A VISIT TO LA VERNIA 



his bitter invective against the dwellers on its banks, 

 describes as peopled alternately with curs, wolves, 

 and foxes ; in other words, Aretines, Florentines, 

 and Pisans. 



In the Casentino it is still a clear mountain stream, 

 flowing quietly along its rocky bed, spanned here and 

 there by bridges with raised arches telling of winter 

 seasons when the now slumbering waters reach a 

 perilous height. 



As we proceed onward up the hill towards Bibbiena 

 in the Casentino, we are reminded at every step of 

 Dante's minute description of these scenes which he 

 knew so well. From the green slopes on either side 

 descend those glittering rills, the cool waters for which 

 the forger Adam of Brescia thirsted in the flames of 

 hell. To our left is the mountain of the Pratomagno 

 dividing the Casentino from the lower valley of Arno ; 

 to the right that " great yoke of Apennine," which 

 forms the water-shed of Tuscany and Umbria, and 

 separates the streams which flow into the Arno from 

 those which join the Tiber. Before we began the 

 last steep ascent into Bibbiena our vetturino, pointing 

 with his whip to a lofty fir-clad crest towering high 

 above a desolate ridge of bare cliffs, cried out " Ecco 

 La Vernia ! " There, before our eyes, was the moun- 

 tain where the strange monk of old sought out a 

 solitude far removed from the haunts of men. La 

 Vernia, whose barren rocks and pine forests have been 

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