and will contribute to the commercial development of some of the most industrious provinces in Italy.

(From Terni an excursion may be made to Todi, an interesting episcopal city, occupying a very lofty position above the valley of the Tiber in the direction of Perugia. The Gothic Cathedral has some admirable frescoes by Lo Spagna, executed at his best time. Several other churches are interesting that of the Madonna della Consolazione is a fine work of Bramante. Todi occupies the site of the ancient Tuder, whose lofty position is mentioned by Silius. Italicus:

Gradivicolam celso de colle Tudertem.'-IV. 222.

'... excelso summi qua vertice montis
Devexum lateri pendet Tuder.'-VI. 645.

The walls of the city are in many parts very perfect, but are much less rude than those of Volterra and other Etruscan cities, and are evidently Roman. Remains of an ancient building have been supposed to be those of the temple of Mars, which Silius alludes to :

'Et haud parci Martem coluisse Tudertes.'-VIII. 464.

It was the Franciscan penitent, Jacopone da Todi, who composed the famous hymn Stabat Mater Dolorosa' (which has been attributed to Innocent III.) early in the 14th century.

The railway proceeds across a richly cultivated plain to Narni (Stat.).

Inn, Albergo dell' Angelo, a fair Italian inn, with good rooms. Clean lodgings may be obtained by artists.

Few ravines are more full of beauty than the deep narrow gorge below Narni, broken here and there by masses of grey rock, elsewhere clothed with the richest green of ilex, cork, phillyrea, arbutus, mastick, and flowering heath. Above, on the left, rise the grey walls and picturesque

towers of the town. Just at the entrance of the glen, the famous Bridge of Augustus, which is considered to surpass all other bridges in boldness, carries the Via Flaminia over the ravine of the Nera, the Nar of classical times, with white sulphurous waters.

'Sulfurea Nar albus aqua.'-' Aen.' vii. 517.

Originally the bridge had three arches, of which one on the right bank is entire, and sixty feet in height. Martial alludes to it as the pride of the place in his days, when he accuses Narni, by its superior attractions, of taking away his neighbour Quintus Ovidius from his Nomentan farm.

Roman Bridge, Narni.

'Narnia, sulfureo quam gurgite candidus amnis
Circuit, ancipiti vix adeunda jugo.

Quid tam saepe meum nobis abducere Quinctum
Te juvat, et lenta detinuisse mora?

Quid Nomentani causam mihi perdis agelli,

Propter vicinum qui pretiosus erat?

Sed jam parce mihi, nec abutere, Narnia, Quincto;
Perpetuo liceat sic tibi ponte frui.'—Ep. vii. 93.

The bridge is now a grand ruin, ivy and shrubs garlanding its m ghty parapets. Between the piers is a most picturesque view of the ruined convent of S. Casciano, crowning a rock amid the woods.

Close to the Roman ruin is an old mediaeval bridge guarded by a high gate tower, almost equally picturesque.

A winding road leads up the hill to the town, which occupies the site of the ancient Narnia, called Nequinum by the Umbrians. It was taken B.C. 299 by the consul M. Fulvius, who was consequently honoured with a triumph 'de Samnitibus Nequinatibusque.' During the second Punic War, Narni was the point at which an army was posted to oppose the approach of Hasdrubal on Rome. The town owes its ruin, chiefly, not to Goths or Vandals, but to soldiers in the pay of the Venetian Republic.

Most beautiful are the views of the glen and river from the old walls. The situation is well described by Claudian : "Celsa dehinc patulum prospectans Narnia campum

Regali calcatur equo, rarique coloris

Non procul amnis adest urbi, qui nominis auctor,
Ilice sub densa sylvis arctatus opacis

Inter utrumque jugum, tortis anfractibus albet.'

'De Sext. Cons. Hon.' 515.

and its rock-enthroned position is alluded to by other poets:

The Emperor Nerva was born at Narni, and in later times Pope John XVIII., and the 15th-century chieftain Gattamelata, more properly called Erasmo da Narni.

The Cathedral of S. Juvenalis is dedicated to the memory of its first bishop, A.D. 369, and is a most picturesque building, which no artist will fail to transfer to his sketch-book. The Palazzo Pubblico contains (transferred from the church of S. Girolamo dei Zoccolanti) a fine altar-piece in the style of Ghirlandajo, probably by Lo Spagna.

'The Saviour crowns the Virgin, on clouds supported by cherubs' heads, under a conical canopy held up by seraphs, in the centre of a company of angels, prophets, and sybils. On the meadow below, S. Francis kneels amid a crowd of saints, amongst whom are SS. Jerome, Louis, Bernardino, and John the Baptist. The arching of the upper part is a border with cherubs' heads; and three niches in each pilaster

contain SS. James, Mary Magdalen, Louis, Giovanni Capistrano, Catherine, and Bernardino.'-Crowe and Cavalcaselle.

(It is a drive of 6 miles from Narni (carriage, I horse, 7 frs. ; 2 horses, 10 frs.) to the old city of Amelia, beautifully situated on the side of the Umbrian mountains. This town is seldom visited, but well deserves attention. It is now the seat of a bishopric, but its chief interest is derived from its Cyclopean walls, of which there are magnificent remains. As Ameria, it was one of the most important cities of Umbria. Cato, quoted by Pliny (iii. 14), says that the origin of Ameria was much older than that of Rome, and that it was founded B.C. 1045. The place is frequently mentioned by Cicero in his defence of Roscius, in a manner which proves that it must then have been a flourishing municipal town. mentioned by Virgil:

His populi fortes Amerinus.'-VIII. 462.

It is still, as in ancient times, celebrated for its delicious plums, which flourish abundantly in its rocky soil, and are dried and sold in great quantities.)

The railway joins the main line from Florence to Rome at Orte (see Ch. XXV.), below which the river Nar falls into. the Tiber.

'Narque albescentibus undis

In Tiberim properans.'-Sil. Ital. viii. 453.

CHAPTER XXIX.

VITERBO, AND TO ROME BY THE VIA CASSIA.

N°

O part of Italy is more exquisitely beautiful in spring than the country around Viterbo. Most travellers will reach it from Orte. But a pleasanter way will be to engage a carriage at Civita Castellana (see Ch. XXV.) for the whole excursion, at about 20 frs. a day, or the carriage may be engaged at Viterbo, and, after seeing Bieda, Norchia, and Toscanella, several days should be devoted to visiting Caprarola, Nepi and Sutri, Veii and Bracciano-all a few miles off the road, on the way to Rome.

There is a public conveyance from Orte to Viterbo and from Viterbo to Orte once a day. The hours differ in summer and winter, but information can be obtained at the Railway Agency in the Via di Propaganda Fede at Rome. Fares-coupé, 5 frs. ; interior, 3 frs. 50 c. A carriage with one horse costs 12 frs. ; with two horses, 15 frs. The best Inn at Viterbo is the Angelo, in the Piazza, kept by Schenardi, who has another inn adjoining his caffè in the Corso.

Three miles before reaching Viterbo from Orte, a tall tower and quaint castle guarding a little village announce Bagnaja. The castle, now let out to poor families, was the old residence of the Lante family. A steep street leads up to the iron gate of their later villa, which is the entrance of a glorious garden, designed by Vignola at the same time with the villa itself. It is a perfect paradise. In the centre of the clipped box-walks is a large fountain with beautiful Florentine figures-and beyond it a silvery cascade glitters and dances down through the green depths from a series of fern-fringed grottoes. On either side stand the buildings of