way of all to travel. Thus those who are young and
wise will set out, putting Dante in their knapsack and Signor Beni's
little book[134] in their pocket, and with these two, a good stick, a
light heart, and a companion to your liking, the Casentino is yours. And
truly there is no more delightful place in which to spend a Tuscan
summer. The Pistojese mountains are fine; the air is pure there, the
woods lovely with flowers; but they lack the sentimental charm of
Casentino. The Garfagnana, again, cannot be bettered if you avoid such
touristry as Bagni di Lucca; but then Castelnuovo is bare, and though
Barga is fine enough, Piazza al Serchio is a mere huddle of houses,
and it is not till you reach Fivizzano on the other side of the
pass that you find what you want. In Casentino alone there is
everything--mountains, rivers, woods, and footways, convents and
castles. And then where is there a better inn than Albergo Amorosi of
Bibbiena, unless, indeed, it be the unmatched hostelry at Fivizzano?

As for inns, in general they are fair enough; though none, I think, so
good as the Amorosi. You may sleep and eat comfortably at Stia, either
at Albergo Falterona or Albergo della Stazione Alpina. At Pratovecchio
there is Albergo Bastieri; at Poppi the Gelati pension; at Bibbiena the
Amorosi, as I say. These will be your centres, as it were. At La Verna
you may sleep for one night--not well, but bearably; at Camaldoli, very
well indeed in summer; and then, wherever you may be, you will find a
fine courtesy, for rough though they seem, these peasants and such, are
of the Latin race, they understand the amenities. Saints have been here,
and poets: these be no Teutons, but the good Latin people of the Faith;
they will give you greeting and welcome.

III. STIA AND MONTE FALTERONA

Stia is a picturesque little city with a curious arcaded Piazza, a
church that within is almost beautiful; yet it is certainly not for
anything to be found there that one comes to so ancient and yet so
disappointing a place, but because from thence one may go most easily to
Falterona to see the sun rise or to find out the springs of Arno, or to
visit Porciano, S. Maria delle Grazie, Papiano, and the rest in the
hills that shut in this little town at the head of the long valley.

Through the great endless sheepfolds you go to Falterona where the girls
are singing their endless chants all day long guarded by great
sheep-dogs, not the most peacable of companion