The driving road over the Consuma to Florence is a well planned road, which rises to a height of 3435 ft. On the day when we crossed the mountains the weather gave a peculiar grandeur to the wildness of the surroundings. We joined the road above Romena and cast a farewell look back on the Casentino. It stretched away in a sunny morning haze, with the hills of Poppi and Bibbiena just visible, and the heights of La Verna overshadowed by clouds. The road went steadily rising through scenery which became more and more bleak and desolate. We passed Casaccia, a solitary inn, since turned into a private house, and appropriated to some society. After passing Casaccia the road wound in and out at about the same height till a gap in the hills was reached, down which one looked down into the valley of the Solano; the old path here joined the new road. In this valley a storm was brewing. Clouds came rolling up, but they could not prevail against the strong wind which blew from the pass. It was grand to see the masses of blue and purple and black, rolled back on each other in the valley, more and more densely packed. Every now and then a streak of cloud escaped and ran under shelter of a rock till it met the wind, which seized it and scattered it and dashed it towards us in the form of blinding snow. On the further side of the pass the weather was settled and fine. The sun shone clear and a blue sky spanned the distant view towards the Mediterranean. This view was limited in the north only by the distant mountains of Carrara; in the south it embraced Florence and all the hills around it, spreading away to the flatness of the distant coast. And in the glow of the late afternoon sun we once more caught sight of the Arno in the near distance. We had left it a rushing mountain stream at Stia; we now beheld it again a broad, shining river, flowing beneath the city of Florence.
--by rail _via_ Arezzo (55 miles, 6 trains daily, in 1½-4 hours) and Bibbiena (20 miles, 3 trains daily, in 1½ hours). The railway goes on to Poppi, Pratovecchio and Stia, the terminus of the line lying midway between the two latter towns which are about a mile apart.
--or by rail to Pontassieve, _Albergo del Vapore_, _Locanda della Stazione_, _Restaurant Piselli_, and from there by carriage road over the Consuma Pass to Stia or Pratovecchio. A diligence starts daily from Pontassieve for Stia at 2.30 in the afternoon (3 lire), and for Pontassieve from Stia at 11 o’clock in the morning. At Pontassieve carriages in the inns mentioned above. To Stia one-horse carriage, 12 lire; two-horse carriage, 24 lire. Carriages from Pontassieve to Camaldoli, 25 lire and 40 lire.
