184 THE ROYAL FOREST SCHOOL AT VALLOMBROSA. 



"And overhead up grew, 

 Insuperable height of loftiest shade, 

 Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm, 

 A sylvan scene ; and, as the ranks ascend 

 Shade above shade, a woody theatre 

 Of stateliest view." lb., iv. 137. 



Mrs Browning, speaking of Milton, says — 



" He sang of paradise and smiled, 

 Remembering Vallombrosa. " 



Here also Dante loved to walk. A more magnificent scene is not 

 to be found in Italy. The immense building, which formerly lodged 

 one hundred Benedictine monks, reconstructed in 1637, and adapted 

 to its present use in 1869, is a stately and commanding edifice, 

 without any pretensions to architectural beauty. Over the door- 

 way is a stone commemorative of the opening of the Forest School, 

 on the 15th August 1869, bearing an inscription, recording that 

 the institution was established in the ninth year of the united 

 kingdom of Italy, when Victor Emmanuel was sovereign, Minghetti 

 the Minister of Agriculture, and Ferraris the Minister of the 

 Interior. The site was remarkably well chosen. It is sheltered 

 on three sides from the cold winds, and though the snow lies deep 

 for three months, it is a delightful climate for the eight months 

 when the students reside there. The sheltered nook is surrounded 

 with great masses of wood. Above the convent is the hermitage, 

 called " II Paradisino," situated on the point of a precipitous rock, 

 whence the eye can trace the Arno winding through the fertile 

 plains of Tuscany to Florence and the sea. Higher is a point 

 whence I was told both the Mediterranean and Adriatic may be 

 seen. 



Origin of the Forest School. — The following sketch of the history 

 and constitution of the Forest School is mainly condensed from the 

 Bollettino Forestale, by the director, A. di Berenger, 1872. The 

 Royal Forest School of Italy has, within the last ten years, 

 been established at Vallombrosa and Paterno, two estates obtained 

 for the purpose by purchase, situated on the Apennines, about 

 thirty miles from Florence. Paterno, 1215 feet above the sea, 

 was formerly the castle of the Counts Guidi, and, from November 

 to March (four months), is the headquarters of the Forest School, 

 which, for the remaining eight months, is located at the higher 

 elevation of Vallombrosa, 5556 feet above the sea. Vallombrosa 

 existed as a monastery from the eleventh century up till 1865, 



