XVII
LA CROMA, OMBLA, RAGUSA VECCHIA
Immediately off the Arx or citadel of Ragusa, barely half a kilometre away, lies the butt-end of the island of La Croma, which serves as a kind of breakwater to Ragusa’s harbour, Porto Cassone. It only takes half an hour in a rowing-boat to reach the landing-place of La Croma, and when we have climbed the steep rocks that fringe the island we have a superb view of Ragusa and its protecting walls. The island is full of memories, beginning with Richard Cceur-de-Lion, who—so they say—on his journey back from the Holy Land, was rescued from a storm on the island of La Croma, and at once vowed to build a thanksgiving church to the Virgin in gratitude for his salvation. The Duomo of Ragusa, S. Maria Maggiore, was the result. There is on the island
of La Croma itself the remains of a “ beautiful
      161 11