Italian Highways and Byways from a Motor Car

mercial enterprise is exploiting them by means of a great char-a-banc, or "sightseeing" automobile, which detracts from the sentiments and emotions which might otherwise be e

tructed, as in former days, by a strin

hrough the Casentino of romantic memory is delightful an

jobbery or graft, but was paid for by patents of nobility given by the municipality of Fiesole to those who fur

would pay the required price. From fifteen hundred lire upward was the price fo

the villa once possessed by Walter Savage Landor and inhabited by him for nearly thirty years. Here the famous men of letters of the middle years of the last

o as his architect. In 1587 Francesco I died within its walls, and the profligate Bianca Capello, whose history had best stay buried, also died here on the following day. Their brother Ferdinand was respons

ders of Sir John Hawkwood in 1364, when that rollicking rascal sold his services to the enemies of Florence. The old tower

f Lorenzo the Magnificent, and the conclaves of the famous Platonic Academy were held here on the seventh of November, the anniversary of the date of the birth and death of Plato. Here died both Cosimo and Lorenzo,

villas and palatial country houses of the Florentines are s

perty of the singer Mario, remembered by a former generation. The Villa Rinuccini has its grounds laid out in the s

l, from Florence. At the right of the iron gate, the cancello, runs the old road to Fiesole. Upward still the road runs, through the cancello, through a wind-break of trees and around to the nor

the shrubs and trees since the days when Zocchi the draughtsman made that series of formal drawings of Italian gardens,

llowing anonymous lines-"newspaper verse" they may be contemptuously described by som

own on a fa

le, Fi

that defy

es in the

roses where

uiver and th

e, Fie

th the geological nature of the rock employed. In all the Etruscan and Pelasgic towns it is found that, when sandstone was used, the form of the stones has been that of the parallelopipedon or nearly so, as at Fiesole and Cortona; whereas, when limestone was the subjacent rock, the polygonal construction alone is found, as at Cosa and Segni. This same observation will be found to apply to every part of the world, a

and its churches, palaces and villas are mere protuberances extending out from

lain view, and in its massive construction of walls, rather than in its specific monuments, though indeed its Duomo possesse

Ammirato, the Florentine historian. Towards the south, the view commands the central Val d'Arno, from its eastern extremity to the gor

istorian. He wrote it of Lorenzo the Magnificent, but the emotions it des

ains which was his favourite walk. Pleasant gardens and walks bordered by cypresses add to the beauty of

, in gardens which Tully might have envied, with Ficino, Landino, and Politian at his side, he delighted his hours of leisure with the

Lorenzo di Medici four hundred years ago. The hills and vales, the Arno and the City of

ut entering Florence by taking the road leading over the Ponte a Mensola. Just beyond Pontassieve, some twenty kilom

e ways of access are many, including even a funiculaire from Pontassieve to Vallombrosa, to approach the sainted pile in the true and reverend spirit of the pilgrim one should make his way by the winding mountain road-even if he has to walk. Indeed, walking is the way to do it; the horses hereab

ery belonging to the monks of Vallombrosa in the thirteenth century, and in its donjon tower-a queer adj

the valley. Up to this latter point indeed one may come

ech are seen, justifying Milton's simile, the accuracy of which has been

nal leaves that

, where the Et

rarch'd,

hrough a fine forest of pines, the travell

nominata

lla ne men

a chiunque

. can. 22

, upon the invitation of two succeeding popes, he was prevailed upon by the abbot of a monastery at Ferrara to settle there. Some writers have ascribed to this Guido the invention of counterpoint, which is scarce

tres. Vallombrosa, its convent and its hermitages are in the midst of solitude, as indeed a retreat, pious or otherwise, should be. If only some of us

ound through Arezzo, Bibbiena and Poppi and rises just under the brow of Monte

osa one may descend on Arezzo either by Poppi-Bibbie

modern civilization is crowding in on all sides. The memories of Saint Francis, La Verna, Saint Romuald the C

s of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, and in numerous ruins of cast

routed with a loss of 1,700 men killed, and 2,000 taken prisoners. Among the former was the celebrated Guglielmino Ubertini, Bishop of Arezzo, who fell fighting desperately in the thickest

ounts Palatine of Tuscany held it; then came the Popes, and then Dante and his followers. The chronicl

o their solitude, "and worse still, play actors and women," where all women had been forbidden: moreover, he had all the oxen of the monks driven off. He played pranks on the minstrels and buffoons who came to his pal

romantic region, and the praises of its mountain walls and chestnut woods

Strange folksongs and dances, strange dramas of courtship, and strange religious ceremonies all find place here in this unspoiled little forest tract between Floren

medi?val times. It is by no means a dull monotonous road, though containing fewer historic places than the road by

long main street of Montevarchi, threading his way carefully to

sounding the only modern note to be heard, save the honk! honk! (the Fre

he level, and the general view is pastoral until one strikes the

ld-up would be a demand for a cigar, or a box of matches. At Palazzaccio, a mere hamlet en route, was the hiding place of the once notorious brigand Spadolino; a sort of stage hero, who affected to r

a poor miller, Giacomo by name, who wanted ninety francesconi to pay his rent. This was the last cunning trick

o earth and makes acquaintance with Arezzo. The automobilist does better, he stops here,

taly. It was one of the twelve cities of the Etruscan federation, a

n 187 B. C., between Aretium (Arezzo) and Bononia

l Orto. On the occasion of the great fête given in 1904 in honour of the six hundr

as also born at Arezzo in 1512. His house is a landmark. Local guides miscall

t bizarre fa?ades extant, albeit its decorative a

t, ugliest religious edifice in Italy.

d that has gone before, and has little in common with the life of to-day, save such intimacy as is bro

The town itself is dead or sleeping; but most of its houses are frankl

Lapo in 1230, and bears a family resemblance to the Palazzo Vecchio at Florence. The court-yard contains some curious architecture, and a staircase celebrated for the ski

the local guides will lead one up through the celebrated groves at a fixed price "tutto compreso," and, if you ar

f La Verna, built by St. Francis of Assisi in 1215; situated high on a shoulder of rugged rock. The highest point of the mountain, on which it stands, is called La Penna, the "rock" or "divide" between the valleys of the Arno and

ine of communication with the Adriatic, is the Romagna, a district where feudal strife and warfare were ramp

al lands by the sword of some rebel who flaunted the temporal power of the church. These were strictly personal proper

d from the Adriatic to the Gulf of Spezia there was almost constant warfare, sometimes petty, sometimes great. It wa