y, and indeed it seems to have been a spot greatly beloved, for
a certain Pietro Migliorotti of Poppi passed many years there, and
refused to think of it as anything but a little paradise; thus it was
called Paradisino, the name which it bears to-day. Far and far away lies
Florence, with her beautiful domes and towers, and around you are the
valleys, Val d'Arno, Val di Sieve, while behind you lies the strangest
and loveliest of all, Val di Casentino, hidden in the hills at the foot
of the great mountain, scattered with castles, holy with convents; and
there Dante has passed by and St. Francis, and Arno is continually born
in the hills. And indeed, delightful as the woods of Vallombrosa are,
with their ruined shrines and chapels, their great delicious solitude,
their unchangeable silence under everything but the wind, that
valley-enclosed Clusendinum calls you every day; perhaps in some strange
smile you catch for a moment in the sunshine on the woods, or in the
aspect of the clouds; it will not be long before you are compelled to
set out on your way to seek

"Li ruscelletti, che dei verdi colli
Del Casentin discendon giuso in Arno."

II. OF THE WAY TO THE CASENTINO

And the path lies through the woods. You make your way under the
mountain towards S. Miniato in Alpe, leaving it at Villa del Lago for a
mule-track, which leads you at last to Consuma and the road from
Pontassieve. The way is beautiful, and not too hard to find, the world
about you a continual joy. If you start early, you may breakfast at
Consuma (though it were better, perhaps, to carry provisions), for it is
but two and a half hours from Vallombrosa. Once at Consuma, the way is
easy and good. You climb into the pass, and in another three hours you
may be in Romena, Pratovecchio, or Stia. But there are other ways, too,
of which the shortest is that by the mountains from Vallombrosa to
Montemignajo--that lofty, ruined place; and the loveliest, that from
Vallombrosa to Raggiola of the forests; but there be rambles,
pilgrimages, paths of delight unknown to any but those who hide for long
in the forests of Vallombrosa. Your tourist knows them not; he will go
by rail from S. Ellero to Arezzo, and make his way by train up the
valley to Stia; your traveller will walk from Vallombrosa to Consuma,
where Giuseppe Marari of Stia will send a _vettura_ to meet him. For
myself I go afoot, and take a lift when I can, and a talk with it, and
this is the happiest