2-888-032 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Portici - the Recent Residence of the Pope, sketched from the Sea, 1850. 'The Palace of Portici [abode of Pius IX] lies at four miles distance, by railway, from Naples. The building does not present any remarkable features; on the contrary, it is an ugly pile, of quadrangular form...The building was erected by the Bourbon Charles III., about a century ago, and its foundation is formed of the lava which destroyed Herculaneum...The village of Portici was destroyed in 1631 by the same Vesuvius that still appears to threaten the Elysian coast...The accompanying sketch, taken from the sea, represents the village of Portici, at the point where the railway passes, and affords by far the most pleasing view of the residence of the Pope, peeping over the bosco, the pleasure-grounds of the palace, backed ty the grand old mountain.' From "Illustrated London News", 1850.