PORTA MAGGIORE, LESINA
Lesina was once a Venetian arsenal and station of the fleet. The vegetation is sub-tropical. Rosemary fills the air with its aromatic scent, oleanders, lemons, lofty palms, carob and bay trees are continually met with, and aloes are often used for hedges. It was the island Pharos of the Greeks, a colony from the Ægean Paros, founded in 385 B.C., and a free republic. Coins which have been found are similar to the most ancient ones of Greece and Asia Minor, and the remains of walls appear to be Pelasgic. From 221 B.C. it belonged to the Roman province of Dalmatia, and shared the fate of its neighbour Brazza. The Illyrian pirates mastered it, and under their lordship the celebrated Demetrios was born, who was like a condottiere of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and whose treachery led to the destruction of the Greek city. Many Christian martyrs were buried here, and it became known as "the Holy." The population is Slav, and the Greek name "Pharia" is preserved to some extent in the Slav name "Hvar." It is the longest of the Dalmatian islands, being 70 kilometres long by 10 broad.
The town of Lesina lies on the south-west coast, and still retains a great part of its crenellated walls. It is decayed, and there are many ruined palaces of the Venetian period, some of which are fine. The piazza is the largest in Dalmatia, and beyond it the houses form a semicircle interspersed with gardens. On the east is the cathedral, Lombardesque in style; on the south a large building, the so-called Venetian arsenal. The present ground floor, with broad-arched door opening on the water, was arranged to house the galleys belonging to the Republic, and was used till 1776, when the arsenal was transferred to Curzola. The upper floor, divided into two, was the theatre and communal hall. The Loggia of Sanmichele is to the north, close to the remains of the palace of the count. It has seven rather narrow arches on piers with columns, and a whole order attached in front, a balustrade between the pedestals and above the frieze, with obelisks supported on balls as crowning features. The door is in the centre; above it a panel with the lion of S. Mark replaces the balusters. It is now the hall of a sanatorium which has been erected behind it, thus destroying two of the towers of the palace of the count, and spoiling a very picturesque composition. The "Fondachi" are used for military purposes; other Gothic palaces remain along the side of the piazza. Above the town is Fort Spagnuolo, which probably occupies the site of an older castle besieged by the Hungarians and their allies in 1358; an inscription states that the present building is due to the Spaniards, and was built in 1551 under Charles V., when he was allied to Venice against the Turks. Higher still to the east is Fort S. Nicolò, constructed after the Russian attack in 1807.
The cathedral is not remarkable for its architecture. The façade has a semicircular termination, quadrants above the aisles, and an early Renaissance doorway. The stalls are carved and pierced like those at Arbe and Zara, but have lost the tops and the carved divisions. At each side is an ambo of stone supported on four columns, but with an octagonal body above, arcaded, with shafts at the angles. The arches are all round, but the change in the plan produces a curious pointed appearance in perspective in the lower arcade. On the high-altar is a picture by the younger Palma, a Madonna and the Child in the clouds, with S. Stephen vested as pope below, and SS. Jerome and Carlo Borromeo. There is also a more ancient picture by Antonio Gradinelli, a dead Christ supported by angels. Near the west end is a carved reredos of Venetian-Gothic style; S. Luke in the centre with his ox, and S. John the Baptist are recognisable among the well-carved figures of saints beneath pointed arches with shell-heads to the niches. Two Venetian lions have closed books with the date 1475. The sacristy contains some fine embroidered vestments and several interesting pieces of metal-work—a ciborium of the fifteenth century of silver, with a pyramidal roof, a large silver chalice of Venetian late fifteenth-century work in repoussé, a monstrance with round upper part and an angel with a scroll and the inscription "O Salutaris," &c., decorated with translucent enamel.
There is also a very curious sixteenth-century crozier of gilded copper enriched with silver bands and rosettes, which repeats and enlarges on the idea of Bishop Valaresso's crozier at Zara. Inside the crook (which is a complete circle) is the Coronation of the Virgin, above whose head is a dove, and beneath her feet the head of the serpent, which terminates it. She is crowned by a half-figure emerging from a flower, wearing the kind of high mitre which is frequently given to God the Father; behind her is a similar half-figure of Moses bearing a scroll, and with his shoes on the ground before him. On the outside are busts of Christ and six Apostles, right and left in profile, also springing from flowers, all with nimbi; lower down are the twelve prophets, holding labels with their names, and set close one above the other. At the top of the stem are six figures, four Evangelists, S. John the Baptist, and Elijah. Below are twelve little busts of patriarchs named on labels. The knop has twisted colonnettes at the angles, with swags hanging from the lower parts, and half-length figures above a canopy with one arch and two half-arches on each face; on the flat surfaces between are miscellaneous saints; below are three bishops and three other saints, and below them are representations of the six days of creation; the words "Opvs· Presbyteri· Pavli· Silvii· Tivnio· lavs· Deo" can be deciphered. The stem is sheathed with silver plates with stamped patterns.
