to sell something or take you for a drive. But
in an instant in any direction one can be in the woods--and at this
level they are pine woods, soft underfoot and richly perfumed--and
a quarter of an hour's walking brings the view. It is then that you
realize you are on a mountain indeed. Florence is to the north-west
in the long Arno valley, which is here precipitous and narrow. The
river is far below--if you slipped you would slide into it--fed by
tumbling Apennine streams from both walls. The top of the mountain
is heathery like Scotland, and open; but not long will it be so,
for everywhere are the fenced parallelograms which indicate that a
villa is to be erected. Nothing, however, can change the mountain
air or the glory of the surrounding heights.

Another view, unbroken by villas but including the monastery and the
Foresters' Hotel in the immediate foreground, and extending as far as
Florence itself (on suitable days), is obtained from Il Paradisino,
a white building on a ledge which one sees from the hotel above the
monastery. But that is not by any means the top. The view covers much
of the way by which we came hither.

Of the monastery of Vallombrosa we have had foreshadowings in
Florence. We saw at the Accademia two exquisite portraits by Fra
Bartolommeo of Vallombrosan monks. We saw at the Bargello the remains
of a wonderful frieze by Benedetto da Rovezzano for the tomb of
the founder of the order, S. Giovanni Gualberto; we shall see at
S. Miniato scenes in the saint's life on the site of the ancient
chapel where the crucifix bent and blessed him. As the head of the
monastery Gualberto was famous for the severity and thoroughness of
his discipline. But though a martinet as an abbot, personally he was
humble and mild. His advice on all kinds of matters is said to have
been invited even by kings and popes. He invented the system of lay
brothers to help with the domestic work of the convent; and after a
life of holiness, which comprised several miracles, he died in 1073
and was subsequently canonized.

The monastery, as I have said, is now secularized, save for the chapel,
where three resident monks perform service. One may wander through its
rooms and see in the refectory, beneath portraits of famous brothers,
the tables now laid for young foresters. The museum of forestry is
interesting to those interested in museums of forestry.

It was to the monastery at Vallombrosa that the Brownings travelled
in 1848