Elisa Bacciochi. In front lies Elba, and nearer, the islets of Palmajola and Cerboli. It is a drive of less than two hours from Piombino to Populonia. A steamer leaves daily at noon and reaches Elba in two hours.

The railway now proceeds through the desolate Tuscan Maremma, once sprinkled with flourishing Etruscan cities and villages, but now chiefly covered by asphodel, or woods of cork-trees, with an undergrowth of mastic and myrtle.

Follonica (Stat.). Here there are extensive iron-works, founded by the Grand Duke of Tuscany. A few miles west is the hill-set but malaria-stricken Massa Maritima, with a beautiful little 13th-century cathedral, dedicated to S. Cerbone.

The railway now turns inland, passing, on the right, the hill-set Colonna, supposed to have been the ancient Colonia, near which in B.C. 224 the battle of Telamon took place, when the Cisalpine Gauls were defeated by an unexpected juncture of two Roman armies under the consuls Emilius Paulus and C. Attilius, of whom the latter was slain. On the coast is Porto di Troja, the ancient Portus Trajanus, and near it the little Lago di Caldano and Porto Falese, the Portus Faleria. Passing the fever-bearing fens of the Lago di Castiglione, the Lacus Prilis of Pliny, we reach—

Grosseto (Stat.), (Inn, Aquila), the capital of the Maremma. The little Cathedra' has a marble façade by Sozo Rustichini of Siena, 1293, and a campanile of 1402. Five miles distant are the ruins of Rusellae. A guide should be taken from the hot-springs called I Bagni di Roselle. Nothing, however, remains except the walls, which enclose a space two miles in circumference, and which are composed of enormous masses of stone, rudely piled up together, but smoothed on their outer surface. On leaving Grosseto the railway crosses the little river Ombrone, formerly navigable.

Talamone (Stat.). Several miles west lies the village of Talamone, with an old castle, occupying an Etruscan site,

and said to derive its name from Talamon, the Argonaut. This is supposed to have been the port of Vetulonia, and it was here that Marius landed on his return from Africa in B.C. 87. The few ruins remaining are all of Roman date. The name of the Torre della Bella Marsilia records the legend that a beautiful girl of the Marsilj family was carried off thence by pirates to Constantinople, where her charms raised her to the dignity of Sultana. This is the subject of one of the most popular of the refrains with whose melancholy cadences the Maremma peasants make their shores re-echo, beginning—

'I Turchi son venuti nella Maremma,

E hanno preso via la bella Marsilia.'

The railway crosses the Osa (where there are remains of the ancient bridge by which the Via Aurelia passed the river) and the Albegna before reaching

Orbetello (Stat.). An omnibus takes travellers in forty minutes to the town. (Inn, Chiave d' Oro.) There is a charming view across the salt lake of Orbetello-a shimmering expanse of still water, studded with fishing-boats, to the abrupt purple cliffs of Monte Argentaro. This lagoon, enclosed by sand-banks, adds greatly to the unhealthiness of the surrounding country, while it abundantly supplies it with fish. In the 17th century the town was surrounded by walls by the Spaniards. Towards the sea they rest upon huge Pelasgic blocks of polygonal masonry. Several Etruscan tombs have also been found, but to what lost city these remains belonged has never been discovered.

At the point where the southern sand-bank, called Feniglia, extending from Monte Argentaro, joins the mainland, are the ruins of Ansedonia, the ancient Cosa. It is best to drive (5 m.) from Orbetello to the foot of the hill crowned by the ruins, and to take a guide from the house called La Selciatella, in a lane on the right of the high road. An ancient road may be traced all the way up the

conical hill to the ruins, which are situated 600 feet above
the sea. The walls, varying from 12 to 30 feet in height, and
relieved by towers, of which fourteen are to be seen or
traced, enclose a quadrangle rather less than a mile in
circuit. There are three gates, occupying the centre of the
northern, southern, and eastern walls, and all of them
double, but there is no sign of an arch, and they seem to
have been spanned by a lintel of wood. In the eastern
gate, the door-post, still standing, rises to a height of nearly
twenty feet.
The interior is now a thicket of thorns and
brambles, but from the ramparts the view is most beautiful
-Elba is visible, and, in the near distance, the island of
Giannutri, the ancient Artemisia. Cosa is believed to have
become a Roman colony B.C. 280. Its fidelity to the
Romans, during the second Punic war, is mentioned by
Livy.1 Rutilius records the tradition that the enemies who
finally drove the inhabitants from the town were an army of
mice-

'Cernimus antiquas nullo custode ruinas,
Et desolatae moenia foeda Cosae.
Ridiculam cladis pudet inter seria causam
Promere; sed risum dissimulare piget.
Dicuntur cives quondam migrare coacti,
Muribus infestos deseruisse lares.

