another year. They are of bronze. Their language, their intention, and their importance, has afforded endless discussion and amusement to antiquaries. Of the inscriptions with which they are covered, four are in Umbrian, two in Latin, and one in Etruscan and Latin characters. They were found in 1444, in a subterraneous chamber at La Schieggia, near Gubbio (Iguvium-Jovium, the city of Jupiter). On the highest part of the town a temple of Jupiter Apenninus was once situated.

Outside the walls are some trifling remains of an ancient theatre and other buildings.

(Gubbio is perhaps the best point from which to make the pilgrimage to the famous Monastery of Avellana, at one time the retreat of Dante, and where his chamber is still shown. The monastery is situated in the wildest part of the Apennines, under the mountain called Catria. speaks of the solitude made for prayer under the projection of the Apennines which is called Catria.)

Dante

CHAPTER XXIV.

VOLTERRA AND THE COAST OF ETRURIA.

'tornemo a Vulterra,

Sopra un monte, che forte e anticha,

Quanto en Toscana niuna altra terra.'

Fazio degli Uberti.

'Lordly Volaterra,

Where scowls the far-famed hold

Piled by the hand of giants

For god-like kings of old.'—Macaulay.

(Volterra is most easily reached from Pisa by the branch line from Cecina to Le Saline (9 frs. 5 c.; 6 frs. 30 c.; 5 frs. 30 c.), where an omnibus (I fr. 50 c.) meets the trains. The Albergo Nazionale is a clean and good country inn with very moderate charges.)

VOLTERRA,

OLTERRA, as the ancient Velathri, was one of the most important cities of Etruria-and especially so from her position. The Etruscan city was three times as large as the existing Volterra, and its walls, which were four or five miles in circuit, may be traced at a great distance from the present city. It is believed that Volterra was one of the last of the Etruscan cities to fall into the hands of the Romans. In the Middle Ages it was for a short time the residence of the Lombard kings, and greatly as it has decreased in size and importance, it has at no time been wholly deserted. In the 13th century, in which most of the principal buildings were erected, the town had a revival. Since then its prosperity has been chiefly due to its Alabaster Works, on which two-thirds of the population are employed.

The town is approached from the station by a long winding hill. On nearing the walls the Etruscan gate is seen on

the left of the road; then, after winding under the Citadel, the traveller is set down by the omnibus close to the piazza and cathedral, at a very short distance from the inn.

Turning to the right from the Albergo Nazionale and descending a steep street, we reach the famous Etruscan gate, Porta dell' Arco, still used as a gate of the city. It is adorned on the outside with three colossal heads, and is a double gate nearly 30 ft. deep united by massive walls. Just within the gate on either side are grooves for a portcullis.

From hence the Etruscan antiquary should proceed eastward along the walls of the modern town and on to where, below the church of S. Chiara, are some magnificent detached fragments of the ancient walls. The sixth of these is forty feet high and a hundred and forty feet in length: the masses are rudely hewn and put together, and there are no traces of cement.

Returning up the hill from the Porta dell' Arco and turning left into the Piazza, we find, on the left, the stately Palazzo Comunale, covered with shields of podestas, some of them in rich terra-cotta frames. Here is the exceedingly interesting Etruscan Museum, entirely devoted to objects collected at Volterra. It is well shown by an intelligent

custode. Its most important objects are all sarcophagi with remarkable and varied decorations, and it is worthy of observation that the decoration is always the same for all the members of the same family. All the inscriptions read from right to left. We may notice :

II, 12, 13, 14. terra-cotta.

As specimens of the earliest sarcophagi-being all

In the succeeding sarcophagi the decoration of flowers indicates the age of the person contained; for a young person the flower is single; for a middle aged, double; for an old person, triple.

In the centre of this room is a family group from the tomb called I Marmini. The female figure has a pomegranate, the sign of fecundity, in her hand; below are representations of marriage, rearing of children, and education of children. As the art advances the sarcophagi are of alabaster. Here, in Volterra, it is interesting to know that there were alabaster works here 3,855 years ago. In the subjects on these sarcophagi, one family have a representation of the dead person about to mount for departure with a bag full of good and evil deeds; another, of the same already mounted, but accompanied to the last by his relations.

No. 133 is very curious; the horses drawing the funeral car are represented as joining in the grief of the mourners.

After this we come to a later phase.

Triumphal processions are represented, with music and torches. On the sarcophagi of warriors who have died for their country, a Genius holds the wheel, the symbol of immortality. Following these are mythological subjects, Atalanta and Meleager, Ulysses and the Sirens, the Riddle of Oedipus, and the Birth and Death of Minotaur. The former is quite too funny-the father flies from the horrible monster, the mother clings to an altar.

In No. 371, 372, representing the Siege of Thebes, the Etruscan gate of Volterra, Porta dell' Arco, is introduced.

No. 23 is a gigantic figure found at the entrance of a sepulchre and popularly called 'Il Sordato Barbato.'

'The cinerary urns of Volterra cannot lay claim to a very remote antiquity. They are unquestionably more recent than those of many other Etruscan sites. This may be learned from the style of art-the best, indeed the only safe criterion-which is never of that archaic character found on certain reliefs on the altars or cippi of Chiusi and Perugia. The freedom and mastery of design, and the skill in composition, at times evinced, bespeak the period of Roman domination; while the defects display not so much the rudeness of early art, as the carelessness of the time of decadence.'-Dennis.

The Library contains a fresco by Orcagna of the

Madonna and Saints. and 13th century Ivories, including the Pastoral Staff of the Carthusian Abbot of S. Salvatore, and that of a Bishop of the 12th century. The Second Room contains a Crucifixion of the School of Giotto, and a Madonna by Lodovico da Firenze. Amongst the smaller objects preserved here are some little vessels of spun gold and glass, very precious as being of a manufacture of which the art is long since lost.

There is a small collection of 12th

Close to the palace is the Cathedral, consecrated in 1120 by Calixtus II. Its simple and handsome west front was added by Niccolò Pisano in 1254. handsome, though much injured by paint and stucco. It contains:

Right, Over door.

The interior is very

Fine terra cotta statue of S. Lino.

Right of Right Transept. The Oratory of S. Carlo, which is a perfect gallery of pictures.

Over door.

Bald. Franceschini. Madonna and Child, with Saints. Right. Filippino Lippi. Madonna and Child, with SS. Bartolommeo and Antonino.

Leonardo da Pistoia. Madonna and Child, with SS. Sebastian, Stephen, Laurence, and Nicholas.

Rosselli. S. Carlo Borromeo.

Benvenuto da Siena. The Nativity. The gradino is by Benozzo

Gozzoli.

Daniele da Volterra. S. Joseph.

Sodoma. A small Crucifixion.

End Wall. Camillo Incontri, finished by Guido Reni.

dalen.

By a Contadino of Volterra.

SS. Francesco and Chiara.

The Mag

Left Wall. Pietro d' Alvaro Portoghese. Madonna and Child with

Luca Signorelli. The Annunciation.

The Virgin has been reading,

and in her surprise at seeing the angel has dropped her book. The Almighty appears in the clouds.

(Returning to the Church) Right of High Altar is the tomb of S. Octavian by Raffaelle Cioli, 1525. The Angels at the sides of the High Altar are by Mino da Fiesole.

The Pulpit is of c. 1150.

Resting on four columns, supported by two lions, a bull and a fantastic figure, the breastwork is adorned with reliefs; the first represents