2-969-966 - /Heritage Images

Ceremony of the Commencement of the Great Puglia Railway, by the Neapolitan Minister of Public Works, 1856. 'From west to east it is intended thus to traverse the whole width of the peninsula from Naples to Bari, and then coastwise down to Brindisi...The sunny plains of Apulia have long been celebrated for their fertility, and will now become doubly productive that this long channel of communication is opened between them and the ports of the Mediterranean and the Adriatic.... upon a table covered with velvet, was placed the foundation-stone...On the same table were laid, too, the metal case which was to contain the stone and the box with the various coins - gold, silver, and copper - of the reigning monarch. The tribune opposite the altar was occupied in the centre by his Excellency the Minister of Public Works, Signor Commendatore Minena, as the representative of the King'. From "Illustrated London News", 1856.