11. From Florence to Rome viâ (Arezzo)
Terontola and Chiusi.
196 M. This is the shortest route from Florence to Rome. Fast ex-
press (except in summer; restaurant car) and fast train in 5½-8¼ hrs.,
ordinary train in 11¾ hrs. (fares 35 fr. 30 c., 24 fr. 50, 15 fr. 85 c.); no
change of carriages. Extra charge for sleeping-car 7 fr. 20 c. The di-
gression from Orte (p. 106) to the waterfalls of Terni (p. 94) is recom-
mended to all who have sufficient time.
From Florence to Terontola, 76 M., see pp. 50-59. The main
line to Rome diverges to the right (S.) from the line to Perugia,
Assisi, and Foligno, and at first skirts the W. bank of the Trasi-
mene Lake (comp. p. 60).
82 M. Castiglione del Lago. The little town (997 ft.; Alb. del
Trasimeno) lies to the left on a promontory extending into the lake;
the castle of the Duchi della Cornia was built by Galeazzo Alessi.
Steamer, see p. 60.
86½ M. Panicale, a small place 4½ M. to the S.E. of the
station (diligence 1 fr.), with unimportant frescoes in its churches
by Perugino and his school. — The line takes a W. direction and
joins the line from Siena in the valley of the Chiana (R. 6).
94 M. Chiusi. — The Railway Station (good Restaurant) is about
1½ M. from the town, which lies on the hill to the right. 'Posto' (seat
in a carriage) to We town 1 fr., two 'post' 1½ fr.
Hotels. Alb. Corona, outside the Porta San Pietro, R. 1½ fr.,
clean; Etruria, Porsenna, near the station, plain. — Travellers are
cautioned against making purchases of Etruscan antiquities at Chiusi, as
'antiquities' from Etruscan tombs are largely manufactured here and
large prices are asked.
Chiusi (1305 ft.; 5974 inhab.), the ancient Clusium, one of
the twelve Etruscan federated towns, frequently mentioned in the
wars against Rome and as the headquarters of Porsenna, was fear-
fully devastated by malaria in the middle ages, and it was only in
later times, after the Val di Chiana had been drained (see p. 56),
that the town recovered from these disasters. The walls are
mediæval; a few relies of those of the Etruscan period are tracable
near the cathedral, outside the Porta Romana. A walk round the
town from the Porta San Pietro to the Porta Romana affords
pleasing views of the Chiana Valley, Città della Pieve, the moun-
tains of Cetona, and, to the N., of the lakes of Chiusi and Monte-
pulciano.
Under the town extends a labyrinth of subterranean passages
(inaccessible), which probably belonged to an elaborate system of
drainage, as the ancient Etruscans excelled in works of this kind,
and were even in advance of many modern nations.
The Museo Civico (tickets of admission, ½ fr., obtained in a
barber's shop in the main street), in a building (opened in 1901) in
the Piazza del Duomo, contains a valuable collection of objects found