Among These Mountains The Scenery Is Wild And
Romantic, And Tho' Not So Grandiose And Sublime As That Of The Alps, Is
Nevertheless Extremely Picturesque.
One meets occasionally with the ruins
of old castles on some of the heights, and I was strongly reminded, at the
sight of these antique edifices, of the mysteries of Udolpho and the times
of the Condottieri.
The silence that reigns here is only interrupted by the
noise of the waterfall and the occasional scream of the eagle. The wild
abrupt transition of landscape would suggest the idea of haunting places
for robbers, yet one seldom or never hears of any, on this road. In Tuscany
there is, I understand, so much industry and morality, that a robbery is a
thing unknown; but in his Holiness's dominions, from the idleness and
poverty that prevails, they are said to be frequent. Why it does not occur
in these mountains, in that part of them, at least, which belongs to the
Papal Government, I am at a loss to conceive.
Here the chesnut and olive trees salute the Ultramontane traveller for the
first time. The olive tree, tho' a most useful, is not an ornamental one,
as it resembles a willow or osier in its trunk and in the colour of its
leaves. The chesnut tree is a glorious plant for an indolent people, since
it furnishes food without labour, as the Xaca or Jack fruit tree does
to the Cingalese in Ceylon. On one of the heights between Pianoro and
Lojano you have in very clear weather a view of both the Adriatic and
Tyrrhene seas. We brought to the night at Scarica l'Asino and the next
morning early we entered the Tuscan territory at Pietra Mala, where there
is a Douane and consequently an examination of trunks. At one o'clock we
arrived at an inn called Le Maschere, about fifteen miles distance from
Florence; it is a large mansion and being situated on an eminence commands
an extensive view. One becomes soon aware of being in the Tuscan territory
from the number of cultivated spots to be seen in this part of the
Appennines: for such is the industry of the inhabitants that they do
wonders on their naturally sterile soil. One sees a number of farms. Every
spot of ground is in cultivation, between Le Maschere and Florence in
particular; these spots of ground, gardens, orchards and villas forming a
striking and pleasing contrast with the wild and dreary scenery of the
Appennines. Another thing that indicates one's arrival among the Tuscans is
their aspiration of the letter c before a, o and u, which is at
first extremely puzzling to a foreigner accustomed only to the Roman
pronunciation. For instance, instead of camera, cotto, curvo, they
pronounce these words hamera, hotto, and hurvo with an exceeding
strong aspiration of the h. It is the same too with the ch which they
aspirate, ex gr. instead of pochino, chiave, they say pohino,
hiave. The language however which is spoken is the most classical and
pure Italian and except the above mentioned aspiration it is delightful to
the ear; peculiarly so to those who come from the north of Italy, and have
only hitherto heard the unpleasing nasal twang of the Milanese and the
exceeding uncouth barbarous dialect of Bologna.
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