CHAPTER XXV. MONTEFIASCONE, BOLSENA, AND ORVIETO. (Orvieto is now most easily reached from Rome by railway (in 3 hours) as it has a station-at the foot of the hill on which the town is situated on the line from Orte to Siena. But those who have time will not regret the longer excursion by Viterbo and Bolsena. There is a diligence to Viterbo from Orte, and thence carriages may be taken for the rest of the excursion.) T is an interesting drive across the great Etruscan plain Monte across of five miles from Viterbo, are the ruins called Le Casacce del Bacucco, consisting of baths and other buildings of imperial date. The largest ruin is now popularly called La Lettighetta, or the warming-pan. Considerably to the east of this, stranded in the wide plain, are the ruins, still called Ferento, of the Etruscan city Ferentinum, which Horace alludes to, when he says:— "Si te grata quies et primam somnus in horam 1 Epist. 17. From this it appears to have been a quiet country town, but Suetonius speaks of it as the birth-place of the Emperor Otho, and Tacitus as the site of a temple of Fortune. It continued to exist in medieval times, and was the site of an episcopal see, but was utterly destroyed in the eleventh century by the people of Viterbo, because its citizens had committed the heresy of representing the figure of Christ upon the cross with the eyes open instead of shut ! In the area of the town, mediæval remains are mingled with early Roman foundations and polygonal blocks of basaltic pavement. The principal ruin is the Theatre, which is finely placed on the edge of a ravine. It has seven gates, and the stage-front is a hundred and thirty-six feet in length, built of large rectangular volcanic blocks without cement. "Ferentum, though small, and probably at no time of political im portance, was celebrated for the beauty of its public monuments. Vitruvius cites them as exhibiting 'the infinite virtues' of a stone hewn from certain quarries, called 'Anitianæ,' in the territory of Tarquinii, and especially in the neighbourhood of the Volsinian Lake. This stone, he says, was similar to that of the Alban Mount in colour, i.e., it was grey like peperino; it was proof alike against the severity of frost and the action of fire, and of extreme hardness and durability, as might be seen from the monuments of Ferentum, which were made of it. 'For there are noble statues of wonderful workmanship, and likewise figures of smaller size, together with foliage and acanthi, delicately carved, which albeit they be ancient, appear as fresh as if they were but just now finished.' The brass-founders, he adds, find this stone most useful for moulds. 'Were these quarries near the city, it would be well to construct everything of this stone.' Pliny speaks of this stone in the same laudatory terms, but calls it a white silex.”—Dennis' Cities of Etruria. About four miles east of Ferento, by a path very difficult to find, is Vitorchiano, a village on an Etruscan site, which still possesses the curious privilege of having the monopoly of supplying the servants of the Roman senators. It is said that this was granted when a native of the place successfully extracted a thorn from the foot of one of the emperors. Every forty years the principal families draw lots for their MONTEFIASCONE. 107 order of service, each sending one of its members, or selling the privilege at a price which is fixed by custom. Still further east, 12 miles from Viterbo, by the direct road, is Bomarzo. Two miles from the modern village, which has an old castle of the Borghese, is the site of an Etruscan town, supposed to be Moonia. There are few remains above-ground, but several interesting tombs. One, with a single pillar in its centre, is known as the Grotta della Colonna. Near it is the Grotta Dipinta, decorated with very curious frescoes of Dolphins and other monsters, some of them with semi-human faces. The temple-shaped sarcophagus, adorned with snakes, now in the British Museum, was found in this tomb. As we continue the road to Montefiascone, the town is exceedingly effective from a distance, cresting a hill, and crowned by the handsome dome of a cathedral, designed by San Michele and dedicated to S. Margaret. The hill, always celebrated for its wine, probably derives thence its name, fiascone signifying a large flask. Dennis considers that it occupies either the site of the Etruscan city Enarea, or that of the Fanum Voltumnæ, the shrine where the princes of Etruria met in council on the affairs of the confederation. No Etruscan remains however exist except a few caverned tombs, now turned into the hovels of the miserable living inhabitants. "Well may this height have been chosen as the site of the national temple! It commands a magnificent and truly Etruscan panorama. The lake (of Bolsena) shines beneath in all its breadth and beauty-truly meriting the title of 'the great lake of Italy ;' and though the towers and palaces of Volsinii have long ceased to sparkle on its bosom, it still mirrors the white cliffs of its twin islets, and the distant snow-peaks of Amiata and Cetona. In every other direction is one 'intermingled pomp of vale and hill.' In the east rise the dark mountains of Umbria; and the long line of mist at their foot marks the course of the Etruscan stream' "The noble river That rolls by the towers of Rome.' The giant Apennines of Sabina loom afar off, dim through the hazy noon; and the nearer Ciminian, dark with its once dread forests, stretches its triple-crested mass across the southern horizon. Fertile and populous was the country, numerous and potent the cities, that lay beneath the confederate princes as they sate here in council; and many an eye in the wide plain would turn hitherward as to the ark of national safety. The warriors gathering at the sacred lake in defence of their children's homes and fathers' sepulchres, would look to the great goddess for succour, the augur on the distant arx of Tarquinii or Cosa, would turn to her shrine for a propitious omen,—the husbandman would lift his eye from the furrow, and invoke her blessing on his labours, and the mariner on the bosom of the far-off Tyrrhene, would catch the white gleam of her temple, and breathe a prayer for safety and success."-Dennis' Cities of Etruria. 66 Outside the Roman gate of the town, near the pleasant little inn of the Aquila Nera, at which the vetturini halt, is the principal sight of the place, the wonderful old Church of S. Flaviano, which dates from the eleventh century, but was restored by Urban IV. in 1262. It is a most curious building, and highly picturesque outside, with a broad balconied loggia over a triple entrance. Within, it is quite one of the most remarkable churches in Italy, by no means subterranean," as Murray says, nor has it even a crypt, but the triforium is of such breadth, that it almost forms a second church, and contains a second high-altar, and a bishop's throne, approached by staircases on either side of the highaltar which covers the remains of S. Flaviano in the lower church. The pillars are most extraordinary, of enormous size, and with magnificent and very curious capitals sculptured with intricate patterns. Some of the side chapels are S. FLAVIANO, MONTEFIASCONE. 109 almost in ruins. The whole building was once covered with frescoes, which are now only visible where a white-wash coating has been removed. In a chapel on the left of the entrance they are more perfect, and exquisite specimens of Umbrian Art. The chief subject is the Massacre of the Innocents; a beautiful head, probably of the unknown artist, is introduced in the frieze. In the centre of the ceiling is Our Saviour surrounded by Angels. An incised grave-stone before the high-altar representing a bishop with a goblet on either side of his head, is interesting as that of Bishop Johann Fugger, one of the famous family who burnt the proofs of the debts of Charles V., and lived in princely splendour in the old palace at Augsburg, now known as the "Drei Mohren." The bishop loved good wine beyond everything, and travelled over all distant lands in search of it. He was so afraid of the price |