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| author | pgww <pgww@lists.pglaf.org> | 2025-09-25 05:22:02 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | pgww <pgww@lists.pglaf.org> | 2025-09-25 05:22:02 -0700 |
| commit | 7fdf59aa2a7b9b514cce813cebc11e78d528b2c3 (patch) | |
| tree | b9e8f6fb425ce1fa48d693f917ea3780d15b2745 /76926-h | |
Diffstat (limited to '76926-h')
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diff --git a/76926-h/76926-h.htm b/76926-h/76926-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f407c23 --- /dev/null +++ b/76926-h/76926-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8767 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + Florentine villas | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +h1 { + font-size: 250%; + margin-top: 4em; + margin-bottom: 4em; + letter-spacing: .1em; +} + +h2 { + letter-spacing: .1em; + word-spacing: .2em; +} +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} +.p6 {margin-top: 6em;} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%; 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right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ + .poetry-container {display: flex; justify-content: center;} +.poetry-container {text-align: center;} +.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} +.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} +.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} + +/* Poetry indents */ +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3.0em;} +.poetry .indent6 {text-indent: 0.0em;} +.poetry .indent16 {text-indent: 5.0em;} +.poetry .indent20 {text-indent: 7.0em;} + +/* Transcriber's notes */ +.transnote { + color: black; + font-size:small; + padding:0.5em; + margin-bottom:5em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; +} + + p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; + text-indent: 1em; + } + + /* to undo start of para indent */ + .noindent {text-indent: 0;} + .center {text-indent: 0;} + + .right {text-align: right;} + + + .p2 {margin-top: 2em;} + .p4 {margin-top: 4em;} + .pb4 {margin-bottom: 4em;} + .p6 {margin-top: 6em;} + + .pad1 {padding-left: 1em;} + .pad1r {padding-right: 1em;} + .pad3 {padding-left: 3em;} + + .fs60 {font-size: 60%;} + .fs75 {font-size: 75%;} + .fs80 {font-size: 80%;} + .fs120 {font-size: 120%;} + .fs150 {font-size: 150%;} + .fs300 {font-size: 300%;} + + .gothic {font-family: 'Old English Text MT', 'Old English', 'Diploma', serif;} + + .wsp3 {word-spacing: 0.3em;} + .wsp15 {word-spacing: 0.15em;} + .lsp1 {letter-spacing: 0.1em;} + .lsp2 {letter-spacing: 0.2em;} + .lh15 {line-height: 150%} + .lh18 {line-height: 180%} + + ul.index { list-style-type: none; } + + .tdlt {text-align: left; + vertical-align: top;} + .tdrb {text-align: right; + vertical-align: bottom;} + .tdcb {text-align: center; + vertical-align: bottom;} + + .wd5 {width: 5%;} + .wd6e {width: 6em;} + .wd70 {width: 70%;} + + .hang1 { + text-indent: -1em; + padding-left: 1em; + } + + .pagenum { + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; + color: #A9A9A9 + } /* page numbers */ + + .fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: x-small; + text-decoration: + none; + } + + /* Transcriber's notes */ + .transnote { + border: 1px solid; + color: black; + font-size:small; + padding:0.5em; + margin-bottom:5em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; + } + + /* Illustration classes */ + .illowp15 {width: 15%; max-width:10em;} + .illowp30 {width: 30%; max-width:18em;} + .illowp45 {width: 45%; max-width:22em;} + .illowp50 {width: 50%; max-width:24em;} + .illowp60 {width: 60%; max-width:28em;} + .illowp70 {width: 70%; max-width:32em;} + .illowp80 {width: 80%; max-width:35em;} + .illowp90 {width: 90%; max-width:38em;} + .illowp100 {width: 100%; max-width:40em;} + + + .uc { text-transform: uppercase;} + .red {color: #ec5f4e} + + img.drop-capi + { + float: left; + margin: 0 1.7em 0 0; + max-width: 6em; + } + + p.drop-capi:first-letter + { + color: transparent; + visibility: hidden; + margin-left: -3.2em; + } + + div.drop-capi:first-letter + { + color: transparent; + visibility: hidden; + margin-left: -1.2em; + } + + .x-ebookmaker img.drop-capi + { + display: none; + } + + .x-ebookmaker p.drop-capi:first-letter + { + color: inherit; + visibility: visible; + margin-left: 0; + } + + .x-ebookmaker div.drop-capi:first-letter + { + color: inherit; + visibility: visible; + margin-left: 0; + } + + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76926 ***</div> + + +<div class="transnote"> +<strong>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE</strong> + + +<p class="noindent">Some minor changes to the text are noted at the <a href="#ENDNOTE">end of the book</a>.</p> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp60" id="cover"> + <img class="w100" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="(Cover)"> +</figure> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<h1> +FLORENTINE<br> +VILLAS +</h1> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="center p6 fs75"> +<i>This Edition is limited to 200 copies for England</i><br> +<i>and 100 copies for America</i><br> +</p> +<p class="center p6 fs75"> +<i>All rights reserved</i> +</p> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_004" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_004.jpg" +alt="Cast of the face of Lorenzo The Magnificent, +taken after death"> +</figure> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="center fs300 lsp1 red p2"> +FLORENTINE<br> +VILLAS<br> +</p> +<p class="center"> + +<span class="fs75">BY</span><br><br> +<span class="lsp1 fs150">JANET ROSS</span><br> +</p> +<p class="center p2 fs120 pb4"> +<span class=allsmcap>WITH REPRODUCTIONS IN PHOTOGRAVURE</span><br> +<span class=wsp3>FROM ZOCCHI’S ETCHINGS</span><br> +<span class=allsmcap>AND MANY LINE DRAWINGS OF THE VILLAS</span><br> +<span class=wsp3>BY NELLY ERICHSEN</span> +</p> +<figure class="figcenter illowp15" id="colophon" > + <img class="w100" src="images/colophon.jpg" alt="Colophon"> +</figure> +<p class="center p4 wsp3 lh15"> +<span class=red>LONDON: J. M. DENT & CO.</span><br> +<span class=fs80>NEW YORK: DUTTON & CO.</span><br> +<span class=allsmcap>MDCCCCI</span> +</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="center wsp3 p4"> +<span class=lh18><span class=gothic>To</span><br> +<span class=lsp2>MARGARET</span><br> +COUNTESS <span class="allsmcap">OF</span> CRAWFORD <span class="allsmcap">AND</span> BALCARRES<br> +</span><span class="allsmcap lh15 wsp15">THE OWNER OF ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL OF THE<br> +FLORENTINE VILLAS<br> +THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED<br> +IN MEMORY OF<br> +OLD FAMILY TIES AND FRIENDSHIPS<br> +BY HER COUSIN</span><br> +<span class=fs75>JANET ROSS</span> +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</span></p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak p4" id="PREFACE"> + PREFACE + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/i_009.jpg" alt="Stylized V"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>Visitors</span> to Florence are more or less intimately acquainted +with the history of her churches, galleries and palaces, but there +are few books dealing with the villas which crown the hills +surrounding the lovely city. For years friends have asked me +to write some account of them and the first beginning was made +in an article in the <cite>National Review</cite> (May 1894) called “A stroll +in Boccaccio’s country,” dealing chiefly with the two villas described by him in +the <cite>Decameron</cite> in language of matchless grace and charm. Becoming interested +in the subject I collected what information I could about the Florentine Villas +and the families to whom they had belonged, and coming across Guiseppe +Zocchi’s rare work <cite lang="it">Vedute delle Ville e d’altri luoghi della Toscana</cite> published in +1744, it was thought that reproductions of his beautiful etchings would enhance +the interest of my book. Zocchi, about whom but little is known, was born near +Florence in 1711 and died in 1767. Frescoes were executed by him in the +Serristori and Rinuccini palaces and he was commissioned by the people of Siena +to decorate their city with painted tapestries and hangings for a visit of Leopoldo, +Grand Duke of Tuscany. This he probably owed to his patron the Marquis +Gerini to whom the volume of engravings of the Villas was dedicated.</p> + +<p>In early times the great Florentine families lived in their strong castles like +robber chieftains, waging incessant war on each other and on the adjacent villages +and towns, and when later they went to dwell in the walled city they built their +palaces like strongholds. High towers and thick walls defended Guelf against +Ghibelline, and as one party or the other obtained supremacy the beaten rivals +were driven to seek refuge in their hill-castles. “The nobles,” writes Macchiavelli, +“were divided against each other and the people against the nobles.... And +from these divisions resulted so many deaths, so many banishments, so many +destructions of families, as never befell in any other city.”</p> + +<p>Life became more luxurious under the Medici; famous Master Builders, +such as Michelozzi, Ammannati and Buontalenti were charged by the rich +Florentines to design, or to enlarge and beautify, the villas which are still the +pride and glory of Florence. In the country houses of the Medici, artists, poets +and learned men met together and discussed literary subjects with their princely +hosts; others were used, much as is the custom now, for summer retreats when +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">[x]</span> +the dust and heat of the town made life irksome. The <span lang="it">“villegiatura”</span> still plays +an important part in the life of an Italian. The head of the family, his sons, +their wives and children, install themselves in the huge villas, and even those +who can afford to cross the Alps, hurry back to their country places in September +for the vintage—always a time of merriment—when music and dancing recall +the gaiety of olden days.</p> + +<p>My work has been rendered pleasant by the kindness and courtesy of the +owners of the Villas described in these pages, and I have to thank H. E. Prince +Corsini for much valuable information, and for obtaining permission from the +<span lang="it">Società Colombaria</span>, of which he is the President, to have the interesting +and hitherto almost unknown deathmask of Lorenzo the Magnificent, in their +possession, photographed for my book. To Cavaliere Angelo Bruschi, Librarian +of the Marucelliana library, I am indebted for unceasing kindness in suggesting +and obtaining for me rare pamphlets and manuscripts which illustrated the +manners and customs of bygone times. My thanks are also due to Mr Temple +Leader for allowing me to use the illustration out of his book, of Sir Robert +Dudley’s curious instrument for the measurement of tides; to my kind friend +Dr E. Percival Wright for reading the proof-sheets; to my niece Lina Duff +Gordon for visiting and describing some of the more distant villas to which +I was unable to go; to Colonel Goff for his drawing of Countess Rasponi’s +beautiful villa <span lang="it">Font’ all ’Erta</span>; to Miss Erichsen whose charming drawings of +the villas and gardens as they now appear add so much to the beauty and +interest of the book, and lastly to the Dowager Countess of Crawford for +lending me Zocchi’s volume of etchings for reproduction.</p> + +<p class="right pad1r"> + JANET ROSS. +</p> + +<p class="fs75"> + <span class="smcap">Poggio Gherardo,</span><br> + <span class="smcap pad3">Florence.</span> +</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">[xi]</span></p> +<div class="chapter"> + + <h2 class="nobreak p4" id="CONTENTS"> + CONTENTS + </h2> +</div> + + +<table class="autotable wd70"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA PALMIERI</span></td> +<td class="tdc"><i>Page</i></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI POGGIO A CAJANO</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_8">8</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">CAFAGGIUOLO</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI CAREGGI</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI RUSCIANO</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI POGGIO IMPERIALE</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI LAPPEGGI</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DELLA PETRAJA</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI BELLOSGUARDO</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI CASTELLO</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA CORSINI AT CASTELLO</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA MEDICI AT FIESOLE</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DELL’ AMBROGIANA</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI PRATOLINO</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA SALVIATI</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI FONT’ ALL’ ERTA</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI GAMBERAIA</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_116">116</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI MONTE GUFFONE</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_120">120</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI CASTEL-PULCI</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI POGGIO GHERARDO</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_131">131</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DELLE SELVE</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA I COLLAZZI</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA FERDINANDA A ARTIMINO</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</span></p> + + <h2 class="nobreak p4" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"> + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + </h2> +</div> + + + <h3> PHOTOGRAVURES</h3> + +<table class="autotable wd70"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1">CAST OF THE FACE OF LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT, TAKEN AFTER DEATH</td> +<td class="tdc" colspan="2"><i><a href="#i_004">Frontispiece</a></i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA PALMIERI</span></td> +<td class="tdc" ><i>Facing page</i> </td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_018">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI POGGIO A CAJANO</span></td> +<td class="tdc wd6e">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_031">8</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">CAFAGGIUOLO</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_043">16</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI CAREGGI</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_057">26</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1">MEDALS OF <span lang="it">COSIMO PATER PATRIAE</span>, <span lang="it">LORENZO DE’ MEDICI</span> AND <span lang="it">MARSILIO FICINO</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_070">37</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI POGGIO IMPERIALE</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_080">41</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI LAPPEGGI</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_093">48</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DELLA PETRAJA</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_100">53</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1">MEDALS OF COSIMO II, <span lang="it">BIANCA CAPPELLO</span> AND <span lang="it">MARIA MADDALENA D’AUSTRIA</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_110">59</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI CASTELLO</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_122">65</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA CORSINI AT CASTELLO</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_132">71</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1">MEDALS OF <span lang="it">CATERINA SFORZA</span>, <span lang="it">SAVONAROLA</span> AND <span lang="it">PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_146">81</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DELL’ AMBROGIANA</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_159">88</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI PRATOLINO</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_164">91</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA SALVIATI</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_174">97</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1">MEDALS OF <span lang="it">COSIMO I, DE’ MEDICI</span>, <span lang="it">ALESSANDRO DE’ MEDICI</span>, FERDINANDO I AND CHRISTINE OF LORRAINE</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_191">108</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI GAMBERAIA</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_203">116</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI MONTE GUFFONE</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_211">120</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DI CASTEL-PULCI</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_221">126</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1">MEDALS OF BOCCACCIO, MICHELANGELO AND DUKE FEDERIGO OF URBINO</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_228">131</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA DELLE SELVE</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_240">139</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA I COLLAZZI</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_248">143</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">VILLA FERDINANDA A ARTIMINO</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_259">148</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiv">[xiv]</span></p> + + +<h3> ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT</h3> + + +<table class="autotable wd70"> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA PALMIERI</span>:</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc wd5"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE TERRACE</td> +<td class="tdc wd6e"><i>Page</i></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_021a">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE VILLA AND TERRACE FROM THE LOWER GARDEN</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_027">7</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA DI POGGIO A CAJANO</span>:</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE FACADE</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_028a">8</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">CAFAGGIUOLO</span>:</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE FACADE</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_040a">16</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">CASTLE OF TREBBIO</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_053">25</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA DI CAREGGI</span>:</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE GARDEN FRONT WITH <span lang="it">LORENZO DE’ MEDICI’S</span> <span lang="it">LOGGIA</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_054a">26</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">ANOTHER VIEW OF THE VILLA</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_067">35</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA DI RUSCIANO</span>:</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE NORTH FACADE</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_073a">37</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">BRUNELLESCHI’S WINDOW</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_074">38</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">VIEW OF FLORENCE FROM THE VILLA</td> +<td class="tdcb"><i>facing page</i></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_075">38</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA DI POGGIO IMPERIALE</span>:</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE FORMAL GARDEN</td> +<td class="tdcb"><i>page</i></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_083a">41</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE GREAT ENTRANCE</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_088">46</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA DI LAPPEGGI</span>:</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE TERRACE AND VILLA</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_090a">48</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA DELLA PETRAJA</span>:</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE VILLA, WITH VICTOR EMANUEL’S ILEX</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_103a">53</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE FOUNTAIN OF VENUS, BY TRIBOLO AND GIOVANNI DA BOLOGNA</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_108">58</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA DI BELLOSGUARDO</span>:</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE NORTH FACADE AND TOWER</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_113a">59</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"> </td> +<td class="tdl hang1">DISTANT VIEW OF THE VILLA FROM THE <span lang="it">PODERE</span> OF THE VILLA DELL’ OMBRELLINO</td> +<td class="tdcb"><i>facing page</i></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_117">62</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"> </td> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">MONTAUTO</span>, WITH THE TOWER OF BELLOSGUARDO IN THE DISTANCE</td> +<td class="tdcb"><i>page</i></td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_120">64</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4">VILLA DI CASTELLO:</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"> </td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE GARDEN AND FOUNTAIN OF HERCULES, BY TRIBOLO AND AMMANNATI</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_125a">65</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE “APENNINES” FOUNTAIN</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_130">70</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA CORSINI AT CASTELLO</span>:</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE BOSCO AND FOUNTAIN</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_135">71</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"> </td> +<td class="tdl hang1">SIR ROBERT DUDLEY’S INSTRUMENT FOR FINDING THE EBB AND +FLOW OF THE TIDES <br> +<i><span class="fs80 pad1">(By Permission of Mr Temple Leader)</span></i></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_139">75</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE ROCOCO FACADE</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_144">80</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA MEDICI AT FIESOLE</span>:</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"> </td> +<td class="tdl hang1">DISTANT VIEW OF THE VILLA AND MONASTERY OF SAN FRANCESCO AT FIESOLE, FROM SAN DOMENICO</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_149a">81</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xv">[xv]</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">GENERAL VIEW OF THE VILLA</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_153">85</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE TERRACE WITH FIESOLE IN THE BACKGROUND</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_155">87</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA DELL’ AMBROGIANA</span>:</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE VILLA FROM THE COURTYARD</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_156a">88</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE TOWN OF MONTELUPO</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_162">90</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA DI PRATOLINO</span>:</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE SERVITE MONASTERY AT MONTE SENARIO</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_167a">91</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1"><span lang="it">L’APPENNINO</span>, GIGANTIC STATUE BY GIOVANNI DA BOLOGNA</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_172">96</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA SALVIATI</span>:</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">GENERAL VIEW OF THE VILLA</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_177a">97</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE VILLA FROM THE TERRACE</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_187">107</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA DI FONT’ ALL’ ERTA</span>:</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"> </td> +<td class="tdl hang1">BOCCACCIO’S “<span lang="it">VALLE DELLE DONNE</span>” WITH VILLA LANDOR IN THE DISTANCE</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_188a">108</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">AMMANNATI’S <span lang="it">LOGGIA</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_195">111</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">VIEW OF THE VILLA BY COL. GOFF</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_199">115</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA DI GAMBERAIA</span>:</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE WATER GARDEN</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_200a">116</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">DISTANT VIEW OF THE VILLA</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_207">119</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA DI MONTE GUFFONE</span>:</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">GENERAL VIEW OF THE VILLA</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_208a">120</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE VILLA AND TOWER</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_217">125</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA DI CASTEL-PULCI</span>:</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">DISTANT VIEW OF THE VILLA FROM A PODERE</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_218a">126</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE GATEWAY OF THE BADIA A SETTIMO</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_226">130</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA DI POGGIO GHERARDO</span>:</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">GENERAL VIEW OF THE VILLA FROM THE PODERE</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_231a">131</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">DISTANT VIEW OF THE VILLA</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_235">135</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"> </td> +<td class="tdl hang1">VIEW OF FLORENCE FROM THE CYPRESS TREES OF POGGIO GHERARDO</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_238">138</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA DELLE SELVE</span>:</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">SIR JOHN HAWKWOOD’S WALLS AT <span lang="it">LASTRA A SIGNA</span></td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_243a">139</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE VILLA, WITH GALILEO’S TERRACE</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_246">142</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA I COLLAZZI</span>:</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE LOGGIA</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_251a">143</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">ON THE TERRACE</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_255">147</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA FERDINANDA A ARTIMINO</span>:</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">GENERAL VIEW OF THE VILLA</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_256a">148</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE MEDICI SHIELD</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_265">153</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlt hang1" colspan="4"><span lang="it">VILLA DI LAPPEGGI</span>:</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc"></td> +<td class="tdl hang1">THE VIEW FROM THE TERRACE</td> +<td class="tdcb">”</td> +<td class="tdrb"><a href="#i_274">162</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"></div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_018" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_018.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <span lang="it">VILLA PALMIERI</span> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_021a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_021a.jpg" alt="The Terrace"> +</figure> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_PALMIERI"> + <span lang="it">VILLA PALMIERI</span> + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/i_021b.jpg" alt="Stylized S"> +<p class="drop-capi"><span class=uc lang="it">Schifanoja</span> +(avoid, or banish care) was the old name of +Villa Palmieri when it belonged to Cioni de’ Fini; then +the Tolomei bought it in the fourteenth century and called +it Villa or Palazzo de’ Tre Visi, either from a bas-relief +representing the heads of the Trinity which once existed +in a bastion wall, or from a fountain with a head of Janus. +In 1454 they sold the villa to Matteo Palmieri, who added to it; but it was +a descendant of his, Palmiero Palmieri, who in 1670 transformed the house +into “a most noble palace,” and called it by his own name. The northern +wing is said to have been built by him; the loggia which connects the two +wings and leads on to the grand terrace, guarded by grim stone deities of +bygone times, whence a stately double flight of steps sweeps down to the +lower gardens, was certainly his handiwork. Palmiero also threw the long +archway (forming the terrace) across the old Fiesole road which once divided +the Villa from the gardens, and under this archway was the place of meeting +of the brethren of the Misericordia of Florence with those of Fiesole. Here +they were entitled to rest and allowed to accept a drink of vinegar and water +because of the steepness of the road to Fiesole. In 1874 the Earl of Crawford +bought Villa Palmieri and made a new carriage road up the hill of +<span lang="it">Schifanoja</span> +to San Domenico; he closed the old one which passed under the Arco +de’ Palmieri, so now the brethren of the two confraternities meet and rest +in the little garden at the entrance gate.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span></p> + +<p>The legendary derivation of the name of the old owners of the Villa is +poetical and pretty. When Otho I conquered Berenger IV Pope Agabetus +II sent a palm branch with a congratulatory message to the Emperor, who +appointed his favourite young cup-bearer to carry the branch before him, +and thus show the world how highly he had been honoured by the Pope. +The handsome lad came to be called <i lang="it">il Palmiero</i> (the palm-bearer), and his +own name was forgotten. Some years later Otho gave him a castle in the +Mugello, and his grandson, who inherited the family good-looks, won the +heart of the only daughter of Latino, Lord of Rasoio. Thus, according +to the old legend, did the Palmieri become powerful and possessed of +great wealth. Their real story is more prosaic. Vespasiano da Bisticci, +bookseller and scribe, a biographer of rare merit who was a contemporary +of Matteo, writes: “The Florentine Matteo di Marco Palmieri, born of +parents in a humble condition of life, founded his house and ennobled +it by his singular virtues.” They were of the guild of pharmacists, and +in the State archives is the note-book of Matteo, with entries of the +different sources of the family income. He often laments bitterly how +little the pharmacy of the Canto alle Rondine brought in, and how taxes +increased every year.</p> + +<p>Matteo Palmieri was born in 1405, Sozomeno of Pistoja instructed +him in grammar and rhetoric, and two great scholars—Ambrogio Traversari, +General of the Cistercians, and Carlo Aretino (Marsuppini), Chancellor of the +Republic of Florence, taught him Greek and Latin. Matteo was appointed to +pronounce the funeral oration in Santa Croce in 1453 of Carlo Aretino, and +his eloquence was such that he drew tears from all present. A friend of +Cosimo de’ Medici, and of all the famous humanists of that period, he was an +able scholar and an accomplished author at a time when learning stood high, +and when all Florence was ringing with the praises of Pico della Mirandola, +Poggio Bracciolino, and Marsilio Ficino.</p> + +<p>By his wife Cosa Serragli, to whom he was passionately attached, Matteo +had no children, so he adopted his brother Bartolomeo’s two orphan sons, the +younger of whom succeeded him in the family pharmacy. In 1437 Matteo +became Gonfalonier of Florence together with Adonardo Acciajuoli; in 1445 +he was elected Prior of the Commune, and again in 1468. In 1453 he was +Gonfalonier of Justice, and was sent at various times as ambassador of the +Republic to King Alphonso of Naples, to Siena, Pisa, Perugia, Bologna and +Rome.</p> + +<p>His book <cite lang="it">Della Vita Civile</cite> was translated into French by de Rosiers; +<cite lang="fr">De Captivitate Pisarum</cite>, and the Life of the Grand Seneschal Acciajuoli, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span>written in Latin, were translated into Italian and published in a more or less +mutilated form. But <cite lang="it">Città di Vita</cite>, the poem which made the name of +Matteo Palmieri celebrated, was never published, and probably has not +been read by a score of persons since he wrote it. No doubt the Platonic +philosophy, then so popular, had taken a strong hold on him. Written in +<i lang="it">terza rima</i>, it is one of the last poems to have been inspired by the spirit of +Dante, and describes how the Cumean sybil leads the author to the Elysian +fields through Tartarus, and finally to the City of Life. Lionardo Dati, a +pious canon of the cathedral of Florence, who became secretary to the +Pope, and Bishop of Massa, to whom Matteo showed the work, pronounced +it to be “almost divine,” while Marsilio Ficino hailed him as <i lang="la">Poeta Theologicus</i>. +In spite of such praise Palmieri sealed up his manuscript, and +gave it into the care of the Pro-Consul of the Guild of Notaries with +strict orders that it should not be opened till after his death. In 1475, +at his funeral in San Pier Maggiore, it was placed upon his breast, and +Allemanno Rinnuccini in his funeral oration spoke of it as “the glory +of Matteo.” But when the contents of <cite lang="it">Città di Vita</cite> were known, the +fury of the tribunal of the Inquisition knew no bounds; they declared +that the heresy of Origen contaminated its accursed pages, and wanted +to dig up the corpse of old Palmieri and burn it and the poem in one fire. +Fortunately the Republic had the strength of mind to resist, and the +manuscript was returned to the care of the Pro-Consul of the Notaries. +Several pages were damaged in 1557 when the Arno flooded the city, and +then with other precious documents it was removed to the Laurentian +Library. There it was locked up in a cupboard, of which the librarian +was not allowed to have the key lest his soul might be contaminated +by the odious heresies contained in its pages. The heretical manuscript, +with its dainty, imaginative illuminations of the signs of the Zodiac, +is now one of the treasures of the library, and on its last page is the +portrait of the author, showing a strong, bony and clever face of true Florentine +type.</p> + +<p>According to Vasari, Sandro Botticelli painted a picture for the altar of +the Palmieri chapel in San Pier Maggiore “with an infinite number of +figures, being the Assumption of our Lady, with the zones of the heavens, +the Patriarchs, the Prophets, the Apostles, the Evangelists, the Martyrs, +the Confessors, the Doctors, the Virgins and the Hierarchies; all after the +design given him by Matteo, who was a man of letters and of learning: +and he executed the work after a masterly fashion and with extreme +diligence. He portrayed Matteo and his wife kneeling at the foot of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span>picture. But although this work was most beautiful and ought to have been +above envy, there were some malicious and evil-speaking persons who being +unable to abuse it in other ways, said Matteo and Sandro had fallen into +the grave sin of heresy; let none expect an opinion from me as to whether +this be true or not; enough that the figures painted by Sandro are in +truth worthy of praise for the great work he had in designing the circles +of the heavens and fitting foreshortenings and landscapes in divers different +ways between the figures and the angels; everything being excellently well +drawn.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_1_1" href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Eventually the picture was carried to Villa Palmieri and walled +up until the beginning of this century when it was taken out of its +hiding-place and sold. At length it passed into the collection of the +Duke of Hamilton and in 1882 was bought for our National Gallery. +Father Ricca in his exhaustive work on the churches of Florence devotes +a whole chapter to this “much-to-be-praised” picture and to the <cite lang="it">Città di +Vita</cite>. “In these cantos,” says the Jesuit father, “when talking of the +angels he [Matteo] follows the condemned opinions of Origen, more from a +poetic license than from any theological bias, and supposes that our bodies +are inhabited by those angels who are falsely thought to have remained +neutral when Lucifer fell; and that God, desirous to try them once more, +obliges them to adopt our human bodies. This is the real story of +Matteo’s book, which has been altered and corrupted by malevolent and +ignorant persons, whose calumnies and lies have been believed even by +ultra-montane writers, so that Germany, France and England, were filled +with the rumour thereof.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_2_2" href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>In 1766 Villa Palmieri was inhabited by Lord Cowper who had come on +a visit to Florence and found the place so attractive that he refused to return +to England. He married the beautiful Miss Gore who was most popular in +her Tuscan home, and the Villa was the scene of many brilliant entertainments, +as the Grand Duke admired the young and lovely Countess and was a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span>frequent guest. That dear old gossip, Sir Horace Mann, tells us “the birth +of her son [the late Lady Palmerston’s first husband], diffused a riotous joy +among the common people who have expressed it for three days by little +bonfires and lights at their paper windows.” He also informs us that at +a dull Court dinner “the Comptroller of the Table has pleased the Grand +Duke much by his giving Lord Cowper and Lord Tylney beer and punch, +which he thinks is the constant beverage of the English.” The ambition +long cherished by Lord Cowper to be created a Prince of the Holy Roman +Empire was at length gratified in 1778, though his desire to be Prince +Overkirk was frustrated by the Nassaus, who, as Sir Horace writes, “objected +to his bearing their name with the title of Prince. The Emperor [Joseph II.] +therefore thought he had found a medium by substituting Overquerque⁠<a id="FNanchor_3_3" href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> +but his cousins of that family have likewise put their negative to that; so +that it is now reduced to plain Prince Cowper, for which he must pay ten +thousand zecchins (about £5000). The heralds of the Empire have objected +to his bearing the arms of Nassau. They don’t allow such a right from +females, and more particularly when there is any male branch of the family. +Neither the Emperor nor my Lord seem to know what they were about, when it +was asked and granted, and I believe that both now repent of it.” Horace Walpole +in a letter to Mann criticising Zoffany’s well-known picture of the Tribune in +the Uffizzi (now at Windsor) sneers at Lord Cowper’s title of Prince. He says +“it is crowded by a flock of travelling boys, and one does not know nor care +whom. You and Sir John Dick, as Envoy and Consul, are very proper. The +Grand Ducal family would have been so too.... I do allow Earl Cowper +a place in the Tribune; an Englishman who has never seen his Earldom, +who takes root and bears fruit in Florence and is as proud of a pinchbeck +principality in a third country, is as great a curiosity as any in the Tuscan +collection.”</p> + +<p>Though eccentric, Lord Cowper was a patron of men of letters and had +a passionate admiration for Niccolò Macchiavelli; he subscribed large sums +to the erection of the great secretary’s tomb in Santa Croce and to the publication +of a complete edition of his works; while his generous, hospitable +character gained him great favour among the Italians, who are generally +inclined to quote the old proverb “an italianised Englishman is a devil +incarnate.”</p> + +<p>In 1824 Villa Palmieri was bought by Miss Mary Farhill from the +executors of the last of the Palmieri. She was an odd woman, but the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span>Florentines appear to have liked her, +and she was a favourite of the Grand +Duchess Marie Antoinette to whom she left her villa, and who sold it in +1874 to the Earl of Crawford. He planted the hillside behind the villa and +made the gardens once more resemble the impassioned description in the +<cite>Decameron</cite>. As a scholar and a student his name stands high, and he will +long be remembered in his Tuscan home for many a kindly and charitable +act. In 1888 and in 1893 Lady Crawford lent her beautiful villa to +H.M. Queen Victoria.</p> + +<p>Villa Palmieri has always been identified with the second villa visited by +the seven maidens and the three youths in the <cite>Decameron</cite>. Baldelli, in his +Life of Boccaccio, tells us that “owning a small villa in the parish of Majano, +Boccaccio took pleasure in describing the surrounding country, more especially +the lovely slopes and rich valleys of the Fiesolean hills near his modest +dwelling. Thus in the enchanting picture he has drawn of the first halting-place +of the joyous company we recognise Poggio Gherardo, and in the +sumptuous palace chosen by them afterwards, in order not to be disturbed +by tiresome visitors, the beautiful Villa Palmieri. His fairy-like +description of the tiny circular valley into which Elisa led the lovely +ladies to disport themselves and bathe in the heat of the day, brings that +small flat meadow before us, through which the Affrico, after having +divided two hills and abandoned their stony ledges, meandering unites +his waters in a canal in the adjacent plain under the cloister of Doccia at +Fiesole.”</p> + +<p>Villa Palmieri will live for ever in Boccaccio’s exquisite and untranslatable +<cite>Decameron</cite>. “The Queen,” he writes, “led them to a most beautiful +and sumptuous palace situated somewhat above the plain on a small hill. +They entered and went all over it, and seeing the large halls, the +cleanly and well-decorated bed-chambers, completely furnished with all that +pertains thereunto, their praise was unstinting and they reputed the owner +to be rich and magnificent. Then descending and seeing the vast and +pleasant courtyards of the palace, the cellars stocked with most excellent +wines, and the copious springs of coldest water, they commended the place +yet more highly. Desirous of repose they then seated themselves in a +loggia overlooking the courtyard (every place being covered with flowers +pertaining to that season, and with greenery), and the courteous steward +came forward to welcome them and offered rich and dainty sweetmeats +and rare wines for their refreshment.” The lovely gardens with <i lang="it">pergole</i> +of vines laden with bunches of grapes, the hedges of jasmine and crimson +roses, the carved marble fountains, whose overflow of water was conducted +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span>by cunningly devised underground channels down to the plain, where it turned +two mills “to the great profit of the lord of the villa,” are all described by +Boccaccio in his inimitable poetic prose.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_027" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_027.jpg" alt="The Villa and Terrace from the Lower Garden"> +</figure> + +<p>The mills mentioned by Boccaccio were almost entirely destroyed by a +flood of the Mugnone in 1409. Two years later they were rebuilt, and a +third mill, nearer the town, was erected after the siege of Florence in 1529, +and bestowed upon the Foundling Hospital as compensation for damage done +to some of its farms. The arms of the Hospital, a swaddled baby, are still +to be seen on one of the walls near the mill.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_1_1" href="#FNanchor_1_1" class="label">[1]</a> G. Vasari. Tom. III. p. 314. Firenze, 1879. Vasari states that in addition to the Palmieri altarpiece +Botticelli “painted two angels in the Pieve of Empoli on the same side where is the St Sebastian by Rossellino” (ed. +1568, I. 474). These two angels form the lateral panels of a tabernacle containing St Sebastian by Rossellino, +now in the museum of the Pieve at Empoli. In the same museum is another tabernacle formerly over the High Altar +of the church. From documents in the State archives of Florence it appears that the commission for this second +tabernacle was given on 28th March 1484 to Francesco Botticini, and it requires but little acquaintance with +Florentine art to see that both are by the same hand, as Signor Milanese long since hinted. From these two +works our knowledge of Botticini as a painter is derived, and the Palmieri altarpiece is evidently, from analogy +of manner, by the same master. It is remarkable that though Botticini fell under many influences, no direct +influence of Botticelli can be traced in any of his works. Vasari, no doubt, misread the name <i lang="it">Botticelli</i> for +<i lang="it">Botticini</i>, just as he confused the name <i lang="it">Benozzo</i> with <i lang="it">Melozzo</i>. Vide ed. Sansoni, III. 51-2. I am indebted to +Mr Herbert P. Horne for the above information.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_2_2" href="#FNanchor_2_2" class="label">[2]</a> Notizie Istoriche delle Chiese Fiorentine. G. Ricca. Tom. I. p. 155. Firenze, 1754.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_3_3" href="#FNanchor_3_3" class="label">[3]</a> Lord Cowper’s mother was the youngest daughter and co-heiress of Henry de Nassau d’Overquerque, +Earl of Grantham, an illegitimate descendant of Maurice of Nassau.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_028a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_028a.jpg" alt="The Facade"> +</figure> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_DI_POGGIO_A_CAJANO"> + <span lang="it">VILLA DI POGGIO A CAJANO</span> + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/t.jpg" alt="Stylized T"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>There</span> is an old tradition that a Roman citizen named Cajo +once owned a villa at Poggio a Cajano, hence the name +Villa Caja, Rus Cajana; but the present royal villa, about +ten miles from Florence, dates from the time of Lorenzo +the Magnificent. He bought the old castle and the estate +from the powerful family of the Cancellieri of Pistoja, +and ordered Giuliano da San Gallo to design the imposing pile now +towering high above the little village nestling at its feet, and which was +built on the foundations of the ancient castle. From afar with its bastions, +it looks so like a great fortress, that when the Emperor Charles V spent a +day there in May 1536, he remarked that such walls were not meet for a +private citizen, and before leaving for Lucca he created the bastard +Alessandro de’ Medici Duke of Tuscany.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_031" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_031.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <span lang="it">VILLA <span class="allsmcap">DI</span> POGGIA <span class="allsmcap">A</span> CAJANO</span>. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Lorenzo the Magnificent desired to have a large hall, vaulted with one +arch of huge span in his villa, so Giuliano da San Gallo constructed a +room according to Lorenzo’s idea in a house he was building for himself +in Florence, and this being a success he carried it out on a large scale +at Poggio a Cajano. Vasari writes “There is no doubt this is the largest +vault ever seen till now.” Later, by order of Leo X, Andrea del Sarto, +Franciabigio and Pontormo decorated the hall with frescoes allegorical of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span>the glories of the Medici. Del Sarto represents the gifts sent by Egypt +to Cæsar—metaphorical of the presents given by the Sultan to Lorenzo; +Franciabigio, under the guise of Cicero returning from exile, illustrates the +return of Cosimo de’ Medici to Florence in 1434; Pontormo, in the banquet +given by Syphax to Scipio, figures the one given by the King of Naples +to Lorenzo; while Titus Flaminius, rejecting the ambassadors of Antiochus +(also by Pontormo), is illustrative of Lorenzo defeating the ambitious designs +of Venice at the Diet of Cremona. But the finest fresco by far is seldom +pointed out by guide book or guide—Pontormo’s exquisite lunette at one +end of the hall. I am proud to find my opinion ratified by Mr Berenson, +who writes, “Pontormo, who had it in him to be a decorator and portrait +painter of the highest rank, was led astray by his awe-struck admiration +for Michelangelo, and ended as an academic constructor of monstrous nudes. +What he could do when expressing <em>himself</em>, we see in the lunette at +Poggio a Cajano, as design, as colour, as fancy, the freshest, the gayest, +most appropriate mural decoration now remaining in Italy.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_4_4" href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> The fine external +staircase, up and down which horses can easily walk, was the work of +Stefano d’Ugolino da Siena, and the frieze is by one of the Della +Robbia.</p> + +<p>Beautiful are the gardens sloping down to the little river Ombrone. +Trees and shrubs grow luxuriantly, thanks to the moist soil. The fields are +intersected with small canals which in spring are fringed with tall yellow +iris, purple loosestrife and feathery meadowsweet, and decked with white +water-lilies. In the time of the Medici the whole plain was cultivated with +rice, which made it very unhealthy, and it is still feverish. The little +streamlet Ambra, flowing into the Ombrone close by, has been more +honoured in song than many a larger river. Poliziano writes in his +introduction to the study of Homer, “We also, therefore, with glad +homage dedicate to him this garland of Pieria’s flowers, which Ambra, +loveliest of Cajano’s nymphs, gave to me, culled from meadows on her father’s +shore, Ambra, the love of my Lorenzo, whom Umbrone, the horned stream +begat—Umbrone, dearest to his master Arno—Umbrone, who now henceforth +will never break his banks again.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_5_5" href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>On a small island, also called Ambra, Lorenzo planted rare flowers +and shrubs, and raised dykes round it to ward off the sudden floods of +the Ombrone. But one day “the horned stream” rose and carried away +the islet. Lorenzo vented his grief in that charming poem <cite lang="it">Ambra</cite> in which +the Florentine love of, and delight in, the country is vividly portrayed +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span>in idiomatic style by a thorough Tuscan, who knew and loved his Ovid +without servilely imitating him. After describing the flight of Zephyr to +Cyprus, where he dances with the lazy flowers amid the joyous grass; and +Boreas tearing the mist off the old white-headed Alps, only to fling +them back again, he continues, “Auster leaves hot Ethiopia, dipping his +dry sponges into the Tyrrhenean sea as he passes; then heavy with water +and girdled with clouds he squeezes his tired hands when he reaches his +destination, and the rivers joyously burst forth from their ancestral caverns +to meet the friendly waters. They give thanks to Father Ocean, whose +temples are adorned with rushes and flowering reeds, conches and crooked +horns joyfully resound, and his wide bosom swells yet more; the fury conceived +days ago against the timid banks at length breaks forth, and foaming +he bursts through the hated dykes.”</p> + +<p>The poor peasant has barely time to open the stable door and save +his cattle, the housewife carries away the baby in its cradle, some of the +family take refuge on the roof and “thence they watch their poor riches, +fruit of their toil, their one resource, vanish below; they neither weep nor +speak, for in their sorrowing hearts they fear for their lives and seem to +take no account of what was once most dear. Thus a great ill drives out +every other.” Ambra the beautiful nymph, flies from the embraces of the +river-god Ombrone, and prays to Diana for help, who turns her into a rock.</p> + +<p>Lorenzo, who was fond of horses and of racing, kept a large stud at +Poggio a Cajano, and Poliziano, writing to Valori, mentions an invincible +roan horse which, when sick or tired, refused all food save from the hand +of his master. When if lying down he heard Lorenzo’s step, he would +spring to his feet and neigh, rubbing his head against him with every +mark of affection. “What wonder,” exclaims Poliziano, “that Lorenzo +should be the delight of mankind when even brute beasts shew such love +for him.”</p> + +<p>Varchi, whose admiration for Poggio a Cajano was great, tells us “the +Medici, that is the Cardinal and Ippolito and Alessandro left Florence +on Friday the 17th day of May 1527 at 18 o’clock, accompanied by Count +Piero Noferi and many others, (there were many who said, as the company +rode down Via Larga, which was crowded with people, that they would +one day repent letting them depart alive,) and went full of fear to Poggio +a Cajano, their villa of marvellous size and magnificence.... Hardly had +the Medici left Florence than the people rushed to rob their houses, and +only with great difficulty could Niccolò [Capponi] and other good men hold +them back and save the houses; and the next day (when, without knowing +who set the rumour about, news spread that the Pope had come out of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span>Castel Sant’ Angelo) people said that the Medici with a goodly following +of foot and horse were returning to re-enter Florence, and Lodovico Martelli +publicly affirmed under the Loggia de’ Signori that from his place Le Gore +they had been seen at Careggi, their villa two miles outside Florence, and +although (not so much because he was a Martelli, who are generally held +to be untrustworthy, as because he was looked on as the sworn follower +of his brother-in-law Luigi Ridolfi) small reliance was placed on his word, +nevertheless in a few hours, this being repeated by one to the other and +by the other to another, there arose a great hubbub in Florence and the +shops (this by now had become a daily custom) and doors were closed. +News of the rising was taken by Nibbio, who spurred by fear left Florence +in hot haste and returned to Poggio to the Cardinal and the Magnificent, +besides which friends wrote to warn them and enemies to frighten them, +that Piero Salviati was preparing to start with two hundred cross-bowmen +on horseback; all these things so alarmed the Cardinal that he, with all +the others, left at once ... and went to Pistoja.”</p> + +<p>There were great doings at Poggio a Cajano on the 24th July 1539 +when Cosimo I and his bride Eleonora of Toledo spent five days there on +their way from Pisa to Florence. Twenty-six years later their son Francesco +de’ Medici met his bride, Joan of Austria, at the same place, where some +time afterwards he died together with his second wife the infamous Bianca +Cappello. Little did the poor Arch-Duchess think that the beautiful villa, where +she first met her affianced husband, was to become the favourite residence +of the handsome and dissolute Venetian, who rendered her life intolerable, +and was suspected of poisoning her only son. In 1578 Joan died, and +on her deathbed entreated her husband to give up his mistress. Sobbing +he swore he would never see her again, but two months afterwards, on +the 5th June 1578, Francesco I, was secretly married to Bianca Cappello +(her husband having been conveniently murdered some little time before) in +the private chapel of Palazzo Vecchio.</p> + +<p>In September the Republic of Venice sent ambassadors to compliment +the new Grand Duchess and declare her to be “the daughter of St Mark,” +and she was solemnly crowned in Santa Maria de’ Fiore.</p> + +<p>Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici, brother and heir to Francesco I, had +kept aloof from the Tuscan court since the marriage with Bianca, but at +last, early in October 1587, he was persuaded to come to Florence and was +received by her with great demonstrations of affection. They went off +immediately to Poggio a Cajano for the shooting, and on the 8th October +the Grand Duke was attacked by fever, declared by the doctors to be tertian. +Two days later the Grand Duchess fell ill of the same malady and the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span>court physician called in Giulio Angeli da Barga, professor of medicine +at the University of Pisa, and Giulio Cini, the doctor in attendance on the +Cardinal. At first the illness of the Grand Duke and of Bianca was kept +secret, but when vague rumours reached the ears of the Pope, it was +declared that Francesco had over-eaten himself with mushrooms, whereupon +the Holy Father wrote him a homily about abstaining from all indigestible +food. To put an end to the various rumours in circulation, a statement +was sent to Rome on the 16th October, setting forth that “the Grand Duke +has a double tertian fever and incessant thirst; at present everything points +towards his restoration to health, as the fourth and seventh days have been +easy with abundant sweats, and we hope to go from good to better. But +there must be no excesses, and the approach of autumn makes us fear the +malady will be a long one. Cause therefore prayers to be said, all the +more that the Grand Duchess has almost the same sickness, and this increases +the malady of the Grand Duke because she cannot attend on him.”</p> + +<p>“On the ninth day,” writes Galluzzi, “the illness of the Grand Duke +augmented, and the fever was not purged by two bleedings. It increased +and breathlessness came on, so that he died on the night of the 19th +October. He had always insisted on treating himself according to his own +fashion, as to food and iced drinks, and as he was devoured by ardent thirst +during the whole course of illness it was thought that he died burnt up +by the heating meats and drinks in which he always immoderately indulged. +In the post-mortem examination the chief seat of the malady was found to +be the liver; this gave him a bad digestion and a harshness of the stomach, +which led him to indulge in elixirs and such-like drinks for comfort. When +the Grand Duke felt that death was near he called his brother the Cardinal +to his bed-side, and after begging his pardon for past events, gave him the +pass-word for the fortresses, and recommended to his care his wife, Don +Antonio,⁠<a id="FNanchor_6_6" href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> his ministers and all his friends. Cardinal Ferdinando comforted +him as best he could, but when he saw that all hope was lost he sent to +take possession of the fortresses and ordered the militia and the troops to +be called under arms. As soon as Francesco was dead, Cardinal Ferdinando +left Poggio a Cajano for Florence in order to be on the spot if any disorders +occurred, but before leaving he paid a visit to the Grand Duchess Bianca, +and ordered that her husband’s death should be kept from her. He tried to +comfort her with hopes of a speedy recovery and consigned her to the care of +Bishop Abbioso, her daughter Pellegrina and her son-in-law Ulisse Bentivoglio. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span>Her illness was less severe than that of the Grand Duke, but she +was weakened by former maladies and by the violent medicines she had taken +in the hopes of bearing children. The outrageous noise, the trampling of +many feet and the tearful eyes of those about her made her aware of what +had happened, she lost consciousness and died at 18 o’clock on the 20th +October.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_7_7" href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>The Cardinal Grand Duke ordered her body to be opened in the +presence of the doctors, of her daughter and her son-in-law, and then to be +sent to Florence with the same formalities as had been used for the Grand +Duke; but he would not allow her to be buried in the tomb of the Medici, +and she was interred in the crypt of San Lorenzo in such fashion that no +memory of her should be left. He was moreover so irritated with her +artifices and intrigues, which the ministers vied with each other in disclosing, +that he ordered her arms to be effaced wherever they were quartered with +those of the Medici, and the arms of his brother’s first wife, Joan of +Austria, to be put in their place. He also forbade the title of Grand Duchess +being used before her name, and in a decree relating to the birth of Don +Antonio insisted on her being repeatedly described as “the abominable +Bianca.” No wonder Ferdinando hated her. She had induced the Grand +Duke Francesco to palm off a supposititious son (Don Antonio) upon his +heir, and had twice feigned to be with child after her second marriage.</p> + +<p>The deaths of Francesco and Bianca were naturally attributed to poison. +One version was that the Cardinal poisoned them; another that Bianca made +a tart with her own hands for her brother-in-law, who, warned by the +paling of a stone in his ring, refused to touch it, while her husband +insisted on eating largely of it and in despair she did the same.</p> + +<p>Little more than a year after this double tragedy Poggio a Cajano +resounded to the merry-making which greeted Cristina of Lorraine, the +youthful bride of the Grand Duke (late Cardinal) Ferdinando I. She arrived +on the evening of the 28th of April 1589 and was met by her bridegroom +and a gallant company of lords and ladies. Brought up at the French +court, tall, graceful, handsome and with charming manners, the sixteen year +old girl won all hearts. She does not seem to have frequented Poggio a +Cajano, and people thought it an odd choice of the Grand Duke to meet +his bride at the place which had been so fatal to his brother, and if report +said true was near being fatal to himself.