. Up hill and down dale in ancient Etruria. etown, where perforce we have to lodge, lies somedistance away, and it will be necessary to order acarriage to meet you at the Station from the littleDelia Rosa Inn in Orbetello, otherwise you mayfind yourself stranded for an hour or so in a veryinhospitable and dreary spot. Orbetello itself is notan inviting town. It must be allowed that it doesnot pretend to be. Yet as it possesses an Inn quiteequal to the needs of a night or two, and as com-manding the approach to the attractive and evenbeautiful Monte Argentario, there is a certain degreeof anima
. Up hill and down dale in ancient Etruria. etown, where perforce we have to lodge, lies somedistance away, and it will be necessary to order acarriage to meet you at the Station from the littleDelia Rosa Inn in Orbetello, otherwise you mayfind yourself stranded for an hour or so in a veryinhospitable and dreary spot. Orbetello itself is notan inviting town. It must be allowed that it doesnot pretend to be. Yet as it possesses an Inn quiteequal to the needs of a night or two, and as com-manding the approach to the attractive and evenbeautiful Monte Argentario, there is a certain degreeof animation and interest visible in the streets ofthe town. Yet if not an inviting town at present,two hundred years ago only the Spaniards found itso desirable a possession that they made of it avery strongly fortified position. The defences stillremain, and coming from the station along a narrowand most dreary road you at length drive throughan imposing gateway of Charles II., or Philip III.,surmounted by an escutcheon with the Spanish arms 178. COSA 179 finely carved, boldly designed, and of singular fresh-ness. It is certainly a sidelight upon Italian historyto learn that the Spaniards were here in possessionso recently as 1707. The Spaniards here must havebeen so often reminded of Gibraltar as their eyesfell upon Monte Argentario. A sorrowful retrospectit must have been for them latterly, for Rookecaptured Gibraltar in 1704 and the Spaniards werestill here in 1 709. This gateway cleared you pass through the townto another Spanish Gate, and find yourself upon theshore of a large salt-water insalubrious lagoon con-nected with the great picturesque headland of MonteArgentario by two long narrow tongues of land. Sothin and slight are these bands uniting Orbetelloto Monte Argentario that you wonder how time hasallowed them to remain. They are, however, soeffectually protected from the inroads of the seaby the great Gibraltar-like mountain in front ofyou, that little labour is required
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