age. Rapolla, though nearer to Melfi than Bariele, appears at first to have suffered less, but when the matter is more closely investigated this is seen to be an illusion, owing its origin to the circumstance that some of the walls, especially of the houses in the environs, are yet standing; in reality, it has suffered greatly. Among the fallen buildings in Rapolla, the cathedral, a structure in the Norman style, especially attracted our attention; its steeple had been partly destroyed in the earthquake of 1694, and afterwards restored, as an inscription still legible on the wall attests. We subjoin an accurate sketch of this church, one among the many destroyed by this earthquake, made by Achille Flauti, architect.
Bariele, although more populous than Bapolla, possessed no remarkable monuments, except a beautiful altar, with corresponding marble balustrade, in the fallen Church of Madonna delle Grazie, which has been taken away and restored in another place, by order of the Commissioners, appointed by the king, to inquire into the injuries of the churches, to provide for the necessities of the population, and procure them the divine comforts of religion. The earthquake here, as at Melfi, was first vertical, and then undulating. Some observed at the moment, an unusual light in the rooms, occasioned, probably, by the alternate opening and closing of the walls, for a hen was found on a terrace with both her legs locked between the joints of the pavement which had opened, and closed again, like the ground at P. M. Acazio, in the earthquake of Calabria, in 1783. There were about 120 deaths in Bariele, exclusive of those who were dangerously wounded; and about 70 in Rapolla.[1]
Rionero, also situated at the base of Vulture, on a gentle declivity, about four miles distant from Melfi, in a direct line, lost with some of its churches, nearly the third part of its houses; the rest also were more or less injured. It is remarkable that in some places the ruins are crowded together; this is mostly observable in the low part of the town, the region of deaths. The victims of Rionero were 64, exclusive of the wounded. Here, too, the earthquake was first vertical, and then horizontal; and from the 14th of August, to dawn on the 15th, quite as many shocks were perceptible as at Melfi.
- ↑ The population of Bariele is 5000; that of Rapolla, 3200.
