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A LITTLE PILGRIMAGE IN ITALY


[Illustration: PERUGIA: LOOKING TOWARDS ASSISI.]


A LITTLE PILGRIMAGE IN ITALY

by

OLAVE M. POTTER

Author of 'The Colour of Rome.'

With 8  Plates and Illustrations by Yoshio Markino







Toronto
The Musson Book Company
Limited

First Published November      1911
Cheap Re-Issue                1913

Edinburgh: T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty




FOREWORD


One morning of high summer three pilgrims met together in the City
of Genoa to sally forth in search of sunshine and the Middle Ages.

At least that was what the Poet said, for sunshine and Ancient
Stones were the passions of the Poet's life.

The Philosopher insisted that we went in search of Happiness.

It is no matter. But in fact we did meet one July day of sweltering
sunshine in Genoa, the Western Gate of Italy, which is a city of
grateful shadows, whose narrow streets defy the brilliant sun.

This is a book of simple delights, a chronicle of little pleasures,
so I shall not talk much of Genoa, although to my mind she is the
most Italian of all the great cities of Italy. Nor shall I speak of
Florence, or Naples, or Venice, or Rome. Doubtless, like me, you
have loved them all.

[Illustration: A STREET IN GENOA.]

If you come with me I shall take you away from the great cities
where your feet are bruised on the stony streets and never feel the
soft warm earth beneath their soles, where mountainous walls of
brick limit your vision to smoke-clouded strips of sky, where you
never smell the fragrance of the night. If you come with me I shall
take you to the hills, the deep-bosomed rolling hills, with their
valleys and their plains and with towered cities riding on their
crests. You will lie with me under the olives and stone-pines,
where the warm earth cushions your limbs in luxury, and the
sunlight flickering in the green shadows lights on a wealth of
flowers.

Then, if you will, come back to your haunted streets.

But I am persuaded that if you go there you will find a great
content among the little cities of great memories which stand
knee-deep in flowers upon the hills of Italy, or in those nobler
towns,--Siena, who belongs to the Madonna, and Perugia, whose name
is as a torch to light your feet into the Valleys of Romance. In
their streets you are seldom shut away from the mountains and the
sky; and little gracious weeds and grasses have spread a web among
their stones as though an elfin world sought to entrap a monster
and pull him down to ruin.

Our little pilgrimage took us to many shrines, and haunts of
peace and beauty. We made our discoveries, saw much, learned not
a little philosophy. And, most of all, we caught a glimpse of the
heart of Umbria--Umbria of the saints. We watched the gathering of
the golden maize in the plain below Assisi while we walked with
St. Francis among the vines and olives; we saw the vintage being
brought home with song and thanksgiving at Orvieto and Viterbo.
We dwelt among beautiful simple-hearted men and women, living in
little farms far from the toil of the modern world, who still
worship God in the gladness of their hearts and the spirit of the
ardent thirteenth century; who toil and spin and bear children
and lie down to die, not with the stupidity of animals or the
self-satisfaction of the bourgeoisie, but full of a beautiful
content, moved by a beautiful faith. We dipped into Tuscany too,
into Lombardy, into the March of Ancona, into Lazio, but nowhere
else was the world as perfect, as unspoiled as in Umbria. If you
are travel-stained with life, if the sweat of a work-a-day world
still clings about you, if you have lost your saints and almost
forgotten your Gods, you will cure the sickness of your soul in
Umbria.

[Illustration: GENOA: THE HARBOUR.]