The ruined church of S. Marco, now undergoing restoration, has a fine campanile, rather dilapidated, and sepulchral slabs of members of patrician families, and the Franciscan convent, S. Maria delle Grazie, has a similar campanile, both of which were probably rebuilt after the Turkish raid of 1571 under Uluz-Ali, the Calabrian renegade. The door in the western façade of this church resembles that of the cathedral at Ossero, and appears to belong to the original building of 1471. Within it are three interesting altar-pieces by Francesco da Santa Croce; one above the high-altar has two rows of panels with figures of the Madonna, SS. Helena, Lucy, Clara, Elizabeth, Stephen, Peter, Francis, Anthony, Bernardino of Siena, and Bonaventura; another shows seven prophets; and a third has the Madonna in the centre, with three little angels below, and S. Jerome on the left, and S. John on the right. The church also contains a S. Francis by Jacopo Palma, and a S. Diego and S. Francesco di Paola by Jacopo Bassano, restored. The principal treasure of the convent, however, is the great Last Supper by Matteo Rosselli, a very impressive picture, which fills the end wall of the refectory above the panelling, and contains his own portrait (1578-1650). The table at which the Apostles are seated is in the form of a horseshoe, with Judas on the near side. The story goes that Rosselli went to Ragusa to deliver some paintings commissioned from him, and on his way back fell ill, and was obliged to land at Lesina, where the Franciscans took care of him and nursed him back to health; in gratitude he painted this picture for them. The great cypress, which spreads almost like an oak, he may have sat under during his convalescence.
The other towns are Cittavecchia, Verbosca, and Gelsa. The first is the new Pharos, founded at the end of the third century B.C., and flourishing during the Roman period. It lies at the bottom of an inlet six miles long, and is a nourishing modern town with little antiquity visible. The campanile of S. Stefano, which appears to be of the fourteenth century, is on ancient foundations, and there are traces of Cyclopean walls here and there. In Verbosca is a fortified church with bastions, S. Lorenzo, which contains the fragments of a Titianesque painting, ascribed to the master on the strength of an entry in the archives of a payment of 1,000 ducats to the Master Titiano Vecelli. It is now in three portions, and shows S. Laurence with angels and the Virgin above, S. Roch, and S. Augustine. In another church, S. Maria, is a Birth of the Virgin, ascribed to Paolo Veronese. At Gelsa the church is also fortified, a memorial of the time when protection against Turkish raids was necessary.
Curzola lies due south of Lesina, separated from the long peninsula of Sabbioncello on the mainland by quite a narrow channel. It is the Corcyra Nigra or Melaina of antiquity, so called from its luxuriant pine forests, little of which now remain. Various origins are attributed to the settlement; one of them is commemorated in the inscription on the Porta Marina: "Hic Antenoridæ Corcyræ prima Melanæ fundamenta locant." The early Greek geographers include it in the territory of Narenta or Liburnia. From Augustus to Heraclius (642 A.D.) it was Roman or Byzantine, and from that date till 998 Narentine. From the victory of Orseolo II. till 1100 it was Venetian, when the Genoese possessed it for twenty-eight years. In 1128 the Venetians, under Popone Zorzi, took it again, and it remained Venetian on the whole till 1357; from that time till 1418 it was sometimes Hungarian, sometimes Genoese, Bosnian, or Ragusan. Two years later it finally gave itself to Venice, with which it was connected till the Napoleonic wars. The English occupied it from 1813-1815. It has suffered from raids; and the attack by Uluz-Ali after he had sacked Lesina is noticeable for the brave conduct of the women. The commandant of the island and fortress, Antonio Balbi, and a great many of the well-to-do inhabitants fled without fighting. The women and boys put on their uniforms and manned the walls, making the Turks think that the place was well garrisoned and too strong to be taken quickly with the force at their disposal. In one of the naval battles with the Genoese off the island, Marco Polo (who has been claimed as a Curzolan) and Andrea Dandolo were taken prisoners. Dandolo dashed his brains out against the side of the galley; but Marco Polo occupied his four years of captivity in writing his travels, and, according to legend, earned his freedom by the pleasure which his work gave to the Genoese.
The statute is the oldest in Dalmatia (1214), and is noticeable for its provisions against the slave trade, which are among the earliest in history. A curious survival of mediæval festivity still exists in the "Moresca," a kind of Pyrrhic dance, danced on national festas, which is a reminiscence of the days of Algerian piracy. There are twenty-four dancers, and the leaders, the standard-bearer, and the "bula," who is the spouse of the Moorish king. The performers are divided into two bands, one representing Christians (in Spanish costume), and the other Moors, from which the name comes. The whites, led by the king of Spain, conquer in the combat, and the "bula" is taken and freed amid general rejoicing. At the beginning and end, the Christians declaim a kind of prologue or introduction in accordance with the object of the festa, and a salutation and thanks to those assisting at the end. The costumes are rich, each dancer carries sword and dagger, and the performances (which are enthusiastically received) take place in the open air upon a raised platform. In one or two places there are also survivals of mediæval mystery-plays.
The town is on an oval peninsula on the north-east coast, united to the mass of the island by a low isthmus. The main street runs along the ridge from the land gate to the cathedral piazza. From the sea the walls appear almost perfect, but there is a wide quay all round the town, and the houses stretch a long way along the shore. There is not a street within the walls through which a vehicle could pass, all the thoroughfares (which are mainly alleys and staircases) rising steeply to the cathedral. The buildings remain much as when the Morosini and Faliero ruled, but comparatively few of the three hundred or so of houses within the walls are inhabited; most of the ruined palaces are of the period of the Ducal Palace, Venice, and some of them have been architecturally remarkable. The walls and towers are in the main of 1420, but were strengthened by the Venetians. The towers which remain are the Merlata Barbarigo of 1485, Merlata Tiepolo of about the same date, Merlata dell' Aspello, erected as a defence against the Turks in 1570, the gate-tower on the Piazzetta of 1649, and the Gothic Torre Lombardo of 1448, near the land gate. The walls can be walked round in a quarter of an hour, and are dominated by the Fort S. Biagio, erected by the English.