Byways in southern Tuscany . no and Pienza andto the east all the rich and teeming Valdichiana, only tobreathe whose salubrious air to-day reminds us of thegenerations that have passed since Fazio degli Uberticomplained of its malign influence. Here follow some well-known lines of Dante after whichthe Abate indulges in two or three Latin quotations andgives a long list of populous villages now existing whereonce malaria reigned. Next he reverts to Torrita andsays: Within its walls this town combines all those thingswhich are necessary, convenient, useful, and decorative inthe eyes of her inhab
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Byways in southern Tuscany . no and Pienza andto the east all the rich and teeming Valdichiana, only tobreathe whose salubrious air to-day reminds us of thegenerations that have passed since Fazio degli Uberticomplained of its malign influence. Here follow some well-known lines of Dante after whichthe Abate indulges in two or three Latin quotations andgives a long list of populous villages now existing whereonce malaria reigned. Next he reverts to Torrita andsays: Within its walls this town combines all those thingswhich are necessary, convenient, useful, and decorative inthe eyes of her inhabitants, while agriculture, industry, and commerce place her beyond all need to go beggingfrom her neighbors for her means of maintenance. This felicitous description leaves nothing to be desiredby the population of so fortunate a town and I trust thatat the present day conditions are no less favorable thanthose of the last century when the good Abate wrote of it.He declares the origin of Torrita to be of the oldest and he 196. Torrita. Porta Gavina. BYWAYS IN SOUTHERN TUSCANY is right, for there is no doubt that it reaches back to theEtruscan time. Of its Roman period Httle is known, butits mediaeval history was unusually turbulent, for standingas it does upon the slopes descending to the Chiana Valleyit was Sienas bulwark of defence against Montepulcianoand Arezzo with whom she was frequently at war. Anadded advantage of its position lay in the fact that thevalley at this point was a network of pools and sloughs withhere a ford, passable in dry weather, and there a tinyharbor reached by a winding passage in a very small boat.Certain paths near Torrita and the neighboring townsare, it is said, still called Via del Porto or Via del Por-ticciolo. In the middle of the thirteenth century Siena foundTorrita of importance enough to order it strongly fortifiedand a port constructed from which to thread the swamp, and soon after she sent a -podestd to keep an eye on theinhabitants and nu