BORDIGIIERA. 23 



Wines of this sort would not keep long ;ind were there- 

 lore not sought after abroad. But quite lately this state 

 of things is beginning to alter. Wine -growing is in- 

 creasing in Italy and being dealt with yery successfull\-. 

 i he old custom of transporting wine in skins aucl 

 then storing it in amphorae has vanislied from Italy. 

 Wooden casks, which were used by tlie Cis-alpine Gauls 

 and the Alpine tribes, were introduced into South Italy 

 as early as in Roman times. 



CHAPTER III. 



Bordighera ever remains pictured in the mind in a 

 setting of Palms and indeed these trees thrive nowhere 

 better on the whole Riviera. "rhe\' lend to the place 

 a touch of enchantment and spread ah Eastern glamour 

 around. On the East side of the Cap d'Ampeglio the\- 

 form actual groves. Within the walls of these gardens 

 rich in Palm trees, and on paths over whicli the slender 

 stems wa\'e their crowns, the ^\•anderer feels himself 

 transported to another world and forgets for a time that 

 between the Ri\'iera and the land of Cases lies the \'ast 

 expanse of the Mediterranean Sea. Od^"sseus "when 

 first he set eyes on the Palm at Delos b\' the altar of 

 Phoebus Apollo, stood lost in enchantment, for sureh' 

 nowhere on earth is there a tree more beautiful". With 

 reverence do German travellers visit that picturesque 

 group of Palms which adorn the sea shore east of 

 Bordighera at the Madonna della Ruota. For these are 

 the trees Scheffcl sang of in his poem "Dem Tode nah" 

 and under which he long-ed to be laid to rest. There 



