In and out of Florence; a new introduction to a well-known city . closer and older, and theway more beautiful. The road curves gently aroundthe hill-slope past a farm-house or two, and past alittle chapel set under a group of dark old cypresses,and then swings sharply around the head of aravine, with its sides thickly set with olives andvines, and arrives under the great retaining wallsof Vincigliata; good tramping and good seeing allthe way. Vincigliata, solid, splendid as it is, is a disappoint-ment. It is too much a restoration; it is a Cha-teau de still remainscattered pa
In and out of Florence; a new introduction to a well-known city . closer and older, and theway more beautiful. The road curves gently aroundthe hill-slope past a farm-house or two, and past alittle chapel set under a group of dark old cypresses,and then swings sharply around the head of aravine, with its sides thickly set with olives andvines, and arrives under the great retaining wallsof Vincigliata; good tramping and good seeing allthe way. Vincigliata, solid, splendid as it is, is a disappoint-ment. It is too much a restoration; it is a Cha-teau de still remainscattered parts ofits old self, and itsinterior is nobly re-done, presumablymost faithfully, andfilled with interest-ing things. Butthere is little of themusty flavor of theancient Visdominior Usimbardi, suc-cessive robber lordsof the castle. Thatable English adven-turer, John Hawk-wood, who rides his ^^ ^^ ^°^^^ ^^ Vincigliata. great horse on the entrance wall of the Duomo, isreputed to be responsible for the demolishing ofVincigliata, some time about 1350. Since then it. 204 Outside the Walls has undergone for six centuries the vicissitudes ofintermittent rebuilding and restoration, although itremained continually in the ownership of one family,that of the Alessandri, for five of these centuries. Leaving Vincigliata, the road pushes on up thenarrow hill shoulder toward Castel di Poggio, pastthe little church of Santa Maria a Vincigliata, andthrough a tangle of woods, until it tops the eminence,which is really of no mean height. Vincigliata iswell below, while across a great deep natural amphi-theater Monte Ceceri lifts its much-hewn face. Castel di Poggio is much more satisfactory to thesearcher for musty flavor. It seems almost deserted,great trees grow struggling in its court, and ancientvines wander up its rough walls. The tower stillstands in its full height and strength, and parts ofthe old outer walls show how mighty and securea stronghold it was in the days of the Del
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidinoutofflore, bookyear1910
