Landscapes, City Views, Italy, La Verna, Edwin Balem

"In The Great Courtyard, La Verna"

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4 separate pages of the article "A Memorable Visit To La Verna" by
Edwin Bale. He illustrated the article with 7 images, 2 which are shown above.

Page size: 30 x 22.5 cm (11.8 x 8.8")

Aprroximate text:
THE UJIT, LA VERNA
A MEMORABLE VISIT TO LA VERNA.
BY EDWIN BALK, H.L ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR.
ISITORS to Florence read in the guide-books of an excursion that my be made to three great monasteries Vallombrosa, Camal- doli, and La Verna; and because it is a lovely drive, with a good hotel at the end, and because there is a line in Milton with which they have been long familiar, many visitors find their way to Vallom brosa. Only a few go across the mountains to Camaldoli, and fewer still care to face the rigours of La Veran. There is no pleasant hostelry, and nothing to be had but hand, monkish fare, yet, of the three great religious houses, it is by far the most interesting.
Vallombrosa," said our driver, "was famed for its natural beauty, Camaldoli for its richness, and La Verna for its sanctity." The first two, having nothing to plead for themselves but their beanty and riches, have been suppressed by the Government, but La Verna, on necount of its reputation for sanctity and hospitality, is going on to-day just as it has gone on for hundreds of years, and there is to be seen on the holy mountain-top a bit of medieval life that is nuique. In the early morning as we started, my friend and I, from Camnhdoli, the sun shone brilliantly, throwing the bluest of shadows down in the valleys from the mists that hung about the mountain tops. The air was crisp and invigorating, and lifteal the weight of half one's years from one's shoulders, so that our hearts were light as we
started on our walk.
high ridge, somewhat resembling the Coupé ut Sark, with a view into valleys on both sides; but it ultimately levels up on one side, and the great Casentino Valley opeus out in front into a magnificent panorama, with the quaint little towns of Poppi, San Niccolo, and Bibbiena-our destina- tion each on its own hill-top. I was sorry when the morning walk was over and we had to exelange into a carriage at Ribbienu to get over the last half of our journey.
It was a steep, wugh road, up which we crawled with a pair of wiry country horses, and every now and then we enme in siglit of the mountain-top, dark and gloomy, partly from its black pines and partly from the cloud-shadow that covered it. Whenever it came in sight our driver would point to the long, irregular rocky mass, partly bare, partly covered with dark foliage, suggestive of a huge dragon spreading itself upon the mountain, and say, "Il convento, signore." We found later on that the convent buildings are quite hidden away amongst these massen of rock and foliage, and that part of them are actually excavated in the stone itself, so that there is no general view of them to be had at all. After a drive of about two and a half hours through the wildest landscape, we came to a little cluster of houses, from one of which hung the sign of an inn. The driver pulled up, and informed us that we had arrived. We alighted; the driver took our baggage, and we started up the steep paved road leading to the umssive gateway of the courtyard, that looked like the
entrance to a fortress.
For some way the road is ent along a