Byways in southern Tuscany . r and seeing. No, San Casciano is not without attraction, but agreater lies beyond it, for, turning homeward towardChiusi by a different road from that which brought us,we enter a glade than which there can be nothing morealluring, for the way leads between banks of genista inclumps and patches of the purest gold, partly in the openwhere the yellow of its massed blossoms is almost dazzling,and, again, sweetly subdued by the flecked shadows ofgreat oaks that in this narrow and sheltered valley reach asize and spread that is truly wonderful. Nowhere haveI seen the go
Byways in southern Tuscany . r and seeing. No, San Casciano is not without attraction, but agreater lies beyond it, for, turning homeward towardChiusi by a different road from that which brought us,we enter a glade than which there can be nothing morealluring, for the way leads between banks of genista inclumps and patches of the purest gold, partly in the openwhere the yellow of its massed blossoms is almost dazzling,and, again, sweetly subdued by the flecked shadows ofgreat oaks that in this narrow and sheltered valley reach asize and spread that is truly wonderful. Nowhere haveI seen the golden broom in such happy luxuriance. Half way between Sarteano and Radicofani lies thesmall, lonely valley before mentioned where Siena foughtthat bloody battle against her own rebellious subjectsin 1262, and perhaps to this day laborers occasionally turnup lance heads and broken spurs in the ploughed furrowsthat lie so evenly waiting for the autumn rains. Nothingcould be more peaceful and pretty in its miniature propor- 218. Cetona. Castle Tower. BYWAYS IN SOUTHERN TUSCANY tions than this Httle hollow among the hills when I lastsaw it, for though it was late in the year the dwarf whiteoaks that softly cover the slopes still held their foliage,turning from green to russet; the pink clover was in bloom,and it was easy to find violets and larkspurs at the edgeof the woods. In this setting stands the gray pile ofBadia a Spineta, once an important abbey under theprotection of a great castle on the heights above it. Itwas suppressed in the time of Napoleon, but it is still ingood preservation and now shelters those who are engagedin cultivating the fertile soil about it for some distantproprietor. Periodical services are held in the churchwhich is spacious and dignified but empty of all the richaccessories it once contained, and it would be the betterfor the absence of the cheap colored prints that take theirplace at present. There is a little triangular cloister with severely strai
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjecttuscany, bookyear1919
