CHAPTER XXV.
.PITIGLIANO AND SORANO.
Nihil privatim, nihil pubhce stabile est; tam hominum, quam urbium, fata
volvnntur. Seneca.
Ay, now am I in Arden : when I was at home I was in a better place; but
travellers must be content. As You like it,
The places described in the last chapter he within the
Roman State. On the other side of the frontier is
Pitighano, an Etruscan site, and now the principal town in
this part of Tuscany. The road to it from Valentano has
already been mentioned. With a competent guide it may
be reached also from Castro or Farnese, twelve miles dis-
tant ; but woe to the traveller who would " take the track
into his own hands." Before leaving the Roman State, it
would be well to have passports en rigle, though he may
never be questioned, " Whence or Whither % " Certain it
is he will meet no doganiere at the frontier, which he will
cross at a brook in a lonely wood. More hkely would he
be to encounter an unlicensed collector of taxes, for border-
districts are proverbially unsafe, and this in particular is
said to be the resort of outlaws from both States. Yet for
the traveller's comfort, let me add that these are Will-o'-
the-Wisp perils, ever distant when approached. The
country here, however, is not suggestive of security, as it is
peculiarly wild,—dense, gloomy woods, or open moors on
every hand, and not a house by the wayside, save a farm
on a green spot, about half-way to Pitighano.
.PITIGLIANO AND SORANO.
Nihil privatim, nihil pubhce stabile est; tam hominum, quam urbium, fata
volvnntur. Seneca.
Ay, now am I in Arden : when I was at home I was in a better place; but
travellers must be content. As You like it,
The places described in the last chapter he within the
Roman State. On the other side of the frontier is
Pitighano, an Etruscan site, and now the principal town in
this part of Tuscany. The road to it from Valentano has
already been mentioned. With a competent guide it may
be reached also from Castro or Farnese, twelve miles dis-
tant ; but woe to the traveller who would " take the track
into his own hands." Before leaving the Roman State, it
would be well to have passports en rigle, though he may
never be questioned, " Whence or Whither % " Certain it
is he will meet no doganiere at the frontier, which he will
cross at a brook in a lonely wood. More hkely would he
be to encounter an unlicensed collector of taxes, for border-
districts are proverbially unsafe, and this in particular is
said to be the resort of outlaws from both States. Yet for
the traveller's comfort, let me add that these are Will-o'-
the-Wisp perils, ever distant when approached. The
country here, however, is not suggestive of security, as it is
peculiarly wild,—dense, gloomy woods, or open moors on
every hand, and not a house by the wayside, save a farm
on a green spot, about half-way to Pitighano.