RAVELLO  , a

village of Campania, Italy, in the province of Salerno, about 3 M . N.N.E. of Amalfi by road, 1227 ft. above sea-level . It commands a magnificent view . Pop . (1901) 1851 . The history of Ravello cannot be traced beyond the 9th century . In the 11th it was called Rebellum, because it refused to acknowledge the sovereignty of Amalfi, and in the 13th, when at the height of its prosperity, it had 36,000 inhabitants . The Palazzo Rufolo, begun in the 11th century, has two lofty towers and beautiful Saracenic decoration in the courtyard . The ex-cathedral of S . Pantaleo, almost entirely modernized, has fine bronze doors by Barisanus of Trani (1179), and two pulpits in Cosmatesque work . The larger, supported by six columns resting on the backs of lions, was made in 1272 by Nicolaus of Foggia; the bust over the entrance to it is said to be a portrait of Sigilgaita Rufolo . The smaller, of the same date, is simpler, and has curious representations of Jonah and the whale .

The

parish church of S . Giovanni in Toro, spoilt by restorations in the 18th century, contains a splendid pulpit in Cosmatesque work, supported on four pillars, and the crypt some 14th-century frescoes . In front of it is the porch of the Palazzo dell' Afflitto, composed of ancient fragments . S . Maria Immacolata is another Romanesque church . See A . Avena, Monumenti dell' Arie Meridionale (Naples, 1902), i . 349 sqq .