DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0231
214 THE MARBMMA. [chap. xlii.
forth the hot and fetid vapour in numerous tall -white
columns, which, by moonlight on their dark slopes, look
like " quills upon the fretful porcupine."
Some miles beyond Castelnuovo, the road, which has
been continually ascending from the Cecina, attains its
greatest elevation. Here it commands a prospect of vast
extent, over a wide expanse of undulating country to the
sea, nearly twenty miles distant, with the promontory of
Piombino and Populonia rising like an island from the
deep, and the lofty peaks of Elba seen dimly in the far
horizon. Among the undulations at the foot of the height,
which the road here crosses, is the hill of Castiglione Ber-
nardi, which Inghirami has pronounced to be the site of
the Vetulonia of antiquity.
I did not visit this spot, for I was deterred by one of
those sudden deluges of rain common in southern climates,
which burst like a water-spout upon me, just as I had
begun to descend to it; and I thought myself fortunate in
soon regaining the shelter of my carrettino. Not relishing
a country walk of some miles after such a storm, I did not
await its cessation, but made the best of my way to Massa.
I did this with the less regret, for my quondam fellow-
traveller, Mr. Ainsley, had previously twice visited the spot,
furnished with directions from Inghirami himself, and had
sought in vain, in a careful examination of the ground,
for any remains of Etruscan antiquity, or for any traces of
an ancient city of importance. Inghirami indeed admits
that the hill in question is but a poggetto angusto—"a
circumscribed mound, not more than half a mile in circuit,
and quite incapable of holding a city such as Vetulonia
must have been;" and says that on it are to be seen only
the ruins of a castle of the middle ages, overgrown with
enormous oaks, nor could he " perceive among the extant
masonry a single stone which bore a trace of ancient
forth the hot and fetid vapour in numerous tall -white
columns, which, by moonlight on their dark slopes, look
like " quills upon the fretful porcupine."
Some miles beyond Castelnuovo, the road, which has
been continually ascending from the Cecina, attains its
greatest elevation. Here it commands a prospect of vast
extent, over a wide expanse of undulating country to the
sea, nearly twenty miles distant, with the promontory of
Piombino and Populonia rising like an island from the
deep, and the lofty peaks of Elba seen dimly in the far
horizon. Among the undulations at the foot of the height,
which the road here crosses, is the hill of Castiglione Ber-
nardi, which Inghirami has pronounced to be the site of
the Vetulonia of antiquity.
I did not visit this spot, for I was deterred by one of
those sudden deluges of rain common in southern climates,
which burst like a water-spout upon me, just as I had
begun to descend to it; and I thought myself fortunate in
soon regaining the shelter of my carrettino. Not relishing
a country walk of some miles after such a storm, I did not
await its cessation, but made the best of my way to Massa.
I did this with the less regret, for my quondam fellow-
traveller, Mr. Ainsley, had previously twice visited the spot,
furnished with directions from Inghirami himself, and had
sought in vain, in a careful examination of the ground,
for any remains of Etruscan antiquity, or for any traces of
an ancient city of importance. Inghirami indeed admits
that the hill in question is but a poggetto angusto—"a
circumscribed mound, not more than half a mile in circuit,
and quite incapable of holding a city such as Vetulonia
must have been;" and says that on it are to be seen only
the ruins of a castle of the middle ages, overgrown with
enormous oaks, nor could he " perceive among the extant
masonry a single stone which bore a trace of ancient