r 278 3
-happen both to-be rainy, all their produds mlicarry. In rainy
fummers, there falls,: when the nights are clear, a reddiih dew
which is very obfervable, efpecially to thofe who are at fea; and
-they pretend that this dew blafts .the vines.
Snow ancl ice do not laft long in Primorie, not even on the
top o f the Bwcova, though beyond that mountain, and among
e, rocks o f mount Motfor, they fometimes.continue from one
.year to the .other. When there falls much fnow, there is plenty
-ofall produds, hut efpecially o f oil, and the .more, i f it falls
early in the feafon; but the cold when late, does great damage
as it mps the juices .of ..the plants in motion; and the fmaller
.cattle are alfo much hurt by it. The cold indeed is never very
.lharp m thofe maritime .parts, excqpt when th e .«W blows and
Wi thou t that, the month o f January is as warm as April with us
The whole, furnmer is generally hot to excefs, and in the month
,r’ -iuff?rcd rather more by the heat o f the air than
-ever I had done in Apulia. Hail,is lefs frequent and L J
ihan in our part o f Italy. H ’ d imaIkr
W & S * " theCoaJl o f P r imo r i e , i^ Z ev e l, and concerning
the Fifhing, • . . . . , ' . r
In the tour which I had the honour to make with your Lord
ip, thought I faw, in feveral places, con ft ant and clear in
dications o f the nftng 0f the level o f .our Adriatick; of which
nfing, from the -Roman to our times, both Marifredi and Zan
dnni-were perfuaded though now it is denied by fome, withoui
any reafonable foundation, but rather in d ired . oppofition to
fa d s ; and by others it is calculated in a lefs fatisfadory manner
P£rhai5S ;U M m » not a proper place to -enu.
mer al
[ 279 j
raerate the obfervations which the city o f Venice furniihes in;
favour o f this rifing o f the level. But it is well known, that the
government is under the-neceffity, year after year, o f heightening
the fquares. which convey the water to-the publick cifterns;
becaufe, lince the XVI century, in which moil o f them were"
repaired, the fea rofe above the pavements at high- tides. The
waters have alfo found their way into ieveral churches there,-
though they, certainly were built in fuch a manner as to keep the-
faithful on dry ground. The large fquare o f S. Mark, notwithstanding
its having been raifed more than once, is neverthelefs
every now and then- overflowed ; and the waters palling over
their former bounds, do fometimes conliderable damage'
in warehoufes,. Thefe manifeft efteds at Venice, the d e ltru d i-
on-of our dikes,, the damage done to our Valli, or large confer--’
vatories for filh, and thofe.of Camacchio, by the daily encroachments
o f the fea; the evident ruin o f the port o f Ancona, now
no longer reparable at whatever expence, and o f the adjoining
hill vifibly impaired; the fubmerfion ofthe.c ity o f Conca, not
far from Rimini; the foundations o f Ciparum in Iftria, now under
water, which was demolilhed in D C G C ; and many o -
ther limilar obfervations, are at prefent foreign to my purpofe. I
am now. only to treat o f what regards .the level,of the.fea along,
the Primorian coaft.
On all. this coaft, from the mouth o f the Cettina to that o F
the, river Narenta, the fea, has vifibly loft a part o f its ancient :
extent, in fuperficies. T h e gravel, earth, and fand broughr
down from,the mountains by the force o f torrents, have filled1
up the hollows,, and of a fliore, which formerly in all probability
did not want harbours, have formed one continued bank
Without any kind o f harbour or- bay. The fea rages now a~
gainft;