</p> + +<p>Cosimo III, the bigoted great-grandson of Ferdinando I, also married +a French Princess, Marguerite Louise, daughter of Gaston, Duc d’Orleans. +Good-looking and vivacious, used to the brilliant court of Louis XIV, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span>passionately in love with Prince Charles of Lorraine, she came to Tuscany +determined to hate everything. Martinelli, whose father was about the court, +has left an amusing description of the tom-boy games the young French +Princess played, to the horror and disgust of her husband, who passed his +days in reading the lives of the saints and was entirely under the influence +of the Jesuits. He even tried to put an end to all love-making and courtship +in his dominions, by a law forbidding young men to enter any house where +there were marriageable girls.</p> + +<p>After the birth of three children Cosimo III considered the succession +to be secure and occupied himself no more with his wife. “He obliged +the Grand Duchess,” writes Martinelli, “to send the French cavaliers and +ladies of her court back to France, only a cook was allowed to remain.” +Cosimo, entirely given up to devotion and solitude, governed his family as +well as his dominions like Tiberius. He only permitted his wife to indulge +in the amusement of a concert for two or three hours in the evening.... +The Grand Duchess was young and found the concert tiresome, or else being +born in France she did not care for Italian music, so she used to call for the +cook who appeared in his white apron and cap. This cook was, or pretended +to be, extremely ticklish, and the Princess knowing this took great pleasure +in tickling him, while he made all those contortions, screams and exclamations +of one who cannot bear to be tickled. Thus the Princess pursuing, and the +cook defending himself and running from one end of the room to the other, +caused her to laugh immoderately, and at last when tired she would seize a +pillow from off her bed and beat the cook with it over the head and about +the body while he shouted and begged for mercy, and got first under and then +on the bed of the Princess, who continued to beat him, until tired out with +laughing and beating she would sink down on a chair. While these games +were going on between the Grand Duchess and her cook the musicians +ceased playing and rested until she sat down. For a long time the Grand +Duke knew nothing of what went on, but one evening the cook being very +drunk shouted louder than usual, so that Cosimo, whose rooms were at some +distance from those of the Grand Duchess, heard the extraordinary noise. +When he entered his wife’s apartments she was beating the cook on the +Grand Ducal bed. Horror-struck the Prince condemned the cook to the +galleys, but I believe he was eventually pardoned, and read his wife such +a lecture that she declared she would return to France....⁠<a id="FNanchor_8_8" href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> She went +to Poggio a Cajano and her children, dressed in deep mourning, were sent to +bid her good-bye. Touched by their tears she determined to ask her +husband’s pardon and his permission to return to Florence; but this was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span>refused, and after spending some months in solitude at the villa the Princess +left for Paris, where she died in September 1721 at the age of seventy-six, +having spent her life in love and intrigue.</p> + +<p>The son of Cosimo III, by this eccentric lady, made a bad husband to +the pretty and amiable Violante of Bavaria. He passed most of his time at +Poggio a Cajano with musicians and actors, and followed a young Venetian +singer, Vittoria Bombagia, to Venice for the carnival, whence he returned +desperately ill and soon afterwards died.</p> + +<p>The beautiful villa continued to be used occasionally as a royal residence +by the family of Lorraine, and the iron bridge over the Ombrone, about half +a mile from the high road, was the first suspension bridge built in Tuscany +(1833) by Leopoldo II.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp30" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_039.jpg" alt="Decorative emblum"> +</figure> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_4_4" href="#FNanchor_4_4" class="label">[4]</a> Bernhard Berenson, <cite>The Florentine Painters.</cite></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_5_5" href="#FNanchor_5_5" class="label">[5]</a> <cite lang="it">Carmina</cite>, etc., p. 224. Translated by J. A. Symonds.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_6_6" href="#FNanchor_6_6" class="label">[6]</a> The supposititious child of Bianca. He was said to have been introduced into Palazzo Pitti in a lute, +and the Grand Duke, persuaded he was his child, left him large property, and bought for him the estate and +title of Prince of Capistrano in the Abruzzi. The real mother was murdered by order of Bianca.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_7_7" href="#FNanchor_7_7" class="label">[7]</a> Galuzzi. <cite lang="it">Istoria del Granducato di Toscana.</cite> Vol. IV. p. 54 <i lang="la">et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_8_8" href="#FNanchor_8_8" class="label">[8]</a> <cite lang="it">Lettere Familiare e Critiche di Vincenzio Martinelli.</cite> + Londra. Presso G. Nourse, Libraio nello Strand. 1758.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_040a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_040a.jpg" alt="The Facade"> +</figure> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CAFAGGIUOLO"> + <span lang="it">CAFAGGIUOLO</span> + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/s.jpg" alt="Stylized S"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>Strictly</span> speaking Cafaggiuolo, situated some eighteen miles +from Florence, can hardly be called a Florentine villa; but +it is too intimately connected with the history of the Tuscan +city and of the Medici not to be mentioned together with +Careggi, Poggio a Cajano and other well-known villas.⁠<a id="FNanchor_9_9" href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>The carriage road to Bologna climbs boldly up the hills +behind Fiesole, so swiftly that the hills which towered so high above us but +a while ago, now, as we look back upon them, seem to mingle with the +plain; and we plunge into the Mugello, where the olive is no longer seen. +As San Pier a Sieve is neared, memories intermingle of Florentine painters +and Florentine tyrants, and the land itself seems strangely divided between +the sense of absolute peace and of preparations for defence against neighbouring +foes. Vespignano, the birthplace of Giotto, lies at no great distance, and +further again the small fortified village of Vicchio where Beato Angelico +passed his earliest years. Above the Sieve, which flows so quietly and +evenly through the valley towards the Arno, its pure green waters receiving +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span>a delicate shade from the tall poplar trees on its low banks, rise low rounded +hills covered with oaks, while here and there a pine wood shows dark and +unvaried through spring and winter months. The tower of Trebbio, rising on +its hill like a castle keep, is seen in strong relief against the sky for many +miles round, and tells of past centuries of insecurity and warfare. Opposite +is the fortress of San Martino, now dismantled, built to guard the road to +Florence through the Mugello, and far and near can be descried small watch-towers +on the hill-tops; but vain seem these preparations made by nobles +and princes against their foes when we look at the long line of the Apennines, +scarred, rugged and woodless, stretched at right angles across the valley.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_043" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_043.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <span lang="it">CAFAGGIUOLO</span>. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Vasari tells us that Michelozzo Michelozzi designed for Cosimo the Elder +“the palace of Cafaggiuolo in the Mugello in the guise of a fortress amid the +woods, the copses and other matters appertaining to fine and famous villas, +and two miles distant from the said palace he finished the Capuchin monastery, +which is a very splendid thing.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_10_10" href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>Dr G. Brocchi, a contemporary of Zocchi, wrote a history of the Mugello +in 1747, and describes Cafaggiuolo as being “built after the fashion of an +ancient fortress with sundry towers, and moats round it and drawbridges. +Inside is a large chapel dedicated to the saints Cosimo and Damiano, protectors +of the royal house of Medici. There are likewise many halls and +great rooms, with various courtyards, loggie and galleries, which make it +(though according to ancient fashion) very noble and magnificent.” Very +noble the old place still is though the real entrance under the tower is now +abolished, and the late Princess Borghese, who bought Cafaggiuolo in 1864, +made an arch in the front wall which spoils the façade. Moats and drawbridges +have disappeared, and the grass grows right up to the walls. +Cafaggiuolo is typical of the practical style of Michelozzi, who adopted +classical forms rather because of their simplicity and convenience than because +he shared Brunelleschi’s æsthetic enthusiasm. Cosimo probably ordered his +favourite architect to build a castle to serve as a stronghold in case of any +popular rising, rather than a villa, but the lines dictated by this utilitarian +end are treated with great skill and produce a sense of dignity and grandeur. +It is in fact a mediæval castle adapted to the new taste for classical architecture +by the use of classical mouldings in doors and windows, but without any +essential reconstruction of the mediæval plan of building. Cosimo Pater +Patriae spent what time he could spare from the cares of government between +his two favourite villas Careggi and Cafaggiuolo; he preferred the latter to +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span>his other possessions because all the country he saw from the windows +belonged to him, and whenever the plague broke out in Florence he took +refuge in the pure air of the Mugello. “You may know,” wrote one of his +friends, “when Florence is menaced; for if Cosimo and his family go to +Cafaggiuolo you may be sure that eight or ten people die <i lang="la">per diem</i> in the +town, but should they leave it the plague is indeed severe.”</p> + +<p>Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici passed much of their childhood at +Cafaggiuolo; they were sent there when their grandfather Cosimo the Elder +lay dying and the plague was ravaging Florence. The two boys wrote thence +to their father: “Magnifice Pater, we arrived here yesterday morning in +safety; at Tagliaferro we had a little rain, but all the rest of the journey +could not have been pleasanter. On arrival we ordered that the family of +Messer Zanobi should go on to Gagliano, and we made them understand that +if any of them went to Florence or any other infected places they could not +return. As to Pulci, who had been waiting two days in order to be with us, +we cleverly sent him back to Chavallina,⁠<a id="FNanchor_11_11" href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> and in all things till now we have +observed your commands. Thus shall we continue to do. We commend +ourselves to you and to Mona⁠<a id="FNanchor_12_12" href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> Lucrezia. Your sons Laurentius et Giulianus +de’ Medicis.”</p> + +<p>In the Medicean archives are many letters from the factor of Cafaggiuolo +to Piero de’ Medici giving him news of his children and their grandmother. +In April 1467 he reports: “Yesterday we went out fishing and they caught +enough for their dinner and returned home at a reasonable hour; to-morrow, +if they will, we go out riding after dinner and begin to show them the estate +as you ordered.” Again in August the following year he writes: “Madonna +Contessina and the boys are well, may God preserve them. Lorenzo wants +to smooth the ground in front of Cafaggiuolo. Here we stand in need of +wax and tallow candles. I told Madonna Contessina, and she said I was to +take white Venetian ones; but they appear to me too honourable for Cafaggiuolo. +If it seems so to you also tell Madonna Lucrezia to send us others, +and at all events let tallow ones be sent for common use. Yestermorn +Madonna Contessina, Lorenzo and Giuliano with the household went on +horseback to the Friars of the Wood and heard High Mass. Madonna rode +Lorenzo’s mule, and was astonished to find herself more agile than she had +expected. As it seems to please her we shall go to Comugnole and about in +the plain to have a little amusement, but always with two footmen at her +stirrup, and we shall do what we can to save her all fatigue and trouble in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span>the management of the house. The boys are having a happy time and go +bird-catching and shooting and return at a reasonable hour; they enliven her +and the neighbourhood.”</p> + +<p>Cafaggiuolo always brings Donatello to one’s memory, as Piero de’ Medici, +in obedience to the wishes of his father Cosimo, made him a present of a +house and farm belonging to the estate. The great sculptor was delighted +at thus becoming a landed proprietor, but after a year’s experience of farming +begged Piero to take back his gift. Life, he said, was too short to be spent +in listening to the incessant complaints of an ignorant and tedious peasant, +whose roof was always being carried off by the wind, his crops damaged by +hail, or his cattle seized for arrears of taxes. Piero laughed heartily at +Donatello’s inability to cope with the astute Mugello peasant and exchanged +the farm for a pension.</p> + +<p>Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici often returned to Cafaggiuolo as young +men, and with their friends the Pulci frequented the fairs and weekly +markets of the Mugello. At one of these, Lorenzo met the heroine of that +delightful country idyll <cite lang="it">Nencia da Barberino</cite>, “a masterpiece of true genius +and humour. It can scarcely be called a parody of village life and feeling, +although we cannot fail to see that the town is laughing at the country all +through the exuberant stanzas, so rich in fancy, so incomparably vivid in +description.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_13_13" href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> Luigi Pulci imitated it in <cite lang="it">La Istoria della Beca da Dicomano</cite>, +while his brother Luca in the <cite lang="it">Driadeo d’Amore</cite> praises the rivers Sieve, +Lora, Sturo and Tavaiano, and under feigned names describes the places +where Lorenzo and Giuliano and the three brothers Pulci went hawking and +fishing.</p> + +<p>After the Pazzi conspiracy and the murder of Giuliano in 1476, Lorenzo +sent his wife Clarice with the children and their tutor Angelo Poliziano to +Cafaggiuolo for safety. Poliziano wrote to Lucrezia, who had remained in +Florence with her son: “Magnifica Domina mea. The news I can send from +here is that we are all well, that we have so much and such continual rain +that we cannot quit the house, and that we have exchanged hunting for +playing at ball, so that the children may not want for exercise.... I remain +in the house by the fireside in my slippers and greatcoat, and you would take +me for melancholy in person could you see me; but perhaps I am but myself +after all, for I neither do nor see nor hear anything that amuses me, so much +have I taken to heart our calamities; sleeping and waking they haunt me. +Two days since we began to spread our wings as we heard the plague had +ceased, now we are again depressed on learning that things are not yet quite +settled with you. When at Florence we have some consolation—if nought +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span>else that of seeing Lorenzo return home safe. Here we are always anxious +about everything; and as for myself, I declare to you I am drowned in weary +laziness for the solitude in which I find myself. I say solitude, because +Monsignore [probably the Bishop of Arezzo] shuts himself up in his room, +where I find him sorrowful and full of thought, so that being with him +increases my own melancholy; Ser Alberto del Malherba mumbles offices all +day long with the children; I remain alone, and when tired of studying ring +the changes on plague and war, on sorrow for the past and fear for the +future, and have no one with whom to air these my phantasies. I do not +find my Madonna Lucrezia here to whom I can unbosom myself and I am +dying of weariness.... I commend myself unto you. Ex Cafasolo, die 18 +dicembris 1478. Your servant Angelus.”</p> + +<p>Poliziano was no favourite with the proud and unlettered Clarice, and +he complained to Lorenzo about Giovanni (afterwards Pope Leo X): “His +mother sets him to read the Psalter, of which I do not approve. When she +does not interfere with him he makes most wonderful progress.” It ended +by Clarice sending away Poliziano and engaging a priest to superintend her +son’s studies. Before his birth she dreamed that she was delivered of a huge +but docile lion, and his father always destined him for the Church. Soon +after he was seven he received the tonsure and was declared capable of +ecclesiastical preferment; whereupon the King of France made him abbot of +Fonte-dolce, an appointment rapidly followed by so many others that, after +enumerating them all, old Fabroni in his life of Leo X exclaims: “<span lang="la">Bone +Deus, quot in uno juvene cumulata sacerdotia</span>.”</p> + +<p>In April 1533, the stern old villa echoed to the laughter of a bevy of +young girls who went with Caterina de’ Medici, the only daughter of Lorenzo, +Duke of Urbino,⁠<a id="FNanchor_14_14" href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> then only fourteen years of age, to receive Margaret of +Austria, the illegitimate daughter of Charles V. The poor child was but nine +when she arrived in Tuscany as the affianced bride of Alessandro, Duke of +Florence, whose mother was a negress, or some say a peasant woman from +Collevecchio, the wife of a groom in the service of the Duke of Urbino. He +was supposed to be the son either of Lorenzo himself or of the Cardinal Giulio +de’ Medici (afterwards Clemente VII); and the interest taken in him by Pope +Clemente, who warmly supported his election as Duke of Florence, rather +points to the latter supposition. He is inscribed in the family tree as “of +uncertain parentage.” Alessandro’s cruelty and licentiousness are matters of +history; he left his mother to suffer dire poverty, and she is said to have +died of poison administered by his orders, so that his murder by Lorenzino +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span>de’ Medici delivered the poor little Princess from a brutal husband. Lorenzino +fled to Cafaggiuolo after murdering his cousin, and waited to know how the +news was received in Florence. When he heard that messengers had arrived +at Trebbio, another Medicean villa close to Cafaggiuolo, where Maria Salviati, +widow of Giovanni de’ Medici (<span lang="it">delle Bande Nere</span>), and her son Cosimo lived, +he left in hot haste for Venice. “It only needed that someone should begin +a tumult,” writes Varchi, “when Signor Cosimo, who had been secretly warned +by friends and summoned by many citizens, arrived in Florence with a small +company; he being the son of Signor Giovanni, and of comely aspect, and +having always shown himself of a pacific and kindly nature, it cannot be said, +described, or imagined with what delight he was looked on by the people or +how ardently they desired and hoped to see him Prince.”</p> + +<p>His father’s memory probably preserved his life a few years before, for +Varchi tells us, “Signor Otto da Montauto was taken up for killing Bernardo +Arrighi at Prato and condemned to lose his head, but the punishment was +commuted to a fine of 1000 ducats and a year’s imprisonment. But it is +supposed that these rigorous measures were not taken against Signor Otto +for the murder committed, but because on his return from succouring Lastra +when sent on a secret mission to Trebbio to fetch Madonna Maria de’ Medici +and Cosimino her son, he failed to do so; some say that having asked a peasant +who was coming down from Trebbio: ‘Who is up there and what are they +doing?’ The man, being intelligent and quick-witted, understood what manner +of man he was, and answered with intent to frighten him: ‘Up there are the +Lady Maria and the Lord Cosimo with many soldiers and all the peasants +of the country round, and they are making good cheer and keep watch day +and night.’ So Signor Otto would not tempt fortune. Others say he did not +go because, not only do good soldiers dislike doing the work of policemen, +but having begun life under the Lord Giovanni and gained his spurs with +him, like all who had fought under the Lord Giovanni he worshipped his +memory in a way not to be believed, and therefore was attached to his wife +and his son.”</p> + +<p>The “kindly nature” of Cosimo was only skin-deep if all the tales told +of him are true, and his youngest son Don Pietro de’ Medici was distinguished +for immorality. Married against his will to Eleonora, daughter of +his mother’s brother Don Garcia di Toledo, he systematically neglected the +young and lovely Spaniard, described as “beautiful, elegant, gracious, kindly, +charming and affable; and above all with two eyes rivalling the stars in +brilliancy.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_15_15" href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> Evil tongues whispered that the Grand Duke’s admiration for +his wife’s niece was the principal motive for her marriage with Don Pietro +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span>which ended so tragically at Cafaggiuolo. After the death of Cosimo I the +name of Alessandro Gaci, a handsome youth from Castiglion Florentino, was +coupled with that of Donna Eleonora, but the threats of the Grand Duke +Francesco forced him to leave Florence and enter a Capuchin monastery. His +successor was a Florentine, Bernardino Antinori, whose passionate admiration +for the lovely princess soon became known. The lovers were imprudent; a +letter fell into the hands of the Grand Duke, whose scandalous ill-treatment +of his wife Joan of Austria and subserviency to every whim of the dissolute +Venetian, Bianca Cappello, were the talk of Florence. He asserted that the +honour of his family demanded an example and ordered Antinori to be taken +to the Bargello and strangled, and his sister-in-law to be sent to rejoin her +husband at Cafaggiuolo. Bidding a tearful farewell to her little son, Eleonora +left Florence on the morning of the 11th July 1576 and reached the stern old +villa at nightfall, where Don Pietro received her with unwonted demonstrations +of affection and at supper was very merry. He insisted on accompanying +her to her room, and before she could summon her women threw her +on to the bed and plunged his dagger several times into her breast. She died +in a few minutes imploring God to show her more mercy than she had +received at the hands of men, and kneeling by the lifeless body, Don Pietro +prayed to his patron saints for forgiveness and vowed he would never +marry again—a vow he did not keep. Then he sat down and wrote a few +lines to his brother the Grand Duke announcing the sudden death of Donna +Eleonora.</p> + +<p>The doctor’s certificate that Donna Eleonora de’ Medici had died of +failure of the heart, was received in Florence with the incredulity +vouchsafed to most of the sudden deaths in the Medici family. +Francesco I pretended to believe it when he wrote to his brother, +Cardinal Ferdinando, at Rome: “Yesternight at the fifth hour Donna +Eleonora, being in bed, had so violent a stroke that she was suffocated +before Don Pietro or others could apply any remedies; this has sore +disturbed me, and will, I know, afflict Your Eminence. But as whatever +comes from the hand of God must be borne with patience, I pray you may +accept quietly the will of the Divine Majesty. This night the body will +be brought from Cafaggiuolo for proper interment, of which I hereby desire +to give you notice, taking advantage of the courier who has come from +Spain.”</p> + +<p>But the Grand Duke told the real story in a letter dated 16 of July, +and sent to the Florentine ambassador at Madrid with orders to read it to +the King of Spain. “Although in a former letter it was stated that Donna +Eleonora died of failure of the heart, you are, nevertheless, to inform +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span>His Catholic Majesty that the Lord Don Pietro, our brother, took her +life with his own hands for her betrayal of him in ways unbecoming a +lady of high birth. This he had communicated to Don Pedro her brother, +through a secretary, begging him to come here; not only did he refuse +to come, but he prevented the secretary from having speech with Don Garcia +(Donna Eleonora’s father). We desire that H.M. should know the +truth, being determined H.M. shall be informed of all the doings of +Our house, and especially of this; for if We did not lift the veil from +H.M.’s eyes, it would seem to Us not to serve H.M. well and +honourably. All facts shall be sent on the first opportunity so that +H.M. may know with what good reason the Lord Don Pietro thus acted.”</p> + +<p>Settimanni accuses Don Pietro of the further crime of poisoning his +little son who was odious to him on account of his likeness to his mother. +He also records that when, thirty-eight years after death, Donna Eleonora’s +body was moved from one vault to another in San Lorenzo it was found to +be perfectly preserved, and the beautiful young princess (she was but twenty-one +when so foully murdered) lay as though asleep, clothed all in white with +her hands crossed over the wounds in her breast.⁠<a id="FNanchor_16_16" href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> Murders and sudden +deaths were too common in the Medici family to deter the Grand Duke +Francesco I from taking his second wife Bianca Cappello to Cafaggiuolo in +1585 with a great following of courtiers. Hearing that their favourite +painter Sandrino Bronzino was painting an altarpiece for the church of +Santa Maria a Olmi near Borgo San Lorenzo, they mounted their horses +and went to pay a visit to the prior, Don Quintilio Rinieri. He was an old +acquaintance of Bianca’s, and entreated them to do him the honour of dining +with him. Don Quintilio had a fine taste in wine and some reputation as +a sayer of good things, he was moreover a courtier, and before dinner was +over he obtained the consent of the Grand Duchess Bianca to allow +Bronzino to paint her portrait on the wall of his room. In 1871 the fresco +was transferred to canvas and placed in the Uffizzi gallery. Bianca, who +was then thirty-seven, sits resplendent in crimson velvet, and this, Signor +Baccini thinks, is probably the only authentic portrait that exists of the +“daughter of Venice.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_17_17" href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>When Cardinal Ferdinando succeeded his brother Francesco as Grand +Duke, he used to spend the autumn months at Cafaggiuolo, where he could +enjoy complete liberty and indulge in his passion for the chase. From an +unpublished diary in three large volumes by Cesare Tinghi, one of his +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span>secretaries, and found in the National Library by Signor Baccini, we +learn that Ferdinando I was very strict as to preserving his game, and +punished poachers severely. He rose early and went out shooting or fishing +with his gentlemen, and in the afternoon gave audiences to princes and +ambassadors who were received with great magnificence. Often the +peasants would be summoned to dance for the amusement of the Grand +Duchess Christine and her children, and sent home rejoicing with presents +of ribbons, scarves and nick-nacks; or the soldiers from San Martino, the +fortress begun by Cosimo I, and finished by Ferdinando, which guarded +the entrance to the Mugello, would execute military games and sham +battles.</p> + +<p>Cafaggiuolo was not much frequented by the Medici after the time of +Ferdinando I, and only occasional references to it are found in the archives. +The family of Lorraine preferred the villas nearer Florence, though they +sometimes passed a night there on their way to Austria, but when +Ferdinando III returned to Tuscany in 1814 after the fall of Napoleon, +the Florentine nobility rode out to Cafaggiuolo to meet him and the whole +of the Mugello was illuminated in his honour.</p> + +<p>Before leaving “the old den among the hills” its majolica ware must be +mentioned, over which such bitter controversy has raged; some writers, like +the late M. Jacquemart, over-estimating its antiquity and importance, others, +like Dr Malagola and Professor Argnani, asserting that it never existed and +that the pieces signed <i lang="it">Cafaggiuolo</i> (more or less ill-spelt) were made by a +family of Faenza, the Cà Fagioli (House of Fagioli). Some documents, +printed also in the <cite>Athenæum</cite> (Dec. 1899, p. 872) prove that as early as +1485 several kilns for common pottery, <i lang="it">stoviglie</i>, and for bricks were in +existence near and at Cafaggiuolo itself. Signor Baccini⁠<a id="FNanchor_18_18" href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> cites others in a +list of the possessions of Cosimo I, drawn up in 1566, which show that +either some of these <i lang="it">stovigliai</i> had become <i lang="it">vasellai</i>, <i>i.e.</i> makers of vases and +decorative ware, or that the kilns were then tenanted by artistic potters. +Two of the kilns, with a house and <i lang="it">botega</i>, stood near the villa, where now +are the stables, and both were rented by a Jacopo di Stefano. Mr Drury E. +Fortnum, in his magnificent work on majolica published by the Clarendon +Press, gives a long list of Cafaggiuolo ware from the earliest dated piece +known of 1507, and the marks on the most characteristic pieces, such as the +letters P. and S. with a paraph, or a plain or barred P., while others have a +monogram of J. P. C. These marks have apparently not been explained, +but Signor Baccini gives good reasons for supposing them to be the initials +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span>of a family who went from Montelupo to Cafaggiuolo to manufacture the +famous <i lang="it">bocali</i> or measuring jugs, beginning with a certain Piero; his son was +Stefano di Piero and his grandson the Jacopo di Stefano who in 1566 +tenanted the house, shop and kilns of Cafaggiuolo.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp80" id="i_053" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_053.jpg" alt="Castle of Trebbio"> +</figure> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_9_9" href="#FNanchor_9_9" class="label">[9]</a> The name Cafaggio, or Cafaggiuolo (Cafagium), meaning a wooded estate surrounded with a fence or +ditch, is often met with in Tuscany, and dates from old Lombard times.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_10_10" href="#FNanchor_10_10" class="label">[10]</a> Bosco a’ Frati is a monastery said to have been founded in the time of St Francis of Assisi by the +Ubaldini family. It was here that St Bonaventura received the cardinal’s hat sent to him by Gregory X. in 1273. +The messengers found him with his sleeves rolled up washing dishes in the scullery; turning round he pointed +to a tree near by and bid them hang the hat on a bough until he had finished his work.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_11_11" href="#FNanchor_11_11" class="label">[11]</a> The Pulci owned a villa “Il Palagio” at Cavallina a few miles from Cafaggiuolo.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_12_12" href="#FNanchor_12_12" class="label">[12]</a> Mona or Monna is an abbreviation of Madonna, Mia Donna, and all well-born women were thus addressed. +It corresponds to the French Madame.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_13_13" href="#FNanchor_13_13" class="label">[13]</a> J. A. Symonds. <cite>Renaissance in Italy.</cite> <cite>Italian Literature</cite>, p. 381.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_14_14" href="#FNanchor_14_14" class="label">[14]</a> Leo X deprived the adopted son of Guidobaldo di Montefeltro, Francesco Maria Della Rovere, of the +Dukedom of Urbino in favour of his nephew Lorenzo de’ Medici in 1516.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_15_15" href="#FNanchor_15_15" class="label">[15]</a> <cite lang="it">Diario di Firenze.</cite> A. Lapini.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_16_16" href="#FNanchor_16_16" class="label">[16]</a> See Settimanni. Cronaca M.S. all’ anno 1608.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_17_17" href="#FNanchor_17_17" class="label">[17]</a> See <cite lang="it">Le Ville Medicee in Mugello</cite>. Guiseppe Baccini. Firenze, 1897.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_18_18" href="#FNanchor_18_18" class="label">[18]</a> <i>Opus cit.</i></p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_054a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_054a.jpg" alt="The Garden Front With Lorenzo De’ Medici’S Loggia"> +</figure> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_DI_CAREGGI"> + VILLA DI CAREGGI + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/t.jpg" alt="Stylized T"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>The</span> three great Medicean villas, Careggi, Cafaggiuolo and +Poggio Cajano, have been so often sung by poets and +celebrated by historians, that to all who love Italy their +names are household words.</p> + +<p>Careggi lies about two miles north-west of Florence, +on what old Varchi calls “the most delightful hill named +Montughi, after the ancient and noble family of the Ughi, whereon are +innumerable villas of splendid construction; and most splendid of them all, +the new Careggi built by Cosimo the elder.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_19_19" href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> The name Careggi is derived +from the Latin <i lang="la">Campus Regis</i>, and Roman remains abound in the neighbourhood. +Near by was the Via Cassia, leading from Rome to Pistoja and Lucca, +and some of the inscriptions found relating to it have been placed in the courtyard +of the church, San Stefano in Pane de Arcora.⁠<a id="FNanchor_20_20" href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_057" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_057.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + VILLA <span class="allsmcap">DI</span> CAREGGI. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>On the 17th June 1417, Cosimo de’ Medici bought a country house at +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span>Careggi from Tommaso Lippi for 800 florins. “A palace with a courtyard, +a loggia, a well, archways, dove-cotes, a tower, a walled kitchen-garden, +two peasant houses and arable land, vineyards, olive-groves, and spinnies, +in the parish of Careggi.” Thus runs the contract.</p> + +<p>Cosimo called in his friend and favourite architect, Michelozzo Michelozzi, +to rebuild the villa, and no doubt remembering the place of his birth—the +strong castle of Trebbio in the Mugello—he ordered that Careggi should +become a castle with battlements, covered galleries round the upper part, a +tower, a drawbridge, and high walls all round the pleasure grounds.</p> + +<p>The huge pile of Careggi lies embosomed among fine cedars, pines and +firs; unfortunately the villa has been painted a dirty chocolate brown, which +detracts considerably from its beauty. But the entrance hall is fine, and the +great straight staircase leading from the open courtyard up to the first floor +is most imposing.</p> + +<p>The first room at the top of the staircase is a large hall with a huge +grey stone fireplace. How one would like to conjure up the magnificent +Lorenzo and his friends; to listen entranced while Luigi Pulci declaimed a +Canto of Morgante, or Messer Angelo Poliziano recited a Ballata; or hear the +learned Greek Argyropoulos discuss philosophy with Marsilio Ficino and Pico +della Mirandola, Bernardo Rucellai, Leo Battista Alberti and Cristofano +Landino, while Michelangelo Buonarroti sat by listening, his head resting +on one hand like one of his own prophets.</p> + +<p>Out of the big hall one goes through three or four rooms on to a loggia +facing west, with a brilliantly gay ceiling painted by Poccetti. Here, no +doubt, the Academicians sat in the long summer evenings looking down on +the garden with its fountains, and on the oak woods crowning the neighbouring +hills.</p> + +<p>The last room on the south side of the house (on the first floor) was +probably where Lorenzo de’ Medici died, and not the one generally pointed +out to strangers. On an ancient plan of the villa the end room is found +marked “the room of Messer Lorenzo,” and the small closet opening out of +it, with a spiral staircase in the thickness of the wall leading down into the +courtyard, is indicated as “the study of Messer Lorenzo.”</p> + +<p>From the courtyard one enters a fine vaulted and frescoed room leading +into a loggia under the one painted by Poccetti. This has been closed in by +glass windows, and here Mr Watts, while staying with Lord Holland, who +rented Careggi when he was minister to the Tuscan court in 1845, painted +a large fresco of the murder of Piero Leoni, doctor to Lorenzo. It is a fine +work with daring and successful foreshortening.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span></p> + +<p>From the covered gallery round the top of the villa the view is splendid. +To the south is “the delightful hill Montughi,” dotted with villas, to most of +which is attached some story of love or bloodshed; then the towers and +palaces of fair Florence backed with line upon line of blue and violet +mountains. Looking westward we can follow the track of the Arno flowing +down to the sea, until lost behind the hill on which stands Artimino, another +Medici villa. The little town of Prato shines white in the sun, and if the day +be at all clear Pistoja can be seen, with the rugged Apennines and the +white peaks of the Carrara mountains in the distance. To the north, shielding +Careggi from the harsh north wind, rises Monte de’ Vecchi, so-called +because the great family of Vecchi, or Vecchietti, whose palaces stood on the +site of the Campidoglio in the centre of Florence and were destroyed by the +Ghibellines after the battle of Monteaperti, possessed villas and estates on its +slopes.</p> + +<p>At Careggi, Cosimo the elder passed what time he could spare from the +affairs of state, surrounded by a galaxy of artists and men of letters such as +the world has seldom seen. Among the former were Brunelleschi, Donatello, +Michelozzo Michelozzi, Ghiberti, Verrocchio, Paolo Uccello, Luca della Robbia, +Fra Angelico, Fra Filippo Lippi and Masaccio. Among the latter, Marsilio +Ficino, Niccolò de’ Niccoli, Cristofano Landino, Lionardo Aretino (Bruni), +Carlo Aretino (Marsuppini), Poggio Bracciolini, Ambrogio Traversari and +Giannozzo Manetti.</p> + +<p>To Ficino Cosimo gave a villa (la Fontanella)⁠<a id="FNanchor_21_21" href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> close to Careggi, and +named him President of the Platonic Academy which he founded, having been +convinced of the importance of Platonic studies by Giorgius Gemistus, a +native of Byzantium, who came to Florence in 1438 in the train of the +Emperor Palaelogus. Niccolò de’ Niccoli “censor of the Latin tongue,” as +Lionardo Aretino called him, was one of the Academicians. He spent his +whole fortune in buying MSS., and his house, stored with treasures, was +open to all strangers, students and artists. Cristofano Landino, known for his +commentary on Dante, and Lionardo Aretino (Bruni), Chancellor of the +Republic of Florence, were also Academicians. The translations of the latter +from Greek were celebrated for their sound scholarship and pure latinity, +while his diplomatic letters were regarded as models, and his public speeches +were compared to those of Pericles. When he walked abroad a train of +scholars and foreigners attended him, and when he died the Priors of +Florence decreed him a public funeral in Santa Croce, “after the manner of +the ancients.” Carlo Aretino (Marsuppini), another member of the Platonic +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span>Academy, succeeded Bruni as Chancellor; an omnivorous reader and +possessed of an extraordinary memory, he formed a great contrast to Niccoli, +who had introduced him to Cosimo. Vespasiano describes Niccoli as “of a +most fair presence, lively, with a smile ever on his lips, and very pleasant in +his talk”; whereas Marsuppini was grave in manner, taciturn, and given to +melancholy.</p> + +<p>Poggio Bracciolini was another of the great scholars attracted to Florence +by the fame of Cosimo’s liberality. He was a friend of Ambrogio Traversari, +whose cell in the convent of the Angeli was the meeting-place of learned +men. Giannozzo Manetti, the Hebrew scholar, had studied Greek under +Traversari, and his Latin was so perfect that Bruni is said to have been +jealous of him. The Republic sent him as her ambassador to various +Italian courts, and there is a good story in the Commentario, that “when +he was speaking at Naples the King was so entranced he did not even brush +the flies from his face.” At last Manetti roused the jealousy of the Medicean +party and ended his life in exile. “These men,” writes Symonds, “formed +the literary oligarchy who surrounded Cosimo de’ Medici, and through their +industry and influence restored the studies of antiquity at Florence.” Cosimo +was a Mæcenas worth serving. For his own family he built the great palace +in Via Larga (afterwards Riccardi, now the Prefecture), he restored or +rebuilt the villas of Cafaggiuolo, Trebbio and Careggi, while he expended +500,000 golden florins on public buildings. During the last years of his life +he seldom moved from Careggi, and the following letter, written by his +son Piero to Lorenzo and Giuliano about their grandfather four days before +his death, gives a pleasant picture of the private life of the Medici family:—</p> + +<p>“I wrote to you the day before yesterday how much worse Cosimo was; +it appears to me that he is gradually sinking, and he thinks the same himself. +On Tuesday evening he would have no one in his room save only Mona +Contessina [Cosimo’s wife] and myself. He began by recounting all his past +life, then he touched upon the government of the city, and then on its +commerce, and at last spoke of the management of the private possessions +of our family and of what concerns you two; taking comfort that you had +good wits, and bidding me educate you well so that you might be of help +to me. Two things he deplored. Firstly, that he had not done as much as +he had wished or could have done; secondly, that he left me in such poor +health and with much irksome business. Then he said he would make no +will, not having made one whilst Giovanni⁠<a id="FNanchor_22_22" href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> was alive seeing us always +united in true love, amity and esteem; and that when it pleased God to so +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span>order it he desired to be buried without pomp or show, and reminded me of +his often expressed wish to be interred in San Lorenzo. All this he said with +much method and prudence, and with a courage that was marvellous to +behold; adding that his life had been a long one and that he was ready and +content to depart whensoever it pleased God. Yestermorn he left his bed, +and caused himself to be carefully dressed. The Priors of San Marco, of San +Lorenzo and of the Badia were present, and he spoke the responses as +though in perfect health. Then being asked the articles of faith, he repeated +them word by word, made his confession, and took the Holy Sacrament with +more devotion than can be described, having first asked pardon of all present. +These things have raised my courage and my hope in God Almighty, and +although according to the flesh I am sorrowful, yet, seeing the greatness of +his soul and how well disposed, I am in part content that his end should +be thus. Yesterday he was pretty well and also during the night, but on +account of his great age I have small hope of his recovery. Cause prayers to +be said for him by the Monks of the Wood, and bestow alms as seems good +to you, praying God to leave him to us for a while, if such be for the best. +And you, who are young, take example and take your share of care and +trouble as God has ordained, and make up your minds to be men, your +condition and the present case demanding that of you lads. And above all +take heed to everything that can add to your honour and be of use to you, +because the time has come when it is necessary that you should rely on +yourselves, and live in the fear of God, and hope all will go well. Of what +happens to Cosimo I will advise you. We are expecting a doctor from Milan, +but I have more hope in Almighty God than in aught else. No more at +present. Careggi, the 26 July 1464.”</p> + +<p>Cosimo died on the 1st August 1464; he was buried with sovereign +honours in the sacristy he had built in San Lorenzo, and on his tomb was +inscribed, by public desire, “Cosimo Pater Patriae.” Piero, his son, +succeeded quietly to the honours and power of his father. He had met +and loved Lucrezia Tornabuoni at Careggi, her father having a villa close +by,⁠<a id="FNanchor_23_23" href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> and Cosimo sanctioned the marriage and regarded Lucrezia as a +daughter. She was a gifted woman, handsome and virtuous, a poetess, +and at the same time devoted to all her household cares. Piero de’ Medici +died only five years after his father of a fit of the gout at Careggi on the +3rd December 1469, and was succeeded by his brilliant son Lorenzo the +Magnificent.</p> + +<p>“Lorenzo,” writes John Addington Symonds, “was a man of marvellous +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span>variety and range of mental power. He possessed one of those rare natures, +fitted to comprehend all knowledge and to sympathise with the most diverse +forms of life. While he never for one moment relaxed his grasp on politics, +among philosophers he passed for a sage; among men of letters for an +original and graceful poet; among scholars for a Grecian, sensitive to every +nicety of Attic idiom; among artists for an amateur gifted with refined +discernment and consummate taste. Pleasure-seekers knew in him the +libertine, who jousted with the boldest, danced and masqueraded with the +merriest, sought adventures in the streets at night, and joined the people in +their May-day games and Carnival festivities. The pious extolled him as +an author of devotional lauds and mystery plays, a profound theologian, a +critic of sermons. He was no less famous for his jokes and repartees than +for his pithy apothegms and maxims; as good a judge of cattle as of +statues; as much at home in the bosom of his family as in the riot of an +orgy; as ready to discourse on Plato as to plan a campaign or to plot the +death of a dangerous citizen.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_24_24" href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> + +<p>“What other men call study and hard toil, for thee shall be pastime;” +sings Poliziano, “wearied with deeds of state, to this thou hast recourse, +and dost address the vigour of thy well-worn powers to song; blest in thy +mental gifts, blest to be able thus to play so many parts, to vary thus the +great cares of thy all-embracing mind, and weave so many divers duties +into one.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_25_25" href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> Angelo Poliziano, “honour and glory of Montepulciano” as +Pulci calls him, who thus sounds the praises of Lorenzo, was born in 1454. +His name, famous in Italian literature, is a latinised version of his birthplace, +Montepulciano. As a boy of ten he entered the University of Florence, +and studied under Landino, Argyropoulos, Andronicus Kallistos and Ficino. +At thirteen he published Latin letters, at seventeen Greek poems, and +edited Catullus when he was eighteen. Lorenzo de’ Medici received the +young student into his own household, and made him tutor to his children. +Ugly and misshapen, he squinted and had an enormous nose, but his voice +was wonderfully sweet and melodious, and his eloquence great. Men of +learning visited Florence on purpose to see him, and he complains (in a +letter to Hieronymus Donatus, May 1480), “does a man want a motto +for a ring, an inscription for his bedroom or a device for his plate, or even +for his pots and pans, he runs like all the world to Poliziano.”</p> + +<p>Another famous frequenter of Careggi, Pico della Mirandola, is thus +described by Poliziano:—</p> + +<p>“Nature seemed to have showered on this man, or hero, all her gifts. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span>He was tall and finely moulded, from his face a something of divinity shone +forth. Acute, and gifted with prodigious memory, in his studies he was +indefatigable, in his style perspicuous and eloquent. You could not say +whether his talents or his moral qualities conferred on him the greater lustre. +Familiar with all branches of philosophy and the master of many languages, +he stood on high above the reach of praise.” Pico della Mirandola +showed remarkable abilities at a very early age. His mother, a niece of +Boiardo the knightly poet of <span lang="la">“Orlando Innamorato,”</span> sent him at the age +of fourteen to Bologna. There he mastered the humanities and what was +taught of mathematics, logic, philosophy and oriental languages, and then +went to Paris, the headquarters of scholastic theology. His memory was +wonderful, a single reading served to fix the language and the matter of the +text on his mind for ever. Pico was about twenty when he came to Florence, +and his beauty, noble manners and great learning made him the idol of +society. But every year he inclined more and more to grave and abstruse +studies, and as Symonds notes: “at last the Prince was merged in the +philosopher, the man of letters in the mystic.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_26_26" href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + +<p>In a letter to Jacopo Antiquario Poliziano, after describing the malady +from which Lorenzo had been suffering for some time, continues: “The day +before his death, being at his villa of Careggi, he grew so weak that all hope +of saving him vanished. Perceiving this, like a wise man, he called before all +else for the confessor to purge himself of his past sins. This same confessor +told me afterwards that he marvelled to see with what courage and constancy +Lorenzo prepared himself for death; how well he ordered all things pertaining +thereunto, and with what prudence and religious feeling he thought on the +life to come. Towards midnight, while he was quietly meditating, he was +informed that the priest, bearing the Holy Sacrament, had arrived. Rousing +himself, he exclaimed, ‘It shall never be said that my Lord, who created and +saved me, shall come to me—in my room—raise me I beg of you, raise me +quickly, so that I may go and meet Him.’ Saying this he raised himself as +well as he could, and supported by his servants advanced to meet the priest +in the outer room, there crying he knelt.” Poliziano here gives the text of a +long prayer which Lorenzo recited and then continues: “these and other +things he said sobbing, while all around cried bitterly. At length the priest +ordered that he should be raised from the ground and carried to bed, so as +to receive the Viaticum in more comfort. For some time he resisted, but at +last out of respect to the priest he obeyed. In bed, repeating almost the +same prayer and with much gravity and devotion, he received the body and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span>blood of Christ. Then he devoted himself to consoling his son Pietro, for +the others were away, and exhorted him to bear this law of necessity with +constancy; feeling sure the aid of Heaven would be vouchsafed to him, as +it had been to himself in many and divers occasions, if he only acted wisely. +Meanwhile your Lorenzo, the doctor from Pavia, arrived; most learned as it +seemed to me, but summoned too late to be of any use; yet to do something +he ordered various precious stones to be pounded together in a mortar, +for I know not what kind of medicine. Lorenzo thereupon asked the +servants what that doctor was doing in his room and what he was preparing; +and when I answered that he was composing a remedy to comfort his +intestines he recognised my voice and looking kindly, as was his wont, ‘Oh +Angiolo,’ he said, ‘art thou here?’ and raising his languid arms took both +my hands and pressed them tightly. I could not stifle my sobs or stay my +tears, though I tried hard to hide them by turning my face away. But he +showed no emotion and continued to press my hands between his. When +he saw that I could not speak for crying, quite naturally he loosed my +hands and I ran into the adjoining room where I could give free vent to +my grief and to my tears. Then drying my eyes I returned, and as soon +as he saw me he called me to him and asked what Pico della Mirandola +was doing. I replied that Pico had remained in town, fearing to molest him +with his presence. ‘And I,’ said Lorenzo, ‘but for the fear that the journey +here might be irksome to him, would be most glad to see him and speak +to him for the last time before I leave you all.’ I asked if I should send +for him. ‘Certainly, and with all speed,’ answered he. This I did, and +Pico came and sat near the bed, while I leaned against it by his knees in +order to hear the languid voice of my lord for the last time. With what +goodness, with what courtesy, I may say with what caresses, Lorenzo received +him. First he asked his pardon for thus disturbing him, begging him to +look upon it as a sign of the friendship—the love—he bore him; assuring +him that he died more willingly after seeing so dear a friend. Then introducing, +as was his wont, pleasant and familiar sayings, he joked also with +us. ‘I wish,’ he said to Pico, ‘that death had spared me until your library +had been complete.’ Pico had hardly left the room when Fra Girolamo +(Savonarola) of Ferrara, a man celebrated for his doctrine and his sanctity +and an excellent preacher, came in. To his exhortations to remain firm in +his faith, and to live in future, if Heaven granted him life, free from +crime; or if God so willed it, to receive death willingly; Lorenzo replied that +he was firm in his religion, that his life would always be guided by it, and +that nothing could be sweeter to him than death if such was the divine will. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span>Fra Girolamo then turned to go, when Lorenzo said, ‘Oh, father, before going +deign to give me thy benediction.’ Then bowing his head, immersed in piety +and religion, he repeated the words and the prayers of the friar, without +attending to the grief, now openly shown, of his familiars. It seemed as +though all save Lorenzo were going to die, so calm was he. He gave no +signs of anxiety or of sorrow; even in that extreme moment he showed his +usual strength of mind and fortitude. The doctors who stood round him, +not to seem idle, worried him with their remedies and assistance: he +accepted and submitted to everything they suggested, not because he thought +it would save him, but in order not to offend anyone, even in death. To +the last he had such mastery over himself that he joked about his own +death. Thus when given something to eat and asked how he liked it he +answered, ‘As well as a dying man can like anything.’ He embraced us all +tenderly and humbly asked pardon if, during his illness, he had caused +annoyance to anyone. Then disposing himself to receive extreme unction he +recommended his soul to God. The gospel containing the passion of Christ +was then read, and he showed that he understood by moving his lips, or +raising his languid eyes, or sometimes moving his fingers. Gazing upon a +silver crucifix inlaid with precious stones and kissing it from time to time, +he expired....”</p> + +<p>The other accounts of the last interview of Lorenzo with Savonarola by +various authors—Pico della Mirandola, Cinozzi, Burlamacchi, Barsanti, Razzi, +Fra Marco della Casa, etc.—give the more generally accepted story that +Lorenzo sent for Savonarola, and said he wished to confess to him. He +deplored three great sins: the sack of Volterra; the dowry monies taken from +the Monte delle Fanciulle, whereby so many girls were driven to a life of +shame; and the blood shed after the Pazzi conspiracy. The friar told him +that three things were required of him. “Firstly, a lively faith in the mercy +of God.” “I have that,” said Lorenzo. “Secondly, to restore what you have +unjustly taken, and to bid your sons make restitution.” This, after some +moments of hesitation, Lorenzo also acceded to. Then Savonarola drew +himself up to his full height and said, “Lastly, to restore to Florence her +liberty.” Lorenzo turned his head away and Savonarola departed without +hearing his confession and without giving him absolution. Professor Villari, +who may be supposed to understand the manners and motives of his countrymen +better than foreigners, does not believe that Savonarola would have gone +to Careggi save at the express desire of Lorenzo, who sent for him in order +to confess his sins and receive absolution from a man he knew to be honest. +Cinozzi gives the words of Savonarola, stating that the conversation was a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span>preliminary to the confession which was never made. He adds: “These +words were repeated to me by Fra Silvestro, who died with his superior Fra +Ieronimo, and who, as I well believe, had them and heard them from Fra +Ieronimo’s own lips.” Professor Villari considers that Poliziano would not +have dared to make a genuine report of the scene (supposing he saw it), in +order not to cast a slur on the memory of his patron and benefactor, and to +avoid giving offence to the Medicean party.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_067" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_067.jpg" alt="Another View of the Villa"> +</figure> + +<p>Various versions also exist of the death of Pier Leoni, who evidently was +what we should call the trusted family doctor of the Medici; for when +Lorenzo’s daughter Magdalena, married to Francesco Cybo, son of Innocent +III, was so ill at Rome, she sent an express messenger to her father to beg +him to send Maestro Leoni to see her. Poliziano declares that Piero Leoni +killed himself in despair at not being able to save Lorenzo; Piero Ricci +(Petrus Crinitus), a contemporary author, also records that he drowned himself +in a well near Florence, but other accounts say that he was murdered by +some of Lorenzo’s people, who suspected him, unjustly, of poisoning their +master. Enemies of the Medici went so far as to accuse Piero de’ Medici of +inducing him to administer poison to his father, and then of drowning him in +the well of the courtyard at Careggi.</p> + +<p>In 1494 the Medici were expelled from Florence and an attempt was +made to reconstitute a commonwealth upon the model of Venice. But the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span>internal elements of discord were too potent. The Medici were recalled, again +to be expelled in 1527. “Two years later Dante and Lorenzo da Castiglione +and a number of youths went in hot haste,” writes Varchi, “and set fire to +the villas of Careggi and Castello; the latter, however, did not burn easily, and +fearing lest the enemy’s forces should cut off their retreat they fell back. So +one of Signor Cosimo’s labourers was enabled to saw some beams in half and +put out the fire. They also set fire to the palace of Jacopo Salviati, which +was burnt, as well as Careggi.”</p> + +<p>Luckily the thick walls of the fine old villa defied the flames, and the +first care of Alessandro de’ Medici was to restore it to its pristine splendour; +but he was murdered by his cousin Lorenzino before he had time to finish +the work. The Grand Duke Ferdinando II, had an especial affection for +Careggi, and attempted to resuscitate the Platonic Academy which once +flourished there, but in vain. All he could do was to commemorate it in a +fresco in the Pitti palace, which represents Plato surrounded by the illustrious +men who had formed part of it—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container" lang="it"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Mira qui di Careggi all’ aure amene</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Marsilio, e il Pico, e cento egregj spirti,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E di, s’ all’ ombre degli Elisj mirti</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tanti n’ ebber giammai Tebe, o Atene.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">(Behold here in the soft air of Careggi, Marsilio, and Pico, and a hundred +men of learning, and say whether at Thebes or Athens there were as many +in the shade of the Elysian myrtles) is the inscription.</p> + +<p>In 1779 Careggi was sold to Vincenzo Orsi for 31,000 scudi. In 1848 it +again changed hands and was bought by Mr Sloane, who left it to Count +Boutourline, from whose family the present owner, M. Segré, bought the +villa a few years ago.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_19_19" href="#FNanchor_19_19" class="label">[19]</a> Benedetto Varchi. <i lang="it">Storia Florentina.</i> + Lib. IX. p. 251 F. Mazzei in a pamphlet, <i lang="it">La Macine a Montughi</i>, +gives another derivation; he says that in 1100 the Marchioness Villa left large estates to her son Ugone in this +district, and thence the hill was called <i lang="it">Montem Hugonis</i>, corrupted into Montui by the common people and into +Montughi by writers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_20_20" href="#FNanchor_20_20" class="label">[20]</a> Moreni. <i lang="it">Contorni di Firense.</i> Vol. I. p. 45, <i lang="la">et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_21_21" href="#FNanchor_21_21" class="label">[21]</a> Now belonging to Mr Mason.