l oil vessel.
On the highest point of the same rock is situated the ruined Castle of Pontone, built by the Normans, and garrisoned by royal troops under the Swabian and Angevin kings, but kept in a state of defence by the communes. It passed into the hands of the Orsini, Colonna and Piccolomini factions, until in 1583, when the Amalfitans purchased their freedom from feudal dues, the castle was dismantled. A gate on the eastern side is the only connection with the village of Pontone, an outlying portion of the commune of Scala, where the family de Afflictis or d'Afflitto ranked among the most noted of the Republic. They liked to trace their descent from Placido Romano, a Roman general, who, having seen a stag bearing a crucifix between its horns when he was hunting, was converted to Christianity, and canonised as St. Eustace after being martyred in A.D. 119.
The Palazzo d' Afflitto was built upon a precipitous cliff, overlooking Pontone, thus forming a natural fortress, and within the walls was the magnificent church of St. Eustace, the fame of whose wealth and beauty spread far and wide, whilst its prominent position made it a landmark for mariners. The portico of the church enclosed three doorways, the centre with lions supporting marble pillars. The outer walls were adorned with arabesques of coloured stone and Parian columns, and in the interior along the aisles were tombs of d' Afflitto knights with their ladies that of Matteo d' Afflitto, the founder, being especially ornate. This family afterwards settled at Scala and Ravello, and by them the doorway of the Palazzo d' Afflitto in the latter town, and the lion. columns on the terrace of the Palazzo Rufolo, were brought from St. Eustace.
This magnificent church was recklessly destroyed in the last century, the marbles were sold, and the pulpit and tombs broken to pieces, so that at present nothing remains except the wall of the apse, with its lancet windows, visible the greater part of the way as the traveller ascends the Dragone valley.
This ruthless destruction was attributed to the last of the Verone family, whose extinction has been thought to be the penalty of such sacrilegious vandalism. The last Verone died repeating the words, " I miei denari," which his widow (who was still living in 1850) believed to refer to money concealed by him, which she sought in vain to discover. In her possession was a narrative relating to an ancestor of her husband and his escape from the Megano, a natural chasm in the hills above Ravello, commonly supposed to communicate with a vent near Castellammare, on the other side of the mountains, from which issues a stream also bearing the name of Megano. The identity of the name may be the origin of this belief. During the brigandage of the years 1861-3 several people were cast into the Megano, and sheep pastured near have been known to disappear into the abyss, so that it has been found advisable to build up the opening.
The Verone anecdote is as follows " In 1618 banditti infested the mountains of Scala, and so devastated the neighbouring villages that the authorities commanded Giovanni Domenico Verone, Syndic of Pontone, to pursue and arrest the miscreants. The robbers determined to revenge themselves on the Syndic, and waylaid him on the road from Gragnano, lying in ambush among the shrubs that surround the mouth of the Megano. Escape was impossible; but the assail-ants, instead of shooting him, cast him into the abyss, so that his body might not be deposited in consecrated ground. Verone afterwards related that, as he fell, the shaft narrowed until he found himself upon a kind of bridge, beneath which he heard the roar of waters, while above his head the opening revealed the distant sky like a tiny speck of light. After a time he recovered his senses sufficiently to reflect upon the possibility of escape. Almost in despair he climbed up higher, by some small recesses in the rock which afforded an uncertain foothold, and finally reached the entrance. He returned home in the dark night with the fear of death upon him, the only man wh