3-011-867 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Susa, at the foot of Mont Cenis, [Italy], 1864. View of '...the point where the modem road crosses the old one. It shows the cathedral and the...three entrances into Italy; the ancient one, under the arch of Cottius, dedicated to a Roman Emperor (that in the right of the Engraving); that which passes under the arch in the centre...and the present great road, made by a French Emperor. Susa is an exceedingly picturesque and interesting town, containing about 4000 inhabitants, is very well built, and decidedly clean for an Italian town; its situation is magnificent, being surrounded by craggy eminences, between which are deep gorges through which the road winds with a regular ascent, and down the bottoms of which the river Doria-Riparia...comes dashing and foaming among the rocks...on its way to the plains below. There is a huge mass of ruins on a rocky ridge which overhangs the town, the remains of Fort la Brunette, formerly considered one of the strongest fortresses in Italy...Above...tower up mountain upon mountain, the largest, called the Roche Melon, shuts in the valley from the plains of Italy. The bases and lower slopes of these mountains are covered with farms, rich woods, pastures, and vineyards'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.