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_22_22" href="#FNanchor_22_22" class="label">[22]</a> Cosimo’s favourite son, who died 1463.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_23_23" href="#FNanchor_23_23" class="label">[23]</a> Villa Lemmi. The frescoes by Botticelli, now in the Louvre, were discovered there.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_24_24" href="#FNanchor_24_24" class="label">[24]</a> John Addington Symonds. <cite>Renaissance in Italy.</cite> <cite>The Revival of Learning</cite>, p. 320.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_25_25" href="#FNanchor_25_25" class="label">[25]</a> Angelo Poliziano. <cite lang="it">Carmina</cite>, etc., p. 179.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_26_26" href="#FNanchor_26_26" class="label">[26]</a> J. A. Symonds. <cite>Renaissance in Italy.</cite> <cite>The Revival of Learning</cite>, p. 331.</p></div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_070" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_070a.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + COSIMO PATER PATRIAE, +<br> + By <span class="smcap">Michelozzi</span>. +<br> + (<i lang="it">Villa di Cafaggiuolo</i>). + </figcaption> +</figure> +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_070b.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + LORENZO DE’ MEDICI, +<br> + By <span class="smcap">Niccolò Fiorentino</span>. +<br> + (<i lang="it">Villa di Coreggi</i>). + </figcaption> +</figure> +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_070c.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + MARSILIO FICINO, +<br> + By <span class="smcap">Anonimo</span>. +<br> + (<i lang="it">Villa Medici</i>). + </figcaption> +</figure> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_073a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_073a.jpg" alt="The North Facade"> +</figure> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_DI_RUSCIANO"> + VILLA DI RUSCIANO + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/a.jpg" alt="Stylized A"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>About</span> a mile outside the great three-storied gateway of San +Niccolò stands the old brown villa of Rusciano, which even in the +days of Sacchetti had the reputation of changing masters more +frequently than any other in Tuscany. It is first mentioned +in 785, when Charlemagne is said to have granted the estate +to the church of San Miniato a Monte; three centuries later +Pope Nicholas II, gave it to the hospital of St Eusebius, popularly known +as San Sebbo; then it belonged to two sisters, Buoninsegna and Princia, +who in 1267 sold the house and lands to the nuns of San Jacopo in Pian di +Ripoli. After passing through several other hands it was bought by Luca +Pitti, who crowned the beautiful hill with what Vasari calls “a luxurious +and superb palace,” built, or rather adapted and enlarged for him in 1434 +by Brunelleschi, to render it a fitting residence for one who was Gonfalonier +of Florence and at the height of his prosperity.</p> + +<figure class="figleft illowp50" id="i_074" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_074.jpg" alt="Brunelleschi’S Window"> +</figure> + +<p>Herr Cornel von Fabriczy⁠<a id="FNanchor_27_27" href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> +considers that only +the eastern side of the <span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg +38]</span>villa is Brunelleschi’s work, the western being the +original building, while the southern façade dates from late in the +sixteenth century. One of the glories of Rusciano, much written about +by critics, is a most beautiful window looking into the courtyard, +but lately covered in. It is said by some to be by Brunelleschi, but +the exaggerated consoles ornamented with acanthus leaves, and the +pillars at the sides with Corinthian capitals, are not like the work +of the great master. The garlands of flowers at the sides, tied in +here and there, remind one of those on the monument to Marsuppini by +Desiderio da Settignano, as does the delicate frieze at the top. Herr +von Fabriczy suggests that this lovely window, which recalls those of +the palaces at Urbino and at Gubbio, may perhaps have been designed +by Luciano da Laurana, architect to Federigo di Montefeltre, to whom, +as we shall see, the villa belonged for a short time. Anyhow this one +richly ornamented piece of architecture contrasts strangely with the +absolute simplicity, almost amounting to bareness, of everything else +in the courtyard. Dr Carl von Stegmann, in his <i lang="de">Architekten der +Renaissance</i> thinks the frieze and the shape of the capitals are in +the style of Desiderio da Settignano, while the garlands of flowers +remind him more of the work of Benedetto da Majano. The rooms of the +villa are of huge size, and many still retain their fine old wooden +ceilings, gigantic beams resting on simply-shaped consoles with curved +outlines.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_075" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_075.jpg" alt="View of Florence from the Villa"> +</figure> + +<p>Luca Pitti would have been a happier man had he taken to heart the +wise words of Cosimo de’ Medici. “You,” said Cosimo, “strive towards the +indefinite, I towards the definite; you aspire to reach the heavens with your +ladder, I place mine on the earth so that I may not climb so high as to fall: +and if I desire that the honour and reputation of my house should surpass +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span>yours, it seems to me but just and natural that I should favour rather mine +own than what belongs to you. Nevertheless let us do as big dogs, which +meeting, sniff one at the other and then, both having teeth, separate and go +their ways: you to attend to your concerns, I to see after mine own.” But +the character of Luca was correctly gauged by that acute and charming lady, +Alessandra Macinghi, married to a Strozzi, who calls him, in her letters to her +exiled sons after their father’s death which give so vivid a picture of what +wives and mothers endured in the good old times, “a vain ambitious man +and a weathercock, moreover badly surrounded.” After intriguing against the +Medici, and even plotting to assassinate Cosimo’s son Piero, Luca Pitti +abandoned the anti-Medicean faction and accepted pardon at the hands of +Piero, after which his old friends scorned him and avoided meeting him in +the streets.</p> + +<p>In the summer of 1472 the Gonfalonier of Florence, Tanai de’ Nerli, received +the Captain-General of the Florentine army, Count Federigo di Montefeltre, +outside the city gates and escorted him, amid the acclamations of the +citizens, to the Piazza, where the magistrates thanked him for his services +in conquering rebellious Volterra, and presented him with a richly +caparisoned charger and a silver helmet studded with jewels and chased +in gold by Pollajuolo, with Hercules trampling on a griffin (the device +of Volterra) as its crest. The grateful Republic also bought Rusciano of +Luca Pitti and bestowed it on their victorious general together with the +freedom of the city. But he does not seem to have inhabited his Florentine +villa long, for in the following year it was let to Giuliano Gondi, +and towards the end of the fifteenth century Federigo’s successor, +Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino, sold it to the Frescobaldi. After this +Rusciano changed hands every few years and was owned by the Covoni, +Usimbardi, Capponi, Gerini and many other less illustrious Florentine +families, until in 1825 it came into the possession of an Englishman, Mr +Baring, and after three more sales the noble old villa now belongs to +Baron von Stumm.</p> + +<p>The Baron is a master in the art of landscape gardening, and with a +northerner’s love for trees has transformed the grounds into a veritable +earthly paradise, whence lovely views of Florence, framed by rare conifers +and bays, are like so many glimpses of a fairy city. When seen +on a morning with deep snow lying on every mountain, while a pale tinge +of colour among the vineyards tells of coming spring in the valley of the +Arno, and the city, usually so brown and strongly defined upon the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span>river banks, shines white as though reflecting the dazzling snow peaks around, +one is tempted to exclaim with Rogers,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Of all the fairest cities of the Earth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">None is so fair as Florence. ’Tis a gem</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of purest ray.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>All the town lies below us, but unlike the vast unbroken bird’s-eye view +from Bellosguardo or San Miniato, here we only feel her presence, and while +listening to the midday bells we see, between two clumps of slender bamboo, +Palazzo Vecchio looming like some enchanter’s castle out of the thick +atmosphere and suffused with rosy hues. The mysterious feeling of the building +is enhanced, for the bay and olive trees hide the houses around it and +nothing of the modern town is visible.</p> + +<p>Such a city, seen from a terrace where a column of purest marble makes +the rose tints of the sky more clearly felt, may well inspire her people to +weave legends, even in this century of ours, as to her having been built +by angels in the night. Between the cypresses the Duomo, sometimes so +russet brown above the city it is guarding, to-day is toned and mellowed +in the winter sunlight, and the downward markings of its cupola shine +like ribs of alabaster. Whiter still and fairer rises the campanile “coloured +like a morning cloud, and chased like a sea shell.”</p> + +<p>The terraced garden of Rusciano, where granite columns with capitals +encircled by dolphins rise amidst palms and magnolias, lies on the southern +side of the villa facing the heights of Monticci.</p> + +<p>A watch-tower on the slopes, a little village in the plain with pointed +bell-tower rising above the jutting roofs of peasant houses low-lying among +the fruit trees, hills palely outlined, their cypress-covered summits seen +against still paler distance, pine trees along the valley wreathed in mist +and nearer, olive trees reflecting, like so many mirrors, the radiant hues of +the morning sunlight on each of their small pointed leaves—all these things +and many more we see from the garden of Rusciano.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_27_27" href="#FNanchor_27_27" class="label">[27]</a> <i lang="de">Filippo Brunelleschi, sein Leben und seine Werke</i>, + von Cornel von Fabriczy. Stuttgard, 1892.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_080" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_080.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <span class="smcap">VILLA di POGGIO IMPERIALE.</span> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_083a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_083a.jpg" alt="The Formal Garden"> +</figure> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_DI_POGGIO_IMPERIALE"> + VILLA DI POGGIO IMPERIALE + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/a.jpg" alt="Stylized A"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>About</span> a mile outside Porta Romana on the heights of Arcetri +stands the fine Villa Poggio Imperiale, now a school for +girls. Formerly it was called Poggio Baroncelli, from the +rich and powerful family of that name who owned large +possessions on this side of Florence, and turned an old +castle into a dwelling-house; but they failed in 1487, when +the villa and much of the land belonging to it became the property of +Agnolo Pandolfini, whose descendants sold it to Piero d’Alamanno Salviati. +In 1548 the Salviati were declared rebels and Cosimo I seized all their +possessions.</p> + +<p>Cosimo had such an affection for Tommaso, one of the descendants of +the Baroncelli, that he insisted on his living in the Medici palace in Via +Larga (now palazzo Riccardi, Via Cavour). When in 1569 Pius V gave the +Duke Cosimo I, in spite of strenuous opposition on the part of the Emperor +Maximilian, the title of Grand Duke of Tuscany, Tommaso Baroncelli rode +out to meet him on his return from the coronation at Rome. “Such was +his joy,” writes Cosimo Baroncelli (son of Tommaso) in a manuscript history +of his family, “on seeing that great Prince his most gracious Lord, that he +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span> +fainted and would have fallen from his horse if the attendants had not quickly +supported him and lifted him from the saddle. They placed him on a low +wall near the fountain of San Gaggio where he died, to the very great grief +of H.H. and of the whole court; he being singularly beloved for his kind +and courteous manners. He died in the year 1569 on the 21st March, the +day of St Benedict the Abbot.”</p> + +<p>There is a tradition that a duel took place close to the villa in 1312 +between four Florentines and four Germans during the siege of Florence by +the Emperor Henry VII, but the one between Lodovico Martelli and Giovanni +Bandini is historical and has been minutely described by Varchi. “Lodovico +di Giovan Francesco Martelli, a youth of great courage, having a secret +enmity against Giovanni Bandini, seized a favourable occasion of fighting +and if necessary dying, for the love of his city; he sent him a challenge, +written by Messer Salvestro Aldobrandini, setting forth that he (Bandini) +and all Florentines serving in the enemy’s ranks were traitors to their +country, and that he was ready to prove this in the lists fighting hand to +hand, leaving the choice of place, of arms and whether on foot or on horseback +to him.... Giovanni, who lacked not courage and abounded in wit, +tried to evade fighting in so bad a cause, and replied with more prudence +than truth, that he was in the enemy’s camp to visit certain friends and not +to fight against his country which he loved as well as anyone. This, whether +true or false, ought to have sufficed Lodovico; but he being desirous at all +costs to cross swords with Giovanni replied in such manner, that not to +fail in the honour of a gentleman, on which he particularly prided himself, +Giovanni was obliged to accept; it was arranged that each should choose +a companion. Giovanni ... chose Bertino di Carlo Aldobrandini, a youth +whose beard had but just begun to sprout ... Lodovico chose Dante di +Guido da Castiglione, who accepted the risk solely for love of his country.</p> + +<p>“Lodovico and Dante quitted Florence on the 2nd day of March (1530) +leaving the Piazza San Michele Berteldi in the following order—to recount +everything in minute fashion. In front of them were two pages clothed in +red and white, on horses whose caparisons were of white leather, and then +two other pages mounted on great chargers and dressed in the like manner; +followed by two trumpeters blowing continuously. After these came Captain +Giovanni da Vinci, a youth of extraordinary stature, the second of Dante, +and Pagolo Spinelli, a citizen and an old soldier of great experience, second +of Lodovico, and Messer Vitello Vitelli, umpire of both.... Then followed +the two champions on fine Turkish horses of marvellous beauty and value. +They wore tunics of red satin with sleeves of the same slashed with lace, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span>their breeches were of red satin laced with white and lined with cloth of +silver; on their heads were skull-caps of red satin and hats of red silk +with white plumes. Six servants dressed in the same fashion as the pages +on horseback walked by the stirrups of the knights ... and in their wake +were several captains and brave soldiers with many of the Florentine militia, +who having eaten with them that morning bore them company as far as +the gate.... They followed the Via di Piazza, by Borgo Santo Apostolo, +down Parione, crossing the Carraja bridge to the San Friano gate where +was their baggage; twenty-one mules laden with all and every sort of thing +they might want in the way of food or arms for man and horse. Not to +be beholden to the enemy for anything, they carried with them bread, wine, +oats, straw, wood, meat of all kinds, every sort of bird and of fish and of +pastry, tents fitted with every convenience and furniture they could need +even to water. They took a priest, a doctor, a barber, a butler, a cook +and a scullion with them. Going out of the gate with all this baggage +they went along under the walls, until close to the gate of San Pier Gattolini +[now Porta Romana] they turned to the right ... where was the last of +the enemy’s trenches, and then proceeded to Baroncelli [Poggio Imperiale], the +whole camp running to see them, it having been agreed that until they +stood before the Prince of Orange no shot should be fired from any artillery, +either large or small on either side, and this was faithfully observed.</p> + +<p>“At twelve on the day of St Gregory, which fell on a Saturday, they +fought in two stockades.⁠<a id="FNanchor_28_28" href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> ... They fought in their shirts, that is breeches +and no jackets, with the right sleeve cut off at the elbow, a sword and a +short mailed glove on the sword hand and nothing on their heads.... +Thus it was chosen by Giovanni to gainsay the opinion held of him in +Florence, that he had more prudence than valour and behaved with more +cunning than courage.</p> + +<p>“Dante having caused his red beard which descended nearly to his waist +to be shaved, attacked Bertino, and in the first round received a wound in his +right arm and a slight touch on the mouth; he was then assailed with +such fury by his adversary that without being able to shield himself he got +three wounds on his left arm, one severe, and two slashes, so that if Bertino +had continued to press him as he should have done, he was in such condition +that he would have been forced to yield; being unable to hold his sword +in only one hand he took it with both, and keenly watching the movements +of his adversary saw how he rushed towards him with the utmost fury and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span>inconsiderateness ... so advancing and extending both arms he drove his +sword into Bertino’s mouth between the tongue and the uvula in such fashion +that his right eye swelled forthwith; thus he who just before had boastingly +promised to die a thousand times sooner than yield once, either vanquished +by the extreme pain ... or else out of his senses, asked for quarter, to +the very great displeasure of the Prince [of Orange] ... and died the following +night at the sixth hour. Then Dante, to encourage his companion, shouted +twice aloud ‘Victory, Victory,’ not being able, by reason of the laws agreed +upon between them to otherwise help him.</p> + +<p>“Lodovico at the first trumpet blast attacked Giovanni with incredible +fury; but Giovanni, who was a master of fence and did not allow himself +to be carried away by anger or any other passion, gave him a cut above the +eyebrow, the blood from which began to impede his sight; therefore he with +increased rage tried three times to seize his opponent’s sword with his left +hand and wrest it from him, but Giovanni turning it quickly and drawing +it hard towards him, always pulled it out of his hand and wounded him +in three places in the said left hand; so that the more Lodovico tried to +clear his eye from blood with his left hand in order to see light, the more +he besmeared himself; nevertheless with his right hand he made a ferocious +pass at Giovanni which passed more than a span beyond him, but did him +no other harm than a slight scratch beneath the left breast. Then did +Giovanni deal him a right-handed blow on the head, which he not being +able to ward off in other fashion parried with his wounded left hand and +tried once more to seize the sword. Failing in this and being severely +wounded, he placed both hands to the hilt of his sword and resting it against +his breast rushed at Giovanni to run him through; but the latter, agile as +he was strong, sprang back, and at the same moment dealt him a blow on +the head saying: ‘If thou wouldst not die yield thyself to me.’ Lodovico, +unable to see and wounded in several places, answered: ‘I yield myself to +the Marquis del Guasto,’⁠<a id="FNanchor_29_29" href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> +but Giovanni insisting he yielded unto him.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_30_30" href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>Lodovico Martelli died of his wounds twenty-four days after the duel, +and it was solemnly decreed that his portrait should be placed in the Uffizi +gallery among those of men famous for their patriotic virtues. Patriotism +had, however, little to do with the duel, which was fought for love of Marietta +Ricci, wife of Niccolò Benintendi.⁠<a id="FNanchor_31_31" href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<p>In 1565 Cosimo I gave the villa to his favourite daughter Isabella, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span>married to Paolo Giordano Orsini, Duke of Bracciano, with faculty to leave +it by will to her children; if she died intestate it was to revert to the crown. +Eleven years later she was strangled one summer’s night by her husband +at their villa Cerreti Guidi, and in the following October her brother, the +Grand Duke Francesco I, confirmed his brother-in-law in the possession of +Poggio Baroncelli.</p> + +<p>In 1619 it became the property of the Grand Duchess Maria Maddalena +of Austria, wife to Cosimo II. She bought it from Paolo Giordano Orsini, +who was in want of money to pay the dower of his sister Camilla, engaged +to Marcantonio Borghese, Prince of Sulmona. At the same time the Grand +Duchess bought several farms to enlarge the grounds and make the broad +carriage road leading up to the villa. She also planted the ilexes and +cypresses which are now such a feature in the landscape. It became her +favourite residence, and here Claudia de’ Medici, her sister-in-law, was +married to Federigo Ubaldo della Rovere, eldest son to the Duke of Urbino, +with less pomp than was usually displayed by the Medici owing to the +recent death of the Grand Duke Cosimo II.</p> + +<p>Maria Maddalena determined to enlarge and beautify her villa, and chose +Giulio Parigi as her architect, changing its name from Poggio Baroncelli +to Poggio Imperiale. She and Christine of Lorraine (mother, grandmother +and guardians of the young Grand Duke Ferdinando II) entertained Prince +Stanislao of Poland there in 1625 with the tragedy of St Ursula, a ball, +and a ballet on horseback performed in an amphitheatre built for the purpose +in front of the villa.</p> + +<p>Ferdinando II married his cousin Vittoria, only child of Claudia de’ +Medici and Federigo della Rovere, who died soon after the birth of his +daughter. Brought up at Poggio Imperiale by her aunt Maria Maddalena, +Vittoria bought the villa from her husband after his mother’s death for 62,500 +scudi and spent large sums in enlarging and embellishing the place; several +of the rooms added by her were frescoed by Volterrano (Baldassare Franceschini). +When her half-brothers (by her mother’s second marriage with the +Arch Duke Leopold of Austria) came to Florence she gave a magnificent +entertainment there, including the favourite Florentine pastime of the +<i lang="it">Buratto</i> or Saracen. Loud laughter greeted the unhappy wight whose +lance missed the proper spot on the breast of Buratto and was then knocked +off his horse by the staff unerringly wielded by the wooden statue.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_088" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_088.jpg" alt="The Great Entrance"> +</figure> + +<p>Violante of Bavaria, wife of Prince Ferdinando, son of Cosimo III, +lived occasionally at Poggio Imperiale, and it was frequently visited by her +brother-in-law Gastone, the last of the Medicean Grand Dukes, who inherited +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span>all the vices but none of the talent of his house. Pietro Leopoldo of +Lorraine, his successor, had a particular predilection for the imperial villa +and spent 1,300,000 francs on enlarging it and building immense stables +(now cavalry barracks). When he, on the death of his brother in 1790, +became Emperor of Austria, his second son Ferdinando III succeeded to +the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and gave hospitality at Poggio Imperiale to +the King of Sardinia and his wife, who had been compelled to quit Piedmont +by the revolution. Charles Emanuel IV and Marie Clotilde arrived on +the 19th January 1799, only to be driven out after a month of quiet and +repose. They fled to Sardinia, and Napoleon having abolished Tuscany +with a stroke of a pen, the Grand Duke took refuge with his brother in +Vienna. A new kingdom—Etruria—was then created, with Lodovico of +Bourbon, son of the Duke of Parma, as king. He died in 1803, leaving +his young widow as regent for his little son, and Poggio Imperiale became +her favourite residence. She added the rustic loggia and was beginning +other improvements when Napoleon, unmoved by her tears and entreaties, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span>swept Etruria off the map of nations and the poor Queen Regent and her +small boy were driven into exile. A new mistress now ruled in the great +villa—Napoleon’s sister, the brilliant Elise Bonaparte married to Captain +Felice Baciocchi, who had been created Prince of Lucca and Piombino; +and she gave balls and festivals to celebrate her brother’s victories in the +villa which owed most of its splendour to Austrian princesses. Her +grandeur was, however, short-lived; in 1814 she left Poggio Imperiale at +dead of night, and Ferdinando III returned to Tuscany.</p> + +<p>Three years later a royal company assembled in the “Villa of five +hundred rooms,” as Poggio Imperiale was commonly called, to say farewell to +the Arch Duchess Leopoldine of Austria who was to embark at Leghorn as the +bride of the Crown Prince of Portugal and the Brazils. Her two sisters, +one married to Prince Leopold of Naples the other to Napoleon, then a +prisoner at St Helena, met her there together with the Princess of the Brazils +who had come to receive her son’s future wife at the hands of Prince +Metternich.</p> + +<p>In the autumn of 1822, when Carlo Alberto, Prince of Carignano, that strange +compound of hesitation and daring, religion and mysticism, came as an exile +to Florence, his father-in-law Ferdinando III lent him Poggio Imperiale, and +here his son Victor Emanuel, the future King of United Italy, narrowly +escaped being burnt to death as a baby. His nurse, driven distracted by the +mosquitoes tried to burn them on the mosquito-net and set fire to the bed. +Snatching up the child she clasped him to her breast and saved his life at the +sacrifice of her own. When the “Re Galant’ Uomo” entered Florence on the +15th April 1860, his first visit was to Poggio Imperiale to see the room he +had inhabited as a child, and the apartments occupied by his parents.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_28_28" href="#FNanchor_28_28" class="label">[28]</a> Lodovico Martelli and Giovanni Bandini in one, Dante da Castiglione and Bertino Aldobrandini in +the other.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_29_29" href="#FNanchor_29_29" class="label">[29]</a> Colonel in command of the Spanish infantry.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_30_30" href="#FNanchor_30_30" class="label">[30]</a> Varchi. <i lang="it">Storia Fiorentina.</i> Firenze, 1836-1841. Vol. II. p. 302.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_31_31" href="#FNanchor_31_31" class="label">[31]</a> See Letter XVIII. Busini.</p></div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_090a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_090a.jpg" alt="The Terrace and Villa"> +</figure> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_DI_LAPPEGGI"> + VILLA DI LAPPEGGI + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/t.jpg" alt="Stylized T"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>The</span> hamlet of Lappeggi lies some six miles south-east of +Florence in the picturesque valley of the Ema, and here the +Ricasoli had a villa which in 1569 they sold to Francesco +de’ Medici, son of Cosimo I. Francesco I was succeeded +by his brother Ferdinando I, who, in order to avoid any +controversy with Don Antonio de’ Medici, the supposed +illegitimate son of the Grand Duke Francesco and Bianca Cappello,⁠<a id="FNanchor_32_32" href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> gave him +a life interest in a considerable share of the family property, Lappeggi among +the rest. On the death of Don Antonio in 1604 the Grand Duke again came +into possession and bestowed it on the Orsini family. Alessandro, last of the +Orsini, died about thirty years later, and once more Lappeggi reverted to the +crown when Don Mattias de’ Medici had it for his life, but seldom lived +there, as he was governor of Siena. Finally the villa became the property +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span>of Cardinal Francesco Maria de’ Medici, whose favourite place of residence +it was.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_093" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_093.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + VILLA <span class="allsmcap">DI</span> LAPPEGGI. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Antonio Ferri, the court architect, was then ordered to prepare designs +for a villa, and choosing the most magnificent the Cardinal asked what the +cost would be; after a few moments of reflection Ferri answered forty +thousand scudi for solid good building. “And if I only desire to spend +thirty thousand, and yet have my villa built according to this design, how +long would it last?” said the Cardinal. On the architect replying that he +would guarantee it for eighteen years, the Cardinal exclaimed, “Eighteen +years? That is enough; that will serve my time.”</p> + +<p>Lappeggi is celebrated in the <cite lang="it">Rime Piacevole</cite> of Giovan Battista +Fagiuoli, a poet who was one of the chief boon companions of the +pleasure-loving Cardinal, and seems to have been consulted as to the +planting of the grounds. He strongly recommended bay trees: “they are +evergreen, but not funereal like cypresses, so noble that kings make crowns +of their leaves; and above all they avert thunderbolts, which are frequent +at Lappeggi. But,” he continues in his facetious poem, “plant what you +will, everyone is sure to praise your work, for a Prince can do no wrong. +Should he by chance commit some gross error, liars and courtiers will make +it out a miracle; so that if you plant a pumpkin to-morrow they will all +exclaim, ‘What a beautiful outlandish fruit.’ Or if you sow a bean—a +common enough thing—you will hear, ‘What a glorious plant, what a show +it makes, what taste the Cardinal has.’”</p> + +<p>Francesco Maria de’ Medici was very fond of practical jokes. Once +he saw an ass go pass the villa with her foal, and calling his French +cook Monsù Niccolò and his two aids bade them buy the foal and serve +it dressed in various ways at dinner. After the guests had eaten their fill, +particularly of an excellent pasty, the bleeding legs and head of the little +donkey with the hair on, were solemnly placed on the centre of the table. +Some of the party had to leave the room, but most of them praised the +good dinner and laughed, or pretended to laugh, at the Cardinal’s wonderful +wit. Fagiuoli writes a long description of the scene in verse, saying that +for his part, he preferred the long ears. He also describes the game of +<i lang="it">pallone</i>, in high favour at Lappeggi, and various games of cards over +which large sums of money were lost. Comedies written by him were learned +and acted by the courtiers within six hours, in obedience to a master +whose every whim had to be gratified at once. On the Cardinal’s birthday +there was a fair on the sward near the villa; all Florence, and the +inhabitants of the neighbouring villages, flocked to see the fun and danced +till late in the night. Marionettes, musicians, astrologers, conjurors “who,” +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span>says our satirical poet, “did not much astonish me, because the talent of +changing cards by sleight of hand is by no means uncommon in these +days.”</p> + +<p>There were great doings at Lappeggi in 1709; Frederick IV, King +of Denmark,⁠<a id="FNanchor_33_33" href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> was in Florence, and the Cardinal de’ Medici begged him +to honour his villa with his presence, and asked ten ladies of the aristocracy, +chosen for their knowledge of French, to meet him. Prince Giovan +Gastone waited betimes upon the King with all the court dignitaries to +accompany him to his uncle’s villa where the ladies received His Majesty +at the door with much reverence and courtesying, and at dinner they and +Prince Giovan Gastone sat at the King’s table and were served by the +pages of the court; the Cardinal having a bad fit of the gout being +unable to do the honours himself. The dinner consisted of four complete +changes: one cloth after another was removed and towards the end came +a course of sweet dishes of various kinds; after these had been tasted, +sugar-plums disposed in pyramids and many kinds of liqueur were placed +on the table. In front of the King was put a large coffee-pot in the shape +of a fountain with four jets, and at the sides of the table were four +golden dishes, two containing three cups of chocolate each, the others cups +of water. Between the golden dishes the space was covered with Savoy +and other biscuits, and when the coffee-pot was removed, <span lang="it">“trionfi”</span> of +bottles of San Lorenzo and other rare wines took its place, and all the +glasses used were of the finest engraved Bohemian glass. During dinner +there was a concert, and the same musicians followed the King about +during the whole day, and managed so well as to be ready to receive him +with dulcet tunes at every halting-place. After the banquet the King +withdrew with the ladies and cavaliers into another room and played +games until four o’clock, when they drove about the grounds and visited +the home farm. Then going into the orange garden they found a +sumptuous cold repast, preparations of milk, capons in jelly, iced fruit +and sweetmeats of divers kinds. The iced fruit, a dish new to the King +and to all his people, delighted them so much that His Majesty asked +permission to make a present of a dish to his dwarf, who was of noble +birth and a great favourite and trusted counsellor. On a table apart +stood small flasks of the most costly Tuscan wines, chiefly those made +on the surrounding hills praised so highly by Redi in his <i lang="it">Bacco in +Toscana</i><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span>. The King and all the company sat down and ate heartily of +the good things, and then, to crown so royal a day, it was proposed to +dance; the King set the example, but as night was approaching and dew +began to fall it was considered prudent to retreat indoors. More liberty +and jollity being permitted in the country than in town, French dances +were abandoned and peasant dances, such as the <i lang="it">Spalmata</i>, the <i lang="it">Mestola</i> +and the <i lang="it">Scarpettaccia</i> were indulged in, to the great satisfaction and +delight of His Majesty. Thus they amused themselves until three in +the morning, when all returned to Florence.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_34_34" href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> + +<p>In July of the same year the Cardinal was, for family reasons, induced +to obtain dispensation from Holy Orders and marry the Princess Eleonora +Gonzaga of Guastalla, twenty-five years his junior, and the bachelor amusements +at Lappeggi came to an end. The young Princess openly manifested +her dislike and contempt for her worn-out, gouty and corpulent husband, and +he, they say, took this so much to heart that he died after only eight +months of married life.</p> + +<p>Lappeggi was then abandoned and shut up for four years when +Cosimo III lent it to Princess Violante of Bavaria, widow of his eldest +son. She loved the society of literary men and poets and had a particular +admiration for <i lang="it">improvisatori</i>. Cavaliere Bernadino of Siena, famous for +his talent in improvising, often visited her at Lappeggi, where he met +the burlesque poet Ghivizzani, and a peasant girl who lived near by called +Domenica Maria Mazzetti, surnamed la Menica di Legnaja, who had a +great reputation for improvising in <span lang="it">“terza rima.”</span> So delighted was Princess +Violante with the girl’s talent that she had her taught reading, writing, +Latin and music, all which she learnt with ease. After the death of Cosimo, +Princess Violante had to give up Lappeggi and went to live in Rome; +she took the peasant girl with her and caused her to be crowned with +bays on the Campidoglio.</p> + +<p>In 1816 Lappeggi was sold by public auction to Signor Capacci; he +soon resold it to Captain Cambiagi, who was obliged to take down the +second story, which was causing the walls to bulge and threatened to +destroy the whole house, and at his death the Gheradesca family bought it +and turned the royal villa into a lodging-house for poor people. In 1876 +it came into the possession of the well-known sculptor Giovanni Dupré, +whose daughter, also a sculptress, still owns it. In May 1895 the villa, +like so many in the neighbourhood of Florence, suffered severely from +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span>an earthquake; but time, neglect and earthquakes have been unable to +quite destroy the beauty of the place, and as we stand on the wide broad +terrace in front of the villa looking out across the valley of the Chianti +towards Siena, the talent of Antonio Ferri the architect is realised, who so +happily placed the villa of Lappeggi and its gardens in sight of so fine a +scene. The lines of the balustrade, projecting above the garden in a +bold half circle, are seen against the hills where they slope down towards +the valley, thus forming a scene as austerely beautiful as a drawing by +some great Tuscan Master. A wide staircase leads swiftly down on either +side of the terrace to the lower level of the garden, which is raised +above the vineyards by strong bastions and confined by a low rampart +wall. The outline of the beds remain as in Zocchi’s print, but where +the pleasure-loving Cardinal once walked with a gay company of Florentines +among the brightness of his flowers now are seen only artichokes and +potatoes, and the statues and vases are no longer standing to recall the +pageantry of those days. At the top of the garden a big grotto has been +scooped out beneath the upper terrace, which Francesco Maria, no doubt +remembering for a brief moment his title of Cardinal, caused to be ornamented +with terra-cotta bas-reliefs illustrating such scenes as Moses before +the burning bush, while a huge statue of St Mark with his lion seated +above a pool of water, might easily be mistaken by a casual observer +for a Neptune rising from the sea with his dolphin.</p> + +<p>From the loggia of the house one enters a finely proportioned room, +decorated with charming frescoes of landscapes seen through arches, where +pheasants strut on terraced walks, while a statue of Venus looks down +upon a lake, all faintly painted and with a dim distance which gives to +the room that great idea of space which the Italians of the eighteenth century +so well knew how to render. We sat here one rainy day reading of the +gay doings of Cardinal Francesco Maria, and as we saw the rents in the +walls made by the earthquake, and recalled the bargain between the +Cardinal and his architect, we wondered that the villa should have stood +so long.⁠<a id="FNanchor_35_35" href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_32_32" href="#FNanchor_32_32" class="label">[32]</a> A new-born babe was smuggled into the Pitti Palace in a lute and presented to the Grand Duke by +Bianca Cappello as his child; Francesco I bought for him the estate of Capistrano in the Abruzzi which +carried the title of Prince with it, and left him also large property by will. The real mother was murdered, +as soon as she had given up her child, by the orders of Bianca.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_33_33" href="#FNanchor_33_33" class="label">[33]</a> When travelling in Italy as crown prince in 1691, Frederick fell in love with Maddalena Trenta, +daughter of a gentleman at Lucca; and being at Venice for the carnival in 1709 he could not resist going +to Florence in order to see once more the woman he had loved so passionately. After his departure she +had sought refuge and consolation in the convent of Santa Maria Maddalena de’ Pazzi, and he obtained a +special dispensation to pay visits to the still beautiful nun, who they say tried to convert him.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_34_34" href="#FNanchor_34_34" class="label">[34]</a> Taken from a manuscript (No 893 in the MSS. Moreniani). “Relazione di tutti le Cerimonie, +Trattamenti, Feste e Trattenimenti seguiti in Firenze l’anno 1708 in 1709, nella venuta di Federigo IV, +Re di Danimarca e Norvegia.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_35_35" href="#FNanchor_35_35" class="label">[35]</a> For the account of Lappeggi in the days of the Cardinal Francesco Maria de’ Medici, I am chiefly +indebted to a rare pamphlet by Signor G. Palagi, <cite lang="it">La Villa di Lappeggi e il Poeta Gio. Batt. Fagiuoli</cite>. +Firenze, Succ. Le Monnier 1876.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"></div> + + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_100" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_100.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + VILLA <span class="allsmcap">DELLA</span> PETRAJA + </figcaption> +</figure> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_103a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_103a.jpg" alt="The Villa, With Victor Emanuel’S Ilex"> +</figure> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_DELLA_PETRAJA"> + VILLA DELLA PETRAJA + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/t.jpg" alt="Stylized T"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>The</span> number of beautiful homes owned by the Medici strikes +one with fresh surprise when visiting the villas of Petraja +and Castello, which lie close together with a shady ilex +wood between them, about three miles from Florence. Something +of the old charm still lingers about them although +the life of that time has departed, and few now pace the +terraced walks, or sit in the shade of the quiet ilex woods, where once all +the gay world of Florence thronged to hold court round their Medicean +rulers. The charm of both villas now lies in their gardens and surroundings, +and though so essentially Florentine each has its individual character—Petraja, +within sight of the city, peaceful, amidst a garden of roses and +carnations, its terraces sinking gradually down to the plain, with an enormous +marble reservoir of clear green water, in which colossal carp disport themselves +under the first one, on which the villa and a few huge ilexes stand. +A rustic staircase twines round the trunk of the largest of these trees leading +up to a platform among the branches, where Victor Emanuel used to dine. +The view of Florence at one’s feet, surrounded by villa-crowned hills, is +lovely, and Ariosto is said to have written his well-known lines while +standing on the terrace of Petraja—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“To see the hills with villas sprinkled o’er</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would make one think that, even as flowers and trees,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Here earth tall towers in rich abundance bore.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“If gathered were thy scattered palaces</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Within a single wall, beneath one name,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Two Romes would scarce appear so great as these.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_36_36" href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>The beautiful fountain on the east side of the villa was removed from +Castello and brought here by the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo. It is one +of Tribolo’s masterpieces, and Vasari tells us “he carved on the marble +base a mass of marine monsters, all plump and under-cut, with tails so +curiously twisted together that nothing better can be done in that style; +having finished it, he took a marble basin, brought to Castello long +before ... and in the throat, near to the edge of the said basin, he +made a circle of dancing boys holding certain festoons of marine creatures +carved with excellent imagination out of the marble; also the stem to go +above the said basin he executed with much grace, with boys, and masks +for spouting out water of great beauty, and on the top of this stem Tribolo +placed a bronze female figure a yard and a half high to represent +Florence ... of which figure he had made a most beautiful model, +wringing the water out of her hair with her hands.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_37_37" href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> + +<p>Petraja is first celebrated in Florentine history for a gallant defence +made by its owners the Brunelleschi, against the Pisans and their English +and German allies in 1364. It was the time of the fierce feud between +Pisa and Florence, when the Pisans were smarting under the loss of the +great iron chain used for closing the entrance of their port, which the +Florentines had carried off in triumph and hung over the western door of +San Giovanni. Piero de’ Farnese, commander of the Florentine army, had +also taunted the Pisans by striking a commemorative coinage under their +very walls; Piero, however, died of the plague, and the fortune of war +changed. The Pisans not only coined money under the walls of Florence, +but they ravaged the whole country. “The Germans,” writes Scipione +Ammirato, “the Pisan despoilers and the English, encamped at Sesto and +Colonnato on their way back from the Mugello, and spreading over the +slopes of Monte Morello took San Stefano in Pane, where they remained +some days devastating the villas, which they burned down over a radius of +three miles. The sons of Boccaccio Brunelleschi, most valorous youths, +then owned Petraja.... The villa being therefore well defended by the +young Brunelleschi, who showed no sign of surrendering, the enemy +determined to take it by force, with the intention of cutting the defenders +to pieces and razing the building to the ground. The English⁠<a id="FNanchor_38_38" href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> first +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span>undertook the work and advanced in fine order with the greatest ferocity, +carrying ladders and catapults as though they had to storm the walls of +Florence itself. But all was in vain. Some were killed, many others were +bruised and wounded. The Germans then determined to try their luck and made +a second assault as furious as any castle ever underwent. Neither more nor less +happened to them than what had befallen the English. So they determined with +combined forces to assault the villa a third time, and to their shame and the +everlasting glory of the Brunelleschi they were once more repulsed.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_39_39" href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p> + +<p>The Brunelleschi were on the winning side, and had the joy of witnessing +the triumphal entry of Galeotto Malatesta and his army into Florence; when, +by way of insulting a fallen foe, the Pisan prisoners were compelled to kiss +the tail of the Marzocco, the stone lion beloved of all Florentines.</p> + +<p>The Strozzi were the next owners of Petraja, and we can fancy the +pleasure Palla Strozzi took in spending some of his wealth on laying out +terraces and beautiful gardens and filling his villa with costly works of art +and valuable manuscripts. He occupied several high offices in Florence and +took a leading part in the affairs of the city; unfortunately he joined the +Albizzi against the Medici and was exiled in 1435. His son Messer Lorenzo +di Palla Strozzi seems however to have still owned Petraja in 1438, as is +shown by a deed executed by him before a public notary dated “from my +villa of Petraja.” Whether it came into the possession of the Medici when +the estates of Palla were confiscated by the Republic of Florence after the +return of Cosimo the Elder from exile, or whether it was confiscated in consequence +of the rebellion of Filippo Strozzi against the government of Cosimo, +is not ascertained. Palla Strozzi was sixty-six years old when he was driven +into exile, and although he carefully avoided the society of other Florentine +malcontents and lived entirely with learned men, his sentence of banishment +was renewed. He lost one son after another, and died in 1462 without seeing +his beloved Florence again.</p> + +<p>Cosimo de’ Medici died two years later at the age of seventy-six, the +Republic inscribed the glorious title of “Pater Patriae” on his tomb, and he +was universally mourned as the most sagacious man in Italy. “His financial +genius,” says Galluzzi, “was such that when Alfonso, King of Naples, joined +the Venetians against the Republic of Florence, he caused so great a dearth of +coin by drawing bills as to compel them to come to terms. There are few +examples in history of a citizen who, without arms, and solely by the admiration +excited by his virtues, became the master of his fatherland.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_40_40" href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> “Nothing is +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span>denied to him,” exclaimed Pius II, “he is a judge of war and peace, a +moderator of the laws; not so much a citizen as the lord of the country. +The policy of the Republic is settled in his house, he gives commands to the +magistrates.” “Write in private to Cosimo,” was the advice Sforza’s envoy +gave to his master, “if you want anything particularly.... Cosimo does +everything.... Without him nothing is done.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_41_41" href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> The most eminent men in +Florence were among his intimate friends: Antonino the saintly archbishop, +Fra Angelico the holy painter, and the learned monk Ambrogio Traversari, +who set aside one of the cells of St Marco for his use. Cosimo invited +Argyropulos the Greek to Florence, and made him one of the teachers of his +son Piero and of his grandson Lorenzo. Marsilio Ficino was brought up in +his house, and the last year of his life he spent in studying the translation +made by his protegé of Plato’s <cite>On the highest good</cite>.</p> + +<p>Cosimo I, his collateral descendant, was like all his house a patron of +men of letters; he lived much at Petraja, and wishing to have Varchi near +him “to enjoy his sweet converse,” lent him “La Topaja,” a small villa on +the hillside above Petraja. Poets, artists and strangers of note who came to +Florence, toiled up the steep road to visit the great historian, and Varchi must +often have entertained there the celebrated courtezan Tullia d’ Arragona, whose +portrait at Brescia by Bonvicino fully justifies the passionate verses addressed +to her by so many poets of that time.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container" lang="it"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent20">... “occhi belli.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Occhi leggiadri, occhi amorosi e cari,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Piu che le stelle belle e piu che il sole.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">writes Muzio; while Ercole Bentivoglo indited sonnets to her celestial +brow. Tasso called her <span lang="it">“la mia Signora,”</span> and Alessandro Arrighi praised +her wise conversation, her most rare beauty, and her singing, which could +turn a marble statue into flesh and blood. Tullia was the daughter of +Cardinal Luigi d’ Arragona (son of the Marquis of Gerace, a natural +son of Francis I of Arragon, King of Naples, and of Diana Guardato). +Born in Rome and educated in Siena and Florence, she aspired to be +a second Sappho. Varchi, in spite of the silvered hair he talks so much +about, evidently succumbed to the charms of the beautiful woman, and +even when love had cooled into a platonic friendship he continued to +polish and sometimes re-write, in his elegant scholarly language, the sonnets +and verses of the lovely Tullia. Her reputation as a poetess induced +Cosimo to excuse her from wearing the yellow veil, odious sign of her +profession. The sonnet sent with her petition, which is still in the state +archives of Florence, bears <i lang="it">Fasseli gratia per poetessa</i> in his handwriting +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span>on the margin. In her old age she became devout and was a protegée +of the pious Duchess Eleonora of Toledo, wife of Cosimo. Tullia’s poem +<cite lang="it">Guerrino il Meschino</cite>, which she declared to be the versification of a +Spanish story, was written about this time; it is no doubt an old popular +tale, and some critics hold that from it Dante took the conception of his +Divine Comedy. In the preface she rates Boccaccio soundly for “the +improper, indecent and truly abominable things” in his book, and wonders +how people calling themselves Christians can hear his name mentioned without +making the sign of the Holy Cross. “Yet,” she goes on, “so corrupt +is our nature, that the book is not avoided as an abomination, but run after +by all.” Poor Tullia, when young and beautiful she no doubt read the +<cite>Decameron</cite> with as much zest as other people, and one cannot help thinking +she must occasionally have been rather bored in her new rôle of a well-conducted +woman. Her patroness Eleonora, disliked in spite of many +virtues by the Florentines on account of her <span lang="it">“insopportabile gravità,”</span> died +in 1562, and Tullia did not long survive her.</p> + +<p>After the death of Cosimo I, Petraja was the favourite residence of his +son, Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici, on his rare visits to Florence. He +commissioned Bernardo Buontalenti to enlarge and improve the villa, “but,” +says Ammirato, “I am persuaded that the tower we see to-day, which +Cardinal Ferdinando certainly did not touch when he altered the rest of +the building, is the same that was assaulted by the Pisan army.⁠<a id="FNanchor_42_42" href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> When +the Cardinal left the church and married Christine of Lorraine, Petraja +was their favourite residence; and here in May 1598 they received the +<i lang="it">Chiaus</i> of the <i lang="it">Gran Signore</i>, as old Settimanni calls the Sultan’s ambassador, +who came to treat about Levantine commerce, a very important thing for +Leghorn. The Turk evidently enjoyed himself at Florence, as he spent +seventy-four days there, and “although he had a large company with him +he was a cheap and frugal guest,” remarks the old chronicler.</p> + +<p>Ferdinando, one of the best of the Medici, was fond of gathering +literary society about him. He gave Scipione Ammirato, “the modern +Livy,” rooms in his palace in Florence, and offered him La Topaja as a +country residence. But the steepness of the road alarmed the southern +Italian, accustomed to the dead flat of the country about Lecce; so the +Grand Duke gave him an apartment in Petraja, where the history of Florence +was chiefly written. In front of La Topaja is an orchard garden with a +marble statue of St Fiacrio, whom Moreni calls a son of Eugenius IV, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span>King of Scotland (he really was I am told an Irish Chief), who devoted all +the hours he could spare from his orations to the culture of medicinal +plants. A laudatory inscription was put on the base of the statue by +Cosimo III, in 1696.⁠<a id="FNanchor_43_43" href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p> + +<p>When Victor Emanuel came to Florence (as a stepping-stone to Rome) +Petraja and Castello were his two favourite villas, and enormous aviaries +were erected on the upper terrace of Petraja for his fine collection of +pheasants. His wife <span lang="it">“la bella Rosina”</span> lived there, and her beauty is +still talked of by the people about the place. For the King’s convenience +the great inner courtyard, with frescoes by Volterrano—or what little was +left of them after having been white-washed and then “restored”—was +glazed over, which though perhaps convenient has entirely spoiled the look +of the villa.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_108" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_108.jpg" alt="The Fountain of Venus, by Tribolo and Giovanni Da Bologna"> +</figure> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_36_36" href="#FNanchor_36_36" class="label">[36]</a> Translated by R. C. Trevelyan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_37_37" href="#FNanchor_37_37" class="label">[37]</a> Critics declare the “Florence” to be by Giovanni Bologna.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_38_38" href="#FNanchor_38_38" class="label">[38]</a> Under the command of Sir John Hawkwood, “Giovanni Aguto, who for a surname in his own country,” +says Ammirato, “had the appellation <i lang="it">Falcone di Bosco</i> (Hawk of the wood), because his mother being taken +with the pains of labour on an estate belonging to her, had herself carried into a wood and there gave birth to +a son.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_39_39" href="#FNanchor_39_39" class="label">[39]</a> Scipione Ammirato. <cite lang="it">Istoria di Firenze</cite>, p. 638.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_40_40" href="#FNanchor_40_40" class="label">[40]</a> Galluzzi. <cite lang="it">Istoria del Granducato di Toscana.</cite> Vol. I. p. 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_41_41" href="#FNanchor_41_41" class="label">[41]</a> <i lang="it">Cosimo de’ Medici.</i> Dorothea Ewart. P. 184.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_42_42" href="#FNanchor_42_42" class="label">[42]</a> The tower is commonly called <cite lang="it">La Torre de’ Brunelleschi</cite> from the name of the former owners of +Petraja, and not because it was built by the great architect Filippo Brunellesco as is often said. Filippo was +of a different family. See <cite lang="it">Notizie Storiche dei Palazzi e Villa appartente alla I.E.R. Corona di Toscana.</cite> +G. Anguillesi. Pisa, 1815.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_43_43" href="#FNanchor_43_43" class="label">[43]</a> See Moreni. <cite lang="it">Contorni di Firenze.</cite> Vol. I, p. 101.</p></div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_110" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_110a.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + COSIMO II, +<br> + By <span class="smcap">Duprè</span>. +<br> + (<i lang="it">Villa di Poggio Imperiale</i>). + </figcaption> +</figure> +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_110b.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + BIANCA CAPPELLO, +<br> + By <span class="smcap">Selvi</span>. +<br> + (<i lang="it">Villa di Poggio a Caiano</i>). + </figcaption> +</figure><figure class="figcenter illowp50"> + <img class="w100" src="images/i_110c.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <span class="smcap">MARIA MADDALENA d’AUSTRIA</span>, +<br> + By <span class="smcap">Duprè</span>. +<br> + (<i lang="it">Villa di Poggio Imperiale</i>). + </figcaption> +</figure> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_113a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_113a.jpg" alt="The North Facade and Tower"> +</figure> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_DI_BELLOSGUARDO"> + VILLA DI BELLOSGUARDO + </h2> + +</div> +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“... Tuscan Bellosguardo,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where Galileo stood at night to take</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The vision of the stars....”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/b.jpg" alt="Stylized B"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>Bellosguardo</span> near Florence is mentioned as a favourable +spot for erecting villas as early as 1427. But the great +Villa Bellosguardo was in existence long before, as it belonged +to the noble knight Messer Cavalcante Cavalcanti, father of the +poet Guido, and lord of the castle of Le Stinche, of Montecalvo +in Val di Pesa, of Luco, of Ostina in the Upper Val d’ Arno, and +of other places. Some say his ancestors came from Cologne in 806 with the +Emperor Charlemagne, others declare them to have come from Fiesole. Dino +Compagni mentions Guido, who died about 1301, as “a gracious youth, courteous +and brave, but of a quick and solitary temper and much given to study.” He +was an intimate friend of Dante, and no doubt the two poets often stood on +the terrace of the fine old villa gazing on the fair city below while discussing +poetry and philosophy. Both were Guelphs; and Guido’s hatred of Messer +Corso Donati, the head of the Ghibelline party, who had tried to assassinate +him while on a pilgrimage, was so intense that he tried one day to kill him +in the streets of Florence, and in consequence had to fly the country. Villani +tells us that when the two rival factions were reconciled in 1267 a marriage +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span>was arranged between Guido Cavalcanti and a daughter of the staunch Ghibelline +Farinata degli Uberti; but discord again broke out, the Priors of +Florence exiled the chief leaders, and Dante was one of the Priori who voted in +favour of the banishment of his friend. The Ghibellines were sent to Castello +della Pieve; the Guelphs, Guido among them, to Sarzana. He was, however, +almost immediately released as the bad air made him ill, and he died soon +after reaching Florence.