Byways in southern Tuscany . ain,of grass, and of blank, stony ground. At the entrance atract of wall shows those gigantic blocks fitted withoutmortar, that remain to us from the Etruscan builders. In the procession of the centuries the place has comenear to annihilation so many times that it is a matter forwonder any vestige of it remains to mark the spot. Afterits Etruscan period the Romans colonized it, and laterthemselves devastated it during the wars of Marius andSulla (88 B. C). The Saracens in turn destroyed it, itsuffered at the hands of the Longobards, yet it raised itshead again, as
Byways in southern Tuscany . ain,of grass, and of blank, stony ground. At the entrance atract of wall shows those gigantic blocks fitted withoutmortar, that remain to us from the Etruscan builders. In the procession of the centuries the place has comenear to annihilation so many times that it is a matter forwonder any vestige of it remains to mark the spot. Afterits Etruscan period the Romans colonized it, and laterthemselves devastated it during the wars of Marius andSulla (88 B. C). The Saracens in turn destroyed it, itsuffered at the hands of the Longobards, yet it raised itshead again, as part of the Aldobrandeschi contea, till in1299 Siena sacked and burned it, after some particularoutrage perpetrated by the people of Margherita Aldo-brandeschi who for a time made it her residence. Afterthis, for some thirty years its ruins sheltered a den ofbrigands, till finding this insupportable the republic de-cided to send a force and drive out the assassins. Thecastle was then repaired and the walls rebuilt. After 238. The Madonna of Montemerano. BYWAYS IN SOUTHERN TUSCANY that effort history has Httle to say of it as it suffered thedechne of all the rest of the fever-stricken Maremma. Wandering over the fields among flowers and wildshrubs to trace the extent of the walls one finds the circlenearly complete, and discovers on the side toward theriver certain scarped rocks that added strength to the for-tifications. Beyond the walls is a thin cultivation andin the valley below, clouds of white steam show the pres-ence of sulphur springs. The few inhabitants of the townare mostly shepherds and herders, and by reason of this,once in the year, on the sixth of May, Saturnia wakensand finds itself still populous, for then the great brandingday arrives and the bleating of sheep and lowing of cattleresound through the valley as they wind along the roadsand collect within its boundaries. Wild is the mirth,daring feats are performed, and the day finishes with arather boisterous fes
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjecttuscany, bookyear1919