Credere maluerim Pygmeae damna cohortis,

Et conjuratas in sua bella grues.'—I. 285.

A delightful excursion may be made from Orbetello to Monte Argentaro, the ancient Mons Argentarius. On the summit of one of its two peaks is Il Retiro, a Passionist convent. On the south-eastern shore, in a beautiful situation at the base of the mountain, is Porto d' Ercole, the ancient Portus Herculis, which served as the port of Cosa, in the territory of which town the whole of the Mons Argentarius was included.

About eight miles inland from Orbetello is Magliano, a wretched village with an old castle, lying between the Osa and Albegna. Rather more than half-way to this, the

1 xxvii. 10.

Etruscan antiquary, Dennis, was led to make researches. which resulted in the identification of an undoubted Etruscan site (round which a circuit of walls, 4 m. in circumference, may with difficulty be traced) with the longlost and much-sought city of Vetulonia, a place of first-rate magnitude, one of the five cities which undertook to assist the Latins against Tarquinius Priscus, one of the twelve great towns of Etruria,1 and the place whence Rome derived its lictors and fasces and the use of brazen trumpets in war.2 Several painted tombs have been found near this, but have been reclosed.

Through the wretched fever-stricken Maremma the railway continues to—

Montalto (Stat.). The dismal town stands on a hill around its castle 1 m. from the station, and is only interesting as having given a cardinal's title to Sixtus V., whose father, Peretto Peretti, a gardener, had lived there in the utmost poverty, till driven by his debts to Fermo, shortly before the birth of the future Pope.

(It is possible for those who wish to visit Volci to find rooms at Montalto, not in the miserable inn, but in a private house. Those who are not greatly pressed for time will do better to sleep at Civita Vecchia, and take the first morning train to Montalto, whence it is a drive or walk of five miles to Volci.

Volci (Ponte del Abbadia) should only be visited in the winter or early spring. It is one of the most fever-stricken places in the whole country. A rough country cart is the only conveyance to be obtained at Montalto.)

A most desolate wind-stricken track leads from Montalto to Ponte del Abbadia, and, owing to the prevalence of malaria, the country is entirely uninhabited. The tumulus of La Cucumella is the only feature which breaks the bare outline of the trackless wastes.

This dismal prelude makes the transition all the more striking, when a path, turning down a hollow to the right, leads one into the beautiful ravine of the sparkling river Fiora, which forces its way through a rocky chasm over

Dion. Hal. iii. 51; Plin. iii. 5,

2 Sil. Ital. viii. 485.

hung with a perfect wealth of ilex, arbutus, and bay, and is one of the most beautiful streams in Italy. The views near the bridge no one will omit, but there is a most lovely spot about a mile lower down the river called 'Il Pelago' (where an Etruscan bridge is said once to have existed), at which the river forms a deep rocky pool overhung by rocks and evergreens, which should also be visited, and, if possible, be painted.

Hence an ill-defined path leads along the edge of the

cliffs to the Ponte del Abbadia, which presents one of the most glorious scenes in Italy. A gigantic bridge spans the river at a height of ninety-six feet, striding from one great orange-coloured cliff to another by a single mighty arch; while on the other side, close to the bridge, rises a most picturesque mediaeval castle with a tall square tower. From bridge and rocks alike, hang stupendous masses of stalactites, often twenty feet in length, giving a most weird. character to the scene, and formed by many centuries of dripping water, charged with tartaric matter. The whole view is filled with colour; the smoke of the large fires which the guards at the castle burn to keep off the malaria adds to the effect, and the utter desolation of the surrounding country only renders it more impressive.

Scarcely anything is known of the history of Volci