</p> + +<p>Lorenzo de’ Medici in a letter to Don Federigo d’ Arragona, son of the +King of Naples, writes about “the delicate Florentine Guido Cavalcanti, a +subtle logician, and for his century a profound philosopher. Even as he was +handsome, winning and of gentle blood, so was he above nearly all the others +in the grace and charm of his writings: accurate and admirable in conception, +dignified in his sentences, copious and elevated, wise and far-seeing in his +composition. All these gifts are adorned, as though with an embroidered +vest, by an enchanting, sweet and ever-youthful style, which, had it been used +in a wider field, would indubitably have set him in the first rank.” Dante +did place him in the first rank, even above Guido Guinicelli then considered +the greatest of Italian poets, when he wrote—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Thus hath one Guido from the other snatch’d</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The letter’d prize....”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>He dedicated the <cite lang="it">Vita Nuova</cite> to Guido Cavalcanti, whom he calls <span lang="it">“primo +de’ miei amici,”</span> and they wrote many sonnets to each other; but Guido’s +<cite lang="it">Ballate</cite> are by far the most natural and charming of his productions; “Here,” +says Symonds, “we find the first full blossom of genuine Italian verse. Their +beauty is that of popular song, starting flower-like from the soil and fragrant +in its first expansion beneath the sun of courtesy and culture.” His poem, +<cite lang="it">Donna mi prega perch’ io voglia dire</cite>, has had volumes of commentaries +written on its beauties, and is one of the poems cited by Petrarch as among +the finest in the Italian language.</p> + +<p>Soon after Guido’s death new dissensions broke out between the rival +factions: Masino Cavalcanti was beheaded by the advice of Pazzino de’ Pazzi, +the palaces of the Cavalcanti in Florence were burnt and they fled to their +castles, from whence they harried the territory of the Republic. The Florentines +marched out to attack the strong castle of Le Stinche which after a desperate +struggle fell into their hands, and the defenders were immured in a new +prison the Signoria had just built on the site of some houses belonging +to the Uberti in the parish of San Simone. From these first inmates +the prison came to be called Le Stinche—dreaded name in the later annals +of the city. Montecalvo was also taken, and the Cavalcanti were only +permitted to return to Florence three years later, to be again driven out +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span>in 1311 when Paffiero Cavalcanti murdered Pazzino de’ Pazzi to revenge +the decapitation of his brother Masino. Several of the family then emigrated +to Naples, where their descendants filled some of the highest posts in the +kingdom.</p> + +<p>In 1447 the Cavalcanti sold Villa Bellosguardo to Tommaso, son of +Gino Nerii de’ Capponi, for 1500 golden florins. After in vain trying on +a hill lacking both springs and wells to make lakes and build brick kilns, +“which have not turned out what I wished and have cost me fifty florins +more than I encashed,” as Tommaso writes to his brother, he soon sold +the place again to its old owners the Cavalcanti. Whether they destroyed +the villa of their own free will in 1530 when Florence was besieged, or +whether the Prince of Orange, or the German commander, Felix von +Werdenberg, wilfully made a target of it, is unknown, but in some of the +chronicles of that time it is mentioned as being in ruins.</p> + +<p>Cosimo I confiscated Bellosguardo with other property of the Cavalcanti +in 1559 and gave it to one of his servants for life. Eight years afterwards +it reverted to the Medici and was bought from them by Lionardo Marinozzi, +another of Cosimo’s favourites. His son sold it in 1583 to Girolamo di +Antonio Michelozzi, whose descendants still own it. It was then described +as <span lang="it">“una torre ad uso di palazzo,”</span> which would seem as though Lionardo +had added the magnificent tower on to an already existing villa instead of +building, as was usually done, a dwelling-house round an old tower. It +has been immortalised by Mrs Browning as—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“... a tower that keeps</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A post of double observation o’er</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The valley of the Arno (holding as a hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The outspread city) straight toward Fiesole</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Mount Morello and the setting sun.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>The front of the villa is ornamented with <i lang="it">grafite</i>, and over the front door +is a <span lang="it">Pietà</span> by Francavilla, a Dutch pupil of Giovan Bologna, while the large +entrance hall contains damaged frescoes said to be by Poccetti. The fine +old place is now inhabited by Lady Paget, who has converted an orangery +into a most picturesque and delightful sitting-room, and restored Villa +Bellosguardo to its pristine splendour. All parts of the town can be seen +from the terrace; only the Arno lies hidden between two endless rows of +palaces, until it reaches the long line of trees in the Cascine, whence its +course can be traced for many miles along the valley. From here Florence +seems to be closely set between olive-clothed hills, with villas spreading +like endless chains as far as the eye can reach, up to the summits above +Fiesole, on to the slopes beyond Prato, and behind us towards the Val +di Pesa, where the pine woods stand like sentinels against the sky. Straight +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span>in front, towards the north, are the heights of Monte Senario, three serrated +peaks black even in the sunlight, with the Servite convent lying like a +streak of snow among the fir woods. On clear days the point of the +Falterona, where the Arno takes its rise, can be seen to the right of the +long hill of Vallombrosa on the east.</p> + +<p>This view has been celebrated by more than one poet and has given +the world-known name—Bellosguardo—to this side of Florence. But only +at twilight does the whole beauty of the scene appear. Strange white +gleams touch the hills, and in the uncertain light of the closing day there +is a confused sense of colour as though the wind were driving great masses +of autumn leaves before it through the valley. Then the clearer evening +glow succeeds the twilight, and Florence and her russet-coloured roofs stand +out clear again in a setting of shadowed hills.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>Adjoining Villa Bellosguardo is the Villa dell’ Ombrellino, now belonging +to M. Zouboff. Here lived for sixteen years one of the greatest of Italians—Galileo +Galilei; and here he composed the dialogue discussing the Ptolemaic +and the Copernican systems. All learned Florentines and every foreigner +of distinction breasted the steep hill of Bellosguardo to listen to the wonderful +conversation of Galileo. Eloquent, sarcastic, brimming over with fun +and humour yet full of learning, he was a delightful companion. Virgil, +Horace and Seneca he knew by heart and often quoted, as he did the +poetry of Petrarch, of Berni, and especially of Ariosto, for whom he had +a great admiration. He never permitted Tasso to be compared to Ariosto, +saying there was the same difference between them as though a man tried +to eat a cucumber after a good melon. Galileo was only happy in the +country, declaring cities to be the prisons of human intellect, “whereas +the country is the book of nature, always open to him who cares to read +and study it with intelligence, for the writing and the alphabet in which +it is written are so many propositions, problems and geometrical corollaries, +by whose help some of the infinite mysteries of nature may be penetrated.”</p> + +<p>In 1633, after the second bitter persecution suffered at Rome by Galileo, +he was allowed to return to Florence and live on</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Thy sunny slope, Arcetri, sung of old</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For its green wine; dearer to me, to most,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As dwelt on by that great Astronomer,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Seven years a prisoner at the city gate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let in but in his grave-clothes. Sacred be</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His villa (justly was it called the Gem).</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sacred the lawn, where many a cypress threw</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Its length of shadow, while he watched the stars.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span> + <div class="verse indent0">Sacred the vineyard, where, while yet his sight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Glimmered, at blush of morn he dressed his vines,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Chanting aloud in gaiety of heart</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some verse of Ariosto.—There unseen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In manly beauty Milton stood before him,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gazing with reverent awe—Milton, his guest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Just then come forth, all life and enterprise;</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>He</i> in his old age and extremity,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Blind, at noonday exploring with his staff;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His eyes upturned as to the golden sun,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His eyeballs idly rolling.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_44_44" href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_117" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_117.jpg" alt="Distant View of the Villa from the Podere of the Villa Dell’ Ombrellino"> +</figure> + +<p>At Arcetri, Galileo rented a villa from his pupil Esau Martellini, called +<span lang="it">“Il Gioiello”</span> (the Gem). This was practically his prison, as the Inquisition +forbade him to hold meetings, give lectures, receive friends to dinner, or +“commit any action showing a want of reverence.” In 1634 his favourite +daughter, a nun in the convent of San Matteo in Arcetri died, and the sick +man was inconsolable, but Urban VIII, and his worthy advisers the Jesuits, +continued their persecution, ordering that he was not to converse with anyone +“not even the most wise and respectable person.” Through the Grand Duke +he petitioned the Pope to grant him some mitigation of his rigorous +imprisonment, whereupon the Inquisition commanded him to desist from +further supplications on pain of instant punishment. In 1638 Galileo became +blind and died four years later. Viviani describes him in his old age as +“strongly built, of middle height, full-blooded, phlegmatic and very strong, +but hard work and pain, both of body and mind, had debilitated his frame, so +that he often fell into a languid condition.” He was a good musician and +played well on the lute, a clever draughtsman, and so able an architect that +the government consulted him on the new front they desired to build for the +Cathedral of Florence. After 1633 all his letters are dated “from my prison +at Arcetri.”</p> + +<p>Not far from the Bellosguardo villa, but on the other slope of the hill, +overlooking the lower valley of the Arno, stands the old Villa Montauto, once +belonging to the Bonciani, who owned large possessions about there. In the +tower of this villa Hawthorne wrote <cite>Transformation</cite>, and the peasants still +remember the foreign gentleman who “sat like an owl up in the tower and +refused to come down to talk to visitors.” He describes it accurately in the +twenty-fourth chapter of his novel.</p> + +<p>“About thirty yards within the gateway rose a square tower, lofty +enough to be a very prominent object in the landscape, and more than +sufficiently massive in proportion to its height. Its antiquity was evidently +such that, in a climate of more than abundant moisture, the ivy would +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span>have mantled it from head to foot in a garment that might by this time +have been centuries old, though ever new. In the dry Italian air, however, +Nature had only so far adopted this old pile of stonework as to cover +almost every hand’s-breadth of it with close-clinging lichens and yellow +moss; and the immemorial growth of these kindly productions rendered +the general hue of the tower soft and venerable, and took away the +aspect of nakedness which would have made its age drearier than now.</p> + +<p>“Up and down the height of the tower were scattered three or four +windows, the lower ones grated with iron bars, the upper ones vacant both +of window-frames and glass. Besides these larger openings, there were +several loopholes and little square apertures which might be supposed to +light the staircase that doubtless climbed the interior towards the battlemented +and machicolated summit. With this last-mentioned war-like garniture upon +its stern old head and brow, the tower seemed evidently a stronghold of +times long past. Many a crossbowman had shot his shafts from those +windows and loopholes, and from the vantage height of those grey battlements; +many a flight of arrows, too, had hit all round about the embrasures +above, or the apertures below, where the helmet of a defender had momentarily +glimmered.... Connected with the tower, and extending behind it, there +seemed to be a very spacious residence, chiefly of more modern date. It +perhaps owed much of its fresher appearance, however, to a coat of stucco +and yellow wash, which is a sort of renovation very much in vogue with +the Italians.”</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_120" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_120.jpg" alt="Montauto, With the Tower of Bellosguardo in the Distance"> +</figure> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_44_44" href="#FNanchor_44_44" class="label">[44]</a> +<i>Italy.</i> Samuel Rogers. P. 140.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_122" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_122.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <span class="smcap">VILLA di CASTELLO</span> + </figcaption> +</figure> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_125a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_125a.jpg" + alt="The Garden and Fountain of Hercules, by Tribolo and Ammannati"> +</figure> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_DI_CASTELLO">VILLA DI CASTELLO</h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/t.jpg" alt="Stylized T"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>The</span> villa of Castello, “built by Pier Francesco de’ Medici +with much judgment,” as Vasari remarks, belonged to +the Medici family before they became Grand Dukes of +Tuscany, and was always one of their favourite residences. +Unlike Petraja, which towers above the plain, Castello is a +long low villa on a gentle incline above the high road, with +no extensive view, and the eye feasts only on the garden behind. And +what a charming scene it is on a windless summer’s day! The magnolia +trees, the pride of the place, are in flower, copper beeches and oleanders +mingle their glorious colours in marvellous variety above the green lawns +and give a luxuriant look to what is really a formal garden; for on the +terraces which rise from the back of the villa, lemon trees in big terra-cotta +pots edge the gravel walks, and the Florentine gardener has not forgotten +to tie the carnations to canes so that they stand stiffly up from their pots +on the low walls. Then there is the fountain in the centre of a terrace +of its own, divided from the others by steps, and surrounded with statues +of ladies and gentlemen of the Medici family; but their drapery is so +tightly drawn round them in stiff straight folds that they resemble far +more one’s idea of Roman senators and their wives.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span></p> + +<p>The fountain, generally referred to as a work of Giovanni Bologna, +Vasari attributes to Tribolo, and the mixture of bronze and marble is +fine. It is divided into various basins; on the larger one are four little +bronze <span lang="it">“putti”</span> lying on the edge of the marble basin playing with the +water. Below them, in the centre of the fountain, seven marble “putti” +are seated upon lions’ claws; four rams’ heads look over the edge of the +upper and smaller basin, and marble figures of children hold wild geese +by the necks which spout water from their bills. Four other <span lang="it">“putti”</span> are +seated below the pedestal on which Hercules is wrestling with Antæus, +a group by Ammanati, so curiously like figures by Pollaiuolo that it +might have been suggested by one of his drawings. Breasting the hill +and crossing another terrace we come to a large cool grotto scooped out of +the hillside, its roof decorated with masks, scrolls, baskets of flowers and +arabesques done in different coloured shells. Queer, nearly life-size animals +fill the three recesses in the grotto, a camel with a monkey on its back, +a unicorn, a wild boar, a ram, a lion, a bear, hounds, and smaller creatures +carved out of various marbles and stone to correspond to the colours of +the animals portrayed, stand on rocks in happy confusion. Animals from +every quarter of the globe are united here by the fanciful artist whose one +idea was not zoology but the amusement of the members of a Florentine +ducal house during long summer days. In order to enhance illusion he +has given the stag and the ram real horns, and the boar has real tusks +in his ferocious mouth. The large sarcophagii, or baths, under these groups, +of white and pink marble, are very fine. One has all sorts of sea fish +sculptured on its side; the others, a tangle of shells, crabs, lobsters and +crayfish; all three rest on large dolphins.</p> + +<p>On the terrace above this grotto are remains of the labyrinth described by +Vasari in his life of Tribolo, some fine trees and a large round reservoir full +of emerald green water with an island in the centre on which crouches a +colossal bronze figure of the Apennines surrounded with lilies and ferns. The +statue is said to be by Tribolo, and one asks oneself how the same man who +designed the lovely fountain in the garden could perpetrate such a hideous +monster.</p> + +<p>The walk (about a mile) from Castello to Petraja through the ilex wood +is very charming, and passes close by a small church—or rather one may call +it a campanile with a chapel attached, for the exquisite beauty of the bell-tower +is the first thing to attract one as it rises from the hillside so evenly +balanced by a group of cypresses. The whole forms a perfect jewel of +architectural effect. No wonder the people of the country round are proud of +their campanile and call it <span lang="it">“la meraviglia di Castello.”</span></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span></p> + +<p>The name of the villa does not come from <i>castle</i> as is often said, but from +the roman <i lang="la">castellum</i>, a receptacle for water. Villani tells us that Marcrinus, +a Roman senator, made a conduit on arches and brought the water seven +miles, in order that the citizens of Florentia might have abundance of good +water to drink. The aqueduct started from the streamlet Marina at the foot +of Monte Morello, and collected all the springs above Sesto, Quinto, Colonnato, +etc., on its way. That worthy old academician, Domenico Manni, in his book +<cite lang="it">Le Terme Fiorentine</cite>, describes various arches, pilasters, and great pieces of +masonry still existing in his time (1750) near Doccia, near the torrent +Mugnone, near the Villa Corsini, close to Castello, and at Ponte a Rifredi. +He gives drawings of two arches which soon afterwards fell down, and copies +of many inscriptions found while digging foundations for houses or ploughing +the fields. The aqueduct is still commemorated in the name of a church near +Montughi, San Stefano in Pane de Arcora.</p> + +<p>Caterina Sforza, widow of Giovanni de’ Medici, the celebrated mother of a +still more celebrated son, inhabited Castello during the last seven years of her +chequered existence. An illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Milan, she was +affianced at eleven years of age to Girolamo Riario, a favourite nephew of +Sixtus, and married to him after the murder of her father. Her beauty, grace +of manner, wit and intelligence gained the heart, not only of the Pope but of +all who knew her, to judge by the impassioned description given by Fabio +Oliva when she was about twenty. “As she issued from her litter, it seemed +as if the sun had emerged, so gorgeously beautiful did she appear, laden with +silver and gold and jewels, but still more striking from her natural charms. +Her hair, wreathed in the manner of a coronet, was brighter than the gold +with which it was entwined. Her forehead of burnished ivory almost reflected +the beholders. Her eyes sparkled behind the mantling crimson of her cheeks, +as morning stars amid those many-tinted lilies which returning dawn scatters +along the horizon.”</p> + +<p>After the murder of her first husband in 1488, avenged by her without +mercy, she proclaimed her son Ottaviano, Count of Forli; and soon afterwards +married Giacomo Fea, the handsome, loyal and brave captain who kept the +citadel of Forli so well against the insurgents who had killed Count Girolamo +Riario. Ratti, the biographer of the Sforzas says: “It would be difficult to +find in history any woman who so far surpassed her sex, who was so much the +amazement of her contemporaries and the marvel of posterity. Endowed with a +lofty and masculine spirit, she was born to command; great in peace, valiant in +war, beloved by her subjects, dreaded by her foes, admired by foreigners.” +Likenesses of Caterina, of her first husband and her two eldest sons, are to be +seen in the altarpiece of the Torelli chapel in the church of San Girolamo at Forli.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span></p> + +<p>In 1496 she was once more a widow, Giacomo Fea having been murdered +by some of her own subjects, whom she punished as she had done the +assassins of her first husband. Giovanni de’ Medici, envoy of Florence to the +court of her son, married her the following year and died soon after, leaving +her with an infant boy. After vainly trying to stem the invasion of her eldest +son’s territories by Duke Valentino, who entered the citadel of Forli by +treachery, she was made prisoner and sent to Rome; but after a short +imprisonment was allowed to retire to Florence, where she dedicated herself to +the education of her little son, Giovanni de’ Medici. Her letters, full of family +troubles, complaining bitterly that she was left without sheets for her bed, +forks or tablecloths, are sad reading. Pierfrancesco and Lorenzo de’ Medici +attempted to contest her right to the villa and to the little that was left of +the heritage of her third husband “the Magnificent Joanne de’ Medici”; and +she lived in constant fear that Lorenzo, who had unlawfully assumed the tutelage +of her son, would make away with him in order to dissipate the patrimony +of his dead father. After a law suit she rescued the boy from the clutches of +his uncle and smuggled him, with some waiting-women, into the nunnery +of Anna-Lena. Here, dressed as a girl and jealously guarded by the +faithful nuns, the future soldier Giovanni delle Bande Nere—the last of the +great condottiere—passed eight months. It was only after the death of +Lorenzo, in 1504, that he joined his mother at Castello, when she devoted +all her remarkable energy to his education. Tutor succeeded tutor, for +Madonna Caterina wished the boy to be an accomplished and learned +gentleman; but he despised book-learning, and only cared for athletic +exercises and out-door sports. “So you have your boy back,” wrote an +old follower of her husband whom she commissioned to procure “a small +and handsome horse” for the seven year old Giovanni. “If my father +had come to life again I could not be more glad; and so it is with all +the condottieri here in camp. The day your letter arrived the commissary +was so overjoyed he could not eat. As to the horse, we will search among +the condottieri here, and whosoever has one will be only too proud to give +it. We shall, without fail, find what you want.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_45_45" href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p> + +<p>In 1527 there were grand doings at Castello, when, as is described by +old Varchi, two armies came, “one to attack and pillage Florence as an +enemy—which was the army of the Bourbons; while the other under the +guise of a friend and defender pillaged and spoiled her—which was the +army of the League; and it happened that on the last Friday of April, +which was on the twenty-sixth day of the year 1527, the Cardinal of Cortona +[Silvio Passerini], although he knew all the intrigues and confabulations +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span>of both old and young against the State, either not believing or wishing +to show he feared them not, left Florence most imprudently with the other +two Cardinals, the Magnificent, Count Piero Noferi and the whole court, +and went a little over two miles outside the Faenza gate to Castello, the +villa of Signor Cosimo, to meet and receive the Duke of Urbino and the +other heads of the League. Meanwhile the citizens rose and took possession +of the palace of the Signoria, and the Cardinals with Ippolito had to return +in all haste to quell the insurrection. Thereupon the citizens sadly and +sorrowfully went back to their houses without injury but in great fear.”</p> + +<p>Maria Salviati, the mother of Cosimo I, died at Castello; and they say +he was with difficulty persuaded to quit a hunting party and return to +receive her last blessing. He enlarged the villa considerably on the eastern +side after the designs of Tribolo, and charged Pontormo to decorate the +Loggia, but all the frescoes have perished. Cosimo retired to Castello +after his secret marriage with Camilla Martelli, a marriage so distasteful +to his Austrian daughter-in-law that she wrote to her brother the Emperor +to complain. He answered in the following arrogant lines which she +was silly enough to send to her father-in-law: “I cannot conceive what +the Grand Duke was thinking of when he made so shameful and odious +an alliance, ridiculed by all; it is thought the good Duke must be out +of his mind. I beg Your Highness not to permit this impudent woman +to be exalted, and to hold no communication with her; for if in this +matter you fail to show the greatness of Your soul and Your magnanimity, +everyone will be angered.”</p> + +<p>The reply given by Cosimo de’ Medici was far more dignified: “As +to my having taken a wife, H.I.H. remarks that perhaps I had taken leave +of my senses.... One might have rather said I was off my head when +I ceded the reins of government to the Prince (Francesco, his eldest son, +husband of the Arch-Duchess) with seven hundred thousand ducats of +income. I did it with pleasure and I have no intention to cancel my act, +although it depends on my own will and pleasure, because I had to do +with men; but with regard to my marriage, wherein I had to do with God, +one cannot speak thus. I am not the first Prince who has taken a vassal +to wife, and shall probably not be the last; my wife is of gentle birth, +and is to be respected as such. I do not seek for quarrels, but I shall +not avoid them if they are forced upon me by my own family. When I +make up my mind to do a thing, I do it, regardless of the consequences, +trusting in God and my own right hand.”</p> + +<p>In October 1608 Castello was the scene of much rejoicing for the +reception of Maria Maddalena of Austria, who passed some days there +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span> +before her solemn entry into Florence as the bride of Cosimo, eldest son +of Ferdinando I. The pomp and magnificence then displayed surpassed +anything yet seen; Ferdinando himself crowned his daughter-in-law at the +gate of the town, and then the Arch-Duchess, mounting a splendid white +palfrey, rode to the cathedral door amidst the acclamations of the crowd. +Christine of Lorraine, widow of Ferdinando I, whose favourite villa Castello +was, died there in December 1636 after two days’ illness; and twenty-seven +years afterwards her grandson Giancarlo, brother of the Grand Duke +Ferdinando II, who was first a soldier in the service of the King of Spain +and then a Cardinal, closed his unworthy life in the same villa. Described +as “a man of little worth and of evil morals,” he yet has a claim to the +gratitude of posterity as the builder of the charming theatre of the Pergola.</p> + +<p>The gardens of both Petraja and Castello have been celebrated by many +writers in poetry and prose. Among others Redi, the jovial doctor, sings +the praises of the vineyards in his <cite lang="it">Bacco in Toscana</cite>, and takes the +opportunity to pay a compliment to that poor creature Cosimo III, his patron.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“But lauded</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Applauded,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With laurels rewarded,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be the hero who first in the vineyards divine</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Petraja and Castello</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Planted first the Moscadello.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_46_46" href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_130" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_130.jpg" alt="The “Apennines” Fountain"> +</figure> + +<p>Jacopo Cortesi, the Jesuit painter, better known as <i lang="it">Il Borgognone</i>, lived +as the guest of Cosimo III for some months at Castello, and painted his +own portrait there for the Uffizzi gallery in the habit of his Order. Vast +sums were spent by Pietro Leopoldo, the beloved Grand Duke of Tuscany +who became Emperor of Austria, on beautifying the gardens of the two +villas, and they still bear some faint traces of his love for rare trees and shrubs.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_45_45" href="#FNanchor_45_45" class="label">[45]</a> <cite lang="it">Caterina Sforza.</cite> By Pier Desiderio Pasolini. Vol. II. p. 321. Firenze, 1893.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_46_46" href="#FNanchor_46_46" class="label">[46]</a> <cite>Bacchus in Tuscany.</cite> A dithyrambic poem, from the Italian of Francesco Redi, with notes original +and select. By Leigh Hunt. London, 1828.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_132" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_132.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + VILLA CORSINI <span class="allsmcap">AT</span> CASTELLO. + </figcaption> +</figure> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span></p> +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_135" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_135.jpg" alt="The Bosco and Fountain"> +</figure> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_CORSINI_AT_CASTELLO"> + VILLA CORSINI AT CASTELLO + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/t.jpg" alt="Stylized T"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>This</span> villa first belonged to the Strozzi, who sold it to the +Rinieri in 1460, when it was called <span lang="it">“La Lepre dei Rinieri.”</span> +About a century later it was bought by Francesco di Jacopo +Sangalletti, whose estates were confiscated by the Medici, +and sold to Pagolo Donati in 1597. It again changed +hands and at last became the property of Cosimo de’ Medici, +son of the Grand Duke Ferdinando I, but finding it useless to have three +villas—Petraja, Castello and Rinieri—so close together, he sold the last in +1650 to Piero Cervieri, who died without heirs and left all he possessed +to the Jesuits. On the suppression of their Order the villa was bought by +the Lanfredini, from whom it passed into the possession of the great +house of Corsini, who enlarged and altered it, probably from the designs +of Antonio Ferri, the same architect who built the large saloon, the fine +staircase and the façade of the Corsini palace on the Lung’ Arno in Florence.</p> + +<p>Villa Corsini stands at the foot of the royal villa La Petraja. It +is a rather stately baroque edifice, with a large square courtyard in the +centre; and though but little raised above the plain, the view of Florence +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span>from the south side of the garden is lovely. On the north is a typical +Italian pleasaunce, where narrow paths meander under the deep shade of +tall ilexes, oaks and fir trees; grey stone columns and balustrades surround +small squares and circles of ground, as though it had been once parcelled +out among the children of the house. A fountain represents a prancing +seahorse who is unceasingly occupied in keeping a huge sarcophagus, +entirely overgrown with maiden-hair fern, always brimful of water. Standing +by the splashing fountain we get a beautiful glimpse of Petraja through +the trees, standing high up on the hill behind. Prince Corsini told me +the fine ilexes at Narford Hall were raised from acorns off these trees; +the much-travelled Sir Andrew Fountaine, who resided for some time in +Florence, and probably bought a good deal of his celebrated collection of +Italian pottery from the Grand Duke Cosimo III,⁠<a id="FNanchor_47_47" href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> was an intimate +friend of Prince Corsini who sent a bagful of acorns to Narford. A +present feature of the garden of the Villa Corsini is a shady avenue of +ilexes which leads to the stable and was planted only fifty years ago.</p> + +<p>To English people the villa is interesting as it was inhabited by Sir +Robert Dudley, to whom it was lent by the Grand Duke of Tuscany. +Robert Dudley (born 1573) was the son of the Earl of Leicester by his +second wife Douglas Howard, widow of Lord Sheffield; but the marriage, +for various private and political reasons, was secretly solemnised and never +acknowledged by Leicester, who a few years later married Lettice, widow +of the Earl of Essex. Leicester calls Robert Dudley “my base son” in +his will, yet he left him “the lordships of Denbighe and Chirke, etc., the +castle of Kenilworth with all the Parkes, Chases and Lands after the +death of my dear brother Ambrose the Earl of Warwick,” and other estates +too numerous to mention here.</p> + +<p>The Earl of Leicester died in 1588, and his brother a year later, when +Robert Dudley succeeded to Kenilworth. In 1591 he was affianced to Frances +Vavasour, maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth, who however forbade the +celebration of the marriage on account of Dudley’s youth.</p> + +<p>Dudley was educated at Christ Church, Oxford; where, under the date +7th May 1588, he was entered as <i lang="la">Comitis Filius</i>. But his love of travel and +adventure drove him to study navigation; he built some warships, engaged +the best pilots he could find and started for the West Indies. After conquering +the Island of Trinidad he discovered Guiana (of which he made a map +published in his work, <i lang="fr">L’Arcano del Mare</i>), and after taking several galleons +from the enemy returned to England with much booty. Entering the navy, he, +in the absence of his uncle the Earl of Nottingham, took command of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span> +English fleet in 1596; the following year he led the van-guard in the battle +of Cadiz; then he besieged Faro in Algarve in Portugal; and when Calais +was taken by Mendoza, he commanded the English ships sent to the rescue.</p> + +<p>In a letter to the Rev. Mr Hakluyt, a well-known writer on sea-voyages +and travels in the time of Elizabeth and James I, Dudley gives +a curious account of his first voyage at the age of twenty-one. “... I weighed +ancker from Southampton road the 6th of November 1594. Upon this day +my selfe in the ‘Beare,’ a ship of 200 tunnes, as Admirall; and Captaine +Munck in the ‘Beare’s Whelpe,’ Vice-Admirall; with two small pinnesses, +called the ‘Frisking’ and the ‘Earwig,’ I passed through the Needles, and +within two dayes after bare in with Plimmouth. But I was enforced to +returne backe. Having parted company with my Vice-Admirall, I went +wandering alone on my voyage, sailing along the coast of Spaine, within +view of Cape Finisterre and Cape St Vincent, the north and south capes +of Spaine. In which space, having many chases, I could meet with none +but my countreymen or countrey’s friends. Leaving these Spanish shores, +I directed my course, the 14th December, towards the Isles of the Canaries. +Here I lingered twelve dayes for two reasons; the one, in hope to meete my +Vice-Admirall; the other, to get some vessel to remove my pestered men +into, who being 140 almost in a ship of 200 tunnes, there grew many sicke. +I tooke two very fine caravels under the calmes of Tenerif and Palma, which +both refreshed and amended my company, and made me a fleet of three sailes.... +Thus cheered as a desolate traveller, with the company of my small +and newe erected Fleete, I continued my purpose for the West Indies.</p> + +<p>“Riding under this White Cape two daies, and walking on shore to view +the countrey, I found it a waste, desolate, barren and sandie place, the sand +running in drifts like snow, and very stony; for so is all the countrey +sand upon stone (like Arabia Deserta and Petrea), and full of blacke +venemous lizards, with some wild beasts and people which be tawny Moores, +so wilde, as they would but call to my caravels from the shore who road +very neare it. I now caused my master Abraham Kendall to shape his +course directly for the Isle of Trinidad in the West Indies; which after +twenty-two dayes we descried, and the 1st Feb. came to anker under a point +thereof, called Curiapan, in a bay which was very full of pelicans, and I +called it Pelican Bay. About three leagues to the eastward of this place +we found a mine of Mercazites, which glister like golde (but all is not golde +that glistereth), for so we found the same nothing worth, though the Indians +did assure us it was Calvori, which signifieth golde with them. These Indians +are a fine shaped and a gentle people, all naked and painted red, their +commanders wearing crowns of feathers. These people did often resort unto +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span> +my ship, and brought us hennes, hogs, plantans, potatos, pines, tobacco, and +many other pretie commodities, which they exchanged with us for hatchets, +knives, hookes, belles and glasse buttons. The countrey is fertile, and ful +of fruits, strange beasts and foules, whereof munkies, babions and parats +were in great abundance.</p> + +<p>“Right against the northernmost part of Trinidad, the maine was called +the high land of Paria, the rest a very lowe land. Morucca I learned to be +ful of a greenestone called Taracao, which is good for the stone. Caribes +I learned to be man-eiters or canibals and great enemies to the Islanders +of Trinidad. In the high land of Paria I was informed by divers of these +Indians, that there was some Perota, which with them is silver, and great +store of most excellent cane tobacco.... I was told of a rich nation, that +sprinkled their bodies with the powder of golde, and seemed to be guilt, +and that farre beyond them was a great towne called El Dorado, with many +other things.... And after carefully doubling the shouldes of Abreojos, +I now caused the Master (hearing by a pilote that the Spanish Fleete ment +to put out of Havana) to beare for the Meridian of the yle of Bermuda, +hoping there to finde the Fleete. The Fleete I found not, but foule +weather enough to scatter many Fleetes which companies left me not, till +I came to the yles of Flores and Cuervo; whither I made the more haste, +hoping to meete some greate Fleete of Her Majestie my Sovereigne, as I +had intelligence, and to give them advise of this rich Spanish Fleete; but +findinge none, and my victuals almost spent, I directed my course for +England.”</p> + +<p>Here he fell in love with, and married, a sister of Thomas Cavendish, +who died without children in 1596. Soon afterwards he married Alice, +daughter of Sir Thomas Leigh of Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, by whom he +had four daughters. His one desire after coming into possession of Kenilworth +was to clear his own and his mother’s reputation and honour, and +for this purpose he instituted proceedings at law to prove his legitimacy. +At first in the Ecclesiastical Court he had hopes of success, but the influence +of the Essexs and Sydneys proved too strong; the case was transferred to +the Star Chamber, which ordered that all “depositions should be sealed up +and no copies taken,” and only admitted the evidence of Lady Essex.</p> + +<p>Irritated by such injustice Dudley left England, and with him went +his beautiful young cousin Elisabeth, eldest daughter of Sir Robert Southwell. +At Lyons they entered the Roman Catholic Church, obtained the Pope’s +dispensation from the laws of consanguinity, and were married, Lady Alice +Dudley having in vain offered to join him with their four girls and to become +a Catholic.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span></p> + +<p>From Lyons Sir Robert and his new wife went to Florence and +Dudley wrote to the Grand Duke asking for his protection and offering his +services. In quaint French he set forth his noble birth and high lineage, +claimed by virtue of descent to be Duke of Northumberland, Earl of Warwick, +and Earl of Leicester, and declared himself second to none in the science +of navigation and the art of ship-building; he also promised to make the +Grand Duke absolute master in the seas +of the Levant in spite of all Spanish, +infidel and other galleys.</p> + +<figure class="figright illowp50" id="i_139" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_139.jpg" alt="Sir Robert Dudley’s instrument for finding the ebb and +flow of the tides"> +</figure> + +<p>Ferdinando II, made inquiries of Lotti, +his Minister in London, about the <span lang="it">“Conte +di Varuich”</span> before taking him into his +service. After expatiating upon the “exquisite +stature, fair beard and noble appearance” +of Sir Robert Dudley, Lotti added +that King James was very angry at his +marriage and his assumption of the title +of Earl of Warwick, and then writes in +cipher, “the chief reason is that His +Majesty does not want Catholic subjects, +especially when they are brave and +worthy men.” This brought the matter +to a conclusion, and Dudley immediately began building ships for the +Grand Duke. He wrote proudly of the galleon <i lang="it">San Giovanni</i>, “she was +a rare and strong sailer, of great repute, and the terror of the Turks +in these seas”; and his designs seem to have attracted notice in England, +as Lotti wrote to the Grand Duke in March 1607, “H. E. (Sir Thomas +Challoner, tutor to Prince Henry) showed me the design of a ship made +in Leghorn by the Earl of Warwick, and he also showed me another which +he said was more perfect than any.” This may account for James I, +sending Dudley an order to return to England, promising him an earldom +and the title of Earl of Warwick. But all offers that left his own and his +mother’s name under a slur were refused by Dudley, who remained in +Tuscany where, thanks to him, Leghorn became a great commercial port. +He induced the Grand Duke to build fortifications, to declare it a free port +and to allow an English factory to be set up. The draining of the marshes +between Leghorn and Pisa was also suggested by him.</p> + +<p>In the <i lang="it">Specola</i>, or Natural History Museum, in Florence, are three large +manuscript volumes in Dudley’s writing on ship-building. The two first +are in English, the third in Italian, and his orthography, to say the least, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span>is in both languages peculiar. In the same museum is a curious instrument +of his invention for finding the ebb and flow of the tides, of which I give, +through the kindness of Mr Temple Leader, an engraving taken from his +interesting <cite>Life of Sir Robert Dudley</cite>, from which most of my facts are +taken.</p> + +<p>In Florence, Dudley and his wife (mentioned by Lord Herbert of +Cherbury as “the handsome <i>Mrs Sudel</i> whom he carried away with him out +of England and is here taken for his wife”) were known as Earl and Countess +of Warwick, until the Emperor Ferdinand II, to please his sister the Grand +Duchess Maria Maddalena, whose grand chamberlain Dudley was, created +him Duke of Northumberland in 1620.</p> + +<p>Dudley was undoubtedly a remarkable man. He had been carefully +educated, was a brave and scientific seaman and well versed in military +and naval architecture; he excelled in all knightly exercises and was cited +for his courtly and polished manners. A man of letters and a good +mathematician, he also busied himself with medicine and invented a powder +known as <i lang="la">Pulvis Comitis Warvicensis</i>, much praised by Mario Cornacchini, +professor of medicine at Pisa, who declares that “clearing the Italian seas +of barbarous and evil pirates was not a greater benefit to mankind than his +fighting and exterminating the evil humours which molest humanity and +cause disease.”</p> + +<p>Of Dudley’s twelve children the eldest, Maria, married the Prince of +Piombino; Maria Maddalena became the wife of Malaspina Marchese d’Olivola, +High Steward to Queen Christina of Sweden; and Teresa married the Duke +della Cornia. Robert, the eldest son, died a few days before he attained his +majority, and his mother was so affected by his loss that she followed him +to the grave within a few weeks, to the intense grief of her husband. The +second son, Charles, was an unmannerly scapegrace who gave his father +infinite trouble. He married a Frenchwoman, Marie Madeleine, daughter of +Charles Antoine Gouffier, Marquis de Braseux and Seigneur de Crevecœur. +His daughter was the beautiful, witty and wild Christina Dudley married to +the Marchese Paleotti of Bologna, whose adventurous and romantic life has +been so well described by Signor Corrado Ricci,⁠<a id="FNanchor_48_48" href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> and whose daughter Adelaide, +after various adventures, turned Protestant, married the Duke of Shrewsbury, +became a leader of fashion in London and Lady-in-Waiting to the Princess +of Wales; her son Ferdinand, after giving endless annoyance to the +Shrewsburys, ended his ill-spent life on the gallows. He was hung at +Tyburn on March 28th, 1718, for the murder of his Italian servant, and +curiously enough the Tuscan Minister present at his execution was Don +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span>Neri Corsini, whose family now own the villa where Sir Robert Dudley, +Duke of Northumberland and Earl of Warwick, lived for so many years +and died in Sept. 1649.</p> + +<p>Since 1230, when the Corsini came from Poggibonsi, their name fills +many a page of the history of Florence as Priors and Gonfaloniers of the +city. Andrea, the beloved and revered bishop of Fiesole, left such a +reputation for goodness and sanctity that he was beatified in 1440 and +canonised by Urban VIII, in 1629. He restored the cathedral of his diocese +and the façade we now see was built by him. His brother Neri succeeded +him as bishop of Fiesole, while another brother, Matteo, went to England, +where his uncle was Master of the Mint, and made a large fortune in trade. +He is known as the author of interesting family records and of the <cite lang="it">Rosaia +della Vita</cite>, often quoted in the dictionary of the Crusca as a model of pure +and elegant Italian. Tommaso di Duccio, their uncle, a learned jurist and +a great statesman, was one of the chief citizens of Florence in the fourteenth +century, and to his prudent counsels and wise administration the Republic +owed much of her prosperity and power. After long negotiations he induced +the Visconti to make peace with Florence, and when this was at length +signed in 1353 he withdrew from public life, entered the Order of the +<i lang="it">Gaudenti</i> (instituted for the protection of widows and orphans) and jointly +with the Rossi and Manieri erected a monastery outside the Porta Romana. +For himself he built a small house hard by the monastery and passed the +rest of his days almost as a hermit, occupied in prayer and good works. +Notwithstanding the large amount given in charity he left a very considerable +fortune to his sons; the eldest, Amerigo, was bishop of Florence at the time +of the Council of Constance, which put an end to the schism of the Church +and elected Martino V, Pope. In order to conciliate the citizens Martino +raised Florence to the rank of an archbishopric and bestowed the privilege +of wearing the crimson robes of a cardinal on her archbishop.</p> + +<p>Luca Corsini was the popular Prior of Florence who shut the door of +the Palazzo della Signoria in the face of Piero de’ Medici after his cession of +Pisa, Leghorn, Pietrasanta and Sarzana to Charles VIII, of France. As +ardent a republican and as great an enemy of the Medici as he was a friend +of Savonarola, it is related that in 1498 the grave magistrate was seen throwing +stones and fighting in the streets in defence of Fra Girolamo like any young +lad. A daughter of the house of Corsini, Marietta, married the celebrated +Niccolò Macchiavelli and is said to be depicted in his novel <cite>Belfegor</cite>; this may +be—but he mentions her in his will with affection and esteem. Bertholdo +Corsini, who was elected a Prior of Florence in 1531 after the fall of the +Republic, must have been a weak man. He paid court to Duke Alessandro +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span>de’ Medici, who made him custodian of the fortress of San Giovan Battista; +but when Alessandro was murdered by his cousin Lorenzino, Corsini repented +and offered to give up the arms and ammunition in the fortress to the +citizens, who fearing a snare refused to listen to him. When Cosimo II, +entered the city, Bertholdo fled and joined the standard of Piero Strozzi. +He escaped with his life from the battle of Montemurlo and after fighting +in Piedmont and in France, returned to Italy when the Siennese revolted +and was appointed custodian of the castle of Sienna. In the battle of +Orbetello Bertholdo was taken prisoner by the Spaniards, sold to Cosimo for +600 scudi, and beheaded on the 2nd March 1555 in the Piazza S. Apollinari.</p> + +<p>Not many years passed before the Corsini and the Medici became +partners in a great banking firm in Rome, chiefly managed by Filippo +Corsini who had been created Marchese of Sismano, Casigliano and Civitella +by the Grand Duke Ferdinando II. Filippo was an intimate friend of Pope +Urban VIII, with whom he was connected by his marriage with Maria +Macchiavelli, a considerable heiress. Their eldest son Bartolomeo, brought +up at the Tuscan court, was after the death of Ferdinando made Master +of the Household to his widow Vittoria della Rovere. The second son Neri +was a cardinal, and his moderation, prudence and good sense was of infinite +service to the Holy See on two different occasions—when Avignon and when +Ferrara revolted against the priestly rule. Filippo their nephew, was the +companion and friend of Cosimo, son of the Grand Duke Ferdinando II, +and the interesting account, now in the Laurentian Library, of the Prince’s +visits to Oxford, Cambridge and many towns and country houses in +England, was written by him and illustrated by P. M. Baldi. A member +of most of the Academies of that day, he contributed largely to the cost of +publishing the fourth edition of the Della Crusca dictionary. Lorenzo, his +younger brother, became a cardinal in 1706 and twenty-four years later, +when seventy-eight years of age and nearly blind, was elected Pope. It is +related that when hailed as Clemente XII, he knelt down and begged the +Consistory to allow an old blind man to die in peace; but they insisted, +and Lorenzo Corsini unwillingly accepted. His first care was to put the +finances in order and to dismiss Cardinal Coscia, the venal favourite of his +predecessor Benedict XIII. He reformed the administration of justice, and +ordered an emission of new coinage to replace the debased currency of +former Popes. The magnificent gallery of the Campidoglio was founded +by him; he built the fountain of Trevi, several churches, the façades of San +Giovanni dei Fiorentini and of San Giovanni in Laterano, and restored the +Vatican. But much of this was done with money derived from the abominable +<i lang="it">Giuoco del Lotto</i>—<span lang="it">“esterminio e ruina de’ popoli,”</span> + as the Venetian Ambassador +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span> +Mocenigo calls it—which had been prohibited by Benedict XIII, and was +restored by Clemente under the specious pretext that his subjects would +spend their money in gambling outside the papal dominions if they were +debarred from gambling at home. On his accession to the Papacy he +summoned his two nephews, Bartolomeo and Neri, to Rome. The former +was created Prince of Sismano, Duke of Casigliano and Captain-General of +the Papal Guards. Tempted by Charles III, who held out hopes that Spain +would renounce her claims on Parma and Tuscany in his favour if he aided +her to secure the kingdom of Naples, he identified himself entirely with the +Spanish party, only to find his ambitious plans absolutely ignored by the +Congress of Vienna. As some consolation he was appointed Viceroy of +Sicily in 1737 and a Grandee of Spain two years later. Neri was made a +cardinal and practically ruled the Papal States not only under his uncle, +who trusted him implicitly, but under three successive Popes. He built the +great Corsini palace at Rome and formed magnificent collections of pictures, +engravings, manuscripts and books. Intensely hostile to the Jesuits, he +used all his influence to obtain the suppression of the Order, but died in +1770 before the promulgation of the decree against them.</p> + +<p>Pope Clemente would have left a greater name had he abstained from +showering gifts and honours on members of his own family. One great-great-nephew +he made a Knight of Malta while still in swaddling clothes +and Prior of Pisa at the age of four, in spite of the indignant protests of +the Grand Master of the Order; another was domestic prelate and Apostolic +pro-notary almost before he could read and a cardinal at twenty-four; +while Bartolomeo, their brother, became Captain-General of the Papal Guard. +His son Tommaso began life as Chamberlain to the Grand Duke Pietro +Leopoldo, but when Florence was occupied by the troops of the French +Republic and “death to the aristocrats” was the popular cry, he fled to +Sicily, and when he returned he found Tuscany transformed into the +Kingdom of Etruria. Queen Maria Louisa made Tommaso Corsini master +of her household and sent him to Bologna to receive Napoleon I, on whom +he made so favourable an impression that when Tuscany was incorporated +with the Empire he summoned him to Paris, made him a Senator, a Count +of the Empire and a Chamberlain, in which capacity he escorted the Arch +Duchess Marie Louise to France. On the fall of the Emperor Corsini +returned to Italy, and was Senator of Rome during the exciting days of +1848, when the first dawn of Italian Unity was fostered for a time by +Pio IX. After the Pope abandoned the popular party Corsini in vain +attempted to stem the tide of republicanism; he had to fly for his life and +only returned to Rome after the Papal Government had been re-established +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span> +by French troops. He was a man of considerable culture and added largely +to the Corsini galleries at Florence and Rome. His brother Neri was +deservedly beloved in Tuscany, for he advocated her independence at the +Congress of Vienna, and obtained the restitution of the art treasures which +had been carried off to Paris. As Prime Minister he devoted himself to +the amelioration of the condition of the people, made new roads, gave a +fresh impulse to the great work of the bonification of the Val di Chiana, +and, a strong free-trader, successfully withstood his retrograde colleagues who, +during a period of scarcity, desired to impose a heavy tax on corn. Imbued, +like all his forebears, with a great dislike and distrust of the Jesuits he +resolutely set his face against their re-admittance into the country. Don +Tommaso, the present representative of the princely house of Corsini, by his +kindly hospitality, learning and charm of manner has endeared himself to all +his fellow-citizens and worthily continues the liberal traditions of his family.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_144" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_144.jpg" alt="The Rococo Facade"> +</figure> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_47_47" href="#FNanchor_47_47" class="label">[47]</a> See <cite lang="it">Maiolica</cite>. By C. Drury E. Fortnum. P. 76. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1896.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_48_48" href="#FNanchor_48_48" class="label">[48]</a> <cite lang="it">Una illustre Avventuriera.</cite> Corrado Ricci. Fratelli Treves. Milano.</p></div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_146" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_146a.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + CATERINA SFORZA, +<br> + By <span class="smcap">Niccolò Fiorentino</span>. +<br> + (<i lang="it">Villa di Castello</i>). + </figcaption> +</figure> +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_146b.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption>SAVONAROLA, +<br> + + By <span class="smcap">Fra Luca, or Fra Ambrogio della Robbia</span>. +<br> + + (<i lang="it">Villa di Cafeggi</i>). + </figcaption> +</figure> +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_146c.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA, +<br> + + By <span class="smcap">Niccolò Fiorentino</span>. +<br> + + (<i lang="it">Villa Medici a Fiesole</i>). + </figcaption> +</figure> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_149a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_149a.jpg" alt="Distant View of the Villa and Monastery of San Francesco at Fiesole, from San Domenico"> +</figure> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_MEDICI_A_FIESOLE"> + VILLA MEDICI A FIESOLE + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/n.jpg" alt="Stylized N"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>“Not</span> more than two miles distant from Florence,” +writes old Varchi, “shines Fiesole, once a city, now a fruitful hill; +yet is she still a city.... I say still a city, because she always had +and still has, her bishop.... Of a truth the position on this charming +hill is so pleasant and delightful that the fable about its having been +built by Atlantus under a constellation which bestows peace of mind, +repose of body and gaiety of heart seems to be true.” Another tradition +says it was founded by Comero Gallo, son of Japhet, in the tenth year +of the Assyrian empire; he surrounded it with great walls, built high +towers and erected two castles, one to the east the other to the west, +for defence; others again attribute it to Jason, brother of Dardanus; +while some say Hercules of Egypt laid the first stone. Hesiod affirms +that Fiesole was one of the nymphs from whom sprang the constellation +of the Pleiads which forms a half moon, still the emblem of the city; +<span lang="la">“Faesulas ex una Pleaidum ferunt esse dictum,”</span> +says also Volterrano. But Dante considers all these to be old women’s +tales:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent6">“Another with her maidens, drawing off</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The tresses from the distaff, lectured them</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Old tales of Troy, and Fiesole, and Rome.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_49_49" href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span></p> +<p>Borghini in his history of Fiesole cautiously remarks: “From the divers +opinions of so many and such various authors I can only conclude that the +city is so ancient that her history can only be guessed at, not known or +discovered; and as she is beyond all memory so is she beyond all other +cities in renown. The more mysterious her origin, the more attractive +she is.”</p> + +<p>Vasari tells us that Michelozzo Michelozzi built for Giovanni, son of Cosimo +de’ Medici, a “magnificent and noble palace at Fiesole; the foundations of +the lower part on the steep slope of the hill cost an enormous sum, but +it was not thrown away, as there he made vaults, cellars, stables, places for +the making of wine and oil, and other good and commodious habitations; and +above them, besides the bed-chambers, drawing-rooms and other apartments, +he arranged rooms for containing books and for music: in short Michelozzo +showed in this edifice how valiant an architect he was, for it was so well +built that although high up on that hill, no crack has ever started.”</p> + +<p>Here, beneath the Etruscan city of Fiesole, with all Florence in the +valley far below, Lorenzo the Magnificent passed his happiest hours in the +company of Landino, Scala, Ficino, Poliziano, Pico della Mirandola and other +literary friends, at one moment discussing Plato, at another writing sonnets +and songs in idiomatic Tuscan. A true Florentine in his love of the +country, his poetry abounds in descriptions of woods and rivers, of the song +of birds and the joys of the chase. The following sonnet on the violet +will show how well he merited the praise bestowed on his poetry by his +contemporaries.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Not from bright cultured gardens, where sweet airs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Steal softly round the rose’s terraced home,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into thy white hand Lady have we come;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deep in dark dingles are our wild-wood lairs.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Here once came Venus racked with aching cares,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Seeking Adonis through our leafy gloam:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hither and thither vainly doth she roam,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Till her bare foot a felon bramble tears.