The Austrian main body was at the Village and Bridge of Magenta; and to this point M'Mahon, when he discovered them, bent all his efforts, having in view to effect a junction with Espinasse. The railroad station and the custom-house, both strong buildings, were defended by Clam, Zobel, and other Austrian generals, filled with Tyrolese sharpshooters. At 2 p.m. the Austrians had sixteen brigades, or 60,000 strong, round this point.

At length MacMahon joined by Espinasse attacked the front of the Austrian line between Magenta and Ponte Nuovo. The village was stormed and carried, though defended inch by inch by the Austrians, who were obliged to give way. Gyulai made a last effort to retake Buffalora Bridge, in order to cut off the French Zouaves, but was unsuccessful, and at length gave orders to retreat, and the French were victorious.

The French loss was 52 officers killed, including Generals Espinasse and Cler, 194 officers, and 4,200 men killed, wounded, and missing. The Austrians lost 6,000 killed and wounded, and 4,000 taken prisoners; and 4 guns, 2 flags, 4,000 knapsacks, and 12,000 muskets were captured by the French. Both sides had about 60,000 men on the field. A white pillar marks the spot where Espinasse fell. At another spot 2,000 corpses were buried. On the 6th, the Emperor fixed his head-quarters at Magenta, and created MacMahon (late President of the French Republic) a Marshal and Duke of Magenta, on the field. The result of the

victory was, that Milan, the capital of Lombardy: was evacuated by the Austrians the same day, and Victor Emmanuel proclaimed King. He received the Milan deputation on the field of battle.

After Magenta the next stations are Vittuone, and Rho, where the Gallarate line (towards Lago Maggiore) joins.

Milan Terminus is near the Porta Nuova, which also serves the Como line. (See Route 11.)

The line traverses a wide and richly cultivated plain, covered with mulberry trees, vineyards, hemp, maize, rice, &c.

The mountain region commences about Ivrea.

Ivrea (Stat.), on the river Dora Baltea. Population, 9,563. This is the ancient Epredia, guarding the mouth of Val d'Aosta, and a well built town, picturesquely seated on a hill side; having an old machicolated castle, and a cathedral, on the site of a Temple of Apollo. It produces cheese, cotton, and silk. The women strip hemp all day long.

Ascending the valley by the Dora Baltea, the first place is

Montalto, or Monte Stretto (population, 1,325), a small village with a feudal castle, one of several by which this route was guarded. The mountain scenery increases in beauty every mile.

Borgofranco (population, 1,668).

The rocky mountains on both sides are covered with indigenous forests of pine, chestnut, and walnut trees; among which vines are carried to the hill tops. All the Val d'Aosta is "a continued feast to the eye of every combination of mountain, rock, river, forest, and castled height, with distant glaciers and snowy peaks, while it literally teems with the richest produce."-(KING'S Italian Valleys of the Alps.) Fruits of all kinds, pumpkins, peaches, delicious figs, &c., abound, in Many of the proprietors are non-resident. spite of the lazy and unskilful style of cultivation. Carema a good pale red wine, like champagne, is produced.

At

The line passes the mouth of Val Sesia, which leads up to Gressonay (6 hours) and to the head of the Lvs Torrent, under Monte Rosa.

Donnaz (population, 1,784), close to a pass cut in the rock by the Romans.

Hône Bard, where is

FORT BARD, a fortified post in the middle of a deep gorge, on a massive rock. It was captured in 1252 by Amadeo of Savoy, and by Napoleon in his march down the St. Bernard in 1800. It was rebuilt 1815, and is now almost impregnable-three steep sides being cut off by the river, and the fourth (across the valley) filled up with strong arched gates.

It has been calculated that the Western Alps have been the theatre of warlike exploits on sixtysix great occasions from Hannibal to Napoleon. The Val de Champorcher, a little further on, leads up the Fenêtre de Cogne to the Glaciers of COGNE.