CONTENTS


  CHAP.                                           PAGE

        FOREWORD                                     v

      I. AREZZO                                      1

     II. CORTONA                                    14

    III. PERUGIA                                    24

     IV. TODI                                       45

      V. SIENA AND THE PALIO                        58

     VI. SAN GIMIGNANO DELLE BELLE TORRI            88

    VII. MONTE OLIVETO MAGGIORE                    105

   VIII. CHIUSI                                    116

     IX. HANNIBAL'S THRASYMENE                     129

      X. ASSISI                                    144

     XI. GUBBIO                                    171

    XII. ANCONA                                    188

   XIII. LORETO                                    201

    XIV. RAVENNA                                   216

     XV. THE REPUBLIC OF SAN MARINO                234

    XVI. URBINO                                    245

   XVII. FOLIGNO                                   259

  XVIII. CLITUMNUS                                 276

    XIX. SPOLETO                                   280

     XX. THE FALLS OF TERNI                        296

    XXI. NARNI                                     303

   XXII. ORVIETO: THE CITY OF WOE                  316

  XXIII. VITERBO                                   333

   XXIV. ROME                                      353




ILLUSTRATIONS


   PLATES

  PERUGIA: LOOKING TOWARDS ASSISI                       _Frontispiece_

  SIENA: TORRE DEL MANGIA                       _Facing page_       62

  SAN GIMIGNANO                                      "             102

  LAKE THRASYMENE                                    "             137

  ASSISI: THE LOWER CHURCH OF SAN FRANCESCO          "             152

  ANCONA: THE FISHING FLEET                          "             192

  SPOLETO: THE AQUEDUCT                              "             292

  THE FALLS OF TERNI                                 "             298


  HALF-TONES

  GENOA: THE HARBOUR                           _Facing page_      viii

  A STREET IN AREZZO                                 "               8

  CORTONA FROM THE PORTA S. MARGHERITA               "              20

  PERUGIA: PIAZZA DEL MUNICIPIO                      "              28

  PERUGIA: THE RING OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN            "              30

  PERUGIA: PORTA EBURNEA                             "              40

  PERUGIA: THE TOMB OF THE VOLUMNII                  "              42

  A STREET IN SIENA                                  "              66

  SIENA: S. DOMENICO AND THE VIA BENINCASA           "              68

  SIENA FROM THE CONVENTO DELL'OSSERVANZA            "              72

  SIENA: THE PALIO                                   "              84

  SAN GIMIGNANO: THE WASHING PLACE                   "              96

  CHIUSI: THE PALACE OF THE BISHOP                   "             126

  A STREET IN ASSISI                                 "             148

  THE LITTLE CLOISTER IN S. FRANCESCO D'ASSISI       "             154

  ASSISI: THE PORZIUNCULA                            "             168

  GUBBIO: PIAZZA VITTORIO EMANUELE                   "             180

  GUBBIO: VIA CARMIGNANO                             "             184

  LORETO                                             "             202

  SAN MARINO                                         "             236

  URBINO: SAN FRANCESCO                              "             252

  FOLIGNO: THE WASHING PLACE                         "             268

  THE TEMPLE OF CLITUMNUS                            "             278

  A STREET IN SPOLETO                                "             288

  THE CATTLE FAIR AT NARNI                           "             306

  A STREET IN ORVIETO                                "             322

  ORVIETO: ETRUSCAN TOMB                             "             330

  VITERBO: MEDIAEVAL HOUSE IN THE PIAZZA S. LORENZO  "             336

  VITERBO: FROM A WINDOW IN THE PALACE OF THE POPES  "             340

  VITERBO: VIA DI S. PELLEGRINO                      "             346

  ROME: ST. PETER'S SEEN FROM THE ARCO OSCURO        "             354

  ROME: A FOUNTAIN IN THE BORGHESE GARDENS           "             358


  LINE DRAWINGS

  A STREET IN GENOA                                    _See page_   vi

  AREZZO: THE PRISON                                        "        6

  CORTONA FROM THE PIAZZA GARIBALDI                         "       16

  PERUGIA: DETAIL FROM THE CHOIR OF S. PIETRO DE'
  CASSINENSI                                                "       24

  PERUGIA: ARCO DI AUGUSTO                                  "       27

  THE GRIFFON OF PERUGIA                                    "       32

  FOUNTAIN IN THE CLOISTER OF S. PIETRO DE' CASSINENSI      "       36

  DETAILS FROM THE APSE OF THE CATHEDRAL OF TODI            "       51

  TODI: S. MARIA DELLA CONSOLAZIONE                         "       54

  SIENA: BANNER-HOLDER                                      "       61

  SIENA: TORCH-REST                                         "       64

  SIENESE YOUTHS IN PALIO DRESS                             "       77

  SEEN AT THE PALIO                                         "       81

  THE TOWERS OF SAN GIMIGNANO                               "       89

  CHIUSURE FROM MONTE OLIVETO MAGGIORE                      "      107

  CITTA DELLA PIEVE FROM CHIUSI                             "      118

  ETRUSCAN CINERARY URNS                                    "      122

  CHIMNEYS AT PASSIGNANO                                    "      133

  ASSISI: S. MARIA MADDALENA AT RIVO TORTO                  "      159

  ASSISI: THE CARCERE                                       "      163

  GUBBIO: THE LAMPLIGHTER                                   "      173

  GUBBIO: SAN FRANCESCO                                     "      177

  GUBBIO: THE MEDIAEVAL AQUEDUCT                            "      183

  PEASANTS AT LORETO                                        "      206