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To catch the sacred blood that from above</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dripped off the leaves, our small white flowers we spread:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whence came that purple hue which now is ours.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not summer airs, nor rills from far springs led</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have nursed our beauty; but by tears of love</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our roots were watered; love-sighs fanned our flowers.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_50_50" href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>The villa at Fiesole was nigh being the scene of a double murder, when, +as Roscoe writes, “a pope, a cardinal, an archbishop, and several other +ecclesiastics associated themselves with a band of ruffians to destroy two +men who were an honour to their age and country; and purposed to +perpetrate their crime at a season of hospitality....” The two men were +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span> +Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano, one of the best of the +Medici; the conspirators were Sixtus IV, and his nephew Girolamo Riario, +Francesco de’ Pazzi, whom jealousy of the Medici had led to settle at Rome, +his uncle Jacopo de’ Pazzi, a gambler and a libertine, and all his ten +nephews save two; Gugliemo, married to Lorenzo’s sister Bianca before +their father’s death, and Renato, a man of letters. The Pope’s chief agent +was the archbishop of Pisa, Francesco Salviati, a man of notoriously bad +character, whose preferment to the see of Pisa Lorenzo had strenuously +opposed, seconded by his brother Jacopo Salviati and by the son of +Poggio Bracciolini the great scholar. Jacopo Poggio was of some repute +in the world of letters and dedicated a commentary on Petrarch’s <cite lang="it">Trionfo +della Fama</cite> to Lorenzo. “I am aware,” he writes, “that what little I know +is due to the help and valiant encouragement given to me in my youth by +Cosimo thy grandfather.... I consider myself obliged and constrained +out of gratitude to dedicate unto thee, his true and worthy heir, whatever +fruit is born of his grave and weighty admonitions and exhortations; as +a recognition that whatever virtues I possess derive from thy house.” The +underlings were Bernardo Bandini, a man of ill-fame, Giovan Battista +Montesicco, a condottiere engaged in the service of the Pope, Antonio Maffei, +a priest from Volterra and Stefano da Bagnone, an apostolic scribe.</p> + +<p>Mecatti gives a vivid account of the attempted murder of Lorenzo, who +seems to have behaved with admirable coolness, in his <cite lang="it">Storia Chronologica +di Firenze</cite>. “When Cesare Petrucci was Gonfalonier of Florence in 1478, +the Pazzi, brothers-in-law of the Medici, for Guglielmo had a sister of +Lorenzo and Giuliano to wife, proposed, together with the Salviati, to +murder Lorenzo and Giuliano; they knew that the Pope would give them +a free hand in this undertaking because Francesco Pazzi, treasurer to the +Pope, wrote that on account of the aid given to Vitelli the Pontiff was +exceeding wroth with him, and also that the King of Naples approved of it. +On communicating this their idea to Salviati, archbishop of Pisa, he immediately +joined them, accounting himself offended by Cosimo for having outlawed +Jacopo Salviati his relation, and by Lorenzo for not having been able to take +possession of his archbishopric; moreover he promised to bring with him +many of his relations and friends. Matters being thus arranged they +thought of how to execute their design. Now there was in Florence at the +Loggia de’ Pazzi⁠<a id="FNanchor_51_51" href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> + a nephew of Count Girolamo Riario lately created a +cardinal, who was studying at Pisa and considered as an archbishop; so they +thought their design might be effected when they went to dine at the villa +of Lorenzo at Fiesole. But this came to nought because Giuliano did not +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span>come; then they determined to do the deed in the Medici house, for they +made sure that when the archbishop came to Florence to attend High Mass +Lorenzo, according to his custom, would invite him to dinner. Thus was it +therefore settled, and on the 26th April, the day fixed for the function, the +cardinal went with a large following to the house of Lorenzo, who received +him with every mark of extreme benevolence and courtesy and invited him +and all his company to dinner. But on the conspirators hearing that +Giuliano would not be present, they determined to do that in church which +they had thought to accomplish at table, and settled among themselves that +the signal was to be the elevation of the Body of Christ. Therefore when +all had gone into the cathedral and the mass had begun, the archbishop of +Pisa went with thirty of his companions to the Palace of the Signoria to kill +the Gonfaloniere and take possession of the Palace. But on entering to speak +with the Gonfaloniere his confusion was such that Petrucci, calling his +people ordered them to arm and take prisoner the archbishop, his brother, +his nephew Jacopo del Poggio, secretary of the cardinal Riario and the five +brothers Perugini with the rest of their company. A short while after +securing them a great noise was heard in the street, and Jacopo de’ Pazzi +appeared on horseback, galloping hither and thither and shouting aloud +Liberty, Liberty. Then the Priors and their familiars threw several stones +from the windows: and meanwhile came the news that in Santa Maria del +Fiore at the elevation of the Host Giuliano de’ Medici had been murdered, +and Lorenzo wounded in the neck by Stefano Bagnone, rector of Montemurlo +and chancellor of Jacopo de’ Pazzi, and Antonio Maffei of Volterra an +apostolic scribe: that Francesco Nori had fallen by his side, and that +Lorenzo, all streaming with blood, had been carried to his own house. +When the Gonfaloniere heard this he commanded cords to be put round the +necks of the archbishop, of his brother, of his nephew and of Jacopo del +Poggio, and that they should be thrown out of the windows, the cords being +attached to the columns; the other wounded he caused to be either driven +out of the doors on to the Piazza or thrown also out of the windows. Then +the people rose in fury, and rushing to the house of the Pazzi found +Francesco in bed, he having wounded himself on the leg when he struck +Giuliano, and naked as he was they took him to the Palace and hung him +at once by the side of the archbishop. They would have done yet more +ferocious things, but that on going to the Medici house Lorenzo showed +himself, and begged them to let vengeance be taken by the magistrate. In +a short time Giovanni and Galeotto de’ Pazzi Riario himself and his brother +were brought in, when Lorenzo entreated of the Signoria that no proceedings +should on any account be taken against the cardinal or his brother. Meanwhile +from the Mugello arrived Renato, Giovanni and Niccolò de’ Pazzi with many +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85"></a><a id="Page_86"></a>[86]</span> +men from Montesicco as prisoners, and soon after Jacopo and Renato his +nephew were hung, the latter somewhat unjustly, because, being a man of +letters, when he heard of the plot he disapproved and hastened away to his +villa in order not to be present.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_52_52" href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp80" id="i_153" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_153.jpg" alt="General View of the Villa"> +</figure> + +<p>It was after this attempt on his life that Lorenzo sent his wife and +children and their tutor Angelo Poliziano to Cafaggiuolo for safety. Madonna +Clarice had always disliked Poliziano and he was bored to death in such +uncongenial company, so after a little while Clarice dismissed him, and +was very irate when Lorenzo gave him hospitality in his Fiesole villa. A +delightful description of the life led by the Platonists is to be found in +a letter from Poliziano to Marsilio Ficino: “When your retreat at Careggi +becomes too hot in the month of August, I hope you may think this our +rustic dwelling of Fiesole not beneath your notice. We have plenty of +water here and, as we are in a valley, but little sun, and are never without +a cooling breeze. The villa itself, lying off the road and almost hidden in +the midst of a wood, yet commands a view of the whole of Florence; and +although in a densely populated district yet have I perfect solitude, such as +is loved by him who leaves the town. I have a double attraction to offer you, +for Pico often comes from his oak wood to see me, stealing in unexpectedly he +drags me out of my den to share his supper, which as you know is frugal, yet +well served and sufficient, and seasoned with most pleasant talk and jests. But +come to me, you shall not sup worse and perchance you shall drink better; +for the palm of good wine I am ready to contend even with Pico himself.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_53_53" href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p> + +<p>It was in this “perfect peace” that Poliziano wrote his famous Latin +poem <i lang="la">Rusticus</i>, full of the same love of woods and fields that animated +Lorenzo the Magnificent, to whom he affectionately refers towards the end +of the poem:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Such was my song, with idle thought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In Fiesole’s cool grottoes wrought,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where from the Medici’s retreat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On that famed mount, beneath my feet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Tuscan city I survey,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Arno winding far away.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Here sometime at happy leisure</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bounteous Lorenzo takes his pleasure</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His friends to entertain and feast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(Of Phœbus’ sons himself not least)</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Offering a haven safe and free</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To stormtossed ships of Poesy.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_54_54" href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>Little is heard of the Fiesole villa after the death of Lorenzo the +Magnificent; eventually it was sold to the Marchese del Serre, who let it +to that eccentric Englishwoman the Countess of Orford, about whom Sir +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span>Horace Mann tells Walpole: “she has been detained by the purchase of +her own Villa, at Fiesole, which, about a year ago, had been bought over +her own head.... Cavaliere Mozzi, her messenger told me that she had +commissioned him to desire that I would inform you that, if her age and +ill-health permitted, she would hasten to England, though she does not see +in what shape she could be useful to her son.... She set out yesterday +for Naples, I believe to bring away all her furniture, in order to fix in +Tuscany.... She has bought the villa at Fiesole.” Later in the same +year he mentions her again as riding for some hours every morning and +maintaining “a vivacity not common at her age.” In Jan. 1781, Mann +informs Walpole: “Lady Orford died at Pisa on the 13th.... She has +left everything she was possessed of to Mozzi. The whole inheritance will +be very considerable, reckoning only what she had here and at Naples.” +Three years later he notes, “Lady Orford’s old Cicisbeo, Cavaliere Mozzi +married.” He sold the Medicean villa to the Buoninsegni family of Siena, +from whom Mr Spence bought it in 1862, and for many years it was the +meeting-place of all English visitors to Florence, attracted by the genial +hospitality of its versatile owner. In 1897 it passed into the possession of Col. +Harry Macalmont, whose mother now lives there. But little remains of the +original design of Michelozzi as Mozzi unfortunately restored and altered the +building considerably, turning it into a villa of the eighteenth century.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_155" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_155.jpg" alt="The Terrace With Fiesole in the Background"> +</figure> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_49_49" href="#FNanchor_49_49" class="label">[49]</a> Dante. <i>Paradise</i>, Canto XV. Cary’s translation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_50_50" href="#FNanchor_50_50" class="label">[50]</a> Translated by R. C. Trevelyan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_51_51" href="#FNanchor_51_51" class="label">[51]</a> A villa then belonging to the Pazzi family, bought afterwards by the Panciaticchi and eventually by +the great singer Catalani; near the village of La Lastra some two miles outside Porta San Gallo.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_52_52" href="#FNanchor_52_52" class="label">[52]</a> <cite lang="it">Storia Chronologica della Città di Firenze.</cite> Dell’ Abbate Guiseppe Maria Mecatti. Vol. II. p. 450. +Napoli, 1755.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_53_53" href="#FNanchor_53_53" class="label">[53]</a> Politian. <i>Ep.</i> Lib. X. Ep. 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_54_54" href="#FNanchor_54_54" class="label">[54]</a> Translated by R. C. Trevelyan.</p></div></div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_156a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_156a.jpg" alt="The Villa from the Courtyard"> +</figure> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_DELL_AMBROGIANA"> + VILLA DELL’ AMBROGIANA + </h2> + + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/t.jpg" alt="Stylized T"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>The</span> + villa of the Ambrogiana, near the junction of the Pesa +and the Arno, was built by the Grand Duke Ferdinando I, +on the ruins of a more ancient villa belonging to the extinct +family of the Ardinghelli. Going from Florence to Pisa by +the railway none can fail to admire the villa—a huge cube +with a tower at each corner—close to Montelupo. Near by +is the small parish church of San Quirico, where, probably the preliminaries +of the peace between the Republic of Florence, the Commune of Pistoja +and the Counts of Capraja, were signed in 1204.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_159" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_159.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + VILLA <span class="allsmcap">DELL’</span> AMBROGIANA. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The Ambrogiana was a favourite hunting-lodge of Ferdinando de’ Medici, +and the court spent a week or ten days there several times a year. In +October 1592 the marriage of Donna Eleonora Orsini, his niece, to the Duke +of Segni, son of Count of Federigo Sforza, was celebrated with great +magnificence in the private chapel of the villa. After the ceremony a +banquet was given in the large hall, when the Grand Ducal table was served +by pages dressed in white satin, with Spanish cloaks of red velvet embroidered +in gold with the Medici arms and collars of fine lace; four negroes in rich +oriental costume handed them the dishes and the servants who waited on +the other guests, seated at small tables round the hall, wore sky-blue liveries +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span>trimmed with gold lace and a short sword at their sides. In the evening +the terrace was illuminated, fireworks were let off and a cantata was sung. +For four days the court remained at the beautiful river-side villa and much +game was shot in the well stocked preserves, and then the Duke and Duchess +of Segni left for Florence and stayed at the Casino di San Marco, lent to +them by Don Antonio de’ Medici, until they returned to the Ambrogiana in +December to assist the Grand Duke and Duchess to receive Cardinal de Retz.</p> + +<p>In November 1594 Don Antonio returned from Hungary, where he had +been fighting the Turks with the Tuscan contingent sent to the aid of the +Emperor of Austria by Ferdinando, and joined the court at the Ambrogiana. +His descriptions of battles and sieges amused the Princesses, and if he spoke +as well as he wrote to his uncle during the campaign the young ladies were +right to linger over their sweetmeats. In the summer of the following year +Don Antonio left for Transylvania to join the Austrian army, and some of +the best names of Florence appear on the roll of the killed and wounded in +battle. When he returned in January he again went to the Ambrogiana to +report himself to the Grand Duke who was shooting in the woods of Mount +Vettolini.⁠<a id="FNanchor_55_55" href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> + +<p>In October 1600 when Maria de’ Medici left Florence for France as the +bride of Henry IV, she rested awhile at the Ambrogiana on her way to Pisa. +She must have had enough of triumphal arches, addresses, offerings of flowers +and madrigals by the time she stepped on board the chief galley of the +Knights of San Stefano, where a raised dais had been prepared on the poop +for the future Queen of France, with a gilt chair having the fleur de lis of +France and the balls of the Medici embroidered on the back in jacinths, +topazes and other precious stones. Nine years later the Grand Duke Ferdinando +died, and the court retired to the Ambrogiana for the first weeks of deep +mourning.</p> + +<p>Cosimo III, decorated the villa with numerous paintings of animals and +flowers by the two Scacciati and by Bartolomeo Bimbi of Settignano, which +no longer exist. He seldom went there, perhaps on account of its proximity +to the high road, or else because of the wind “which blows there, and will +blow to all eternity,” as his doctor, the well-known poet Redi, wrote to a friend.</p> + +<p>The last record of court festivities I can find in connection with the +Ambrogiana is on April 1791, when Ferdinando III, second son of the Grand +Duke Pietro Leopoldo, who succeeded his brother as Emperor of Austria after +governing Tuscany with wisdom and liberality for twenty-five years, met his +bride Louisa Maria of Bourbon at the villa and escorted her to Florence.</p> + +<p>Now the fine old villa has fallen from its high estate and is used as a +prison. The forests where Ferdinando I, shot and hunted have long since +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span>been destroyed, and the picturesque little hill-village of Capraja has forgotten +that her name was really <i lang="it">Cerbaria</i>, from the thick and wild woods surrounding +the hill whence she frowns defiance at her enemy Montelupo on the opposite +side of the river. Cerbaria is first mentioned in a concession by the Emperor +Otho III, to the Bishop of Pistoja in 998, and again in 1155 in a diploma of +Frederic II. It must have been well nigh impregnable in those days, and the +narrow, steep tortuous streets, which are only practicable to mules in single +file, are most picturesque. Gradually the name was changed to Capraria, then +to Capraja (Capra, a goat), and when the Republic of Florence built the castle +of Montelupo on the heights opposite, the proverb arose: <span lang="it">“Per distrugger +questa Capra, non vi vuol altro che un Lupo.”</span> (To destroy this Goat, a Wolf +is necessary.)</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_162" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_162.jpg" alt="The Town of Montelupo"> +</figure> + +<p>The ruined church and castle of Montelupo on the opposite side of the +river is well worth a visit, and the view thence is very fine. Down by the +Arno the potteries still exist where those quaint plates with straddling men at +arms and wonderful purple horses, and the <i lang="it">bocale</i> or wide-mouthed jugs +inscribed with pithy sentences, were once made. These jugs were in such +common use that they gave rise to the proverb: <span lang="it">“E scritta nei bocale di +Montelupo”</span> (It is written on the jugs of Montelupo), to indicate that a thing +is of public notoriety.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_55_55" href="#FNanchor_55_55" class="label">[55]</a> See <i lang="it">Don Antonio de’ Medici al Casino di San Marco</i>, + by Count P. F. Covoni. Firenze, 1892.</p></div></div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"><figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_164" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_164.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + VILLA <span class="allsmcap">DI</span> PRATOLINO. + </figcaption> +</figure> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span></p> + + + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_167a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_167a.jpg" alt="The Servite Monastery at Monte Senario"> +</figure> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_DI_PRATOLINO"> + VILLA DI PRATOLINO + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/t.jpg" alt="Stylized T"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>The</span> +villa of Pratolino, about six miles from Florence on the +high road to Bologna, lies on the eastern slope of Mount +Uccellatojo and owes its existence to the Grand Duke +Francesco I, who bought the estate of Benedetto di +Buonaccorso Uguccione in 1569 and squandered enormous +sums upon the villa and the garden, which he filled with +statues, grottoes, fountains and <i lang="fr">jeux d’eaux</i> of every description. The +peasantry around were reduced to misery by the large amount of ground he +threw out of cultivation to make the park, and by the destruction of their +cattle in hauling marble, stone and sand up the long steep hill from Florence. +Bernardo Buontalento was the architect, and Baldinucci tells us that “all the +architects of that day declared that never had so simple, yet so elegant a +building been seen.” The rooms were frescoed by Crescenzio Onofrio Romano, +Francesco Petrucci, Pier Dandini and Giovanni da San Giovanni, while the +best landscape gardeners of the day were employed to lay out the beautiful +gardens and park. Stefano Della Bella has left some delightfully fantastic +engravings of the grottoes wherein graceful ladies and tall cavaliers are +disporting themselves; of a gigantic tree with a platform high up in its +branches on which a gay company is supping; of various fountains; of a +long alley, shaded, not by trees but by arches of water under which stately +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span>lords and ladies are walking; and of several statues. A rare pamphlet, by +Bernardo Sgrilli, gives elaborate plans of the villa and describes the marble +statues standing in niches cut out of evergreen hedges; the wonderful +animals lurking in caves which suddenly spouted water over the unwary +admirer; and the cunningly devised grottoes containing life-like figures or +groups. In one a shepherd piped to his flock, in another a knife-grinder +sharpened a scythe; then there was a fortress whose walls suddenly became +alive with soldiers firing volleys at an imaginary enemy whilst cannon +boomed from the embrasures and the rattle of drums was heard; in others +a pretty shepherdess tripped daintily along and filled her pails with water at +a well, disdaining to look at a lovesick swain who played plaintive airs on +his bagpipes; Vulcan made sparks fly from his anvil; a miller ground corn +at his mill; a huntsman encouraged his hounds, “baying as though they were +alive”; birds sang sweetly in the boughs of fairy-like trees; gliding serpents, +hooting owls and “other most beautiful and stupendous inventions too many +to enumerate were set in motion by diverse hidden machines driven by water.” +But if any unwary spectator sat down on an inviting bench, or took refuge +from the sun in a cool grotto, streams of water would pour on him from every +side and he was drenched to the skin in an instant.⁠<a id="FNanchor_56_56" href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p> + +<p>Of all these marvels nothing remains but the beautiful park with its +magnificent trees, and a few of the rare shrubs planted by Francesco, a +passionate collector of curious plants and animals, who was in correspondence +with all the famous botanists of the day; and the huge statue of the Apennines, +cunningly built of large blocks of stone by Giovanni da Bologna. (?)</p> + +<p>Bianca Cappello, the second wife of Francesco I, was fond of Pratolino, +where she passed the summer months to escape the heat in Florence. No less a +person than Torquato Tasso has sung its beauties in many charming sonnets, +mingling praises of the place with adulation of the all-powerful Venetian:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Pleasant and stately grove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your scented foliage spread forth cool and green,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For here beneath your screen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This noble maid to couch on grass doth love.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Together join your boughs, beeches and firs;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye too link yours together, pine and oak,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou, sacred laurel, and thou myrtle bright:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Guard from all harm those fairest locks of hers</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And keep her from fierce noonday’s fiery stroke;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mingle your green with golden glancing light.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shades gentle and serene,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nobler is this your victory o’er the sun</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than that each night by pale Astræa won.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_57_57" href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span></p> + +<p>Bianca was helpful to the unhappy poet, who in return indited madrigals in +her honour. “Had Your Royal Highness not experienced both good and evil +fortune, you would not so well understand the misfortunes of others,” he writes +to her in 1586. People who wished to make presents to the Grand Duchess +occasionally asked Tasso to write a madrigal to be sent with the gift, thus +enhancing its value. Among others, a Florentine lady, Caterina Frescobaldi, +sent Bianca a magnificent dress embroidered with eight different designs, and to +each was pinned an appropriate poem. In the collection of fifty madrigals, privately +printed in 1871 from the copy given by Tasso to the fair Venetian, he plays +fancifully with her name Bianca, turning it into Alba, Candida, Bianca Luna, etc.; +this play upon words renders it difficult to translate them into English.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Behold Love’s miracle,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That my White Dawn should shed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Glory, which doth the light by Day’s Dawn spread</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In radiance far excell.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dawn’s glory is not her own, the Sun knows well;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For that himself doth lend her;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But from herself hath my White Dawn her splendour.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>When on his way from Bologna to Florence in 1580 Montaigne visited +Pratolino and quaintly remarks, “the Grand Duke has used all his five senses to +beautify it.... The house is contemptible as seen from afar, but very fine when +you come near, though not so handsome as some of ours in France.... But +marvellous is a grotto with several chambers; this surpasses anything we have +seen elsewhere. It is all encrusted with certain stuff they say was brought from +the mountains which is fastened on with invisible nails. Not only does the +movement of water make music and harmony, but it causes various statues to +move and doors to shut, animals also plunge in to drink, and other such devices. +In one moment the whole grotto is filled with water, every chair squirts it over +your thighs, and fleeing therefrom up the steps to the villa, if they choose they can +start a thousand jets and drench you to the skin.” Montaigne goes on to describe +the statues and the gardens, and particularly notices the ingenious manner of +storing ice and snow, much as is done at the present time, invented by that +universal genius Bernardo Buontalento, and the building of the huge statue of the +Apennines, then nearly finished. Twelve years later Sir Henry Wotton writing +to Lord Zouch in June about the feast day of St John says: “it was somewhat +more than ordinary upon the arrival of the Count di Santa Fiore in the court +here, who is espoused unto Leonora Ursina, but of the marriage day no speech; +for the Grand Duke hath desire to celebrate the marriage of his Niece, and the +other, both in one day, because they have been jointly brought up together and +(for congruity sake) aparall’d all days alike. The fore-named Earl is nephew of +the lively Cardinal Sforza.... In person not tall nor low, and one of the worst +faces a man shall ordinarily see, so that some think Leonora Ursina would be +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span>contented to revoke the match, and take her first offer.” In August he writes +again, “since my last unto your honour (contrary to the expectation of all) is the +marriage of Leonora Ursina accomplished at Pratolino, where the Cardinal Sforza +arrived on the 16 of August, and gave the ring on Sunday last. I hear the +Gentlewoman to be in some pensiveness of mind and to have abandoned her +Cythern, on which she was wont to play; having rather been the wife of the +Prince of Transylvania than of the Count of Santa Fiore, but that, since she saw +him, or rather (as some say) since she tried him. To grace her husband the +better, they style him Duke Sforza, which here we laugh at.” The court, he +notes in a later letter, “is still at Pratolino attending unto the fresh air.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_58_58" href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></p> + +<p>It must have been this same Prince of Transylvania who in the summer of +1597 sent an ambassador to Florence called Sigismondo Sarmorago with gifts +for the Grand Duke Ferdinando I, (who had succeeded his brother Francesco) and +his wife Christine of Lorraine. They were at Pratolino, and the ambassador +climbed the long hill from Florence followed by a pair of magnificent iron-grey +Turkish horses and two very large dogs with collars <i lang="it">alla Turca</i> set with precious +stones for the Grand Duke, and a wonderful Indian naked spotted dog for the +Grand Duchess, whose collar was resplendent with pearls and diamonds.</p> + +<p>Pratolino, or rather its garden, seems to have astonished all beholders; John +Evelyn stopped there on his way to Bologna from Florence in 1645 and notes in +his Diary:—</p> + +<p>“The house is a square of four pavilions, with a fair platform about +it, balustred with stone, situate in a large meadow, ascending like an amphitheatre, +having at the bottom a huge rock, with water running in a small +channel, like a cascade; on the other side are the gardens. The whole +place seems consecrated to pleasure and summer retirement. The inside +of the Palace may compare with any in Italy for furniture of tapestry, beds, +etc., and the gardens are delicious, and full of fountains. In the grove sits +Pan feeding his flock, the water making a melodious sound through his pipe; +and a Hercules, whose club yields a shower of water, which, falling into a +great shell, has a naked woman riding on the backs of dolphins. In another +grotto, is Vulcan and his family, the walls richly composed of corals, shells, +copper, and marble figures, with the hunting of several beasts moving by the +force of water. Here, having been well washed for our curiosity, we went +down a large walk, at the sides whereof several slender streams of water gush +out of pipes concealed underneath, that interchangeably fall into each other’s +channels, making a lofty and perfect arch, so that a man on horseback may +ride under it, and not receive one drop of wet. This canopy, or arch of water, +I thought one of the most surprising magnificences I had ever seen, and very +refreshing in the heat of the summer. At the end of this very long walk, stands +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span>a woman in white marble, in posture of a laundress wringing water out of a +piece of linen, very naturally formed into a vast laver, the work and invention +of M. Angelo Buonarotti. Hence we ascended Mount Parnassus, where the +Muses played to us on hydraulic organs. Near this is a great aviary. All +these waters came from the rock in the garden, on which is the statue of a +giant representing the Apennines, at the foot of which stands this villa.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_59_59" href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p> + +<p>Cosimo III does not seem to have frequented Pratolino, but his son Prince +Ferdinando, who even as a child showed an extraordinary talent for music, +had a special love for the place. He sang well and played various instruments, +and to his father’s anger often spent the carnival in Venice when no less than +six theatres were open, four for opera, two for prose. An old writer tells us +“he was such a master of counterpoint that a most difficult sonata being put +before him at Venice, not only did he read it off at sight, but to the astonishment +of all played it through from memory afterwards.”</p> + +<p>After his marriage with Violante of Bavaria he decided to build a theatre +at Pratolino, the big room there being unfit for the operas he wished to give. +He called in the architect who rebuilt the cathedral at Pescia, Antonio Ferri, +and an admirable theatre was erected on the third floor of the villa, the Prince +himself directed the painting of the scenery and the making of the stage +machinery. He corresponded with composers, singers and poets, and often +suggested changes in the <i lang="it">libretti</i>, or the addition of a song for the reigning +favourite of the hour. An army of singers and musicians were in his pay +and several musical critics, whose duty it was to travel from city to city in search +of fresh talent. Every year saw the birth of at least one new opera, and +Scarlatti composed no less than five for Pratolino. In a long letter to Prince +Ferdinando about one called Lucio Manlio, he explains: “where it is marked +<i lang="it">grave</i> I do not mean <i lang="it">melancolico</i>, where <i lang="it">andante</i> not <i lang="it">presto</i> but <i lang="it">arioso</i>, where +<i lang="it">allegro</i> not <i lang="it">precipitoso</i>, where <i lang="it">allegrissimo</i> not so fast as to exhaust the singers +and drown the words, where <i lang="it">andante lento</i>, I exclude the pathetic, but desire +a charming vagueness which should not lose the <i lang="it">arioso</i>; and none of the airs +are to be melancholy. In my theatrical compositions I have always attempted +to make the first act as it were, a child beginning to learn how to walk, the +second, a youth already sure of himself, the third, a young man who gallantly +attempts, and by his ardour succeeds, in every undertaking. Thus have I done +in Lucio Manlio, the eighty-eighth opera composed by me in less than thirty-three +years, which I should like to crown as the Queen of all the others. If I +have failed to succeed, at least I have had the courage to attempt this; let Your +Highness deign to accept it as Your vassal; as a maiden forlorn and homeless, +to be guarded from the shocks and tricks of fortune....”</p> + +<p>Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici died in 1713 before his father and the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span>theatre was closed for ever. A hundred years later another Ferdinand, but +of the family of Lorraine, called in a Bohemian engineer of the name of Frichs, +who made new roads, threw many farms out of cultivation, planted trees and +finally persuaded the Austrian Grand Duke to destroy the Medici villa built +by Buontalento. Ferdinand died in 1824, before the new villa designed by +Frichs had been begun, and Pratolino became the private property of his +successor, Leopold II, as compensation for large sums advanced from his +privy purse for the bonification of the Maremme of Massa and Grosseto. Not +only were the foundations of the old villa blown up, but all the water-works +and grottoes, save one, were destroyed; some of the statues were removed to +Florence, many were stolen, others broken up and used to fill in cisterns and +under-ground grottoes.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_172" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_172.jpg" alt="L’Appennino, Gigantic Statue by Giovanni Da Bologna"> +</figure> + +<p>When in 1872 Prince Paul Demidoff bought Pratolino from the house of +Lorraine he added to the old <i lang="it">Paggeria</i> or villa of the pages, and restored other +smaller villas in the magnificent park; but his death in 1885 put a stop to +further work, and the present villa is not worthy of its beautiful surroundings +or of the memories of bygone splendour.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_56_56" href="#FNanchor_56_56" class="label">[56]</a> <i lang="it">Descrizione Della Regia Villa, Fontane, e Fabbriche di Pratolino.</i> + Bernadone Sgrilli. Architetto Fiorentino. +Nella Stamperia Ducale. Firenze, 1742.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_57_57" href="#FNanchor_57_57" class="label">[57]</a> The translations are by R. C. Trevelyan, from <cite lang="it">Cinquanta Madrigalli Inediti</cite>, + del Signor Torquato Tasso, alla +Gran Duchessa Bianca Cappello nei Medici. Firenze, M. Ricci, 1871. Ediz. di CCL Esemplari non venale.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_58_58" href="#FNanchor_58_58" class="label">[58]</a> <cite lang="it">Reliquæ Wottonianæ</cite>, pp. 672, 690.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_59_59" href="#FNanchor_59_59" class="label">[59]</a> <cite>Diary of John Evelyn.</cite> Vol. I. p. 190.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_174" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_174.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + VILLA SALVIATI. + </figcaption> +</figure></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_177a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_177a.jpg" alt="General View of the Villa"> +</figure> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_SALVIATI"> + VILLA SALVIATI + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/i.jpg" alt="Stylized I"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>It</span> is strange no records remain about either the building or the +builder of Villa Salviati, one of the finest and most widely +known villas round Florence. But a search among archives +and chronicles has only elicited the meagre facts that in 1100 +a fastness stood on the site of the present villa and was owned +by the Montegonzi, who about the year 1450 sold it to Messer +Alemanno Salviati. It was then described as “a strong castle with towers and +battlements,” which suggests the idea that the last members of the Montegonzi +may have transformed their twelfth century fastness into a fortress-villa, and the +rich and powerful Salviati no doubt added to its splendour and magnificence. +One is tempted to think the great architect Michelozzi must have been called in, +so strong is the resemblance of Villa Salviati to his known works Cafaggiuolo and +Careggi. Certainly it belongs to his epoch, 1396-1472, and the bastion-like walls, +the towers and machicolations give the impression that he who commissioned the +villa lived at a time when a dwelling-house in town or on the hills within sight of +the city, had also to be a fortress and serve as a place of refuge during civil strife. +The only positive information about the villa we have from Vasari, who tells us +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span>that in 1529 it was besieged and burnt during the siege by the Florentine mob, +when all the fine sculptures by Giovan Francesco Rustici were destroyed; but like +Careggi its massive walls must have withstood the fire. In more modern times a +pent-roof, as at Careggi and Cafaggiuolo, was placed above its battlements in the +vain endeavour to hide its war-like aspect, and layers of pink and chocolate +coloured paint now give a somewhat artificial and mean appearance to what really +is a magnificently proportioned and boldly conceived fortress-villa. The principal +block of building rises in the form of a massive tower, crenelated and with +bastioned walls sloping out on to the grass terrace, while the remainder rises +round a courtyard with elegant Renaissance arches and capitals of grey Fiesole +stone, and then broadens out at each corner into a tall tower whence, in days of +trouble between noble and citizen, the retainers of the Salviati must have often +watched for the sign of coming danger.</p> + +<p>Certainly as we walk round the villa, especially on its north side where it +looks towards the double-peaked hill of Fiesole, seen somewhat bleak on a winter’s +day, our mind is full of mediæval Florence, of a time before the nobles built such +peaceful dwelling-houses with terraced gardens as the Villa Palmieri for instance, +just in sight across the narrow valley of the Mugnone. Viewed only from this +its austerest aspect the Salviati villa would be beautiful indeed, but unlike any +other we know of it possesses a very different side of which Zocchi shows us +something. An eighteenth century owner, feeling perhaps that the somewhat +menacing look of his ancestral villa ill coincided with the more joyous tastes of +his day, laid out the enchanting rococo orange houses with graceful balustrade +ornamented with vases and a clock tower. Joined on to the villa at right angles +and built in so opposite a style, it yet fascinates by very contrast, leading the eye +gradually to feast with delight upon the terraced gardens laid out with such taste +by Jacopo Salviati in 1510. From under the heavy foliage of the ilexes, trimmed +and trained so closely as to let no glimpse of sky be seen between their branches, +we look out across the city of Florence to the hill of San Miniato, a view, it is +true, familiar to everyone who has walked on these slopes, but what a different +foreground we have here! Where in Italy can one see not only so fair a city, +bell-towers, domes and palaces, the late afternoon sun playing soft lights about +them so that they seem distant, ethereal and shrouded in a thin faint film of +golden mist; but between us and this fairy city lie two small lakelets, one below the +other, their shining limpid water catching every glint of light till the sun shall +have dropt behind the Signa hills. All the winds are hushed in this dell. They +move the leaves and sway the branches of the narrow wood above, but here reigns +a peace such as one finds in northern valleys, even the thin sharp shadows +across the pools, from the clumps of white plumes of the pampas grass and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span>the aloes in flower upon the banks, lie still on the unruffled surface of their +waters.</p> + +<p>The rich and powerful family of Salviati descended from a doctor, Messer +Salvi di Maestro Guglielmo di Forese di Gottifredo, of great reputation in +Florence towards the end of the thirteenth century. His two sons, Cambio and +Lotto, both became Priors of the city, and altogether the Salviati had sixty-three +Priors and twenty-one Gonfaloniers in their family. A grandson of Lotto, named +Forese, was extremely popular, and distinguished himself first as a diplomatist +and afterwards as Captain-General of the Tuscan Romagna in 1397; and his +descendants served the Republic with honour as soldiers or as envoys and +ambassadors. The only one of the family whose name is still a by-word in +Florence was Giuliano, son of Francesco Salviati and Laudomia de’ Medici. One +of the first to incite the mob to plunder the Medici palaces and deface their arms +when driven from Florence in 1527, he afterwards became the boon companion of +the dissolute Duke Alessandro, and he it was who insulted Luisa Strozzi at a +masked ball and paid for it by being maimed for life by her brother; whilst his +wife was always supposed to have been instrumental in poisoning the beautiful +and virtuous woman who had resented the infamous behaviour of the Duke and +of Salviati. Fortunately that branch of the family ended with his daughter. A +very different man was his cousin Jacopo Salviati, married to Lucrezia, daughter +to Lorenzo the Magnificent and sister to Leo X, with whom Jacopo was a +favourite. He was the one man amongst the envoys from Florence who dared +to raise his voice at the court of Clement VII, against creating the bastard +Alessandro de’ Medici absolute Lord of Florence, and against building the great +fortress of San Giovanni, now called Fortezza da Basso, to dominate the town. +Setting forth how at the death of Leo X, the citizens of Florence had preserved +the State for the Medici, he contended that the best and surest fortress was +the love of the people, who are content when food is abundant and justice +properly administered. And when Filippo Strozzi argued against him Jacopo +turned round saying, “Filippo, either you speak not your thoughts, or if you +think as you speak you think amiss”; then as though gifted with the spirit of +prophecy he continued, “God grant that in advocating the building of this +fortress Filippo is not preparing his own grave.” “For these words,” as Varchi +who describes the scene writes, “the Pope called him no more to council, and +those citizens who once bore him on the palms of their hands avoided him ... +and his dependants who had received favours from him turned away when they +saw him in the distance.”</p> + +<p>Maria, daughter of Jacopo Salviati, married Giovanni de’ Medici surnamed +Delle Bande Nere, and was the mother of Cosimo I, to whom she in vain +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span> +preached moderation and respect for the law. Three of her brothers joined +the anti-Medicean faction and were implicated in every attempt to dethrone +their nephew; but Messer Alamanno, the youngest, was one of the most +trusted counsellors of the two Dukes Alessandro and Cosimo and left enormous +wealth to his son Jacopo. Clement VIII, created Lorenzo Salviati, Jacopo’s +son, a Marquis after he had bought the castles and lands of Giuliano and +Rocca Massima, and Urban VIII, made his grandson Jacopo, who married +Donna Veronica Cybo, daughter of the Prince of Massa, Duke of Giuliano. +The following account of the marriage by a contemporary was, according to +that excellent Italian fashion, privately printed in honour of a marriage some +thirty years ago. I have translated the whole letter for the curious insight +it gives into the manners of that day.</p> + +<p>“Being sure of giving Your Excellency agreeable tidings, I send a detailed +account of the marriage of my Lord the Duke of Salviati and of my Lady +Donna Veronica, which causes the people the more joy that my Lords the +Prince and the Princess are so gratified thereat.</p> + +<p>“My Lord the Duke was to be in Massa on the 27th and sent one of his +gentlemen on the day before to announce his arrival; he sent to the Duchess +his wife four most beautiful dresses with jewels to match; one was white, one +of flax-flower blue, one turquoise and one crimson, all enriched with gold +and as yet uncut. At the same time I was sent by Their Excellencies to +meet the Lord Duke and kiss his hands. We arrived at sundown at Massa, +and at Salto della Cervia the Lord Marquis of Carrara,⁠<a id="FNanchor_60_60" href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> accompanied by +many gentlemen and 100 archibusiers of Massa on horseback, met H.E., +and soon afterwards the Prince himself with many gentlemen and 80 archibusiers +of Carrara and his usual bodyguard came in sight. When we reached Nostra +Signora del Monte the salvos of artillery from the castle began which made +a fine effect, as besides the heavy artillery, which Y.E. knows of, and the +200 spingards, the Prince had placed 500 musketeers, who repeated the salvos, +and thus the castle seemed no less terrific than pleasing.</p> + +<p>“When we reached the palace the Duke retired to his apartments and sent +to ask permission of the Prince, my master, to present some flowers he had +brought from Florence to his bride; these were enclosed in a gilt enamelled +glove box, and in other velvet cases were a ring with a splendid diamond, a +necklace of very large diamonds, a jewel of large diamonds with a feather +also of diamonds and a large pearl at the tip; these, with the chain of +diamonds which the Duke had already sent with his portrait in a jewelled box, +certainly were worth more than 15000 scudi. That same evening my comedy +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span> +was acted and proved a success. The wedding was on Monday morning, +and when the bride and bridegroom left the palace and entered the Piazza +a squadron of 1000 musketeers fired a salute, which was repeated at the +bestowal of the ring and when they returned to the palace. The ring was +splendid, my Lord Duke not permitting that the one sent before the marriage +should be used, but this other special one. The Duchess was attired most +richly in white, adorned with the jewels given to her the day before. My +Lord Duke was habited in blue, but the extreme richness of the suit rendered +it useless and of such weight that it could only be worn for a few hours and +he was begged by all to change. If the first was rich the second was not less +elegant, and every day H.E. wore a new suit each one more beautiful than +the last; and he bestowed one on that silly buffoon of a doctor, who was present +at all the marriage feasts, of cloth of gold embroidered also in gold, and the +said doctor made a good meal one morning, filling himself with doubloons +and zecchins given him by all the Seigneury who were at table.</p> + +<p>“On the night of the marriage there was a splendid entertainment; +seventy-four ladies were there unmasked and forty-eight came masked, divided +in companies of six, variously costumed in appropriate and pleasing dresses. +Although the room was large four rows of seats were none too many and all +passed with great order and contentment. Next day at a game my Lord +Duke gave, with a pretty pretext, a bottle containing 500 zecchins to the bride. +That and the following days were spent in feasting and festivity, and for an +improvised masquerade the Duke caused a hat to be made for my Lady +Duchess with a rich garland of diamonds and under the brim he placed a +very large diamond worth 14000 scudi. The Duke asked to see the castle +and was received with much honour, and left a good present to each soldier +and bombardier and a chain worth 100 scudi to the Castellan.</p> + +<p>“The charitable gifts to convents and other institutions are also worthy of +note, amounting to some hundreds of scudi. On the palace guard and the +company of archibusiers which accompanied him to the confines of Tuscany +with my Lord the Prince, he also bestowed largesse. Not only has he given +to all but he also caused his bride to give to many; among others to her +sister-in-law Princess Fulvia⁠<a id="FNanchor_61_61" href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> she gave two of those dress-lengths sent to +her by the Duke and the others she left to Donna Placidia, her sister. The +Duke has bestowed many chains, besides presents in money, to the officers and +to many others; and the Prince, my master, has at his request condoned +many punishments, pardoned many exiles and released all the prisoners who +were in the castle when he visited it. The Prince also insisted on giving a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span>horse which once belonged to the Duke, and has been cured of vicious tricks +so as now to be most pleasant to ride, back to him, and with it another which +he thought the Duke admired. Also knowing his love of pictures my master +gave him one by Raffaelle d’Urbino, besides hounds and a body-slave who +waited on him here. The Princess, my mistress, gave him most finely worked +linen shirts, and Don Alessandro an archibuse of perfect workmanship and +great beauty.</p> + +<p>“To sum up, my Lord the Duke has been pleased with Massa and Massa +pleased with my Lord Duke, as he is open-handed and of exquisite tact in all +his dealings. All thought the Duchess very handsome as is but natural, she +being of this house and sister to Princess Maria;⁠<a id="FNanchor_62_62" href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> and I hope Tuscany will +be no less satisfied with the Duchess Salviati than is Lombardy with the +Princess della Mirandola. God preserve them both in the prosperity which +he has granted them.</p> + +<p>“Bride and bridegroom took their departure on Friday morning in the +Duke’s travelling carriage, which is so splendid that it would be sumptuous +in a city; and were followed also by the lettiga (litter carried by mules), with +velvet lining and golden fringes, columns of silver and beautiful carving; on +a par with the magnificence of all else. Twelve grooms there were in livery +and many gentlemen of goodly presence. Having thus satisfied my desire to +serve Y.E. in a way that I know to be pleasing unto you, I kiss your hands, +wishing you every felicity.</p> + +<p> + “<span class="smcap">Giulio Beggio.</span> Massa, 5th March 1628.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_63_63" href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> +</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>The glowing description of Donna Veronica given by the obsequious +courtier of the house of Massa was not ratified by Florentine opinion. One +old writer declares: “Donna Veronica was endowed with but small beauty, +but <i lang="la">per contra</i> with a most violent and imperious temper and a jealous +disposition. Her husband, poor man, had small joy with her.” Duke Jacopo +Salviata, handsome, gallant and accomplished, a brave soldier and an elegant +poet, soon found his loveless life hard to bear, and some eight years after his +marriage met (for her misfortune) the beautiful woman popularly called “the +fair Cherubim” from her silken, wavy, golden hair and her exquisite colouring. +The following account by an anonymous writer of the time, existing in manuscript +in the Marucelliana library at Florence, tells the tragic tale graphically, +and has, I believe, never been published.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span></p> + +<p>“All know of how much perfidy and cruelty a woman is capable when +moved by a spirit of vengeance, particularly when roused thereto by offended +love. I have often heard recounted a case which happened in the city of +Florence, and will describe it as far as my feeble memory permits. There +was in Florence a gentleman of the old and honourable family of the Canaccj +named Giustino, well-known to me and to many still alive. He was considered +a man of but small sense because, having several grown-up children by a first +wife and being near seventy years of age, he took as his second wife a young +girl called Caterina, inferior to himself in rank but endowed with marvellous +beauty, daughter to a dyer from the Casentino. Now Giustino was also the +ugliest, the most tiresome and the dirtiest man then in Florence, which encouraged +many to solicit the good graces of Caterina who, though apparently +leading a modest life, at length they said listened to Lorenzo da Jacopo Serzelli +and to Vincenzio Carlini, a young Florentine who has now changed his habit +and way of life, being the head of that hospital commonly called Bonifazio. +There were also two youths, familiars of Jacopo Salviati Duke of Giuliano +the greatest personage for birth, enormous wealth and other admirable qualities +in the city of Florence, always excepting the Princes of the ruling house, who +a few years before had taken to wife Donna Veronica daughter to Don Carlo +Cybo, Prince of Massa and Carrara. This lady had not much beauty, but such +pride and conceit that the Duke was driven to seek for comfort elsewhere. +Once introduced to Caterina, the Duke, not to excite the suspicions of his wife, +excused his occasional absences by an obligation to attend one of those Confraternities +which meet only at night, and in Florence are called <i lang="it">Bucche</i> (Holes), +this one was named after St Anthony and situated in Pinti near Santa Maria +Maddalena; and leaving it at a late hour he went to Caterina’s house in Via +de’ Pilastri near S. Ambrogio. But he could not prevent this reaching the +ears of the Duchess, who with other qualities possessed that of jealousy in +a superlative degree.</p> + +<p>“It was rumoured, but I do not know if it be true, that the Duchess entered +San Pier Maggiore one morning where was Caterina whom she knew well by +sight, and as though by chance Donna Veronica placed herself by her side and +in a few words bade her never again speak to her husband under pain of her +dire displeasure. And Caterina replied, perchance with more arrogance and +spirit than became her condition, thus increasing the ire of the Duchess and +ensuring her own ruin. The Duke’s love grew every day and the Duchess +determined to cut the thread; rumour has it that she tried to poison Caterina, +but failing, determined to take vengeance in another way; and she did it with +such cruelty and barbarity that one may rightly say it was done according to +Genoese fashion, and it was as follows:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span></p> + +<p>“She contrived, according to what was said at the time and it seems to be +truth, to get hold of the brothers Bartolomeo and Francesco, sons of Giustino +Canaccj, youths of about twenty-four or twenty-five, who though they did not +inhabit, yet frequented their step-mother’s house; and after much talk representing +to them how her licentious life brought ignominy on themselves and their +posterity and that as persons of birth and consideration it behoved them to +free themselves of her presence, she promised if they would do this not only to +give them every help but such protection as would save them from any peril, +and as they were poor she also promised to grant them a life-long allowance. +I am by no means certain that the Duchess spake thus to both, or only to +Bartolomeo the elder brother, who as we shall see was present at the misdeed +and paid the penalty. It was said that the brothers, or the one, as it may have +been, at first refused, but the offers being at length accompanied by threats +they agreed to introduce into their step-mother’s house those persons chosen by +the Duchess to work their vengeance (which was in truth her own) on poor +Caterina. Some imagined that one of the reasons which led Bartolomeo to +assist in the murder of his step-mother was her rejection of his love. Now as +such things have occurred I do not absolutely deny that it may have been so, +but it seems unlikely to me that Bartolomeo would have been received in his +father’s house, also people would have talked much about it and I never remember +to have heard it mentioned. Anyhow the Duchess got four assassins from Massa, +and they entered one by one into the city so as to avoid observation and suspicion +and were kept by her until the time was ripe for effecting her abominable project, +which was not until the night of 31st December 1638, and was in this guise. +At about three hours of the night Bartolomeo Canaccj, accompanied by the +aforesaid bandits who stood at the opposite side of the street in the shade, +knocked at his step-mother’s door; her maid looked out of the window and +asked who was there, and on his answering <em>friends</em> she recognised his voice +and drew the cord of the latch; when Bartolomeo and the assassins rushed up +the stairs with such fury that Lorenzo Serzelli and Messer Vincenzio Carlini, +who were talking with Caterina, suspected some evil thing and springing to +their feet had hardly time to fly by another staircase on to the roof, whence +they escaped to a neighbouring house, before the ruffians with naked swords in +their hands appeared at the door. Poor Caterina was then murdered by these +infamous executors of the barbarous cruelty of the Duchess, together with her +maid probably to prevent her from giving evidence. After which the bodies of +these two most unfortunate women were cut into pieces, carried silently out of +the house and put into a carriage; parts of the bodies were thrown down a well +at the corner of Via de’ Pentolini and Piazza Sant’ Ambrogio, others were thrown +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span>into the Arno and found next day, all save the head of poor Caterina which +those murderers carried to the Duchess for the full execution of this Tragedy +as shall be hereafter set forth.</p> + +<p>“All these particulars were seen by Carlini and Serzelli, who with hot +haste had left the house where they had taken refuge and knocked at one +opposite to Caterina’s where lived a well-known woman commonly called +Aunt Nannina, because three of the most famous courtezans of our day were +her nieces. The door was at once opened to them, and from a slit in the +window of an upstairs room they saw and heard what I have related.</p> + +<p>“Now the Duchess, by one of her waiting-women, was used to send to +the Duke’s room on Sundays and other holidays a silver basin covered with +a fair cloth, containing collars, cuffs and such-like things which the Duke +was wont to change on those days. But on this the 1st of January, a day +sacred to Christians because on it is celebrated the circumcision of Our Lord +and also because according to the rites of the Roman Church it is the beginning +of the year, the present sent was of a different nature. Taking the head +of poor Caterina, which though bloodless and cold yet preserved the beauty +which had been the cause of her death, the Duchess placed it in the basin, +covered it with the usual cloth and sent it by her waiting-woman, who knew +nought of the business, into the Duke’s room. When he rose and lifted the +cloth to take his clean linen, let his horror be pictured when he saw such +a pitiful sight. It is not my intention to describe here the lamentations, the +sorrow, the anguish and the tears shed over the lifeless head of his love; they +can be better imagined than writ with a pen. Knowing full well that his +wife had done this deed he would have no more of her, and for many a long +year refused to be where she was. When she came to Florence, he left for +one of his villas, or for Rome where he had large estates; and if she went to +a villa or to Rome, incontinently he returned to Florence.