File:The country of The ring and the book (1913) (14780634771).jpg

Identifier: countryofringb00trev (find matches)
Title: The country of The ring and the book
Year: 1913 (1910s)
Authors: Treves, Frederick, Sir, 1853-1923
Subjects: Browning, Robert, 1812-1889
Publisher: London : Cassell
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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iage drew up at the end of the first longstage. The day would be dawning when the eager couplereached Camoscia, and the growing light in the skywould give heart to the little countess. High up onthe summit and slope of a hill, to the left of the road,she would see Cortona. The ponderous walls, thehouse tops, the towers and domes of that mysteriouscity would stand up black against the rosy glow of thedawn, for it is behind the mountains about Cortonathat the sun rises. Cortona stands at a height of nearly1,300 feet above the level of the road, and is approachedfrom Camoscia by a very steep, winding causeway,three miles in length. Cortona is—as the guide booksinsist—one of the very oldest cities in Italy, for itwas the principal stronghold of the Etruscans. Itscyclopean walls still stand, and it still looks, in everyline of it, the impregnable mountain fortress (Plate 47).The air of mystery about the place is due to the factthat the city is of the same hue as the rocky hill from 184
Text Appearing After Image:
o Dft WCu wh o o hW H O Hg w < O w From Arezzo to Perugia which it springs, so that it is not always easy to tellbastion from precipice. The town seems to grow outof the hill; there are strange, menacing structures andforbidding entries here and there along the walls, whilewithin the city are those narrow, winding streets, thosedark lanes and secretive alleys, which are associatedwith a cloaked figure and rapier type of romance(Plate 48). Probably no part of the long journey would givesuch comfort to Pompilia as the beautiful road betweenCortona and Perugia, which latter town she and herfriend would reach about noon. They would passthrough this delectable country in the early morning,would hear the note of the cuckoo and wouldwatch the sun flood the great plain around LakeTrasimene. About five miles south of Cortona they would reachthe frontier, and, having once crossed it, would feela little more secure. The frontier between Tuscanyand the States of the Church is marked by no espe

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