ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 



Arno just below Bibbiena. The description of the 

 clouds gathering over the mountains towards dusk 

 and falling in torrents of rain on the battlefield heaped 

 with dead and dying, is given with all the vividness of 

 an eye-witness. To-day all is still in those fair regions. 

 The ashes of Guelf and Ghibelline warriors have fed 

 the golden corn that waves on the fertile plain, and 

 the peaceful music of the " Angelus " rings along the 

 green hillside which once echoed to the noise of 

 clashing steel and the confused shouts of struggling 

 horsemen. We looked across the valley at the towers 

 of Poppi rising on the opposite hill in the calm glow 

 of the evening sunlight, and listened to the bells 

 of the Bibbiena churches behind us until the tale of 

 that hard- won fight which Dante had made real to us 

 seemed to fade away again into the dimness of past 

 ages, and we forgot that the wooded slopes below us 

 had ever been the scene of strife and bloodshed. 



Early the next morning we started for La Vernia 

 through fields of tall maize and woods laden with those 

 chestnuts for which Bibbiena was famous as long ago 

 as Burchiello's days. Skirting the banks of the Corsa- 

 lone torrent we passed through a forest where ilex 

 and holly and here and there fig-trees and laurels 

 mingled with the shady chestnut-trees until we crossed 

 the stream, and the more arduous part of the ascent 

 began. These remote scenes were not unknown to 



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