ABSTRACT
In Italy, illustrious splendor among earthly places, there lies Etruria, 1 which is, I believe, the principal site and singular beauty of this region. In this place, rich in cities, filled with noble people, adorned with infinite castles, delightful for its gracious villas, and abundant in bountiful fields, from its plains–and almost in the center and most prosperous part of its blessed bosom–a fertile mount rises toward the stars, called Corythus 2 by the ancients before Atlas, 3 its first inhabitant, ascended there. Among the steep cliffs of its slopes a thick wood emerged, full of oaks, turkey oaks, and firs, which stretched to the top of the mountain. And from its right side, fed by the abundance of the nearby mountains, a clear little river came roaring down through the rocky valleys toward the plain; and when arriving there, it mixed its waters with the Sarno 4 and lost its briefly held name. 5