Verres, or VERREX (population, 1,206), has a picturesque castle (which guarded the pass here) at the junction of Val de Challant, built about 1368. This val leads up (in nine hours) to the base of Monte Rosa. The road to Aosta passes a Roman bridge and through the Gorge of Mont Jovet, along the face of a precipice, with the Dora far below.

St. Vincent (population, 2,186), in a forest of chestnut and walnut trees, 1,000 feet above sea, is a pretty place, noted for its mineral Baths, or iron springs, anciently called Fons Salutis; in soft steatite rock. From here, up the Col de Jon, to Gressonay in 7 hours. The people live on polenta, potatoes, rye bread, milk, and cheese.

Chatillon (population, 2,292), so called from Château d'Uselle, in a charming site on the other side of the valley, on the summit of a bold precipice over the Dora. The gardens, vineyards, and forests line the hills nearly to their summits3,000 feet high. The old castle belongs to the Entrèves family, of Château de Challant, the largest proprietors in the valley, with an income of 40,000 francs. A bridge across the Tournanche is built over a Roman arch, which hangs beneath it. Monte Rosa lies fourteen hours north-east, and Mont Cervin, or the Matterhorn, fifteen hours due north. The ascent to the latter is up the defile of Val Tournanche, in a deep ravine, and over S. Théodule Pass.

Chambave (population, 945) produces some good wine.

Nus (population, 2,203), near some old castles. From Nus it is 8 miles to

AOSTA,

The ancient Augusta Prætoria, or Augusta Salassorum, where the two St. Bernard routes meet, at the back of Mont Blanc, in a beautiful mountain hollow, 1,970 feet above the sea. The Becca di Nona overhangs the town. French patois is spoken. Population, 7,000.

Hotels: Du Mont Blanc; Couronne.

Napoleons are called "Marengos" in this valley. This is the capital of an old Duchy, and is still Roman in its plan and the arrangement of its principal streets. The solid stone walls, built by Augustus, B.C. 20, though hid away among houses, can be examined on the south-west of the town. They are about 24 feet high, and fortified by turrets. Trinité Gate, near the tall Campanile of the old Church of St. Ours (founded about 525 by St. Ursus, a Scotsman), and some 15th century cloisters, was the old Porta Prætoria, a massive structure, 40 feet by 66, pierced by three arches, and flanked by towers. Outside this gate is a modern bridge on the Buthier Torrent, which has in time changed its course and left a marble Roman bridge to the east, high and dry. stands half buried in the soil, the triumphal *Arch erected by T. Varro as a memorial of the subjugation of the Salassi, nine or ten years before Augustus built his Roman town here. It is a single arch, solidly built, in tolerable condition.

Here

The Porte de Savoie was the Porta Decumana; Porta Quintana, with its old feudal tower, is now Porte de Bramfam, so called from a Princess of Braganza, said to have been starved to death by her husband, or from having served as a storehouse in the famine of 1337.

At the Convent of St. Joseph are remains of an amphitheatre, which was 200 feet long; also of a theatre and a basilica and forum. Stone pavements of the Roman roads have been discovered, and remains of drains 3 to 12 feet beneath the surface.

It

The Town Hall, in Place Charles Albert, at the centre of the town, is said to be the site of a basilica. Facing it is the old Cross, erected 1541, to commemorate the flight of Calvin, who had taken refuge here, and the orthodoxy of its inhabitants in opposing his dogmas. Close to it is the Cathedral, a handsome Gothic church, first founded in the sixth century, but since modernised. contains monuments of Humbert, or Thomas I. of Savoy, and of Bishops De Quart and Des Près; the bones of St. Grat, the patron saint, at the altar; a silver bust of Anselm, a native of Aosta, who became Archbishop of Canterbury (1093) under William Rufus; an old marble font; a choir paved with Roman mosaic, and a good cloister.

