2-995-730 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Palermo, from Mount Pellegrino - from a drawing by the Rev. S.C. Malan, 1860. 'Mount Pellegrino (Mount Ercta of the ancients)...is remarkable in ancient history as having been the impregnable camp of the Carthaginians in the first Punic War, where for five years Amilcar thwarted every endeavour of the Romans to take it. It is now famed among the Sicilians for a grotto or cave, which is said to have been the voluntary retreat of Santa Rosalia, a Princess of the Norman blood, who in the bloom of her youth and beauty left the Court of King Roger I. in order to lead a contemplative and ascetic life. The view from Mount Pellegrino is exceedingly fine, and the Bay of Palermo, as seen from it, much resembles that of Naples, especially in the graceful sweep of the shore'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.