2-995-738 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Reggio, Calabria, recently taken by Garibaldi, 1860. View of '...the capital of the province of Calabria, [which] stands on the east side of the Strait of Messina. The situation of Reggio is one of the most beautiful in Europe, the plain for miles around being simply one immense grove of orange, citron, and lemon trees, the roads through which are fringed by the cactus and American aloe, and flowers of tropical gorgeousness; and the climate is as salubrious as the scenery is charming. It is fortified and well supplied with water...Its population amounts to about 17,000...It is difficult to imagine anything more delightful than a lounge in the colonnade of the fountain in a cool summer's evening, when the magnificent mountains behind Messina are thrown into relief by the setting sun; and in almost all the prospects towards the south Etna forms a prominent object...The Bay of Reggio is remarkable for the optical phenomenon called the Fata Morgana, which occurs only at high tides, when the most perfect calm of sea and air prevails. It is extremely evanescent, and is usually seen about sunrise, but is of rare occurrence. Reggio is backed eastward by the imposing group of the Aspromonte, whose highest peak, Montalto, is 4380 feet high'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.