The bishop's palace has some fresco portraits of prelates and Savoy princes. The mid-day bells ring at 11 a.m., and are called nona (nine). There is a college here, from which a road leads out, past the hospitals, to the Tour du Lépreux, or Leper Tower, the scene of a story by Le Maistre, who lived at Aosta for five years. It was formerly a Roman work on the old city wall. The Hermitage of St. Grat stands on a mountain outside the town, in the direction of Becca di Nona. Fruit and wine are the chief products of this lovely spot. Cases of goitre are so disgustingly frequent as to be thought little of by the residents; as Juvenal remarks:-" Quis tumidum guttur miratur in Alpibus?"

Due south of Aosta is the Becca di Nona, 10,384 feet high, about 5 hours distant, the peak of which commands a splendid prospect; Mont Emilius, near it, is 11,677 feet. A path over the mountains from Aosta to COGNE (population, 1,600), Locana, Ponte, and Turin, takes about 26 hours; and passes Grand Paradis, 13,300 feet above the sea, the highest of the Graian Alps, and Grivola, in Val de Cogne, 13,208 feet. Paradis was first ascended in 1860. (See BALL'S Guide to the Western Alps.)

Above Aosta the valley continues to be cultivated like a garden all the way, tier above tier, on both sides. The vines hang in trellices up the slopes, in the way so often dreamt of, but so rarely seen abroad, mixed with groves of walnuts and chestnuts, and old castles perched on the cliffs. The road is good and easy.

LA SARRE has an old medieval castle.

AIMAVILLE (population, 1,687), so called after Caius Aimus, a Roman general of the time of Augustus, has another castle, which belonged to the Challants, and has been modernised with four turrets and a gallery. Some iron forges and the Torette vineyards are near this village.

ST. PIERRE. Here is a fine castle, rebuilt 1680, above the church.

Châtel Argent. Near this is a steep mule path, like steps, on the face of the cliffs, for bringing iron ore from Cogne.

VILLENEUVE (population, 847), a pretty place, near some iron forges. The ore is brought by women and men as well as mules, from the works at Cogne, 8,350 feet high. Here the valleys of the Rhemes and Savernache unite. The houses have their windows barred with iron gratings. Liverogne is noted for good wine.

Avise Castle, opposite Ruma, near Val Grianche. Between this and

FORT ROC, Mont Blanc comes into view, at the head of the valley, like a brilliant alabaster wall. The road here winds round the precipitous face of a cliff, over the abyss of the Dora.

LA SALLE was a town of the Salassi, and has some remains, and an old Castle.

MORGEX (population, 1,116), among vineyards, pine forests, and Waterfalls, is near the valley towards Col de la Serena, leading up to the Great St. Bernard.

PRÉ ST. DIDIER (population, 859), 25 miles from Aosta, near the junction of the Thuile and the Dora; where the road parts off to Courmayeur and to the passes of Allée Blanche and Val Ferrex, under Mont Blanc.

Courmayeur (population, 2,580).
Hotels: Royal; L'Angelo; L'Union.

Courmayeur consists of ten small hamlets, in a fine hollow of the mountains, so sheltered that corn is grown to the very edge of the ice. Mont Blanc here rises up like a vast wall, 15,780 feet high.

1. AOSTA, over the Little St. Bernard, to Bourg St. Maurice, 46 miles, in fifteen hours' walking. This was the pass taken by Hannibal, according to Polybius, who travelled over it sixty years later, expressly for the purpose of tracing it. It was the way most familiar to the tribes in alliance with Hannibal. (KING's Italian Valleys of the Alps.)

Several chateaux are passed in ascending this beautiful valley, the richness of which contrasts with the "poverty, filth, and cretinism" of its resident population. La Thuile is at the mouth of the glen up to the Ruitor Glacier. Hence to the Hospice, in 8 hours, the pass being 7,218 feet high. It is the boundary of Savoy, and has a column of Jupiter and a Druid circle. The descent through St. Germain to Bourg St. Maurice is made in 8 hours, with the fine peak of Mont Pourri in front. 2. AOSTA, over the Great St. Bernard, to Martigny, 47 miles, in 16 hours.

At Gignod, the Val Pellina branches off on the right, towards the Matterhorn and Zermatt, which is 20 hours' walking from Aosta, through magnificent scenery. The Col at the top is 11,687 feet high.

