Byways In Southern Tuscany Classic Reprint

Download or read book Byways in Southern Tuscany (Classic Reprint) written by Katharine Hooker and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2017-12-19 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Byways in Southern Tuscany It is a country rich with cultivation. Vines and olives, olives and vines lie on either hand, and heights dark with ilex or green and gold with chestnuts, while the roadside is bordered with wild flowers, among which the poppy pre vails and flaunts its glowing scarlet above the rest. We pass tiny villages and farm houses, there are small streams to cross and the River Merse which here turns and doubles upon itself keeps us company now and then in its wind ings. Before traveling far there is Montarrente, a small but fine old ruin on a slight eminence above the road, and a few miles beyond it we emerge from the hills at the edge of a level treeless meadow, and find ourselves opposite the noble remnant of the great monastery of San Galgano. There is no other such fine example of pure Gothic in all Italy as what remains standing of this church, nor per haps anywhere in Tuscany an ecclesiastical establishment that has had a more august and typical history. In timately connected with Siena, it would be hard to ex aggerate the importance of their relation in an age when the Church was in its completest ascendency. San Galgano became a Widespreading estate of many activities and great wealth but with its gradual decay no evidence has been left of its numerous buildings excepting the lofty, roofless walls of the church. This is approached through the mud of an unclean farm yard, this stately ruin, worthy of a position peaceful and sequestered, but here treated with so little respect. With some indignation you wait while the contadino, who is the custodian, unlocks an iron. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.