Eustace, John Cretwode: A classical tour through Italy An. MDCCCII (Vol. 3): 3. ed., rev. and enl (London: J. Mawman, 1815)

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CLASSICAL TOUR

Ch. XL

CHAP. XI.

Excursion to Camaldoli, Lavernia, and Pietra
Mala.
On the following- day a temporary separation
took place. Three of the party proceeded to-
wards Camaldoli, another celebrated solitude,
and two were under the necessity of returning to
Florence. For the following description there-
fore, both of Camaldoli, Lavernia, and Pietra
Mala, the reader is indebted to one of the author’s
fellow-travellers.
The road to Camaldoli winds round the moun-
tain that shelters Vallombrosa on the north side,
and then descends into a little valley. In the
middle of this valley, on the very edge of a deep
dell, stands a sequestered villa built by one of the
Medici, when that family occasionally delighted
in literary retirement. Though long forsaken
and neglected it continued the property of the
sovereign till lately, when it was sold to the Ab-
bey of Vallombrosa by the Grand Duke Leopold.
From thence we passed into a very beautiful part