bay with its sulphur-impregnated sands, and turning
inland, we proceed along a road across an ancient lava-stream over-grown
with pine trees, wild caper and a t