</p> + +<p>“But to return to our lamentable story. When the murder was known +next day and the bodies of the unfortunate women were recognised, Giustino +Canaccj, the husband of Caterina, and Bartolomeo and Francesco his sons +were seized and imprisoned together with another son, whose name I forget, +with his wife and an unmarried daughter of the said Giustino and one married +to Luigi Tedaldi as well as Luigi himself. But against those scoundrels +who committed the murder, either because the court had no knowledge of +them, or because they had taken refuge in flight, or for some other occult +reason, no steps were taken, nor against their principal; so true is the +common saying that justice acts only against the poor, and that laws are +like cobwebs, which catch flies and such small creatures while large ones +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span> +tear and break them. Of the above-named prisoners, Giustino, his daughters, +his step-son and the other son with his wife were liberated after a time as +innocent; but Bartolomeo and Francesco were kept in prison and subjected +to torture. Francesco, either really innocent and not present at the murder, +or more prudent, or perchance more fortunate, confessed nothing and after +many months was set free; but Bartolomeo, they say, whether truly or not +will never be known, confessed to have aided in this terrible affair and on the +... of 1639 was beheaded in the doorway of the Bargello. Small applause did +justice get for this execution, good citizens being scandalized that the less +guilty one who had been, as we say, dragged into the business by the hair +of his head and was known to have been a poor wretch of small wit, and +thought to have been tortured into saying more than he knew, should suffer +capital punishment; while the real delinquent, the principal and head of it all, +received no punishment save perchance from her own conscience and sense of +shame. It is true, and it was said at the time, that Madame Christine of +Lorraine, grandmother to the Grand Duke Ferdinando II, a princess of great +learning, good and pious, and very zealous in the cause of justice, horrified +by so atrocious a deed wished to have the Duchess arrested; but as soon as +the murder had been committed she fled to her villa of S. Cerbone, and +warned of her danger left for Rome; so justice contented itself with exiling +her, but the sentence was soon commuted.</p> + +<p>“Such was the end of the barbarity and cruelty of Duchess Veronica which +I have described at length, not from any love of evil-speaking, but from +the desire to enlighten posterity. The more so that it was said that justice, +if it merits the name, in order to save the great bore heavy on the weak and, +as we say, to throw dust in the eyes of the public, drew up two statements, +one true which remained hid, one false which was published to the world. +Let those who read these my recollections remember that our proverbs are +always apt, and that whoso forgathers with great people is the last at table and +the first at the gallows.”</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>Cardinal Gregorio, the last of this branch of the Salviati, left his villa +in 1794 to his niece Anna, married to Prince Borghese. Her two sons Prince +Cammillo Borghese and Prince Don Francesco Aldobrandino inherited it at +her death in 1809, and the three sons of the latter, Prince Marc’ Antonio +Borghese, Prince Cammillo Aldobrandini and Duke Scipione Salviati sold +it to Mr Vansittart in 1844. Later the old place once more changed hands +and became the property of the Duke of Candia, better known as Mario, +whose glorious voice, charming and courtly manners and great personal +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span> +beauty will be remembered by many of my readers. When Garibaldi was in +Florence he paid a visit to Mario and Grisi, and a remarkably ill-painted picture +still hanging in the corridor of Villa Salviati commemorates the scene. M. +Hagermann, a Swede, bought the villa from Mario, and his heirs have lately +sold it to Signor Turri.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_187" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_187.jpg" alt="The Villa from the Terrace"> +</figure> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_60_60" href="#FNanchor_60_60" class="label">[60]</a> Eldest son of the Prince of Massa, of whom Donna Veronica was the fourteenth child.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_61_61" href="#FNanchor_61_61" class="label">[61]</a> Daughter of Alessandro I, Duke of Mirandola, married to Alberico, brother to Veronica.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_62_62" href="#FNanchor_62_62" class="label">[62]</a> Married in 1626 to Galeotto, son of Alessandro I, Duke of Mirandola.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_63_63" href="#FNanchor_63_63" class="label">[63]</a> Le Nozze di Jacopo Salviati con Veronica Cybo, descritte da un contemporaneo, MDCXXVII. In Lucca +co’ Torchi di B. Canovetti, 1871.</p> + +<p>Al Conte Ottavio Sardi nel Giorno delle sue Nozze con la Nobile Donzella Olimpia Fatinelli offre congratulandosi +Giovanni Sforza, VII Settembre MDCCCLXXI.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_188a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_188a.jpg" alt="Boccaccio’S “Valle Delle Donne” With Villa Landor in the Distance"> +</figure> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_DI_FONT_ALL_ERTA"> + VILLA DI FONT’ ALL’ ERTA + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/t.jpg" alt="Stylized T"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>The</span> +name of this whole district is Camerata, derived, says Salvini, +from “camere” or deposits for water-conduits. Villani thinks +Fiesole had two suburbs—Villa Arpina and Villa Camarti—the +latter being the scattered village now called Camerata; +but Boccaccio recounts that long before Fiesole was built +or thought of, the forests which clothed the hills around +were the favourite hunting-grounds of the fair goddess Diana. He describes +her crinkly golden hair, tall, lithe figure, beautiful eyes and face “shining +like the sun,” when in the month of May she met her nymphs—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“By the fair waters of a limpid Fount</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With flowers and grasses ever freshly decked,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Still welling from the foot of Cecer’s mount,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Just where from midday Throne with rays direct</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Sun looks down....”⁠<a id="FNanchor_64_64" href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>“This,” writes Roberto Gherardi, “is the fountain now called Font’ all’ +Erta, at the foot of Monte Ceceri looking due south, below the villa of +the Signori Pitti-Gaddi; of which one can only now see some pieces of wall, +and some ruins and vestiges in the public road at the beginning of the slope; +but the people are still alive who assure me that about the year 1710 the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span>course of the water which came from a tank a little above and from other +springs near by, was deviated because it chilled the land below and +damaged the crops of the podere. At the time of our Boccaccio I find +that this podere with Houses, Tanks, &c., extending to the end of the +plain of San Gervasio, was sold on the 5th June 1370 by Giovanni di +Agostino degli Asini to Messer Bonifazio Lupo, Marquis of Soragona and +a Knight of Parma, who at that time was admitted a citizen of Florence. +Being moved by a spirit of much-to-be-praised piety and a feeling of +gratitude towards the Florentine Republic, he obtained from the same on +the 20th December 1377, as is stated by Ammirato in his XIII. book, +permission to found the hospital in Via San Gallo of the said city, called +precisely Bonifazio from the name of so pious a benefactor.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_65_65" href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<figure class="figcenter illowp45" id="i_191" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_191a.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + COSIMO I, DE’ MEDICI. +<br> + By <span class="smcap">Pietro Polo Galeotti</span>. +<br> + (<i lang="it">Villa di Pelraja</i>). + + </figcaption> +</figure> +<figure class="figcenter illowp45" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_191b.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + + ALESSANDRO DE’ MEDICI. +<br> + By <span class="smcap">Domenico di Polo</span>. +<br> + (<i lang="it">Villa di Cafagginolo</i>). + </figcaption> +</figure> +<figure class="figcenter illowp45" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_191c.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + FERDINANDO I, <span class="allsmcap">AND</span> CHRISTINE <span class="allsmcap">OF</span> LORRAINE. +<br> + By <span class="smcap">Mazzaferri</span>. +<br> + (<i lang="it">Villa di Pratolino</i>). + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>When Florence became the capital of Italy the old Via di Font’ all’ Erta +was done away with and a broad boulevard took its place. Remains of an +old water-conduit and cistern of Roman work were unearthed below the +tank mentioned by Roberto Gherardi; a rusty sacrificial knife, some human +bones and a few bits of Roman pottery were also found near by. On +moonlight nights “the White Spectre,” as the peasants call it, a dim form—a +cloud of white mist—floated hither and thither over the spot, but the +uneasy spirit has not been seen since the new road was made.</p> + +<p>Font’ all’ Erta then came into the possession of the Nuti, and Bernadino +Nuti sold it in 1506 to Taddeo Gaddi, a grandson of the great painter +Taddeo who was an intimate friend of Dante. Taddeo the elder made a +large collection of manuscripts of the Divine Comedy which he afterwards +left to his son Angelo who, discarding the brush for trade, established a +banking-house at Venice with some of his brothers and at last persuaded +his father also to join him. Thenceforward, remarks Litta, Taddeo only +painted occasionally, from habit. Angelo died at Venice in 1378 (or 1387), +leaving his riches and manuscripts to his nephew Angelo, who increased +the collection by purchase and by copies made with his own hand. Taddeo, +Angelo’s son, as already said bought Font’ all’ Erta in 1506. He was three +times elected a Prior of the Republic of Florence, and in 1496 was one of +the Ten Magistrates of Liberty and Peace at the time of the war with +Pisa. In 1527 he received Antonio Bonsi, the ambassador sent by Pope +Clemente VII, (who declared that unless he returned to Florence he would +not be buried in consecrated ground) “to try to reason and treat with the +city. But no sooner did he (Bonsi) arrive at Camerata in the villa of the +Gaddi, than the Signoria, declining to hear him or to listen to any +explanations, sent Messer Bartolomeo Gualterotti to tell him to depart +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span>immediately, and Andrea Giugni to accompany him out of the state and to +see their orders were obeyed.”</p> + +<p>Clemente paid for the reception of his ambassador by creating Taddeo’s +son Niccolò a cardinal in May 1527; but at Bologna two years later Niccolò +lost the favour of the Pope by warmly pleading the cause of the Florentine +envoys, and became an avowed enemy of the house of Medici. In 1532 +Taddeo Gaddi died and Font’ all’ Erta went to his son Sinibaldo, one of +the richest citizens of Florence and allied by marriage with the Strozzi. +When Duke Alessandro de’ Medici was murdered in 1537 by his cousin +Lorenzino, Cardinal Niccolò Gaddi was one of the chief promoters of the +efforts made by the exiled Florentines to restore the republic. Leaving Rome +with the Cardinals Salviati and Ridolfi he hastened to Florence to collect +troops and partisans. But the young Cosimo was too wily. Cardinal Salviati +had to fly the city, Ridolfi hid in his own house, and “Gaddi,” writes old +Varchi, “went like a plucked fowl to his brother’s villa at Camerata,” where +he lay in hiding for some days and then left for Bologna.</p> + +<p>Sinibaldo Gaddi was forced by Cosimo I, to contribute large sums “for +the needs of the state,” but in 1556 the Duke made him head of the <i lang="it">Monte</i> +or Government bank as a kind of compensation. He died in 1558 and his +son Niccolò inherited Font’ all’ Erta and made it what we now see. +Scipione Ammirato mentioning him in a letter says: “he is now at his +villa turning it into a palace more suited to the city than to the country.” +Ammannati is believed to have designed the magnificent loggia and to +have superintended the improvements and alterations of the villa.</p> + +<p>Niccolò Gaddi must have been a remarkable man. He was sent by +the Duke Cosimo I, as ambassador to the Dukes of Ferrara and Mantua to +announce his promotion by the Pope to be Grand Duke of Tuscany, and +afterwards went to Rome to attend the ceremony of the coronation. In +1578 he was created a Senator and was one of those charged to reform the +statutes of the guild of the merchants. A man of great learning and knowledge +of art, his library, picture gallery and museum of antiquities were only +second to those of the Medici. His garden, stocked with rare trees, shrubs +and medicinal herbs, was beautiful and Florence owes the institution of her +botanical garden chiefly to him. Niccolò was twice married, but his children +died young, and the sons of his sister Maddalena, who had married a Pitti, +became his heirs with the obligation of adding his name to their own. +In 1755 the remnants of his fine library were bought by the Emperor +Francis I, of Austria, Grand Duke of Tuscany, from Gaspero Pitti-Gaddi. +355 manuscripts were given to the Laurentian library, 727 manuscripts and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111"></a><a id="Page_112"></a>[112]</span>1451 rare editions of old books to the Magliabecchiana, and 28 manuscripts +relating to public affairs to the Archives.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_195" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_195.jpg" alt="Ammannati’s Loggia"> +</figure> + +<p>That Niccolò Gaddi loved Font’ all’ Erta, generally called the “Paradise +of the Gaddi,” and was proud of it, is shown by the following extracts from +his will written five days before his death.</p> + +<p>“In the name of God, on the ninth day of June 1591 Indiction 4. +Gregorio XIIII, the Holy Pontiff, and of His Serene Highness Ferdinando +Medici Grand Duke of Tuscany, I Niccolò di Sinibaldo Gaddi Cavalier of +San Jacopo make my testament as follows:—</p> + +<p>“Firstly I commend my soul to God and my body to be placed in Sta. +Maria Novella, in my place of burial.”</p> + +<p>Chapter XL says: “And I also order that within two years of my death +my heirs shall have finished the Hall and the Loggia of the Palace in Camerata +and removed the well from the wall of the Hall, without however filling it up, +and made another in the wall of the small courtyard of the kitchen, searching +there for water, but should it not be found they are to go to the spring and +find the old well. Maestro Lorenzo who builds organs, and Maestro Zanobi +Grazia Dio mason, and Maestro Fanelli stone-cutter, are informed of my intentions, +therefore let them be carried out according as they may direct. And +in addition let the arms of Strozzi⁠<a id="FNanchor_66_66" href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> and of Gaddi be placed at the corners of +the said palace, and some memorial of him who made and restored them, and +I will that the men shall not be taken, even for one day, off the work until +all is finished....”</p> + +<p>Chapter LXIII says: “... I will that in the Hall of the Palace of +Camerata an inscription shall be put up to my memory in such fashion and in +such a position as shall be judged proper by the most excellent Signore Piero +Angeli, whom I beg to do me the favour of visiting the said Palace, and my +heirs shall receive him with the honour due to his most rare merits.”</p> + +<p>Either “the most excellent Signore Piero Angeli” never went to Font’ all’ +Erta or the heirs neglected to carry out the orders of Niccolò, for inscription +there is none. It is said that in the carnival season faint sounds of old-fashioned +dance music are heard there in the dead of night, and the rustling of silk robes +and silvery laughter. But all attempts to see the ghostly dancers from the +balcony running round the top of the lofty hall have failed.</p> + +<p>In 1770 the villa was bought by Marchese Ponticelli of Parma who sold +it to Niccolò Gondi, and in the drawing-room still hangs a portrait of the +fascinating Paule Françoise Marguerite de Gondi who married the Duc de +Crequy, de Bonne, de Lesdiguieres, &c., &c. She is pretty in a +<i lang="fr">piquante</i> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span> +French style, and wears coquettishly a blue robe trimmed with ermine. Round +the top of the room are frescoes by Maso da San Friano (Tommaso di +Antonio Manzuoli). The Loggia which gives access to the villa is magnificent; +it looks due south, over Florence and the valley of the Arno. Two +fine old date-palms growing against it have withstood many a hard winter +and give grace and beauty even to Ammannati’s splendid building. Count +Pasolini who bought the villa in 1850 put up a fine Venetian lantern out +of an old Contarini galley under a Della Robbia Madonna in the Loggia.</p> + +<p>The villa stands high, about a mile from Florence, and a winding carriage road +shaded by elms leads up from the plain ending in an avenue of tall +cypresses. Thence the view of the hill of Fiesole is enchanting. Beautiful +Doccia with its long line of arches lies bathed in sunshine, and just below is +the villa where St Louis Gonzaga stayed with Pier Francesco del Turco to +learn the Tuscan tongue. Landor’s old villa, now belonging to Professor +Willard Fiske, faces us, with the valley of the Ladies below its garden wall, +and the Affrico murmuring through its grounds. Visions of the fair Fiametta +and her companions arise as one remembers how on the sixth day, after Elisa +had crowned Dioneo king and laughingly told him it was time he should find +out what a charge it was to rule over and guide women, the three youths sat +down to play at draughts while she led the Ladies to an unknown valley. +Leaving the “sumptuous palace” they walked about a mile, and “entering +by a narrow path on a side where a crystal clear streamlet ran, they saw it to +be as beautiful and delightful, especially at that season when the heat was so +great, as can be imagined. And according to what some of them told me +afterwards the level part of the valley was as circular as though drawn with +compasses, yet it was an artifice of nature and not made by human labour. +Little more than half a mile in circumference it was surrounded by six hills +of no great height, and on the summit of each one was a palace built much +in the shape of a small castle. The sides of the hills sloped towards the plain, +as we see the seats in theatres from the top row descend in successive flights, +always restricting their circles. And these hillsides, at least all those facing +south, were clothed with vines, olive, almond, cherry and other fruit trees, +and not a palm of ground was lost. Those looking to the north had copses +of oak saplings, ash and other trees, green and straight as they could be. +There was no other approach to the level plain than the one by which the +Ladies had come; it was full of fir-trees, cypresses, bays and a few pines, +so well placed and so well ordered as though planted by the greatest of artists. +Little or no sun entered there, even when high in the Heavens it only just +touched the earth clothed with sward of finest grass and rich in purple and +other flowers. Besides this a rivulet, which was not a less delight, came from +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span> +a valley dividing two of those small hills; it trickled down steep rocks of sandstone, +and made in its fall a sound most delightful to hear, while the spray, +from afar, seemed to be live silver broken into the lightest of showers. On +reaching the level the rivulet gathered into a pleasant channel, rushed rapidly +to the centre of the plain and there formed a lakelet, such as now and again +townsfolk, who have the art, make in their gardens for fish-ponds. The depth +of the lakelet was not more than up to the breast of a man, and so clear that +not only the gravel bottom could be seen, but many fishes darting about here +and there.... When the Ladies had observed everything they commended +the place exceedingly and the heat being great, seeing the lake before them +and having no fear of being seen, they decided to bathe ... and all seven +disrobed and went down into the water, which hid their lovely white bodies +no more than a thin glass would hide a crimson rose. Without causing the +water to become turbid, they went hither and thither after the fish, which had +scant hiding-places, trying to catch them with their hands. Having with great +joy taken some, they remained some time in the water and then came forth +and dressed.”</p> + +<p>Returning to the Palace the Ladies described the valley and its lake in such +glowing terms that next morning another expedition was agreed upon: “the sun’s +rays had hardly begun to show when they started; never had the nightingales and +other birds seemed to sing so gaily as on that morning. Accompanied by the song +of birds they went as far as the Valley of the Ladies where they were greeted by +many more, who appeared to them to rejoice at their coming. Walking about the +valley and examining it more minutely it seemed to them so much the more +beautiful than on the day before as the hour of the day was the more suitable to its +loveliness. And when they had broken their fast with good wine and sweetmeats, +in order not to be behind the birds they began to sing, and the valley sang with +them always repeating the same songs they uttered, to which all the birds, as +though loth to be vanquished, added sweet and novel notes. But the hour for +eating having arrived and tables, according to the King’s pleasure, being set +under the tall and spreading trees near to the lovely lakelet, they seated +themselves; and whilst eating watched the fish swimming in the lake in great +shoals.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_67_67" href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p> + +<p>Font’ all’ Erta is intimately connected with the making of the kingdom of +Italy. Count Giuseppe Pasolini, who began public life in 1848 as minister of +Commerce, Agriculture and the Fine Arts to Pius IX, a post he only occupied +for a few months, bought it as already mentioned in 1850, when he frankly joined +the party of “Young Italy.” There Ricasoli, Minghetti, La Marmora, Peruzzi, +and all the liberal men of Italy often met together, and English well-wishers of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span>Italy were frequent guests. In 1860 Count Pasolini became Governor of Milan +for the King of Italy, and two years later he entered the Farini ministry for a +short time as Minister for Foreign Affairs. Then he was named Prefect of Turin, +a post he resigned after voting the transfer of the capital to Florence in 1864. +His high character, undoubted ability and conciliatory manner caused him to be +chosen for the difficult post of Commissary General of Venetia in 1866, and he +entered Venice on the 20th October, two days before the plebiscite which was all +but unanimous in favour of union with Italy—641,758 votes against 69. In 1867 +Count Pasolini retired into private life, but in obedience to the King’s express +request he accepted the Presidency of the Senate in March 1876. In December +the same year he died at his family place near Ravenna aged sixty-one, leaving +Font’ all’ Erta to his daughter Angelica, Countess Rasponi della Testa.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_199" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_199.jpg" alt="View of the Villa by Col. Goff"> +</figure> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_64_64" href="#FNanchor_64_64" class="label">[64]</a> <i lang="it">Ninfale Fiesolano.</i> + Giov. Boccaccio. Firenze, 1834. Vol. XVII. p. 9. Translated by R. C. Trevelyan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_65_65" href="#FNanchor_65_65" class="label">[65]</a> <cite lang="it">La villegiatura di Majano.</cite> M.S. Roberto Gherardi, 1740.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_66_66" href="#FNanchor_66_66" class="label">[66]</a> The mother of Niccolò Gaddi was Lucrezia, daughter of the Senator Matteo Strozzi, and his second wife was +Maria Strozzi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_67_67" href="#FNanchor_67_67" class="label">[67]</a> <cite lang="it">Il Decamerone.</cite> + Gio. Boccaccio. Firenze, 1827. Giornata Sesta, Novella X. p. 172, <i lang="la">et seq.</i></p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_200a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_200a.jpg" alt="The Water Garden"> +</figure> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_DI_GAMBERAIA"> + VILLA DI GAMBERAIA + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/n.jpg" alt="Stylized N"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>Nothing</span> definite is known of the history of this charming +villa which stands among giant cypresses and gnarled ilexes +on a terrace high above Settignano and overlooks the Val +d’ Arno. From the name Gamberaia some have attempted +to connect it with the great sculptor Antonio Rossellino, +who with his brother Bernardo, the architect, was born in +Settignano and whose family name was Gamberelli. But Antonio who, +writes Varchi, “was so refined and delicate in his works, their beauty and +smoothness being so perfect that his manner can in truth be called natural +and absolutely modern...” died about 1479, whereas Gamberaia cannot +have been built much before 1600. Not far off a small house is still standing +which has always been pointed out as the one inhabited by the two artist +brothers. It is unlikely that any of their descendants should have made a +fortune large enough to build such a villa as Gamberaia or to lay out such +a garden, without some record being left. Popular tradition, which is all +we have to depend on, declares that several rills and springs of water formed +a small lake or pond near by where the country folk used to catch crayfish +(Gamberi), hence the name Gamberaia, the abode of crayfish. It is true that +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span> +over one of the doors is a coat of arms bearing three crayfish on the right side +and two half moons on the left, but I am informed by a competent authority +that it is a fancy shield of late times and that the arms of the Gamberelli +have six crayfish and a badge with three <span lang="fr">fleur de lis</span>, as may be seen in +Vasari’s life of Rossellino. Over a door in the large entrance hall is the +inscription <i lang="la">Zenobius Lapius Fundavit MDCX</i>, and by the courtesy of the +present owner of Gamberaia I have been lent a legal document about water +rights, which has been a disputed question for nearly three hundred years. +In digging the foundation of an out-house this winter (1900), a broken shield +with the Lapi arms has been discovered. From this fact it would appear +to be most probable that the builder of the villa was Zanobi Lapi; the pity +is that the name of his architect is not forthcoming. In the centre of the +villa is a small courtyard with elegant columns sustaining an arcade out of +which open vaulted rooms, and on the north and south side of the villa +project very original flying balconies supported on three arches. A small +spiral staircase, hidden in the square column furthest from the house on one +side, leads down from the first floor into the terrace garden. Zanobi Lapi +died in 1619, nine years after he had built his villa, and left it to his nephews +Jacopo di Andrea Lapi, and Andrea di Cosimo Lapi, but failing heirs male +he directed that his property was to be divided between the families of +Capponi and Cerretani. Jacopo and Andrea evidently inherited their uncles’ +love for Gamberaia, as they at once began to buy up rights to the water from +neighbouring proprietors, and to make conduits and large reservoirs to conduct +it to various fountains and grottoes. In 1623 they bought a house and a +<span lang="it">podere</span>, or farm, called La Doccia, which was especially rich in springs. Jacopo +died the following year leaving a young son; the lands and the houses in +Florence were divided between the cousins, but the villa of Gamberaia remained +in their joint possession. “The most illustrious Signore Cosimo Lapi, a noble +Florentine” then began to lay out one of the most characteristic seventeenth +century gardens in the neighbourhood of Florence, with grottoes inlaid with +shells of different kinds and various coloured marbles, statues, vases, fountains +and <i lang="fr">jeux d’eaux</i> of every description. In the archives of Florence are several +contracts made by him, between 1624 and 1635, with his neighbours for the +purchase of springs and rills of water belonging to them, and the right to +make conduits through their lands for the conveyance of the water to +Gamberaia. In 1636 he had a lawsuit with a certain Signora Aurelia, a +widow, who complained that he had deprived her of necessary water by the +deep trenches and reservoirs dug near the confines of her property. The +result of this inordinate love of fountains and curious <i lang="fr">jeux d’eaux</i> was, that +when “the most illustrious Florentine Andrea Lapi” died in 1688, his son +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span>was obliged to heavily mortgage the estate to pay off his father’s debts. +Jacopo’s son Giovan Francesco died in 1717 without heirs male, and the Lapi +property was divided between the Capponi and the Cerretani; the latter taking +three <i lang="it">podere</i>, or farms, and some small houses in Florence, the Capponi the +villa of Gamberaia and two <i lang="it">podere</i>.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_203" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_203.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + VILLA <span class="allsmcap">DI</span> GAMBERAIA. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Remains of conduits, tanks and reservoirs in several properties near +Gamberaia still remain to attest the considerable works made by Andrea Lapi for +supplying water to his beloved villa. He no doubt planted the noble cypresses +that tower like dark green steeples on either side of the long bowling alley that +runs for some four hundred feet behind the house, ending to the north in one of +those elaborate half grottoes, half fountains, inlaid with shells and decorated with +stone figures of impossible animals and queer people in high relief of which +Francesco de’Medici set the fashion at Pratolino and at Castello. To the south +the long green walk ends in a delightful old stone balustrade with solemn grey +stone figures, from whence the view over the fruitful, gently rolling hills crowned +with villas or peasant houses is beautiful.</p> + +<p>The terrace garden looks down on Settignano, a little village that can boast +of more famous children than most large towns. Desiderio da Settignano, whose +every work shows, as Vasari says, “that grace and simplicity that pleases everywhere +and is recognised by everyone,” was the son of a stone-cutter of Settignano. +He was so popular that for months after his death sonnets and epigrams were laid +on his tomb by admirers.</p> + +<p>Excellent architects were Meo Del Caprina and his brother Luca; the former +worked at Ferrara and Rome, and designed the cathedral of Turin; the latter +fortified Librafratta and other Pisan towns. Simone Mosca da Settignano was +said to have been equal to Greek and Roman sculptors, he worked with Antonio +da San Gallo in Sta. Maria della Pace at Rome and in the Farnese palace; also at +Arezzo, Loreto, and at Orvieto, where he was induced to settle with his family and +devote himself to the service of the cathedral. His son Francesco, called +Moschino, “being born almost with the mallet in his hand,” sculptured some +figures in the dome of Orvieto “to the wonder and astonishment of all beholders.” +Simone Gioli, pupil of Andrea Sansovino, was another admirable sculptor, and +his son Valerio carried on the family tradition. Antonio di Gino Lorenzi was also +from Settignano, he helped his master Triboli to make the famous fountain at +Castello and executed the monument of Matteo Corte in the Campo Santo of Pisa. +Moreni, in his <cite lang="it">Dintorni di Firenze</cite>, gives a list of architects, sculptors and +painters, too long to insert here, who were born in the little hill village. But all +pale before the tremendous personality of Michelangelo Buonarroti, “the deathless +artist,” as John Addington Symonds calls him. Brought to Settignano when but +a few weeks old, his foster-mother was the wife as well as the daughter of a +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span>stone-cutter. “I drew the chisel and the mallet with which I carve statues in +together with my nurse’s milk,” he told Vasari. His father’s small grey house with +a loggia and a tower⁠<a id="FNanchor_68_68" href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> lies below the terrace of Gamberaia, and forms a fitting +foreground to the view of Florence backed by the chain of the Apennines.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_207" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_207.jpg" alt="Distant View of the Villa"> +</figure> + +<p>After various vicissitudes Gamberaia was bought a few years ago by Princess +Ghyka, who is restoring the beautiful old-fashioned garden to its pristine splendour +with infinite patience and taste.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_68_68" href="#FNanchor_68_68" class="label">[68]</a> It now belongs to Signor Chiesa.</p></div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_208a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_208a.jpg" alt="General View of the Villa"> +</figure> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_DI_MONTE_GUFFONE"> + VILLA DI MONTE GUFFONE + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/m.jpg" alt="Stylized M"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>Monte</span> Guffone was built at a time when castles and +watch-towers were needed on the Tuscan hills, and the +Acciajuoli, rivals of the Peruzzi and Bardi, determined +to have a fortress-villa that should be a visible sign of +their power and magnificence. The site chosen for it was +the hilly country near San Casciano, between the river +Pesa and the streamlet Virginio, a little off the high road to Volterra, +commanding a varied landscape of vast woods of pine and oak, farms +surrounded by olive-groves and vineyards, and hill-set villages with winding +roads overhung with rosemary bushes. The first glimpse of Monte Guffone +seen across the misty waves of olives is of a grand and shapely massed +group of building, resting like a citadel on the shoulder of the hills. From +its midst rises a tall tower closely resembling that of Palazzo Vecchio—with +the difference that it starts straight from the ground. Upon nearing +the villa there is a delightful sense of variety, as successive generations of +the Acciajuoli have given it a different character until finally it has become +a beautiful but somewhat baroque seventeenth century villa. Still, when +walking on the broad balcony which probably covers the ancient bastions, there +is the feeling of a great house built for defence, and the tower has been +left untouched in a courtyard into which look large Michelangelesque windows +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span>framed with dark stone and set at regular intervals one from another, +forming a perfect piece of work of its kind, and contrasting pleasantly with +the mediæval watch-tower. On the northern side of the villa a façade has +been added giving it almost an ecclesiastical appearance, enhanced by the +group of sedate and sombre cypresses and ilexes growing at one corner of +this otherwise joyous looking building. To the same period belongs the +grand stone staircase on the garden side, leading down to a grotto encrusted +with shells and ornamented with statues of the seasons, which even in their +present shattered condition recall the past almost Medicean splendour of +the place. The wall slopes out with spreading bastions forming an entrance +to the grotto as though the architect had remembered the gateway of some +Etruscan city, and above the arch is set a shield, supported by cupids, with +the lions of the Acciajuoli house.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_211" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_211.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + VILLA <span class="allsmcap">DI</span> MONTE GUFFONE. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>This once magnificent villa, now let out in tenements to poor people, +was built, or at all events enlarged, early in the fourteenth century by the +Grand Seneschal Acciajuoli, whose family first appears in Florentine history +in the thirteenth century as merchants, rivalling, if they did not surpass, the +Bardi and the Peruzzi in wealth. One of them, Niccola, stands gibbeted +to all time by Dante. He and Baldo d’Aguglione, aided by the Podestà, +tore out a sheet of the public records of the city in order to destroy the proof +of certain frauds committed. Ironically Dante refers to the “well-guided city,” +praising the old days—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent16">“... when still</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The registry and label rested safe.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>Unlike the present Florentines, who are never happy away from the +shadow of their Duomo, the Acciajuoli thought nothing of going to far distant +lands or of taking service with foreign princes. Thus Dardano, son of +Lotteringo, passed most of his youth at Tunis as treasurer to the Bey. In +1305 he was back in Florence leading his fellow-citizens against Pistoja, +and soon afterwards went as ambassador to Naples to offer the Lordship of +Florence to the King, Robert of Anjou; two years later he returned there +to beg assistance against Uguccione della Faggiuola who threatened to make +himself master of the city. A cousin of his, Niccola Acciajuoli, left Florence +for Naples at the age of twenty-one to negotiate a loan, and by his extraordinary +personal beauty, grace and intelligence, won the heart of Catherine, titular +Empress of Constantinople, widow of the Prince of Taranto; her brother-in-law +the King, who recognised his capacity and diplomatic talents, appointed him +the guardian of her three children. In 1338 Niccola accompanied Louis, the +eldest of his wards, to Achaia in Greece, and for three years conducted the +war against the Turks with great ability; but the death of King Robert, who +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span>left the kingdom of Naples to his niece Joan, proved the stepping-stone to his +fortune. Married against her will to Andrew of Hungary, a coarse, uneducated +man entirely under the dominion of his rude Hungarian followers, Joan had +fallen passionately in love with her cousin Louis, Prince of Taranto; and +when Andrew was strangled whilst asleep popular rumour connected Acciajuoli +with the murder; the Queen married her cousin Louis, and Niccola became +the trusted minister of the crown. The King of Hungary soon appeared on +the scene to avenge the death of his brother, and finding he was too powerful +to be opposed Acciajuoli persuaded Queen Joan and her young husband +to take refuge in his splendid villa Monte Guffone near Florence. After +passing some weeks with him they went to Avignon to implore the aid of +Pope Clement VI, but the plague, which broke out in Naples soon afterwards, +proved a more efficient ally; the King of Hungary fled from the stricken +city and Niccola conducted Louis and Joan back to Naples where they were +received with great demonstrations of delight. He was created Grand Seneschal +of the Kingdom, Count of Melfi, etc., etc., and placing himself at the head +of the army drove the Hungarians back to their own country. Peace was +finally made through the intervention of the Pope, and then Acciajuoli set +himself to free Sicily of the Spaniards; but during his absence the King was +turned against him by the Neapolitan courtiers, and in dudgeon he threw +up all his appointments and retired into private life. When, however, the +Pope laid the kingdom under an interdict on account of unpaid taxes, he +at once offered himself as mediator. Innocent VI, received him with extraordinary +honours; raised the interdict at his request, gave him the Golden Rose (the +first time a private person had been thus distinguished), named him a Senator +of Rome, Count of the Campagna and Rector of the ecclesiastical Patrimony, +and then sent him to Milan as envoy to Bernabo Visconti to obtain the +restitution of Bologna. Finding diplomacy of no avail, Niccola put himself +with the Papal Legate at the head of the papal troops and soon entered +Bologna in triumph. Returning to Naples he lived in almost royal state until +his death at the early age of fifty-six.</p> + +<p>Besides Monte Guffone, Niccola Acciajuoli built the magnificent Certosa +near Florence after the design of Orcagna, and the first of the family to be +buried there was his handsome, brilliant son Lorenzo, “a Knight and a great +Baron” Matteo Villani calls him in his description of the funeral. The +body was sent from Naples and on the 7th April 1354 was taken “on a +knightly hearse, one great charger being in front and one behind covered +with silken housings emblazoned with the Acciajuoli arms, while the hearse +was covered with rich hangings and a baldaquin of silk and gold, and over +the coffin was fine crimson velvet; the horses were ridden by squires dressed +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span>in black, and preceding the hearse were seven squires on great chargers, their +draperies trailing on the ground, with the aforesaid arms on their breasts +in beaten silver. The two first squires bore plumed helmets, the third +carried a standard and the other four had each a large banner with the +Acciajuoli arms.” In 1366 Niccola also was buried at the Certosa near his +son with great pomp.</p> + +<p>Donato, a cousin of Niccola, had been sent to Corinth as governor, and +in 1392 his brother Neri was created Duke of Athens, Lord of Megara, Platæa, +Thebes and Corinth. Neri’s illegitimate son Antonio inherited only the +Lordship of Bœotia and Thebes, while Athens returned to the crown of Naples. +The Venetians immediately seized it, but Antonio, worthy scion of a splendid +race, soon drove them out and held the place for himself. He was succeeded +by his cousin Neri who, dethroned by his brother Antonio, only got back his +estates after the death of the latter. Neri’s son was a child when his father +died and Sultan Mahomet II, refusing to acknowledge his title to the throne, +named Francesco, Antonio’s son, in his stead. His tyranny was so intolerable +that the Sultan ordered him to be strangled and thus, after seventy years of +sovereignty ended the Acciajuoli rulers of Greece. Demostene Tiribilli-Giuliani, +from whose work <cite lang="it">Le Famiglie Celebre Toscane</cite> I have gathered the above +facts remarks, with a fine disregard of history, “no one mentions Athens after +this, indeed its existence was hardly known until our day, when it became +the capital of Greece.”</p> + +<p>The Acciajuoli constantly figure in the history of Florence as Gonfaloniers, +Vicars, Ambassadors, Envoys, Cardinals and Bishops; and one of the saddest +and most romantic stories of the eighteenth century has an Acciajuoli as its +hero. Roberto, eldest son of Donato Acciajuoli, handsome, clever, brave and +fascinating, had long admired Elisabetta Mormorai, wife of Captain Giulio +Berardi. On the death of her husband he declared his love and the beautiful +widow accepted him. But he reckoned without his uncle Cardinal Acciajuoli, +who had made up his mind that his handsome nephew should make an alliance +in Rome which might help him in his designs on the papal chair. Prayers, +admonitions and threats being of no avail, the Cardinal induced the Grand +Duke Cosimo III, to imprison Elisabetta in a convent; upon which Roberto +contracted a canonical marriage with her by letter and fled to Milan where +he published it, demanding at the same time justice from the Grand Duke, +the Archbishop, the Cardinal and his own father. In Lombardy the validity +of the marriage was upheld, while in Florence it was declared to be a mere +engagement. The lady was removed from her convent to a fortress, upon +which Roberto, while the papal chair was vacant in 1691, wrote a circular to +all the cardinals, imploring justice from them and from the future pope. All +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span>Italy was interested in the unhappy lovers and blamed the high-handed +Cardinal and his slavish abettor Cosimo III. In vain Cardinal Acciajuoli +tried to excuse himself by throwing all the blame on his relations, his conduct +lost him the chance of being made pope, while the Grand Duke was accused +of arbitrary and unjust conduct and of truckling to the private spite of a +cardinal. Cosimo determined to revenge himself, but for the moment he set +the fair prisoner free who immediately joined her husband in Venice, where +everyone pitied them and blamed the Grand Duke, by whom formal application +was made to the Republic to deliver up the lovers, accusing them of want +of respect to their sovereign. They fled, but their steps were dogged, and +at Trent they were arrested disguised as friars and taken back to Tuscany, +where Roberto Acciajuoli was condemned to perpetual imprisonment in the +fortress of Volterra and the loss of his patrimony, while Elisabetta was given +the choice of repudiating her marriage or being immured in the same prison. +In the hope of mitigating his sentence she chose the former and ended her +days in tears and misery, while Roberto died in the most terrible prison of +Tuscany, as anyone who has visited the <i lang="it">Mastio</i> of Volterra will know.</p> + +<p>This is but one of the many instances of Cosimo’s tyranny. An insensate +bigot, he was entirely under the dominion of priests and monks who ruined +the country and destroyed its morality. Few princes have been more hated +by their subjects and their own family, or with better reason.</p> + +<p>In the lovely Val di Pesa near Monte Guffone occurred the pretty scene +so charmingly described in a long letter by that witty Tuscan, Ser Matteo +Franco, chaplain to the Medici, who bandied sonnets and “strambotti” with +Luigi Pulci. The austere, rather disagreeable Clarice, wife of Lorenzo the +Magnificent, who had not been fitted by her education in the stately Orsini +palace at Rome for the brilliant pleasure-loving life at Florence, was returning +from some baths near Volterra when, as Matteo Franco writes, “... we met +paradise full of festive and joyous angels, that is to say Messer Giovanni, +Piero, Giuliano and Julio on pillions with their attendants. And when they +saw their mother they threw themselves off their horses, some by themselves, +some with the help of others; and all ran forward and were lifted into the +arms of Madonna Clarice with such joy and kisses and delight that I could +not describe in a hundred letters. Even I could not refrain from dismounting; +and before they got on their horses again, I embraced them all and +kissed them twice; once for myself and once for Lorenzo. Darling little +Giulianino said with a long O, o, o, ‘where is Lorenzo?’ We answered, ‘he +has gone on before to Poggio to see you.’ Then he: ‘Oh no never,’ almost +in tears. You never beheld so touching a sight. He and Piero, who has +become a beautiful boy, the finest thing, by God, you ever saw, with such +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span> +a profile he is like an angel, and rather long hair which stands out a little +and is pretty to see. And Giuliano red and fresh as a rose, smooth, clean +and bright as a mirror, joyous yet contemplative with those large eyes. Messer +Giovanni also looks well, his colour is not so high but clear and natural; +and Julio has a brown and healthy skin. All, in short, are happiness itself. +And thus with great content a joyous party we went by Via Maggio, Ponte +a Santa Trinita, San Michele Berteldi, Santa Maria Maggiore, Canto alla +Paglia and Via de’ Martegli; and entered into the house <span lang="la"><i>per infinita asecola +asecolorum</i> eselibera nos a malo amen.”</span>⁠<a id="FNanchor_69_69" href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_217" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_217.jpg" alt="The Villa and Tower"> +</figure> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_69_69" href="#FNanchor_69_69" class="label">[69]</a> See <cite lang="it">Florentia</cite>. Isidoro Del Lungo. Firenze, 1897. P. 424.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_218a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_218a.jpg" alt="Distant View of the Villa from a Podere"> +</figure> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_DI_CASTEL-PULCI"> + VILLA DI CASTEL-PULCI + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/a.jpg" alt="Stylized A"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>About</span> six miles from Florence on the high road to Pisa stands +the fine villa of Castel-Pulci, now a lunatic asylum. In ancient +times the Pulci owned large possessions in the Val d’Arno, but +the first notice I have found of them is in 1278 when Jacopo di +Rinaldo Pulci was denounced to the captain of the Guelph party +in Florence for failing to keep a weir in the Arno near Ponte a +Signa in proper repair. His son Mainetto sold this weir to the monks of the +great Badia⁠<a id="FNanchor_70_70" href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> + a Settimo, who in 1313 also bought an island in the river from +Giovanni and Ponzardo, sons of Mainetto. Like so many of the great Florentine +houses the Pulci failed in 1321 and villa and lands were seized by the cardinal +Napoleone Orsini, one of the creditors. His heirs sold the estate to the Marquis +Rinnucini who enlarged and beautified Castel-Pulci, which was bought by the +government some fifty years ago.</p> + +<p>Luigi Pulci, born on the 3rd of December 1431, was the author of the <cite lang="it">Morgante +Maggiore</cite>, the first burlesque romance in European literature and the prototype of +that form of poetry which Ariosto brought to perfection. His two elder brothers +were also poets; Luca wrote the <cite lang="it">Ciriffo Calvaneo</cite> and the <cite lang="it">Driadeo d’Amore</cite>, and +was considered by Varchi superior to Luigi, while Giovio calls him <i lang="it">poeta nobile</i>. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span>Bernardo, the eldest, was among the first to write pastoral poetry in the vulgar +tongue; he also made a good translation of the Eclogues of Virgil, and wrote a +poem on the passion of Christ and many plays. His wife Antonia was a poetess +of no mean fame in the same style. Verino celebrates the three brothers thus:</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_221" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_221.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + VILLA <span class="allsmcap">DI</span> CASTEL-PULCI. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<div class="poetry-container" lang="la"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Carminibus patriis notissima Pulcia proles.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Qui non hanc urbem Musarem dicat amicam,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Si tres prodicat frates domus una poetas?”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>Luigi Pulci was an intimate friend of the Medici and formed one of the +brilliant company surrounding Lorenzo il Magnifico, who mentions him in his +poem on hawking:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container" lang="it"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Luigi Pulci ov’è, che non si sente?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Egli se n’andò dianzi in quel boschetto,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Che qualche fantasia ha per la mente,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vorrà fantasticar forse un sonetto;”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>Many were the jokes made by Lorenzo’s witty chaplain, Ser Matteo di Franco, +a canon of the cathedral of Florence, and a favourite of Pope Innocent VIII, on +the name of his friend Pulci (Pulex, a flea). He used to say of Luigi, who was +very thin, “famine is as naturally depicted on his countenance as though it were +a work by Giotto.” They wrote facetious sonnets to each other which were +published in the fifteenth century and immediately placed on the Index, but a +reprint of this rare volume was made by Marchese De Rossi in 1759. Both were +admirers and intimate friends of Angelo Poliziano (to whom, by the way, some +have erroneously attributed the <cite lang="it">Morgante Maggiore</cite>).</p> + +<p>Luigi Pulci’s poem, which Lord Byron admired sufficiently to translate, tells +of the hatred borne by the perfidious Ganellone to the chaste and generous Orlando +and the other Christian Paladins. Charlemagne, deceived by Ganellone, whose +envy, dissimulation, feigned humility and capacity for lying is admirably portrayed, +sends him to Spain to treat for the cession of a kingdom for Orlando with King +Marsilio. Instead of this he plots with the Spaniards for the destruction of +Orlando, who is killed at Roncesvalle. Morgante the giant, after being baptised by +Orlando becomes his faithful squire; the other giant Maggutte is a jovial pagan, +laughing at everybody and everything, who ends his life in peals of loud laughter. +The poem was composed for the amusement of Lucrezia Tornabuoni, the accomplished +mother of Lorenzo de’ Medici, herself a poetess. “Luigi Pulci,” writes +Symonds, “assumed the tone of a street-singer, opening each canto with the customary +invocation to the Madonna or a paraphrase of some church collect, and +dismissing his audience at the close with grateful thanks or brief good wishes.</p> + +<p>“But Pulci was no mere <i lang="it">Canta-storie</i>. The popular style served but as a +cloak to cover his subtle-witted satire and his mocking levity. Tuscan humour +keeps up an <i lang="it">obbligato</i> accompaniment throughout the poem. Sometimes this +humour is in harmony with the plebeian spirit of the old Italian romances; +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span> +sometimes it turns aside and treats it as a theme of ridicule. In reading the +<i lang="it">Morgante</i> +we must bear in mind that it was written canto by canto to be recited +in the palace of the Via Larga, at the table where Poliziano and Ficino gathered +with Michelangelo Buonarroti and Cristoforo Landino. Whatever topics may from +time to time have occupied that brilliant circle, were reflected in its stanzas; and +this alone suffices to account for its tender episodes and its burlesque extravagances, +for the satiric picture of Margutte and the serious discourses of the devil Astarotte. +The external looseness of construction and the intellectual unity of the poem, are +both attributable to these circumstances. Passing by rapid transitions from grave +to gay, from pathos to cynicism, from theological speculations to ribaldry, it is +at one and the same time a mirror of the popular taste which suggested the form, +and also of the courtly wits who listened to it laughing. The <i lang="it">Morgante</i> is no +<i lang="fr">naïve</i> production of a simple age, but the artistic plaything of a cultivated and +critical society, entertaining its leisure with old-world stories, accepting some for +their beauty’s sake in seriousness, and turning others into nonsense for pure +mirth.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_71_71" href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p> + +<p>Close to Castel-Pulci, on the spur of a hill overlooking the Valle Morta (a +name probably alluding to a battle fought there in 1113) on one side and the +valley of the Arno on the other, is Monte Cascioli, now a farm-house, once the +strong castle of the powerful Lords of Fucecchio. Here Count Lottario and his +mother Countess Gemma held court in 1006 and gave large donations to the +Badia a Settimo. Their descendant Ugo joined Ruberto Tedesco, Vicario of +Tuscany under Henry III, against the Florentines, who marched out and fought +a pitched battle in which Ruberto was killed and Monte Cascioli was stormed and +destroyed.</p> + +<p>From the terrace of Castel-Pulci one looks down upon the broad and +fertile plain of the Arno, whose course is marked by lines of shimmering +poplars, and the fine mass of Mount Morello rises in the distance. Close +to the river bank the beautiful campanile, attributed by Vasari to Niccolò +Pisano, of the ancient Badia a Settimo stands out against the green background. +The Pulci once owned a strong castle near by of which no vestige remains, +but the Badia had been a dependency of the great Lords of Fucecchio since +940, and was inhabited by Cluniacense monks, whose behaviour became so +scandalous that in 1063 Count Gugliemo Bulgaro appealed to his friend +St Giovan Gualberto for aid, and the saintly abbot of Vallombrosa introduced +his own rule. Soon afterwards, by his order, St Peter Igneus went through +the ordeal by fire at Settimo in the presence of a large concourse of people. +The following inscriptions may still be read bearing witness to the fact:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container" lang="la"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Igneus hic Petrus medios pertransiit ignes,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Flammarum victor, sed magis haereseos.</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hoc in loco, miraculo S. Johannis Gualberto, quidam fuere confutati Haeretici</span>, MLXX.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span></p> + +<p>In 1236 Gregory IX, took the abbey and monastery under the immediate +protection of the Holy See and gave it to the Cistercians, whose conduct +was so exemplary that the Signoria of Florence entrusted them with the +administration of the taxes, the maintenance of the city walls and bridges +and finally gave the great seal into their keeping. The monks were made +exempt from taxes and their revenue must have been large, as every abbot +paid a thousand golden florins to the Pope on his investiture. The tall gatetower, +once connected with the strong walls built round the monastery by +the Republic of Florence, is very fine and a large and curious <i lang="it">alto-relievo</i> +built up of brick and mortar, of Our Lord and two saints, is above the closed-up +door. Under the feet of the Christ is a slab with the lily of Florence +and an illegible inscription. Below that again is written—</p> + +<p lang="la">“Anno Domini MCCXXXVI, S.S. Dmn. N. Gregorius IX dedit hoc +Monasterium de Septimo Ordin. Cirterc. cum esset liberum et exemptum ab +omni regio patronatu, quod in plena libertate a dicto Ordine pacifice possidetur.”</p> + +<p>Badia a Settimo must have been magnificent with its moat and three +other towers, each of which had a drawbridge. Now much of the ancient +structure lies under fifteen feet of mud deposited by the perpetual inundations +of the Arno, the monks’ refectory has been divided into cellars, the fine old +abbey-church with its solemn, almost Egyptian-looking, columns is a <i lang="it">tinaia</i> +where wine is made and the original height can only be seen by an excavation +which has been dug round one of the columns. The monastery is a private +villa, and the lovely cloister with its slender pillars, beautifully carved capitals +and expanse of grass serves as a playground for the children. The present +church was built in the thirteenth century at right angles to the ancient +abbey-church and nearer to the campanile, on artificially raised ground. The +steps which led up to the door are already deep under the earth and the +bases of the columns supporting the loggia in front of the church are more +than half buried. The high altar is a fine piece of <i lang="it">pietra dura</i> work, and +round the top of the choir is a pretty frieze by one of the Della Robbia, of +four-winged heads of angels alternating with a kneeling lamb holding a banner, +emblem of the guild of wool manufacturers. In the left hand chapel is a +small ambrey, or receptacle for the holy oil, by Desiderio da Settignano, of +most exquisite design and workmanship; the walls of the chapel are frescoed +by Giovanni di San Giovanni, and above the altar is kept a silver casket +containing the bones of St Quentin. The saint was beheaded at Paris a +thousand or more years ago and transported his bones by some miracle to +a church on the opposite side of the river; not liking his quarters he moved in +1187 to the high altar of the ancient abbey-church, but still dissatisfied he placed +the silver casket every morning in this chapel, which was the greatest miracle +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span>of all as the chapel was only built late in the thirteenth century. “And +here he still is,” said the sacristan, “but without his head, which he could +not find when he left Paris.” A short corridor behind the high altar leads +into the old chapel of Lapi des Spinis, built according to an inscription in +1315. Dim traces of frescoes by some follower of Giotto are still to be +seen, but the chapel is so silted up with mud that the present floor very +nearly touches the level of the spring of the groined arches of the roof.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_226" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_226.jpg" alt="The Gateway of the Badia a Settimo"> +</figure> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_70_70" href="#FNanchor_70_70" class="label">[70]</a> Abbey.