Excerpt from The Classic and Connoisseur in Italy and Sicily, Vol. 3: With an Appendix, Containing an Abridged Translation of Lansi's Storia Pittorica
This discovery, it is true, is not calculated to convey a very high opinion of the prowess of the ancient Romans, who, at so advanced a period of their history, could only subdue a city, situated thus at their gates - for Isola Farnese is scarcely more than twelve miles from Rome - by a lucky stratagem, and after a ten years' siege.
Civita Castellana is beautifully situated on a sort of peninsula faced with precipices and surrounded by torrents, combining the features of the grand and the picturesque, and presenting scenes worthy the pencil of a Poussin or a Salvator. Old Soracte, disguised under the modern appellation of S. Oreste, shoots up boldly by himself in the middle of the plain, a few miles from the town. The summit of this mountain, once crowned by the temple of Apollo, is now occupied by an establishment of Carmelite nuns, whose vow binds them to refrain from speaking except at stated times, as well as to content themselves with just so much food, of the coarsest kind, as may suffice to keep body and soul together, and thus seek
To merit heaven, by making earth a hell.
On entering the vale of Terni, through which the road and the river Nera meander, the beauties of Italian scenery crowded thick upon us, offering a succession of the finest compositions imaginable.
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