ST. REMY (population, 859), a poor place, where the Italian Custom House is passed, Hence it is a rather steep road to the Hospice of Great St. Bernard, where seventy or eighty travellers may be lodged. From 16,000 to 20,000 cross this pass, which is 8,130 feet high, and has its mean annual temperature at about freezing point. The highest heat on record is 69°. At Chenalettaz, or Mont Mort, on either side of the pass, there is a very fine view of the Mont Blanc range. From this down to Martigny Station, in the Valais, is 10 hours.

From Settimo (page 11), on the Ivrea line, a branch rail runs to Rivarolo and Cuorgnè, with another branch from Rivarolo to Castellamonte. The stations from Settimo are Volpiano, S. Benign, Bosconero and Feletto. Then

Rivarolo (Stat.), has some remains of a fine Roman bridge. At Pont, in Val d'Orco (where the river is called Acqua d'Oro, on account of its water power), is a cotton factory, employing 1,200 hands. The path to Cuorgné, and up to this rocky Val, passes Locano and Ceserolo, to the house of our Lady of the Snow, near the top of Mont Iseran (13,271 feet high), on the border of Savoy, near the head of the Isère. Here Vittorio Emanuele used to come to hunt the stambecco, a gigantic chamois or wild goat.

The winter is bitterly cold under the Alps, but beautiful in its kind. "The effects of light and shade," says Gallenga, "on the high polished, mirror-like surface of the vast surrounding Alpine chain, would drive poets or artists attempting to paint them to distraction. Such golden risings and rosy settings the sun never displays at any other season of the year, even in Italy; its light grows keener as its face waxes colder; distinctness of outline and depth of ground impart new grandeur to the sublime picture of the boundless hill-range and interminable plain. Then the revelry of the moon, stars, and planets in the night! every farthing candle of the sixth maguitude peeping forth a luminary!"

Past Salassa and Valperga to Cuorgnè (6 miles.)

Castellamonte (Stat.) at the terminus. The town (population, 5,621), is the head place of the Canavese district (or district of Ivrea), the men of which are mostly carpenters, who emigrate yearly for employment. It stands on a hill, 500 feet above the plain, commanding a fine view of Turin, Monte Viso, the Maritime Alps, and the Alps to the north. Much silk is made; it is also noted for its pignatte, or pots. For several years

in succession the valleys in this neighbourhood were desolated with vine disease. Castellamonte was the head-quarters of Mr. A. Gallenga, when writing his entertaining Country Life in Piedmont, in which he describes how the countrymen of his forefathers lived; their simplicity, hospitality, sturdiness, and love of huddling in towns, their indifference to diet, their industry, and other mixed qualities.

Route 7.]

The line passes through a highly fertile country, intersected by numerous Canals, for irrigating its corn, rice, hemp, and other fields. Orta and Varallo are now best reached by the lines opened from Novara, see page 13.

Biella (Stat.), at its terminus.-A bishop's see, at the mouth of Val Andorno. Population, 9,800. It contains the Cathedral of S. Sebastiano, a Tribunale for the province, and the Cisterna Palace. The road from this to Ivrea is lined with walnuts; mulberry trees are numerous; silk and woollen are manufactured. The men here are masons

and builders, just as those of Ivrea are carpenters; all travel from home yearly for work, and many acquire wealth. Coaches run hence to Varallo.

At Biella is the house of a Piedmontese hero, Pietro Micca, still preserved with great care, which Garibaldi visited in 1859, when it was occupied by his descendant of the same name, the Sindaco of the place, and a hatter by trade. On the 6th May, Garibaldi, after organising his staff, with his small army of Cacciatori dell' Alpi, left Biella to join Cialdini at Casale, where he took part in the action of the 8th. He received an autograph rescript from Victor Emmanuel, as Dictator, to enlist volunteers and impose contributions of war for his daring operations against the Austrians in Upper Lombardy. He was left to follow out his own plans, the King remarking, "Go where you like. Do what you like. There is only one regret, that I am not able to follow you."