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_71_71" href="#FNanchor_71_71" class="label">[71]</a> J. A. Symonds, <cite>Renaissance in Italy.</cite> <cite>Italian Literature.</cite> Part I. p. 440.</p></div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_228" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_228a.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + BOCCACCIO, +<br> + By <span class="smcap">Anonimo</span>. +<br> + (<i lang="it">Villa di Poggio Gherardo</i>). + + </figcaption> +</figure> +<figure class="figcenter illowp45" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_228b.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + MICHEL ANGELO, +<br> + By <span class="smcap">Leone Leoni</span>. +<br> + (<i lang="it">Villa di Gamberaia</i>). + + </figcaption> +</figure> +<figure class="figcenter illowp45" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_228c.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + DUKE FEDERIGO OF URBINO, + + By <span class="smcap">Anonimo</span>. + + (<i lang="it">Villa di Rusciano</i>). + </figcaption> +</figure> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_231a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_231a.jpg" alt="General View of the Villa from the Podere"> +</figure> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_DI_POGGIO_GHERARDO"> + VILLA DI POGGIO GHERARDO + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/n.jpg" alt="Stylized N"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>Nearly</span> two miles due east of Florence, above the Settignano +road, stands the old castellated villa of Poggio Gherardo on +an eminence which overlooks the valley of the Arno. In +1321 Meglino di Jacopo di Magaldo Magaldi died, leaving +by will part of this ancient possession of his family, <i>i.e.</i> “the +podere of Poggio and the buildings above the said podere +where now are, and have been in times gone by, the Loggia, the Tower, the +Well, the Water-channels, the Courtyard and all the Garden and Orchard, +with the Fields and Pergole which are enclosed and surrounded in part with +walls, &c.”, to the Congregation of the Visitation; with the obligation to +build an oratorio or chapel in the said house in honour of St Zebedeus, +and to support a resident priest to say mass every day for the repose of +his soul. Also the priest on each anniversary of the death of Magaldo was +to invite all the members of the house of Magaldi to dinner. They, however, +brought a lawsuit against the Congregation of the Visitation, who appealed +to the Cardinal Legate of Pope John XXII, (who was at Avignon) setting +forth that by the time they had paid the expenses of the lawsuit with borrowed +money nothing would be left, and asking permission to sell the estate which +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span>many would like to buy, <i lang="la">cum sit in loco carisimo situatum</i>. Thus they would +be able to pay everything and to carry out the wishes of the pious Magaldo +as far as the daily mass was concerned. So the villa and land was sold to +Messer Bivigliano del già Manetto de’ Baroncelli and his brother Messer +Silvestro for 3100 golden florins on the 14th January 1331. The Baroncelli did +not long enjoy their purchase. They, with the Buonaccorsi, were interested +in the great banking house of Acciajuoli which was declared insolvent in +1345. Poggio must have belonged to the Albizzi for a few years, as Andrea +di Sennino Baldesi bought the villa and one podere from them in 1354, his +brother Baldese having already purchased other parts of the estate from the +Baroncelli five years before. In 1400 the Zati became lords of Poggio and in +1433 they sold it to Gherardo di Bartolomeo Gherardi. He changed the name +from Palagio del Poggio to Poggio Gherardi, or Gherardo (it is called both +in the archives), and his descendants held the place for 455 years. Mr Henry +James Ross bought it in 1888 and has made its name known as the home of +a fine collection of orchids.</p> + +<p>Many illustrious men did the Gherardi give to the service of Florence. +Gherardo was three times Gonfalonier of the city; his son Francesco was a +brave soldier and led the troops of the Republic against the Siennese in 1495 +when he stormed Montepulciano and took Giovanni Savelli, their Roman +captain prisoner, whom he brought, with many nobles and captains of Siena, +in triumph to Florence. His brother Bernardo Gherardi, Gonfalonier in 1434, +was a strong partisan of the Medici, and his influence caused the exile of +Cosimo de’ Medici to be cancelled. The Republic sent him as ambassador to +Venice, Ferrara and Rome, and when he died in 1459 he was buried at the +public expense. Seven different Gherardi were Gonfaloniers of Justice, and +the name occurs frequently in the old history of Florence.⁠<a id="FNanchor_72_72" href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></p> + +<p>Tradition says the old castle stood many a siege and that Sir John +Hawkwood was guilty of destroying the eastern wing, only partially rebuilt +some two or three hundred years ago. It probably was one of the frontier +castles which in ancient times defended Florence from the people of Arezzo +and of the Casentino. The line of castles, with their towers, can still be +traced, from Castel di Poggio perched high on the hill above past Vincigliata +and Poggio Gherardo, across the valley and up the opposite bank of the +Arno.</p> + +<p>Poggio Gherardo stands about 300 feet above the plain. From the gate, +with its marble busts of the four seasons, a winding road flanked by roses on +either side—a glory to behold in springtime—leads up through olive-groves +and vineyards to the spinny which crowns the hill and protects the villa +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span>from the north wind. Over the door are the arms of the Gherardi and the +entrance hall is the “Loggia” mentioned in the <cite>Decameron</cite>, the arches of +which were built up two or three hundred years ago. In the courtyard the +well, eighty feet deep, “of coldest water” still exists; but alas, the “jocund +paintings” in the rooms have disappeared.</p> + +<p>From the southern terrace garden the view is wonderful, especially if you +see a purple, orange and blood-red sunset away to the west, behind the +mountains of Modena and the cloud-like white masses of Carrara. Florence +lies mapped out at one’s feet, with Galileo’s tower, San Miniato, Monte +Uliveto and Bellosguardo keeping watch over her. When the air is clear +the point of Monte Nero above Leghorn can be seen in the far west, while +to the east Vallombrosa forms a background for Settignano and the house +of Michelangelo—ninety-three miles as the crow flies. The course of the +Arno in the valley below is marked by rows of tall poplars, and hundreds +of villas, shining brightly in the sun, are dotted about in the plain and on the +hillsides, while line after line of opalesque hills fade away towards the fertile +vale of the Chianti. Eastwards are Monte Pilli and the Incontro, so-called +because St Francis and St Dominic are supposed to have met there, and +beyond them again, as already said, is Vallombrosa.</p> + +<p>From the eastern terrace one looks down on the small streamlet Mensola, +celebrated in Boccaccio’s Ninfale Fiesolane, rushing down to meet her lover +Affrico, who comes from the Fiesole hills on the west to join his tears with +hers. Near the banks of the Mensola stands one of the oldest churches in +Tuscany, San Martino a Mensola. The <em>body</em> of the Irish Saint Andrew, who +founded a monastery here in the seventh century, lies under the high altar +clothed in old brocaded robes, while his <em>ashes</em> are supposed to be under a +side altar in an exquisitely painted wooden box; through the small iron +grating one can see, by the light of a taper, beautiful slim youths with curled +hair walking in a garden of orange trees laden with big fruit. In the church +are some fine pictures, one attributed to Orcagna was given by the Zati, +once lords of Poggio Gherardo. The old, square, machicolated castle has +always been identified by students with the first “palagio” in which the +joyous company of seven ladies and three youths took refuge when they fled +from the plague in Florence in 1348.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Wandering in idleness, but not in folly,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sate down in the high grass and in the shade</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of many a tree sun-proof—day after day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When all was still and nothing to be heard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But the cicala’s voice among the olives,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Relating in a ring, to banish care,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their hundred tales.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent16">Round the green hill they went,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Round underneath—first to a splendid house,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gherardi, as an old tradition runs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That on the left, just rising from the vale;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A place for luxury—the painted rooms,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The open galleries and middle court</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not unprepared, fragrant and gay with flowers.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_73_73" href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>In 1740 Roberto Gherardi wrote a long-winded but curious account +of his own villa and of many others on the Fiesolean hills called <cite lang="it">La +Villeggiatura di Majano</cite>. It has never been printed, but if for nothing else +his MS. is valuable as suggesting that Giovanni Boccaccio was born near +the banks of the Mensola. He writes, “... our celebrated master of Tuscan +eloquence, Messer Giovanni di Boccaccio di Chellino da Certaldo, who in +his earliest days, and afterwards in the flower of his youth passed much time +in a small villa with a podere belonging to his father but a few paces below +the hamlet of Corbignano, which podere on account of the rill dividing it +which runs into the Mensola, and of the specified frontiers, and the two +parishes San Martino a Mensola and Santa Maria a Settignano, in whose +jurisdiction it lies, can only be, when you study it well, the villa of Signor +Berti at Corbignano at present in the possession of Signor Ottavio Ruggeri, +as can be verified by the contract of sale existing in the archives of Florence +of the 18th May 1336 when our Boccaccio was twenty-three years old. I +believe that under the guise of Ameto, Boccaccio tells us he was born among +the neighbouring hills of Majano. In this forest Ameto, a wandering youth, +used to visit the Fauns and Dryads who inhabited there; he, remembering +that perhaps he was born in the neighbouring hills, was constrained thereto +by a certain carnal love, and honoured them sometimes with pious offerings.” +Villa Boccaccio was let out in small apartments to poor people for years; +it now belongs to Mr Kenworthy Browne, and traces of ancient frescoes were +found in some of the rooms when he restored it.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp60" id="i_235" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_235.jpg" alt="Distant View of the Villa"> +</figure> + +<p>As before said Poggio Gherardo is generally identified as the place +Boccaccio had in his mind when he describes how on a Wednesday morning +“as the day was breaking, the ladies with various of their serving-maids, +and the three youths with three of their followers, left the town and went +on their way; they had not gone more than two short miles from the city +when they arrived at the place they had already decided on.⁠<a id="FNanchor_74_74" href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> This said place +was on a small height, removed a little distance from our roads on every +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135"></a><a id="Page_136"></a>[136]</span>side, full of various trees and shrubs in full greenery and most pleasant to +behold. On the brow of the hill was a palace with a fine and spacious courtyard +in the middle, and with loggie and halls and rooms, all, and each one +in itself beautiful, and ornamented tastefully with jocund paintings; surrounded +with grass plots and marvellous gardens, and with wells of coldest water, +and cellars of rare wines; a thing more suited to curious topers than to +sober and virtuous women.”</p> + +<p>Here Pampinea was crowned queen with “an honourable and beautiful +garland of bays,” and here she commanded Panfilo to begin the series of +immortal tales known all the world over as the <cite>Decameron</cite>. At the end of +the first day Pampinea ceded the garland, emblem of royalty, to “the discreet +maiden Filomena” and the joyous company went slowly down to a stream +(the Mensola) of clear water, “which descended from a hill and flowed through +a valley shaded by many trees, amidst live rocks and green grass. Here +bare-footed and with bare arms they went down into the water and disported +themselves, then the hour of supper being at hand they returned to the palace +and supped with great contentment.” Music, singing and dancing whiled +away the hours until the queen was pleased to command the torches to be +lit and that everyone should seek repose.</p> + +<p>The second day passed in like manner, and when the tenth and last tale +came to an end, Filomena took the garland from off her own head and crowned +Neifile queen, who said: “As you know to-morrow is Friday and the next +day Saturday, days apt to be tedious to most people on account of the viands +ordered to be eaten; besides Friday was the day on which He who died for +our life suffered His passion, and it is therefore worthy of reverence. For +this I consider it to be a proper and virtuous thing that we should rather +say prayers to the honour of God than invent tales. And on Saturday it +is the custom for women to wash their heads and remove any dust or dirt +that may have settled there during the labours of the week; also they used +to fast out of reverence for the Virgin Mother of God and then in honour +of the coming Sunday rest from any and every work. Being therefore unable +on that day to fully carry out our established order of life I think it would +be well done to refrain from reciting tales also on that day. And as we shall +then have been here four days, if we are desirous to avoid being joined by +others, I conceive that it would be more opportune to quit this place and +go elsewhere and I have already thought of a place and arranged everything.”</p> + +<p>All commended the words and the project of the queen, and so it was +established, but they looked forward with longing to Sunday. On that morning +“with slow steps the queen, accompanied and followed by her ladies and +by the three youths, and led by the song of maybe twenty nightingales and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span>other birds, took her way towards the west by an unfrequented lane full of +green herbs and flowers just beginning to open to the rising sun. Gossiping, +joking and laughing with her company, she led them, after proceeding some +two thousand paces, to a beautiful and splendid palace before the half of the +third hour had passed.” (One and a half hours after sunrise.)</p> + +<p>The “unfrequented lane” may yet be followed from Majano across the +Affrico towards San Domenico. Here and there an old oak tree recalls the +forest that once existed, and nearly every villa and village within sight is +connected with some illustrious name. The joyous company probably passed—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Where the hewn rocks of Fiesole impend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’er Doccia’s dell, and fig and olive blend.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There the twin streams of Affrico unite,⁠<a id="FNanchor_75_75" href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a></div> + <div class="verse indent0">One dimly seen, the other out of sight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But ever playing in his smoothen’d bed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of polisht stone, and willing to be led</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where clustering vines protect him from the sun.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Here, by the lake, Boccaccio’s fair brigade</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beguiled the hours, and tale for tale repaid.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">Thus sang Walter Savage Landor, whose villa <span lang="it">“Il Frusino,”</span> now belonging +to Professor Willard Fiske, stands just above the small plain where once +was the lake of the <span lang="it">“Valle delle Donne,”</span> already silted up in the sixteenth +century.</p> + +<p>About that same time the remains of the strong castle of Majano were +destroyed; the birthplace of the poet Dante da Majano whose poems in praise +of his Nina (one of the first Italian poetesses) are well-known. She was a +Sicilian, and although they never met she always called herself <span lang="it">“la Nina +di Dante.”</span> He exchanged poems with Dante Alighieri, Chiari Davanzati, +Guido Orlandi and others. Another poet, Meo di Majano, was born in the +tiny hamlet, and “the not less prudent than virtuous sculptor,” Benedetto [da +Majano] “the greatest master who ever held a chisel,” as Vasari calls him, and +his brother the architect Giuliano. Macchiavelli had a house near by, and +the Valori owned much property near Majano. The Villa Marmigliano is still +standing, where the great platonist Marsilio Ficino was for so long the guest +of Niccolò and Filippo Valori and where he finished his translation of Plato. +Pico della Mirandola and Poliziano often came from the Medici Villa at +Fiesole to visit their friends, and in one of his letters Ficino describes a walk +on these hills with “our Pico” and their talk about a salubrious villa. The +latter pointed out one as fulfilling all his desires and Ficino tells him “it is +said to have been built by that wise man Leonardo Aretino, and just beyond +was the abode of Giovanni Boccaccio.” Only divided by a small valley from +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span>the Valori lived the brothers Benivieni. Roberto Gherardo describes their +villa, now belonging to Sir Willoughby Wade, as “the most ancient Villa +della Querce, since 1272 in the possession of the Signori Baldovini Riccomanni, +who bought it from Ciencio di Seminetto de’ Visdomini and sold it in 1483 +to Michele Benivieni.” “Happy house of Benivieni,” exclaims Poliziano, +“beloved of Apollo, favoured with all the celestial gifts. Of four brothers, +you, Maestro Antonio, are a second Esculapius or Chiron; the second diligently +studies the virtues of plants and herbs; the third, Girolamo, is a tender and +learned poet; and Domenico, still a lad, gives himself with a gravity beyond +his years, to poetry and the study of Aristotle.”</p> + +<p>Lower down, on the other side of the little valley is the Salviatino, once +belonging to the Dukes Salviati, whose good wine is immortalized in that +jocund poem <cite>Bacco in Toscana</cite>.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Lovely Majano, lord of dells,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where my gentle Salviati dwells.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Many a time and oft doth he</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Crown me with bumpers full fervently,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I, in return, preserve him still</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From every crude and importunate ill.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I keep by my side,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For my joy and pride,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That gallant in chief of his royal cellar</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Val di Marina, the blithe care-killer;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But with the wine yclept Val di Botte</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Day and night I could flout me the gouty.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_76_76" href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" id="i_238" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_238.jpg" alt="View of Florence from the Cypress Trees of Poggio Gherardo"> +</figure> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_72_72" href="#FNanchor_72_72" class="label">[72]</a> <i lang="it">Familie Celebre Toscane.</i> + D. Tiribilli-Giuliani, riveduto dal Cav. R. Passerini. Firenze, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_73_73" href="#FNanchor_73_73" class="label">[73]</a> Samuel Rogers. <cite>Italy.</cite> P. 136.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_74_74" href="#FNanchor_74_74" class="label">[74]</a> Pampinea in the Introduction to the <cite>Decameron</cite>, after describing the horrors of the plague and the +licentious life of the few inhabitants left in the town, suggests going to “our estates in the country, of which +we all have a great many.” She was probably a Baroncelli—if one may attempt to identify personages or +places in the <cite>Decameron</cite>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_75_75" href="#FNanchor_75_75" class="label">[75]</a> The Affrico and the Affricuzzo.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_76_76" href="#FNanchor_76_76" class="label">[76]</a> <i>Opus cit.</i> See note page 70.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_240" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_240.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + VILLA <span class="allsmcap">DELLE</span> SELVE + </figcaption> +</figure> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span></p> + + + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_243a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_243a.jpg" alt="Sir John Hawkwood’S Walls at Lastra a Signa"> +</figure> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_DELLE_SELVE"> + VILLA DELLE SELVE + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/t.jpg" alt="Stylized T"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>The</span> stately Villa delle Selve, built by Buontalenti, stands high +on the crest of a hill overlooking the Arno below Signa +about nine miles from Florence. The first mention of it is +in the archives of the monastery of San Pier Maggiore where +it is stated that the Commune of Florence, in the interest +of the creditors of the Acciajuoli bank, sold “a podere with +a hut, a brick kiln, etc., at a place called Le Selve in the parish of San Martino +a Gangalandi for 270 golden florins.” It afterwards came into the possession +of the Strozzi. And when Filippo Strozzi and his wife Clarice left Rome +by stealth and sailed to Pisa, a messenger met them with letters from the +Cardinal of Cortona and from Niccolò Capponi urging them to come to +Florence, so Filippo, a prudent Florentine “decided,” writes old Varchi, “after +much meditation not to be the one who, as the saying is, picks the chestnuts +out of the fire, but determined to send Madonna Clarice on to feel the way; +she being a woman and a Medici would, he conceived, not run the same risk as +himself.... Clarice, as courageous as she was proud, accepted the commission +without waiting to be entreated, and leaving Piero and Vincenzio her sons, +in Empoli under the charge of their tutor Ser Francesco Zeffi, she went +accompanied by only Antonio da Barberino and Maestro Marcantonio da San +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span>Gemignano to dine at Le Selve near Signa, a most favourite villa of Filippo’s +and from thence the same evening proceeded to Florence.”</p> + +<p>Marchese Filippo di Averardo Salviati bought the villa from the Strozzi +and in 1611 lent it to his friend Galileo Galilei, who unfortunately for himself +had resigned his professorship at Padua to accept the appointment of court +mathematician in Florence. It is a curious fact that two of the greatest of +Italians, Giovanni Boccaccio and Galileo Galilei, had a common ancestor in +Bonajuto, Lord of Pogna in the Val d’Elsa. Bonajuto’s son Chellino was +grandfather to Boccaccio; another son, Giovanni, was the father of a celebrated +doctor Maestro Galileo from whom descended Vincenzio Galilei, a musician of +some repute and author of a dialogue on music printed in Florence in 1581, +he married Giulia Ammanati, and their son—the famous Galileo—was born in +Pisa in 1564. A descendant of a third son of old Maestro Galileo was governor +of Pisa in 1837 and most bitterly resented any allusion to his relationship with +a man who had been in the prisons of the Inquisition. The arms of the two +families are identical, save that the red ladder of the Galilei is placed vertically +on a gold ground while that of the Chellini is diagonal.⁠<a id="FNanchor_77_77" href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a></p> + +<p>The room occupied by Galileo at the Selve communicates by a winding +staircase with an upper terrace where he used to spend the nights in watching +the stars. Here he discovered the spots on the sun and its revolution upon its +axis, the ring of Saturn, the phases of Venus and Mars and their rotation +round the sun, and here he wrote his treatise on the planets, the history of +the sun-spots and other works. He loved the country and country pursuits, +and his favourite recreation was working in the garden; very proud was he of +his skill in pruning vines and fruit trees and he used to declare there was no +better preservative of health than living in the open air. A wall at the back +of the villa with a peculiar curve is said to have been built under his +supervision. If two people whisper in a low voice at the ends each can hear +the other distinctly.</p> + +<p>In 1614 Filippo Strozzi died at Barcelona and Galileo left the villa he +loved so well. About the same time a Dominican friar, Tommaso Caccini, +preached a sermon in Santa Maria Novella denouncing Galileo and all +professors of mathematics. “Mathematics are of the devil,” he exclaimed, +“and mathematicians as the authors of all heresies should be driven out of +every state.” Monks and theologians denied the existence of the Medicean +planets, some even insisted that the moon shone by her own unaided light.⁠<a id="FNanchor_78_78" href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a></p> + +<p>From the broad terrace of the villa the view is magnificent, “you see +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span> +half the world” the peasants say. Below is the glinting river fringed with +tall poplars and on the summit of the hill on the opposite bank stands the +huge Medicean Villa Artimino surrounded by ilexes. To the right is the +picturesque old bridge across the Arno connecting Ponte a Signa with Beata +Signa; further away still the grey machicolated walls and towers of Lastra +a Signa stand out against the fruitful green plain. In the far distance Poggio +a Cajano rises like a giant above the village clustering round it, and the trees +look like shrubs beside the villa where Francesco I, and his second wife, +“the infamous Bianca” as her brother-in-law called her, died on the 19th +and 20th October 1587.</p> + +<p>Lastra a Signa owes its walls, built in 1377, to the English condottiere +Sir John Hawkwood; he advised the Republic of Florence to erect them as +a defence against the Pisans who some years before, aided by English +auxiliaries, had taken and burnt the strong castle of Gangalandi near by. +Twenty years later Alberigo, a captain in the pay of Galeazzo Visconti Lord +of Milan who was at deadly feud with the Republic of Florence, besieged +and took Lastra a Signa. The walls were restored again in time to keep +part of the army of the Prince of Orange at bay for some time in 1529. +Francesco Ferrucci, whose head-quarters were at Empoli five miles lower +down the river, had garrisoned the place with some of his best troops, and +as long as their ammunition lasted they beat off the Spaniards. Whilst treating +for the surrender, five hundred more Spanish Lances arrived with scaling +ladders and battering-rams, made a breach in the walls (which still exists) +and cut the defenders to pieces.</p> + +<p>Beata Signa on the opposite bank of the river, owes its name of Beata +(Blessed) to a shepherdess. Giovanna was a good and holy maiden who +tended her flock of sheep on the banks of the Arno and worked miracles +in days long past. Her mummified body still lies under an altar in the +picturesque church, and on Easter Monday the pretty old-world <i lang="it">Festa degli +Angeli</i> is held in her honour. The confraternities of neighbouring parishes +bring offerings of oil, for the lamp kept always burning before her tomb, +in small barrels slung pannier fashion on a donkey. On a little platform above +the barrels stands the Angel, the prettiest small child of the parish, supported +by an iron upright ending in a hoop. Crowned with roses and carnations, +decked with the pearl necklaces of the peasant women and often with a +pair of white wings fastened to its shoulders, the Angel on the donkey form +the centre of many processions which wind along the country lanes with +banners flying and generally a band playing. As each procession arrives +in the little townlet of Beata Signa it files into the old church, the Angel +and the barrels of oil are lifted off the donkey in front of the altar of the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span>Blessed Giovanna, the band plays its loudest and sometimes the donkey +brays, which causes great amusement.</p> + +<p>Near by the Villa delle Selve, nestling amid elms and cypresses on a +spur of the same hill, is the church of Le Selve adjoining a monastery of +Carmelite friars suppressed, like so many others, by Napoleon I. The abbot’s +rooms are now inhabited by the village priest and the monk’s garden, with a +fine old well in the centre and surrounded by two-storied cloisters, has been +turned into a nursery for olive trees. The church, said to have been restored +by Buontalenti, possesses a nave of considerable height and beauty terminating +in an apse and under the high altar is a small crypt where St Andrea Corsini +celebrated his first mass. The young priest fled from the grand preparations +made in Florence, and took refuge with the monks at Le Selve; when at daybreak +trembling with religious fervour he raised the chalice to his lips a vision +of Our Lady appeared to him; smiling graciously she bent her head and +said <i lang="it">Tu est servus meus</i>.</p> + +<p>A miraculous crucifix is in the church, and every fifty years the <i lang="it">Festa</i> +of the Crucifix of Providence is celebrated in the month of April. Just before +sunset the crucifix is borne out of the church followed by a long line of +priests, little acolytes in snow-white robes and stalwart peasants dressed in +their best carrying banners and canopies. The steep hill down to Ponte a +Signa is all strewn with rose leaves, irises and sweet herbs, and the long +procession winds down to the river and returns with flaring torches like +a huge fiery serpent, creeping up the hill beneath the olives and cypresses +when the stars come out. The peasants put candles in their windows and +the stately villa, now the property of the Contessa Cappelli, becomes a blaze +of light.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp70" id="i_246" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_246.jpg" alt="The Villa, With Galileo’S Terrace"> +</figure> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_77_77" href="#FNanchor_77_77" class="label">[77]</a> See <cite lang="it">Marietta de’ Ricci</cite>. + A. Ademollo. 2a Edizione con aggiunte di L. Passerini. Firenze, 1845. Vol. III. +p. 816, and Vol. IV. p. 1216.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_78_78" href="#FNanchor_78_78" class="label">[78]</a> <cite lang="it">Vita di Galileo Galilei.</cite> G. B. Clemente de’ Nelli. Losanna, 1793.</p></div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_248" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_248.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + VILLA I COLLAZZI + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_251a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_251a.jpg" alt="The Loggia"> +</figure> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_I_COLLAZZI"> + VILLA I COLLAZZI + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/o.jpg" alt="Stylized O"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>On</span> a ridge of the hills which rise above the fortress-convent +built by Niccolò Acciajuoli for the monks of the Certosa, +once stood a castle of the Buondelmonti; but all trace of +it has long since disappeared and on the site stands the +famous Florentine Villa I Collazzi, now belonging to Signor +Bombicci-Pomi. When Messer Agostino Dini commissioned +his architect to build him a house, the time for strongholds and +mediæval castles had passed away, and the villa which rose upon the Tuscan +hillside was characteristic of the century of Michelangelo. Such is the +grandeur and beauty of I Collazzi, with its imposing double flight of steps +leading from a broad terrace up to the courtyard, with its two wells crowned +by fine old iron work, its lofty arcade and the large vaulted rooms wherein +one feels a race of giants ought to live, that many have attributed its building +to Michelangelo. But there are a few blemishes in the finish and detail of +the decoration which, though by no means detracting from the general beauty +of the whole structure, are easily recognised by a student of the Master, and +lead him to suppose it to be rather a work of one of his scholars. The Dini +papers have been lost, used to light the fires a century ago some say, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span>the only clue we have to the architect is from Baldinucci who tells us that +Santi di Tito, scholar of Bronzino in painting and of Vasari in architecture, +“worked for Agostino Dini at Giogoli ... for this same Agostino he also +painted one of his finest altar pictures,” which is still in the chapel of I +Collazzi. But those who support the theory that Michelangelo built the +villa, say that Santi di Tito only completed the work begun by his great +forerunner. The building raised upon the lonely Tuscan hill within a few +miles of Florence, yet not within sight of her towers, is the finest villa of +its kind to be found in all the countryside. There is nothing to spoil the +impression of grandeur and beauty; the unfinished wing on the left of the +courtyard only seems to give variety of line and grouping as one approaches +between a long avenue of cypresses so closely planted together as to form a +sombre green wall shutting out all else but the villa in front. Across the +broad terrace, raised on high bastioned walls above the vineyards, the villa +faces the valley of the Arno where villas are strewn like diamonds on the +sunlit hills, and higher up towards the north the mountains behind Pistoja +with their thick covering of snow show palely against the sky. The view +opening out wider as the eye travels towards Prato seems even sunnier and +more brilliantly coloured, for the country round here is subdued in tints, +losing the sunlight early, and the shadows lie almost black on the ilex and +pine woods near by. So striking is the monotonous scene of rounded pine-covered +hills that the name I Collazzi (small hillocks) suggested itself to the +Dini family for the fine villa they built in lieu of the modest abode which +satisfied all their desires in those early days when great Florentine families +lived simply and frugally, and the lady passed her time in looking after her +household and teaching her daughters to sew and say their prayers. If the +girl’s daily task was not done in time, “cuffs would fly, or even a cane would +cleanse her skirts of dust,” says an old writer. Conversation with men, even +with near relations, was not permitted; in some houses the girls were not +allowed to play with their brothers and at table they never spoke save in +answer to their parents. If an entertainment was given they were shut up in +their own room, and looking out of the window was severely prohibited as it +might lead to loss of reputation.</p> + +<p>But things changed in the sixteenth century when Messer Agostino Dini +built for himself this villa suited to a noble Florentine, and like many another +spent too much money on bricks and mortar. No doubt the Dini were among +the people blamed by Senator Vincenzio di Giovanni di Niccolò Giraldi who, +writing to a friend in 1598, deplores the gradual extinction of simple old +Florentine customs in favour of Spanish grandeur and magnificence. “Now,” +he writes, “little girls wear dresses of fine cloth, not only in Florence but +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span>in the country, more suitable to brides than to children, and expect to be +waited on by men and maid-servants. Going afoot is out of fashion, and +that they may not accustom themselves to so rustic a custom they take the +air in a carriage.... There are not more grains of sand in the bed of the +Arno after a flood, than there are ornaments and flimsy vanities on their +heads in order to augment the natural love of dress inherent in woman. And +when of marriageable age they no longer rise with the sun to go to early +mass, but lie abed so as not to lose their sleep or spoil their complexions. +As to work, I am told the girls sometimes fashion pretty and delicate things +but coarse sewing, such as our wives did, they will not look at, for such +work and the making of their beds of a-morning is not noble, so is left to +the maids.... When the blessed and much desired husband arrives none +can describe the grandeur and comforts that are indulged in. Dresses of cloth +of gold and of thick silk trimmed with gold lace of diverse kinds are bought +for the bride, without reflecting whether they are suited to her own or her +husband’s condition. She must be on a par with others, for there is no +longer any difference between one person and another, or between high and +low rank. People say such a one spends of his own and so may do as others +do; it would be a small evil if he only spent what was his, but often now-a-days +it becomes apparent that he spends what belongs to others. Then +a carriage and fine horses are a necessity, for whoso takes a wife and does +not set up a carriage would be flouted by the women and pointed at as ill-bred +and miserly. So they pay their visits in Florence in noble fashion with +great comfort, scornfully pitying the poor women of bygone times who trotted +round on their own feet wearing coarse and heavy gowns only fit, as they +consider, for peasants. The house must correspond and be furnished according +to modern ideas. The walls are hung from floor to ceiling with damask, +and fine pictures are needful; above all the chairs, when not covered with +velvet, must at least be covered with silk so that the ladies may sit softly. +Whoso takes a wife must also keep a good table, not served with homely +dishes, which are plebeian, for the ladies of the present day insist on delicate +food, not for gluttony—oh no—but because it keeps them healthy and of +good heart, and consequently enables them to have fine and well-made +children. If linen has to be sewn for the husband or babes the work is +commonly sent to the convents, and then the husband is told there is so +much to pay for such work and so much for the other and he has to loose +his purse-strings or confront a pouting face.</p> + +<p>“With what majesty do the ladies now drive in their carriage, a peacock +when he rustles and spreads his tail is not so proud and puffed up. A new +custom too has been introduced in order to have more frequent occasion for +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span>going about the town. Visits are paid to brides, even by those who are not +relations, and thus the women can spy out other folk’s business, which is always +attractive. If the house be not nobly furnished they jeer at the master +thereof and call him a miser; but if it be better found than their own they +return home discontented and begin to grumble, saying: ‘I have been to see +such a one and her house is beautiful; she has this and the other and all is +in good taste; but we live worse than artisans, so that I no longer dare invite +anyone as I will not have it said that I, who am as good as many of them, and +had a marriage portion large eno’ to enjoy what they have—but as it must be +so, <i lang="it">pazienza</i>.’ And the poor wretch of a husband has to swallow it all, and +either be constantly tormented, or content his wife and do what he dislikes +or perchance cannot afford; for at length the perpetual clapper of the bell at +night would break even the head of a ram, which is proverbially hard.</p> + +<p>“The ladies now all carry fans attached to golden chains when they leave the +house, and not only in the streets do they flutter them but in the churches, as an +aid to devotion while hearing mass. I have been told by a lady of honour and +veracity, not in fun but in sober earnest, that she has seen women’s smocks +trimmed round with lace exactly like Monsignori’s surplices. When they leave +town for their villas, if the carriages are too large and heavy to go the whole +distance, a lettiga⁠<a id="FNanchor_79_79" href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> is necessary because mounting a horse savours of rusticity, +though I have seen my mother-in-law, wife of Messer Luigi Capponi, and the wife +of his brother Alessandro, who were not exactly plebeians or beggars, going to their +villa in Val d’ Elsa some twenty miles from Florence on the horses of their factor +or peasants.</p> + +<p>“Intending to write only about women I will but just mention that the young +men of the present day imitate them in many things. They are lovers of ease, of +amusements and of show; carriages are even more used by them than by the +women and certainly more than is warranted by their youth. They emulate the +maidens in dress, love comfort and anoint themselves with perfumes, in short they +enjoy life and stint themselves in nothing, without thinking about increasing or +preserving their estates. If they cannot live like princes, at least they try as far +as they can to show how noble they are; their desires are those of emperors, their +purses are those of beggars. Yet I do not imagine that our city will be less rich, +for I know that land cannot run away nor money take wings; but I conceive that +they may change masters. Soon our fine villas, if this style of life be persevered +in, will be in the possession of shopkeepers, apothecaries, grocers and the like. +The nobles will either live obscurely in Florence or retire to some small villa still +left to them, to quarrel with their peasants over the division of the harvest, or +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span>pass the day in trying to shoot a hare or a few small birds to diminish the +butcher’s bill; in short with a little smoke and no substance they will eke out +their wretched life to the undoing and ultimate disappearance of their caste....”⁠<a id="FNanchor_80_80" href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_255" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_255.jpg" alt="On the Terrace"> +</figure> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_79_79" href="#FNanchor_79_79" class="label">[79]</a> A sedan chair borne between two mules.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_80_80" href="#FNanchor_80_80" class="label">[80]</a> + <cite lang="it">Di Certe Usanze delle Gentildonne Fiorentine, nella seconda Meta del secola XVI. Lettera di Vincenzio Giraldi.</cite> +Nozze Gori-Moro. Edizione integra di LXXX esemplari. Firenze, Carnesecchi e Figli.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="i_256a" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_256a.jpg" alt="General View of the Villa"> +</figure> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VILLA_FERDINANDA_A_ARTIMINO"> + VILLA FERDINANDA A ARTIMINO + </h2> +</div> + +<img class="drop-capi" src="images/l.jpg" alt="Stylized L"> +<p class="drop-capi"> +<span class=uc>Long</span> ere the Medici thought of building yet another princely villa +on the Florentine hillside, or Cosimo I came to hunt in the +woods above Signa, Artimino was a famous portion of the Arno +valley and is continually mentioned in the oldest of the Tuscan +chronicles. Its name may have come from the narrow defile +(arctus minor) where the Arno forces its way through the +barrier of hills at the Gonfolina and Artimino juts out into the valley like the +prow of a ship, its foot bathed by the Ombrone and the Arno. It is really a spur +of the great Mount Albano and so far back as the days of Cicero it had achieved +a certain importance, for we find in his nineteenth epistle to Attico the mention +that Silla had proclaimed Artimino, together with the territory of Volterra, public +property in order to divide it amongst his soldiers. The hill of Artimino attracted +not only the leaders of passing armies but numerous Roman families, who found +the groves of ilex and oak upon its summit delightful sites for villas when they +left the towns during the summer months. The valley of the Arno in those days +may have suggested the same thoughts to a Roman poet as later to Ariosto, when +he looked down from some Medicean terraced garden upon the “gay Arno,” and +the palaces strewn so thickly over the hillsides. It is believed that the group of +villas then standing on Artimino’s hill made quite a little community, and a +certain record of life there has been preserved to us in a quantity of bronze idols, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span>cinerary urns, necklaces and coins, mosaics and leaden tubes for conducting water +of what may have been public baths found in the grottoes of the hillside. Scanty +as is the history of the place in Roman times it begins to emerge in the tenth +century, when Otto III, gave over Artimino and its church San Leonardo to the +Pistojan bishop Antonino; and from this time we may date the building of its +castle which was to serve as a protection to the frontiers of Pistoja against the +ever encroaching raids of the Florentines. Now the Fattoria or agent’s house, a +few peasants’ houses, part of a tower and an old wall, probably part of the ramparts +whence the soldiers watched the valley far below for the approach of an enemy, +are all that remain to recall the ancient village of Artimino. A stretch of country +lane between the vineyards and an avenue of cypresses growing in a half circle +behind the village now symbolise an age of securer peace, and between the +straight, bare stems we see the little parish church of San Leonardo a little lower +down on the hillside, with its loggia of rounded arches under which the peasants +linger when they meet for mass on a Sunday morning. Its square campanile, so +strongly built and tall, might easily have served as a watch-tower in the time of +trouble.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_259" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_259.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + VILLA FERDINANDA <span class="allsmcap">A</span> ARTIMINO. + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The strong position of the old castle above the Arno valley caused it to be +connected with several Florentine events during the prosperous but troubled +times of the Commonwealth. Up to the year 1204 the people of Artimino +enjoyed a certain amount of political independence, but when the struggle +began between Pistoja and Florence the latter envied the rival Tuscan city +the possession of so strong a fortress, situated on the summit of a steep and +precipitous mountain and commanding the narrow defile. When the Florentines +invaded the lands of Artimino it appeared, says the chronicler, as though a +mighty tempest had swept over the land, leaving vines, olives and fruit trees +bowed beneath its passage. A little later the people of Artimino began to +prey upon the neighbouring Carmignano, which continued for some time to +be a deadly foe; swooping down like falcons from their eyrie, hardly a day passed +without bloodshed, and at last things came to such a pass that Pistoja had +to send mediators to conciliate these war-like dwellers of the hill and their +truculent neighbours. “But finding it impossible to obtain anything by +persuasion, the mediators were obliged to have recourse to threats in order to +induce them to keep the peace, which under pain of severe penalties and fines +was at last arranged on the 28th June 1224, when the mediators returned to +Pistoja where those of Carmignano swore fealty to the Consuls.”</p> + +<p>During the war between Florence and Castruccio Castracane, the powerful +tyrant of Lucca and Pistoja, Artimino had even more to suffer. Her castle +being the key to the valley, the Florentines were not slow to assail it, and +after a sharp fight it fell into their hands. Not content with taking two +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span>hundred prisoners, they threw down part of the castle walls and carried home +in triumph the bell of the Commune which was “of great size and of most +exquisite metal,” as the Florentine chronicler recounts with a certain amount +of satisfaction. The evening on which Artimino fell a long streak of lurid +smoke was seen above Florence, and on the previous night a great earthquake +shook the city—thus did nature and war combine to cast terror in the minds +of the mediæval Italians. After the battle of Altopascio Castracane gained +back his castle, but no sooner did he leave it for some other military enterprise +than the Florentines returned with renewed ardour to the attack. For three +days the people of Artimino fought against their assailants, “but on the third,” +says Villani, “the Florentines delivered the most terrible assault that ever +castle sustained and the most renowned knights of the army were engaged; +it lasted from midday until the first hour of the night and the pallisades and +gates of the castle were set on fire. For which reason great fear fell upon the +besieged and those who were badly wounded with darts, and they begged for +mercy and offered to surrender if their lives were spared; and thus it was +done. And on the morning of the 27th August they left and delivered up +the castle. But in despite of all promises, when the knights who escorted them +departed, many were killed.”</p> + +<p>After this the Florentines took firm possession of Artimino, rebuilt its +walls and kept infantry and cavalry there, as they found it a good place +from whence to harass the territory of Pistoja. For some time after Castruccio’s +death it was a subject of perpetual skirmishes and many were the changes +of master. How eagerly the two cities desired Artimino is shown by the +clause in the agreement of the Pistojese who consented to acknowledge the +suzerainty of Gualtieri for three years on condition that, together with other +places, Artimino was to be added once more to their territory.</p> + +<p>Artimino fell finally to the dominion of Florence, and to the arms of +her people—a sea-horse—was added the Lily of Florence as a seal to her +submission to the mistress and tyrant of Tuscany.</p> + +<p>The time of war passed away and with the coming of peaceful years we +read no more of Artimino’s villages and of her walled castle. Another +building rose upon the hill whose story brings us at once to the Medicean +Grand Dukes of Tuscany. It is related by that pleasant gossip Baldinucci +that “His Majesty Ferdinando I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, being one day +a-hunting on the hill of Artimino (on the side towards Florence where one +looks upon a lovely and most extensive tract of country), seated himself on +a chair and calling Buontalenti to his side said: Bernardo, just on this spot +where thou seest me, I desire to have a palace sufficient to contain me and +all my court; think about it and be quick.” And the work was immediately +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span>begun according to his patron’s desire, with the result that a royal villa soon +rose upon the hill which had withstood so many sieges, “containing abundantly,” +continues Baldinucci, “all those delights which a Grandee can desire in his +country residence.”</p> + +<p>The Medici loved the beautiful villa which was called Ferdinanda after +its builder, and much money was spent in buying more land and enclosing +the property with a high wall, which divided the farms from the woods +preserved for the Grand Ducal hunts. Pictures were brought in numbers to +fill the vast halls and in the inventory we read of priceless objects, such as +“a portrait of Lorenzo d’ Urbino de’ Medici by Raphael, a Madonna and Child +by Cristofano Bronzino, and a picture by Titian.”</p> + +<p>When in 1782 Pietro Leopoldo I, (the Austrian Grand Duke) sold Artimino +to Lorenzo Bartolommei, Marchese di Montegiove, the estate consisted, as it +does to-day, of about two thousand acres. Later the fine old place passed by +inheritance to the noble family of the Passerini of Cortona and the villa is +now owned by Conte Silvio Passerini.</p> + +<p>The wine of Artimino was famous all over Tuscany even in the days when +Redi, court physician to the Grand Duke Cosimo III, drank deeply of its +vintage and sang enthusiastically of its perfections in his <cite>Bacco in Toscana</cite>:—</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Gods my life, what glorious claret!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Blessed be the ground that bare it!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis Avignon. Don’t say a flask of it,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into my soul I pour a cask of it.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Artimino’s finer still,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Under a tun there’s no having one’s fill:”⁠<a id="FNanchor_81_81" href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>The Villa Ferdinanda is less famous than it should be, for although +some visit it and return to spread among their friends a description of its +grandeur and beauty, few are tempted to climb the steep and winding road +to the summit of the hill. Again—the house, although seen from a great +distance, stands so high above the sea level (260 metres) that it gives only +the impression of being very large and almost overbalanced by an enormous +projecting roof, and but little idea is obtained of its architectural beauty. The +lower part of the hill is scarred by quarries of <i lang="it">pietra serena</i> and the landscape +is a little bare and arid; but as we climb the narrow winding road we soon +get into a delightfully cool and remote corner of the Arno valley, where the +slopes are overgrown with thick masses of broom while ilexes and a few +cypresses rise above the shimmering green of the young oaks. In parts +stunted oaks form a hedge, broken in parts where rocks jut out covered with +trailing ivy. Every step leads us to a fairer and more extensive view. A +deep azure blue of sky and plain with paler blue of the Pistojan mountains +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span>rising to the west, seen across the Artimino fields of crimson clover as we +stand within the light shade of a wood where no dark shadows lie, hold the +very essence of a Tuscan morning in early May. This a place from which +we can best see the limitless stretch of the valley from Florence down towards +the sea, the windings of the calm river and the deepening glow of colour +on the hills and about the white townlets of Sesto and Prato; and as the +distant murmur of the workers in the valley rise up to us, behind in the +trees “The nightingale with feathers new she sings.”</p> + +<p>Nearing the summit we see some picturesque peasant houses resembling +Lombard farms, with long finely built arcades and a smaller row of arches +above. A sudden turn in the road brings us in sight of the great Villa +Ferdinanda. It would be difficult either in words, or by drawings, to give +an adequate idea of the sense of size together with perfect proportion, of +beauty with almost severe simplicity, which we receive on approaching; and +it is with astonishment that we remember our first impression when looking +up at it from the plain. Buontalenti would seem to have endeavoured to +build a very characteristic Medicean villa; it has a beautiful staircase going +up to the entrance in the manner of a suspended arch, there are the inevitable +lions, and going into the great hall we pass through a charming arched recess. +Yet the architect, by placing the villa above a wide grass slope and causing +the walls to project at the base, and building the corners to resemble towers +(two of which are only carried half-way up, forming terraces) recalled the +feudal villa-castle of much earlier date. Unlike the usual Tuscan building, +humble or pretentious, Artimino’s villa has no courtyard, but is built with +long vaulted rooms running through at right angles which bear curious +mediæval names. There is the saloon of “the Bodyguard,” that of “the Lion,” +with three grated windows looking out over Poggio a Cajano, another of “the +Bear,” with views over Montelupo and the Ambrogiana, while the entrance +hall goes by the title of “the Wars.” The enormous size of the villa is +perhaps its most striking feature—the rooms upstairs are all large and finely +built with groined roofs and huge chimneypieces, some having no doors +but only a round arch to separate them. Nothing mean is to be found in +any part of the place—the banqueting halls and the servants’ rooms are +equally fine and built on the same magnificent and simple scale. The +architect had dreamed of a noble race of men who were to inhabit so +sumptuous a palace.⁠<a id="FNanchor_82_82" href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_81_81" href="#FNanchor_81_81" class="label">[81]</a> <i>Op. cit.</i> See note p. 70.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noindent"><a id="Footnote_82_82" href="#FNanchor_82_82" class="label">[82]</a> Most of the facts are taken from a pamphlet, <cite>Artiminius</cite>, + G. L. Passerini, printed (for private circulation +only) in 1888, and from Repetti’s admirable <cite lang="it">Dizionario Geografico Fisico Storico della Toscana</cite>. Firenze, 1835.</p></div></div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp60" id="i_265" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_265.jpg" alt="The Medici Shield. Reads Fenis."