Byways in southern Tuscany . An Old Palazzo in San Casciano CHAPTER XIThe Merse—Rapolano. NE day I left Sietia to drive in the valleyof the Merse, that tributary of theOmbrone, which, after flowing past themonastery of San Galgano, takes its waynortheast among many hills till, a fewmiles from Siena, it suddenly doublesupon itself and turns directly southwardthrough the broad level meadows ofits name. In a space no larger thanthat which Tuscany occupies the variety of character inits valleys is a continual surprise. There is the wide,opulent Val dArno, great avenue to the sea, full of busytowns
Byways in southern Tuscany . An Old Palazzo in San Casciano CHAPTER XIThe Merse—Rapolano. NE day I left Sietia to drive in the valleyof the Merse, that tributary of theOmbrone, which, after flowing past themonastery of San Galgano, takes its waynortheast among many hills till, a fewmiles from Siena, it suddenly doublesupon itself and turns directly southwardthrough the broad level meadows ofits name. In a space no larger thanthat which Tuscany occupies the variety of character inits valleys is a continual surprise. There is the wide,opulent Val dArno, great avenue to the sea, full of busytowns under old castle walls, teeming with the life of to-dayyet exhaling the spirit of the past, weaving before onedreams of the wars, the pageants, the dramas it has wit-nessed; the Val dElsa with its beauty, its sunny fertility, 172 BYWAYS IN SOUTHERN TUSCANY its memory of tragedy; the Val di Pesa, so pretty anddiminutive with its tiny stream, its glowing green benchesof cultivation, its toy bridges; and, in contrast, the Gar-fagnana with its noble width, its mountains of height, itswon
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjecttuscany, bookyear1919
