260 PINETA. 



ESTHER. 



This, I suppose, is the pine which we constantly see depict- 

 ed in the landscapes of the Italian painters. 



MRS. F. 



It is. This species is abundantly diffused over Italy, and 

 near Ravenna there is a large forest of stone pines, called the 

 Pineta, which, in the time of Augustus, furnished timber for 

 the Roman fleet; but which is, in modern times, more cele- 

 brated as having been the favorite walk of Dante, its gloomy 

 foliage being well suited to the meditation of the author of 

 the Divina Commedia.* 



ESTHER. 



Ravenna must be a very interesting place. 



MRS. F. 



It is, indeed. Honorius, as you recollect, made it the seat 

 of the western empire. It was successively taken by Odoacer 

 and Theodoric; restored to the empire by the armies of Beli- 

 sarius and Narses; in 568 became the residence of the Greek 

 exarchs; again fell a prey to the barbarians, when taken by 

 Astolphus, king of the Lombards, in 752, and an end put to the 

 exarchate. Astolphus was dispossessed by the arms of Pepin 

 who gave Ravenna to the church in 755; since which period, 

 it has often changed masters, but was restored to the Pope in 

 1509, when it became the residence of a cardinal legate. 



ESTHER. 

 I suppose Ravenna is full of historical recollections. 



MRS. F. 



In no city are more remains to be found of the works of 

 the Lower Empire, and the number of domes and towers 

 which are to be seen at a distance, give the city quite an 

 oriental appearance. Here is a curious octagonal basilica, 

 built under Justinian, in imitation of the church of St. Sophia, 



* Dante refers to the Pineta in Purgatorio, c. xviii. 1. 20. 



