Byways in southern Tuscany . pressing effect, so that there is much ex-cuse for lack of initiative and thrift in San Salvatore. Recently the government sent an able investigator toSan Salvatore and with his valuable report there is hopethat every effort will be made to overcome so far as possi-ble the unhappy conditions existing there. From the very gate of San Salvatore one reenters theclean, cool chestnut forest that on the right hand climbsabove the road and on the left drops steeply enough toleave gaps among the masses of foliage giving beautifulviews of the valley below and the distant hi
Byways in southern Tuscany . pressing effect, so that there is much ex-cuse for lack of initiative and thrift in San Salvatore. Recently the government sent an able investigator toSan Salvatore and with his valuable report there is hopethat every effort will be made to overcome so far as possi-ble the unhappy conditions existing there. From the very gate of San Salvatore one reenters theclean, cool chestnut forest that on the right hand climbsabove the road and on the left drops steeply enough toleave gaps among the masses of foliage giving beautifulviews of the valley below and the distant hills. Fourmiles of this charming progress bring one to the littlewalled town of Piancastagnajo with the towers of its castlemounting finely above its gateway. Very imposing itlooks still and fit to defend a far larger place; indeed,though Piancastagnajo was small, remote, and forest-encircled, it led as uneasy a life as towns of greater size,and among its claimants the old names appear and reap- 143 BYWAYS IN SOUTHERN TUSCANY. Palazzo Borbone. Piancastagnajo pear. On entering, it is seen to be cleaner than San Salva-tore, yet not too clean; the inhabitants, though so nearthe mines, do not in general work in them and there areno evidences of important buildings—excepting perhapsthat offered by one bricked-up Gothic window on thesmall piazza—till one comes to the other end of the townwhere stands the great Palazzo Borbone, with a noblestaircase and a terrace commanding a great view of thePaglia Valley as far as the Roman campagna. It has agarden, too, all lapsed to wildness, but not wildness of thekind that adds charm rather than takes it away, for it issomewhat hard and bare, the skeleton of a once beautifulthing. All is silent there now and the lovely ladies andgallant cavaliers that once made the halls and shrubberiesgay with color and laughter are gone, and the huge Romanpalace looks alien to anything else in the village or indeedto the whole countryside, for building here
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjecttuscany, bookyear1919
