It was built at the expence of the
last grand-duke of Tuscany; is very large, very cold, and
uncomfortable.
One would imagine it was contrived for coolness,
though situated so high, that even in the midst of summer, a
traveller would be glad to have a fire in his chamber. But few,
or none of them have fireplaces, and there is not a bed with
curtains or tester in the house. All the adjacent country is
naked and barren. On the third day we entered the pope's
territories, some parts of which are delightful. Having passed
Aqua-Pendente, a beggarly town, situated on the top of a rock,
from whence there is a romantic cascade of water, which gives it
the name, we travelled along the side of the lake Bolsena, a
beautiful piece of water about thirty miles in circuit, with two
islands in the middle, the banks covered with noble plantations
of oak and cypress. The town of Bolsena standing near the ruins
of the antient Volsinium, which was the birth-place of Sejanus,
is a paultry village; and Montefiascone, famous for its wine, is
a poor, decayed town in this neighbourhood, situated on the side
of a hill, which, according to the author of the Grand Tour, the
only directory I had along with me, is supposed to be the Soracte
of the ancients. If we may believe Horace, Soracte was visible
from Rome: for, in his ninth ode, addressed to Thaliarchus, he
says,
Vides, ut alta stet nive candidum
Soracte -
You see how deeply wreathed with snow
Soracte lifts his hoary head,
but, in order to see Montefiascone, his eyesight must have
penetrated through the Mons Cyminus, at the foot of which now
stands the city of Viterbo. Pliny tells us, that Soracte was not
far from Rome, haud procul ab urbe Roma; but Montefiascone is
fifty miles from this city. And Desprez, in his notes upon
Horace, says it is now called Monte S. Oreste. Addison tells us
he passed by it in the Campania. I could not without indignation
reflect upon the bigotry of Mathilda, who gave this fine country
to the see of Rome, under the dominion of which no country was
ever known to prosper.
About half way between Montefiascone and Viterbo, one of our
fore-wheels flew off, together with a large splinter of the axle-tree;
and if one of the postilions had not by great accident been
a remarkably ingenious fellow, we should have been put to the
greatest inconvenience, as there was no town, or even house,
within several miles. I mention this circumstance, by way of
warning to other travellers, that they may provide themselves
with a hammer and nails, a spare iron-pin or two, a large knife,
and bladder of grease, to be used occasionally in case of such
misfortune.
The mountain of Viterbo is covered with beautiful plantations and
villas belonging to the Roman nobility, who come hither to make
the villegiatura in summer.
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