PROCIDA, an island less than 2 miles off the west coast of southern Italy between Capo Miseno (or rather Monte Procida) on the mainland and the island of Ischia, forming part of the circondario of Pozzuoli and the province of Naples. Its total area is not much more than 1⅜ square miles, but it is fertile, well-cultivated, and thickly peopled (10,788 inhabitants in 1871, 10,891 in 1881). Like the neighbouring mainland it is largely of volcanic origin, and the ancient Greek name Prochyte (Tlpoχυτη), Latinized as Procita, possibly refers to this fact. The two fine bays on the south coast are remains of craters, and the soil is almost exclusively tuff. The coasts are usually a rocky scarp; the general surface of the island is comparatively low and flat. Procida, the chief town, lies on the isthmus of a peninsula, at the landward extremity, looking out over a spacious bay It contains a castle, now used as a prison, and an old royal palace of the Bourbons, who had a hunting park in the island; and the harbour is defended by a fort. In the Piazza dei Martiri is a monument to the twelve who were executed as political offenders in 1799. The islanders are mainly engaged in market-gardening, vine-growing, the fisheries, and the coasting trade; but the number of fishing-boats belonging to Procida is much smaller than it used to be. In accordance with their claim to be of Greek descent the women are accustomed to wear on the festival of St Michael a picturesque Greek costume and to dance the tarantula....