CHAPTER I.
TO CORTE THROUGH BALAGNA.
I gave up the thought of a journey which I had at one time intended to make along the coast from Calvi to Sagone, where the large gulfs of Porto and Sagone, and those of Galeria and Girolata run into the country. The region is for the most part uncultivated, and the roads are frightful.
I travelled through the glorious valley of Balagna by the Diligenza which runs between Calvi and Corte. As I have already mentioned, this large, beautiful, and well-cultivated district receives the name of the Garden of Corsica. Lofty mountains enclose it, snow-capped summits like Mount Tolo, and the mighty Grosso—heights of the finest forms, and that would enchant the landscape painter. Great numbers of villages are seen upon the slopes, San Reparato, Muro, Belgodere, Costa, Speloncata, Feliceto, Nessa, Occhiatana—all formerly seats of noble families and Caporali, and full of memories of old times. The Malaspinas once ruled here, the Tuscan margraves of Massa and the Lunigian marches, a race of powerful seigniors, whom Dante celebrates in the Divine Comedy. When he finds Currado Malaspina in purgatory, we have the following verses:—
"Oh, never have I seen thy land, I said;
But where throughout all Europe may be found
The spot to which thy glory hath not spread?
The fame that o'er this house such lustre throws
Makes both its nobles and the land renowned:
E'en he who ne'er was there, their greatness knows."