About 4 miles north-west is the Graglia, a sanctuary, on a hill, overlooking the plains of Piedmont, where good lodgings may be had, except when pilgrims are here.

About 6 miles north-north-west is Oropia, another sanctuary, dedicated to the Madonna, on the top of Monte Macrone. The church has a new image cut from a cedar of Lebanon, and some curious paintings by Ferrari and Lumi. Hence there is a path over Col de la Balma to Fontainmoire, in the Val Gressonay, which leads up to Monte Rosa.

From Biella to Varallo there is a carriage road skirting the hills, by way of Cossato and Rognagnono in 6 hours; but for the pedestrian another route is by Andorno, Mosso Santa Maria, to Borgo Sesia, on Val Sesia, 7 miles below Varallo; or, a more interesting route is up Val Andorno to Pie di Pavallo (from which a path leads over Col de Torion to Issime in Val Gressonay), Campiglia, and Cima de Bo, by the side of which is a path into the head C

17

of Val Sesia, down to Piode and Scopa, or Scopallo. Scopa is 11 hours from Gressonay, up the valley, under Monte Rosa, and 11 hours from Ponte Grande, in Val Anzasca, not far from the Simplon Road.

From SCOPA it is 24 hours down the Sesia to Varallo, at the junction of Val Mastalone, in the neighbourhood of fine scenery.

VARALLO.

Hotels: Posta; Italia.

The capital of Val Sesia, and the centre of much picturesque and inviting scenery in this and neighbouring valleys. It may be reached via the rail to Gozzano. It contains many old houses. Population, 3,500. The people of Val Sesia are house painters. At the Church of S. Gaudenzio is a

fine altarpiece of the Marriage of St. Catherine, &c., by Gaudenzio Ferrari, an artist of celebrity here. At the Santa Maria della Grazie, annexed to the Minorites Convent, are his frescoes (1507) of the Circumcision, and Christ and the Doctors; and his greatest work (1513), called the Twenty-one Mysteries, or History of the Saviour, painted on the choir screen, 34 feet by 26. Ferrari's house is in Piazza Ferrari. There is a school of design at the Barolo Palace, where wood carvings are sold. Another palace is that of the Adda family. An old bridge crosses the Val Mastalone, near the Church of S. Pietro Martire, at the mouth of the Val; it has a fresco by Ferrari.

On the Sacro Monte, a hill 270 feet high, among forests of chestnuts, is a celebrated sanctuary, founded 1486-90, by B. Caimo, a pilgrim from the Holy Land. It is composed of a church at the Holy Sepulchre, and forty-six small chapels and summit called Nova Gerusalemme, copied from the oratories on the ascent, built by P. Tibaldi, and adorned with frescoes and terra cottas, by Ferrari and other artists, with subjects or mysteries from the New Testament. The most remarkable are the Pietà, Adoration of the Magi, Transfiguration, and Crucifixion; the last containing 150 terra cotta figures of life size. One of the chapels is dedicated to St. Francis. A Santa Scala, or stairs, which the devout pilgrim mounts on his poor knees, leads to the three crosses on the top, which commands a fine prospect. (KING'S Valleys of the Alps.)

At La Rocca, 1 mile from this, on the Sesia, are the works for the rich nickel mines of La Balma, situated on Pic de Castello, 4 hours distant, and 5,200 feet high. Varallo produces good truffles, wine, and potatces, besides chestnuts, &c.

From Varallo, up the beautiful Val Mastalone, it is an easy way of about 20 miles to Ponte Grande.

From Varallo to Pella, on Lake of Orta, it is four hours' walking, through magnificent scenery, crossing the Col di Colma (5,000 feet) about half way. From the top is a view embracing all the Monte Rosa range. A boat crosses the lake from Pella to Orta, on the eastern side in half an hour. Lake Orta is the most attractive of the smaller Alpine

lakes, combining richness with boldness of form. It is about 9 miles long, up to Omegna, at its head, at the mouth of Val Strona. A boat to it costs 2 francs. There is also a good road.

