354 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA
ments, and others are to be found elsewhere in the town, especially in the streets near the Duomo. The Stradone itself is an attractive thoroughfare, broad, airy, and full of sun. The houses are plain and unadorned, but the rich yellow hue of the Curzola stone of which they are built give them a harmonious appearance. The shops to this day are mostly of a very Eastern appearance, the door and window being formed of a single round arch partly divided by a stone counter which cuts half-way across the opening.
   A conspicuous architectural feature of the city is its defences. The town walls form a most perfect circuit, of a beauty and completeness rarely surpassed, even in Italy. From whichever side we approach Ragusa, whether from the sea or by the land gates, we are confronted by an imposing mass of battlemented towers, solid bastions, thick walls and escarpments, which conceal the whole town save the steeples and one or two churches. Few cities present such a perfect picture of a mediaeval fortress, and few form so fair a picture—this cluster of fine buildings on steep precipitous rocks rising sheer up out of the azure sea, with the exquisite purple hues of the Dalmatian mountains in the background, and the bright patches of rich vegetation all around. Rarely does one see so admirable a combination of strength and beauty. The walls are pierced by three gates—the Porta Pile, the Porta Ploce, and the sea gate. At the Porta Pile there is a double circuit of walls; the outer gate is a round arch in a semicircular outwork, with gun embrasures on either side. To the right the walls extend seawards to a massive round bastion, and then up