The little town of ORTA, on the Lake of Orta (Albergo S. Giulio), is close to the sanctuary of Monte Sacro, with its nineteen chapels, dedicated to S. Francis d'Assissi. Population, 1,001.

Facing the town is the picturesque Island of S. Giulio and its church. Orta is 12 miles from Arona; or it may be reached by rail and omnibus via Novara (see Route 5). A few miles from Omegna is Monte Motterone, close to the Simplon Road, overlooking Lago Maggiore, and embracing one of the finest panoramas in the Alps. (BALL'S Guide to the Western Alps.)

This is a small town on the Simplon Road, containing the Santa Maria's Church, in which are paintings by G. Ferrari, and an old deserted seat of the Borromeo family, remarkable as the birthplace of St. Carlo Borromeo (1538). Near this is his great metal Statue; it stands on a hill, commanding a superb view of the lake, and is 66 feet high, besides a pedestal of 40 feet. By means of ladders and some scrambling you may ascend his hollow body, and sit in the inside of his ear or his nose. It was put up in 1697 by the Borromeo family. Here Peter Martyr, the "master of sentences," was born.

When Garibaldi arrived here in 1859, he found the alarm bells had been rung in all the districts around, in spite of the Austrian flying columns, which occupied them in turn. Letting the people of Arona believe he was going to remain there, he left secretly by night with his volunteers, and marched on Časteletto Ticino. In spite of the Austrian steamers cruising on the lake, he safely landed his Cacciatori on the Austrian side of the Ticino, near Sesto Calende, and on the evening of the 23rd, made his entry into Varese, in the midst of a violent storm. The whole population turned out to welcome their liberators. After being hastily fortified, it was attacked by General Urban's division, 5,000 strong, but they were beaten off here and at Maluate by the victorious

Hotels: Des Isles Borromées, moderate and finely placed; Milan. English Church Service at Hotel des Iles.

[The head of the Lake is at

Magadino (population, 770) in Swiss territory. Hotel: Bellevue.

Voitures can be had here at moderate charges, for the passage of St. Gothard or the Bernardino. This town is becoming of considerable importance from its central situation at the mouth of the Ticino. It is one of the most picturesque spots on the route from Bellinzona to Milan.

The steamer calls here daily and proceeds to Locarno, and other places, landing passengers at the chief towns on both shores of Lago Maggiore, and at the Borromean Islands.]

From Arona, by diligence (2 hours), to

Baveno.

Hotels: Grand Hotel Baveno; Grand Hotel de Bellevue.

English Divine Service at the Chapel in the grounds of Villa Clara, a seat belonging to C. Henfrey, Esq. (built by Bulnois), which was occupied by Queen Victoria on her visit to the Lake, March, 1879.

A charming village, under Monte Motterone, which is 4,817 feet high, and commands a noble view of the lakes and the snowy Alps. There are inexhaustible quarries of excellent granite or marble, which is easily worked and polished. Fine red trout are caught. Boats to the Islands, 5 fr. for two hours. A steamer touches here in the

morning, on its way to Sesto Calende, at the bottom of Lago Maggiore.

The nearest of the Borromean Islands is the small

ISOLA SUPERIORE, or Dei Piscatori (Fishermen's Island), and its picturesque church, with a population of 250. Further out is the ISOLA MADRE (Mother, i.e., the Virgin's Island), which is a mass of foliage, native and exotic, laid out in alleys and terraces, through which beautiful views of the lakes and surrounding hills are caught. There is a profusion of oranges, lemons, tropical plants, besides aviaries of birds, but the only building is an unfinished palace of the Borromeo family, which the gardener (who shows the island) lives in. To the west, in shore, is the pretty Isola di S. Giovanni, or the Isolino (little island) with gardens.

ISOLA BELLA (to the south), the Beautiful Island, is more a work of art, and perhaps less charming than the other. It rises up in a pyramid of ten terraces or hanging gardens, first laid out by Count