> +</figure> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="INDEX"> + INDEX + </h2> +</div> + +<ul class="index"> + <li class="ifrst">A</li> + + <li class="indx">Acciajuoli, Cardinal, induces Cosimo III, to imprison his nephew, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Dardano, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Donato, Governor of Corinth, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Francesco, strangled by order of the Sultan, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Neri, Duke of Athens, &c., <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Niccola, gibbeted by Dante, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— —— Grand Seneschal, builds Monte Guffone, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">wins the heart of Catherine, widow of the Prince of Taranto, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">fights the Turks in Greece, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">trusted minister of Queen Joan of Naples, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Papal envoy to Milan, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">death of, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">builds the Certosa near Florence, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">burial of, at the Certosa, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Roberto, sad love story of, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Alberti, Leo Battista, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Ambrogiana, Villa</span> dell’, <a href="#Page_88">88-90</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— built by Ferdinando I, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">marriage of Eleonora Orsini at, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Don Antonio de’ Medici at, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Maria de’ Medici at, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">decorated by Cosimo III, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Ferdinando III, meets his bride at, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">now a prison, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Ammirato, Scipione, defence of Petraja described by, <a href="#Page_54">54-55</a>; <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Anjou, Robert of, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Arcetri, Galileo at, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Arragona d’, Tullia, poetess and courtezan, <a href="#Page_56">56-57</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Ariosto, Lodovico, lines on Florence by, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>; <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Artimino, Villa Ferdinanda</span> a, <a href="#Page_148">148-152</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">hill of Artimino mentioned by Cicero, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">given by Otto III, to the Bishop of Pistoja, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">old castle of Artimino taken and retaken by Florentines and Pistojesi, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">built by Ferdinando I, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">pictures in, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">sold by Pietro Leopoldo I, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">present owner of, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of, <a href="#Page_151">151-152</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">wine of, praised by Redi, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>; <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Austria, Joan of, see <a href="#ind_medici">Medici</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Margaret of, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Maria Maddalena of, see <a href="#ind_medici">Medici</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">B</li> + + <li class="indx"><cite>Bacco in Toscana</cite>, by Dr Francesco Redi, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Baccini, G., quoted, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Baldinucci, Filippo, quoted, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Bandini, Giovanni, duel of, <a href="#Page_42">42-44</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Baroncelli, Family of, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Tommaso, favourite of Cosimo I, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">death of, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— The, buy Poggio, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Bavaria, Violante of, see <a href="#ind_medici">Medici</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Bella, Stefano Della, engravings of Pratolino by, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Bellosguardo, Villa di</span>, <a href="#Page_59">59-64</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— owned by the Cavalcanti, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">sold to Tommaso Capponi, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">ruin of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">confiscation of, by Cosimo I, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">bought by Girolamo Michelozzi, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">immortalised by Mrs Browning, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">view from, <a href="#Page_61">61-62</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Benedict XIII, Pope, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Benivieni, The brothers, Villa of, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">praise of, by Poliziano, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Berenson B., quoted, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Boccaccio, Giovanni, life of, by Baldelli, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of Villa Palmieri by, <a href="#Page_6">6-7</a>; <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of “limpid Fount” by, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of “Valley of the Ladies” by, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>; <a href="#Page_114">114</a>; <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">youth of, described by Roberto Gherardi, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of youths and ladies leaving Florence by, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of the “Joyous Company” at Poggio Gherardo, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>; <a href="#Page_137">137</a>; <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Bologna, Giovanni da, statue of Apennines at Pratolino by, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Bombicci-Pomi, Signor, present owner of I Collazzi, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Bonajuto, Lord of Pogna, common ancestor of Boccaccio and Galileo, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Bonaparte, Elise, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Napoleon, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>; <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Borghese, Princess, Cafaggiuolo bought by, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Prince, wife of, inherits Villa Salviati, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Botticelli, Sandro, picture painted for Matteo Palmieri by, described by Vasari, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Botticini, Francesco, pictures by, note, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Bracciolini, Poggio, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Brocchi, Dr G., description of Cafaggiuolo by, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Bronzino, A., portrait of Bianca Cappello by, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Browne, Kenworthy, Mr, present owner of house of Boccaccio’s father, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Browning, Mrs Barrett, quoted, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Brunnelleschi, Filippo, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">enlarges Rusciano for Luca Pitti, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">note, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Brunnelleschi, family of, defence of Petraja by, <a href="#Page_54">54-55</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Buonarroti, Michelangelo, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>; <a href="#Page_98">95</a>; <a href="#Page_118">118</a>; <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Buontalenti, Bernardo, architect of Pratolino, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">storage of ice invented by, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">architect of Villa Delle Selve, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">architect of Villa Ferdinanda a Artimino, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Byron, Lord, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">C</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Cafaggiuolo, Villa</span> di, <a href="#Page_16">16-25</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— designed by Michelozzi for Cosimo de’ Medici, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of, by Vasari, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of, by Dr G. Brocchi, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">letter from, by Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">letter from, by factor, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Donatello, a landed proprietor at, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici at, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">letter from, by A. Poliziano, <a href="#Page_19">19-20</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Margaret of Austria at, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Lorenzino de’ Medici flies to, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">murder of Donna Eleonora de’ Medici by her husband at, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">murder of Donna Eleonora de’ Medici at, described by Francesco I, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Francesco I, and Bianca Cappello at, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici at, <a href="#Page_23">23-24</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">majolica of, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Canaccj, Caterina, tragic love story of, <a href="#Page_103">103-106</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Bartolomeo, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">beheaded for the murder of his step-mother, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Francesco, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Giustino, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Candia, Duke of, see <a href="#ind_mario">Mario</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Capraja, original name, and first mention of, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Caprina, Meo Del, and his brother Luca, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Carlo Alberto, Prince of Carignano, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Cappello, Bianca, see <a href="#ind_medici">Medici</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Careggi, Villa</span> di, <a href="#Page_26">26-36</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— built by Cosimo de’ Medici, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">origin of name of, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Michelozzi architect of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Cosimo de’ Medici at, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Platonic Academy at, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">death of Cosimo de’ Medici at, described by his son, <a href="#Page_29">29-30</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Piero de’ Medici meets Lucrezia Tornabuoni at, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Piero de’ Medici dies at, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">death of Lorenzo de’ Medici at, described by A. Poliziano, <a href="#Page_32">32-34</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Savonarola at, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Piero de’ Medici accused of drowning Pier Leoni at, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">burning of, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">various sales of, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Cascioli, Monte, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Castello, Villa</span> di, <a href="#Page_65">65-70</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— description of, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">fountain of, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">grotto of, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">origin of name of, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Caterina Sforza lives at, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">reception of Duke of Urbino at, <a href="#Page_68">68-69</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">death of Maria Salviati at, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Cosimo I, retires to, after his marriage with Camilla Martelli, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">vineyards of, praised by Redi, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">gardens of, beautified by Pietro Leopoldo I, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Castel-Pulci, Villa</span> di, <a href="#Page_126">126-130</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Castel-Pulci, Villa</span> di, seized by Cardinal N. Orsini for debt, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">sold to Marchese Rinnucini, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">sold to Government for a lunatic asylum, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">view from, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Castracane, Castruccio, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Catherine, titular Empress of Constantinople, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Cavalcanti, Guido, mention of, by Dino Compagni, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">a friend of Dante, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">banishment and death of, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of, by Lorenzo de’ Medici, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">praise of, by Dante, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">sonnets by, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Masino, beheaded, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Paffiero, murder of Pazzino de’ Pazzi by, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— The, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Charles III, King of Spain, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Charles VIII, King of France, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Charles Emanuel IV, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Clemente VI, Pope, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx" id="ind_clem">—— VII, Pope, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— VIII, Pope, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— XII, Pope, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Collazzi, Villa</span> I, <a href="#Page_143">143-147</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Signor Bombicci-Pomi present owner of, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">built by Messer Agostino Dini, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">attributed to Michelangelo, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Santi di Tito probable architect of, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">picture by Santi di Tito at, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>; description of, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Compagni, Dino, quoted, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Corsini, Amerigo, Bishop, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Andrea, Saint, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">apparition of the Virgin to, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Bartolomeo, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Bartolomeo, created Prince of Sismano, &c., <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Bertholdo, beheaded in 1555, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Filippo, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Lorenzo, created Pope as Clement XII, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>; <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Luca, friend of Savonarola, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Marietta, wife of Macchiavelli, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Neri, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Neri, Don, Prime Minister of Tuscany, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Tommaso di Duccio, jurist and statesman, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Tommaso, Don, present Prince, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Corsini, Villa at Castello, <a href="#Page_71">71-80</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— first known as “La Lepre de’ Rinieri,” <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">various sales of, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of, <a href="#Page_71">71-72</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">inhabited by Sir Robert Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Cortesi, Jacopo (il Borgognone), <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Cowper, Earl, inhabits Villa Palmieri, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">created Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Crawford, Earl of, buys Villa Palmieri, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Cybo, Veronica, daughter of Prince of Massa, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">marriage of, described by G. Beggi, <a href="#Page_100">100-102</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">imperious temper of, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">murder of Caterina Canaccj by, <a href="#Page_103">103-106</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">D</li> + + <li class="indx">Dante, Alighieri, quoted, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">quoted, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>; 109;</li> + <li class="isub1">quoted, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>; <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Decameron, The, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>; note, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Demidoff, Prince, buys Pratolino, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Dini, Agostino, builds I Collazzi, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Santi di Tito works for, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">spends too much on building, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Donatello. Landed proprietor at Cafaggiuolo, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>; <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Dudley, Sir Robert, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">conquers Guiana and discovers Trinidad, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of voyage by, <a href="#Page_73">73-74</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">his marriages, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">enters the service of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">instrument for measuring tides invented by, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">created Duke of Northumberland, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">children of, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Dupré, Prof. G., <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Signorina, present owner of Lappeggi, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">E</li> + + <li class="indx">Eleonora of Toledo, see <a href="#ind_medici">Medici</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Etruria, Kingdom of, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Evelyn, John, description of Pratolino by, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Ewart, Dorothea, quoted, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">F</li> + + <li class="indx">Fabriczy, Carl von, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Farhill, Miss, buys Villa Palmieri, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Fagiuoli, Giovan Battista, facetious poem on Lappeggi by, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Cardinal Francesco Maria’s wit described by, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>; note, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Ferdinando III, (of Lorraine), <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">lends Poggio Imperiale to King of Sardinia, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">lends Poggio Imperiale to Carlo Alberto, Prince of Carignano, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>; <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">destroys villa at Pratolino, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Ferri, Antonio, architect of Lappeggi, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">enlarges Villa Corsini, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Ficino, Marsilio, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">President of the Platonic Academy, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">translation of Plato finished at Villa Marmigliano, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Fiesole, Description of, by B. Varchi, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">traditions of, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">mentioned by Dante, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">poem by A. Poliziano on, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Fiske, Prof. Willard, present owner of Villa Landor, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Font’ all’ erta, Villa</span> di, <a href="#Page_108">108-115</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— description by Roberto Gherardi of, <a href="#Page_108">108-109</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">bought by Taddeo Gaddi, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">A. Bonsi, ambassador of Clemente VII, at, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">inherited by Sinibaldo Gaddi, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Loggia of, built by Niccolò Gaddi, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">bought by Niccolò Gondi, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">bought by Count Pasolini, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">meeting-place of the “Young Italy” party, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">inherited by Countess Rasponi della Testa, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Francavilla, Pietro, Pietà by, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Franco, Ser Matteo, meeting of Clarice de’ Medici and her children, described by, <a href="#Page_124">124-125</a>; <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Frederick IV, King of Denmark, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">G</li> + + <li class="indx">Gaddi, Angelo, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Niccolò, builds Loggia at Fout’ all’ Erta, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">character of, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">will of, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Sinibaldo, inherits Font’ all’ Erta, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Gaddi, Taddeo (the elder), <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Taddeo (the younger), buys Font’ all’ Erta, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Galilei, Galileo, lives at Bellosguardo, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">lives at Arcetri, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">lives at Villa Delle Selve, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Galluzzi, Riguccio, death of Francesco I, and of Bianca Cappello described by, <a href="#Page_12">12-13</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">financial genius of Cosimo de’ Medici described by, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Gamberaia, Villa</span> di, <a href="#Page_116">116-119</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— probable origin of name of, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">garden of, laid out by Cosimo Lapi, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">becomes the property of the Capponi, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">cypresses and grotto of, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Princess Ghyka present owner of, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Garibaldi, Giuseppe, visit to Mario of, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Gherardi, Gherardo di Bartolomeo, buys Poggio and calls it by his name, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Roberto, description of the Font’ all’ Erta by, <a href="#Page_108">108-109</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">account of Boccaccio’s youth by, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of Villa della Querce by, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Ghyka, Princess, present owner of Gamberaia, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Gioli, Simone, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Giraldi, Senator Vincenzio di Giovanni di Niccolò, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">letter deploring the extinction of simple old Florentine manners, <a href="#Page_144">144-147</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Giuliani, D. Tiribilli-, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Gondi, Niccolò, buys Font’ all’ Erta, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Gregory IX, Pope, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— XIII, Pope, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">H</li> + + <li class="indx">Hawkwood, Sir John, note, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>; <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Hawthorne, Nathaniel, <cite>Transformation</cite> written by, at Villa Montauto, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Henry VII, Emperor, siege of Florence by, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">I</li> + + <li class="indx">Innocent III, Pope, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— VI, Pope, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">J</li> + + <li class="indx">Joan, of Austria, see <a href="#ind_medici">Medici</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Queen of Naples, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">John XXII, Pope, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">L</li> + + <li class="indx">Landino, Cristofano, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Landor, Walter Savage, Villa of, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of the Affrico by, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Lapi, Andrea, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">remains of works at Gamberaia, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Cosimo, garden at Gamberaia laid out by, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Jacopo, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Zanobi, Gamberaia probably built by, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— The, property of the, divided, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Lapini, A., quoted, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Lappeggi, Villa</span> di, <a href="#Page_48">48-52</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— sold by the Ricasoli to Francesco de’ Medici, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">various owners of, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">favourite residence of Cardinal Francesco Maria de’ Medici, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">rebuilt by Ferri, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">celebrated by the poet G. B. Fagiuoli, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Frederick IV, of Denmark at, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Violante of Bavaria at, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">present owner of, Signorina Dupré, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Leicester, Earl of, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx" id="ind_leoX">Leo X, Pope, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Leoni, Pier, fresco of murder of, by G. F. Watts, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>; <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Leopoldo II, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">destruction of grottoes and statues at Pratolino by, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Lodovico of Bourbon, created King of Etruria, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Lorraine, Christine of, see <a href="#ind_medici">Medici</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Lucrezia Tornabuoni, see <a href="#ind_medici">Medici</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">M</li> + + <li class="indx">Macchiavelli, Niccolò, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Magaldi, Meglino di Jacopo di Magaldo, leaves Poggio to the Congregation of the Visitation, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— The, appeal to the Cardinal-Legate against will of Meglino and sell Poggio, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Majano, Benedetto da, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Dante da, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Meo di, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Mann, Sir Horace, on Lord Cowper, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">on Lady Orford, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Manetti, G., <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Manni, Domenico, description of Roman remains near Florence, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx" id="ind_mario">Mario (Duke of Candia) owner of Villa Salviati, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">visit of Garibaldi to, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Martelli, Lodovico, duel of, <a href="#Page_42">42-44</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Martinelli, V., quoted, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Martino V, Pope, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Martino, San, a Mensola, St Andrew buried in, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">pictures in, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>; <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Mecati, Abbate G. M., attempted murder of Lorenzo de’ Medici, described by, <a href="#Page_83">83-84</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx" id="ind_medici">Medici, Alessandro de’, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Antonio de, Don, supposititious child of Bianca Cappello, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>; note, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">returns from wars in Hungary, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Bianca de’ (Cappello) at Cafaggiuolo, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">at Pratolino, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">sonnets by Tasso to, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Caterina de’, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— —— (Sforza) description of, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">education of her son Giovanni by, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Christine de’ (of Lorraine), bride of Ferdinando I, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">death of, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Clarice de’ at Cafaggiuolo, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>; <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">meeting with her children, described by Ser Matteo Franco, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Claudia de’, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Contessina de’, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Cosimo de’ (Pater Patriae) builds Cafaggiuolo, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">builds Careggi, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>; <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">founds Platonic Academy, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">death of, <a href="#Page_29">29-30</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">wise words of, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">character of, by Galluzzi, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">admiration of Pius II, for, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">friends of, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Cosimo I, de’, reception of Eleonora of Toledo by, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">as a child at Trebbio, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">created Grand Duke by Pius V, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">gives Villa Baroncelli (afterwards Poggio Imperiale) to his daughter Isabella, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">at Petraja, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">confiscation of Bellosguardo by, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">retires to Castello after his marriage with Camilla Martelli, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">letter from, about his marriage, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Cosimo II, de’, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Cosimo III, de’, marriage of, to Marguerite Louise d’ Orleans, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">quarrels with his wife, <a href="#Page_14">14-15</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, + <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">imprisons the wife of Roberto Acciajuoli, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">condemns Roberto Acciajuoli to perpetual imprisonment, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>; <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Eleonora de’, (of Toledo), marries Cosimo I, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">dislike of the Florentines to, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Eleonora de’, Donna, (of Toledo), description of, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">murder of, by her husband Don Pietro, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">letter by Francesco I, about murder of, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Ferdinando de’, Cardinal, goes to Poggio a Cajano, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">becomes Grand Duke of Tuscany, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>; <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Ferdinando I, de’ (late Cardinal), <a href="#Page_13">13</a>; <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">grants Lappeggi to Don Antonio, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Buontalenti commissioned to enlarge Petraja by, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>; <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Villa dell’ Ambrogiana built by, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">death of, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>; <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Villa Ferdinanda a Artimino built by, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Ferdinando II, de’, attempt to resuscitate Platonic Academy by, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">marries Vittoria della Rovere, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>; <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">takes Sir Robert Dudley into his service, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>; <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Ferdinando de’, Prince, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">love of music of, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">letter from Scarlatti to, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">death of, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Francesco I, de’, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">death of at Poggio a Cajano, described by Galluzzi, <a href="#Page_12">12-13</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">letters of, about murder of Donna Eleonora at Cafaggiulo, <a href="#Page_22">22-23</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Lappeggi bought by, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Pratolino built by, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>; <a href="#Page_92">92</a>; <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Francesco Maria de’, Cardinal, rebuilds Lappeggi, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">practical joke of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">entertains King of Denmark at Lappeggi, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">marriage of, to Eleonora Gonzaga, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">death of, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>; <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Giancarlo de’, dies at Castello, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Giangastone de’ (or Gastone), last of the Medici, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>; <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Giuliano de’, letter of as a child, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>; <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">murder of, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Giulio de’, see <a href="#ind_clem">Clemente VII, Pope</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Giovanni de’, see <a href="#ind_leoX">Leo X, Pope.</a></li> + + <li class="indx">—— ——, Villa at Fiesole built for, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— ——, husband of Maria Salviati, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— ——, (Delle Bande Nere) childhood of, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Isabella de’, married to P. G. Orsini, Duke of Bracciano, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">murder of, by her husband, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Ippolito de’, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Joan de’ (of Austria), <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Lorenzino de’, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Lorenzo de’ (the Magnificent), builds Poggio a Cajano, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1"><cite>Ambra</cite>, poem by, <a href="#Page_9">9-10</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">letter of, as a child, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1"><i lang="it">Nencia da Barberino</i>, country idyll by, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>; <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">room of, at Careggi, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">letter to, from his father, <a href="#Page_29">29-30</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">character of, by J. A. Symonds, <a href="#Page_30">30-31</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">death of, at Careggi, described by A. Poliziano, <a href="#Page_32">32-34</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">letter of, about Guido Cavalcanti, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">at Fiesole, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">sonnet on the violet by, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">dedication by Jacopo Poggio to, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">attempted murder of, described by Mecatti, <a href="#Page_83">83-84</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">gives hospitality to A. Poliziano at Fiesole, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">praise of, in Poliziano’s poem <i lang="la">Rusticus</i>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>; <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Luigi Pulci mentioned by, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Lorenzo de’, Duke of Urbino, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Lucrezia de’, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">letter to from A. Poliziano, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>; <a href="#Page_30">30</a>; <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Marguerite Louise de’ (of Orleans), <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">retires to Poggio a Cajano, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Maria de’, leaves Florence as bride of Henry IV, of France, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— —— (Salviati) at Trebbio, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">death of, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>; <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Maria Maddalena de’ (of Austria), buys Villa Baroncelli and changes its name to Poggio Imperiale, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>; <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Mattias de’, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Pietro de’, Don, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">murders his wife Donna Eleonora at Cafaggiuolo, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">murder of Donna Eleonora by, described by Francesco I, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">accused of poisoning his little son, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Pier Francesco de’, Castello built by, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Piero de’, letter from, to his sons on death of Cosimo de’ Medici, <a href="#Page_29">29-30</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— The, exiled from Florence, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Violante de’ (of Bavaria) <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">lives at Lappeggi, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>; <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Vittoria de’ (della Rovere), <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">buys Poggio Imperiale of her husband, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>; <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Medici, Villa</span>, at Fiesole, <a href="#Page_81">81-88</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Medici, Villa</span>, description by Vasari of, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Lorenzo the Magnificent at, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">murder of Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici planned to take place at, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description by A. Poliziano of, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Countess of Orford at, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">sales of, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Mensola, The, celebrated in the <cite lang="it">Ninfale Fiesolane</cite>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— San Martino a, one of the oldest churches in Tuscany, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>; <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Michelozzi, Michelozzo, architect of Cafaggiuolo, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">architect of Careggi, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>; <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">architect of Medicean villa at Fiesole, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>; <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Mirandola, Pico della, description by A. Poliziano of, <a href="#Page_31">31-32</a>; <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, + <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Montaigne, M. de, description of Pratolino by, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Montauto, Otto da, mission to Trebbio of, described by B. Varchi, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Villa, tower of, described by N. Hawthorne in <cite>Transformation</cite>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Montefeltro, Federigo di, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Republic of Florence gives Rusciano to, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Monte Guffone, Villa</span> di, <a href="#Page_120">120-125</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— description of, <a href="#Page_120">120-121</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">built by the Grand Seneschal Acciajuoli, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Queen Joan of Naples at, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">meeting of Clarice de’ Medici and her children near, described by Ser Matteo Franco, <a href="#Page_124">124-125</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Montelupo, Plates and jugs of, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>; <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Moreni, D., quoted, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Mozzi, Cavaliere, Medici Villa at Fiesole left by Lady Orford to, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">N</li> + + <li class="indx">Napoleon I, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Nicholas II, Pope, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">O</li> + + <li class="indx">Ombrellino, Villa dell’, Galileo Galilei lives at, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Orford, Countess of, buys Medicean Villa at Fiesole, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Orleans, Marguerite Louise of, life of described by Martinelli, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">P</li> + + <li class="indx">Paget, Lady, restoration of Villa di Bellosguardo by, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Palagi, G., quoted, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Palmieri, Villa</span>, <a href="#Page_1">1-7</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— old names of, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">bought by Matteo Palmieri, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">transformed by Palmiero Palmieri, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">bought by Earl of Crawford, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">inhabited by Earl Cowper, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">bought by Miss Farhill, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">left to the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">lent by Countess of Crawford to H. M. Queen Victoria, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">identified with the second villa described in the <cite>Decameron</cite>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">described by Baldelli, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">described by Boccaccio, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>; <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Pasolini, Count Giuseppe, buys Font’ all’ Erta, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">joins the “Young Italy” party, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">political life of, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">death of, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Count Pier Desiderio, quoted, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Passerini, Count Silvio, present owner of Artimino, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Pazzi, Jacopo de’, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Francesco de’, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">hung out of the window of Palazzo della Signoria, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Peter Igneus, St., goes through ordeal by fire at Badia a Settimo, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Petraja, Villa</span> della, <a href="#Page_53">53-58</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— tree of Victor Emanuel at, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">fountain at, described by Vasari, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">defence by the Brunelleschi of, described by S. Ammirato, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">owned by the Strozzi, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Cosimo I, lives at, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">favourite villa of Ferdinando de’ Medici, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Scipione Ammirato lives at, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Victor Emanuel at, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Petrucci, Cesare, Gonfalonier of Florence, orders the Archbishop of Pisa and others to be hung, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Pietro Leopoldo I, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Pitti, Luca, builds Rusciano, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">wise words of Cosimo de’ Medici to, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">character of, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Pius II, Pope, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— V, Pope, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— IX, Pope, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Poccetti, Bernardino, ceiling by, at Careggi, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Poggio a Cajano, Villa</span> di, <a href="#Page_8">8-15</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— built by Lorenzo de’ Medici, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">frescoes in, <a href="#Page_8">8-9</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">gardens of, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">mentioned by B. Varchi, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Cosimo I, and his bride at, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Francesco de’ Medici and Joan of Austria at, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Cardinal de’ Medici at, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">death of Francesco I, and of Bianca Cappello at, <a href="#Page_12">12-13</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Christine of Lorraine received at, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Marguerite Louise of Orleans retires to, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>; <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Poggio Gherardo, Villa</span> di, <a href="#Page_131">131-138</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— owned by the Magaldi, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">various owners of, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of, <a href="#Page_132">132-133</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">mentioned by S. Rogers, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">identified with first villa mentioned in the Decameron, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of, by Boccaccio, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Poggio Imperiale, Villa</span> di, <a href="#Page_41">41-47</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— first name of, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">various owners of, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">duel between L. Martelli and G. Bandini at, <a href="#Page_42">42-44</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">given by Cosimo I, to his daughter Isabella, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">bought by the Grand Duchess Maria Maddalena and named Poggio Imperiale, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">bought by the Grand Duchess Vittoria, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Violante of Bavaria at, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Pietro Leopoldo enlarges, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Charles Emanuel IV, at, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Queen of Etruria builds Loggia at, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Elise Bonaparte at, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Carlo Alberto, Prince of Carignano, at, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Victor Emanuel narrowly escapes being burnt to death at, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Poggio, Jacopo del, dedication to Lorenzo de’ Medici by, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">hanging of, for murder of Giuliano de’ Medici, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Poliziano, Angelo, letter from, on Lorenzo de’ Medici’s pet horse, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">letter to Lucrezia de’ Medici from, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">dismissal of, by Clarice de’ Medici, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>; <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">praise of Lorenzo de’ Medici by, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of Pico della Mirandola by, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">letter to Jacopo Antiquario on the death of Lorenzo de’ Medici by, <a href="#Page_32">32-34</a>; <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">letter to Marsilio Ficino by, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">praise of Lorenzo de’ Medici in <i lang="la">Rusticus</i> by, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>; <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">praise of the brothers Benivieni by, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Pontormo, Jacopo da, fresco by, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Pratolino, Villa</span> di, <a href="#Page_90">90-96</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— built by Francesco I, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Bernardo Buontalenti, architect of, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">engravings by Stefano Della Bella of, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description by Bernardo Sgrilli of, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">statue of the Apennines at, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Bianca Cappello at, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">sonnet by Tasso on, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">described by Montaigne, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">mentioned by Sir Henry Wotton, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">ambassador of Prince of Transylvania goes to, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">described by John Evelyn, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">theatre built by Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici at, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">destroyed by Ferdinando of Lorraine, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">grottoes and statues of, destroyed by Leopoldo II, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">bought by Prince Demidoff, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Pulci, Antonia, a poetess, wife of Bernardo Pulci, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Bernardo, a pastoral poet, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Jacopo di Rinaldo, his son and grandsons, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Luca, author of the <cite lang="it">Ciriffo Calvaneo</cite>, &c., <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Luigi, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">author of the <cite lang="it">Morgante Maggiore</cite>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">mentioned by Lorenzo de’ Medici in his poem on hawking, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">jokes on his name by Ser Matteo Franco, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">poem by, translated by Lord Byron, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of poem by, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">J. A. Symonds on poem by, <a href="#Page_127">127-128</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— The three brothers, celebrated by Verino, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">Q</li> + + <li class="indx">Quentin, St., silver casket containing bones of, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">R</li> + + <li class="indx">Rasponi della Testa, Countess Angelica, present owner of Font’ all’ Erta, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Redi, Dr Francesco, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">praise of vineyards of Petraja and Castello by, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>; <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">praise of Salviati’s wine by, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">praise of wine of Artimino by, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Riario, Count Gugliemo, assists in planning murder of Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Ricca, G., quoted, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Robbia, Della, frieze by one of the, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Madonna by, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">frieze by one of the, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Rogers, Samuel, on Florence, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">on Galileo, <a href="#Page_62">62-63</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">on Poggio Gherardo, <a href="#Page_133">133-134</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Roscoe, W., quoted, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Ross, Henry James, present owner of Poggio Gherardo, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Rossellino, Antonio, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Rovere, Frederigo Ubaldo della, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Vittoria della, see <a href="#ind_medici">Medici</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Rusciano, Villa</span> di, <a href="#Page_37">37-40</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— first mention of, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">built by Luca Pitti, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">famous window at, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">bought by Republic of Florence and presented to Federigo of Montefeltro, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">various sales of, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">view from, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">garden of, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">S</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Salviati</span>, Alemanno, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Averardo, Villa Delle Selve lent to Galileo by, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Francesco, Archbishop of Pisa, murder of Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici approved by, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">hanging of, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Giuliano, insults Luisa Strozzi, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Jacopo, brother of Archbishop, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Jacopo, brother-in-law of Lorenzo de’ Medici, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Jacopo, Duke of Giuliano, marriage of, to Veronica Cybo described by G. Beggi, <a href="#Page_100">100-102</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">falls in love with Caterina Canaccj, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">tragic love story of, <a href="#Page_103">103-106</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Maria, see <a href="#ind_medici">Medici</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Salviati, Villa</span>, <a href="#Page_97">97-107</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— description of, <a href="#Page_97">97-98</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">left by Cardinal Gregorio Salviati to Princess Borghese, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">bought by Mario (Duca di Candia), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Signor Turri, present owner of, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Salviatino, Villa del, good wine of, praised by Redi, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">San Gallo, Giuliano da, architect of Poggio a Cajano, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Santi di Tito, works for Agostino Dini at I Collazzi, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Savonarola, Fra Girolamo, at deathbed of Lorenzo de’ Medici, <a href="#Page_33">33-34</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Scarlatti, letter to Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici by, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Segré, Comm., present owner of Careggi, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Selve, Le, church of, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">apparition of the Virgin to Sant’ Andrea Corsini in, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Feast of the Miraculous Crucifix at, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx"><span class="smcap">Selve, Villa</span> Delle, <a href="#Page_139">139-142</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— first mention of, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">bought by the Strozzi, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">bought by Averardo Salviati and lent to Galileo, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">room of Galileo in, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">view from, <a href="#Page_140">140-141</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Countess Capelli, present owner of, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Settignano, Desiderio da, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Ambrey by, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Simone da, and his son Francesco, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Village of, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">famous men of, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Settimanni, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Settimo, Badia a, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">campanile of, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">St Peter Igneus goes through ordeal by fire at, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">given to the Cistercians, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">alto-relievo at, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of, <a href="#Page_129">129-130</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Sforza, Caterina, see <a href="#ind_medici">Medici</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Sgrilli, B., quoted, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Signa, Beata, Beata Giovanna of, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1"><i lang="it">Festa degli Angeli</i> at, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Lastra a, walls built by Sir John Hawkwood, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Ponte a, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Sixtus IV, Pope, murder of Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici planned by, <a href="#Page_82">82-83</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Stegmann, Dr Carl von, on window at Rusciano, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Stumm, Baron von, present owner of Rusciano, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Strozzi, Alexandra, character of Luca Pitti by, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Clarice (de’ Medici), <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Filippo, exiled by Cosimo de’ Medici, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Filippo, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">sends his wife Clarice de’ Medici to Florence, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Lorenzo, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">—— Palla, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Symonds, J. A., translation of Poliziano by, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">quoted, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>; <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">character of Lorenzo de’ Medici by, <a href="#Page_30">30-31</a>; <a href="#Page_32">32</a>; <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">criticism on Pulci’s Morgante Maggiore by, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">T</li> + + <li class="indx">Tasso, Torquato, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">sonnets by, translated by R. C. Trevelyan, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Toledo, Eleonora of, see <a href="#ind_medici">Medici</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Transylvania, Ambassador of Prince of, at Pratolino, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Trebbio, Castle of, Otto da Montauto’s mission to, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Trevelyan, R. C., Translation of Ariosto by, <a href="#Page_53">53-54</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">translation of sonnet by Lorenzo de’ Medici by, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">translation of A. Poliziano by, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">translations of sonnets by Tasso by, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Tribolo, Fountain at Petraja by, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">fountain at Castello attributed to, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">statue of Apennines by, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>; <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Turri, Signor, present owner of Villa Salviati, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">U</li> + + <li class="indx">Urban VIII, Pope, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Urbino, Guidobaldo, Duke of, sells Rusciano, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">V</li> + + <li class="indx">“Valley of the Ladies,” seen from Font’ all’ Erta, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>; <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">situated under Prof. Fiske’s Villa, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Valori, Villa of the, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Varchi, Benedetto, departure of Cardinal, Ippolito and Alessandro de’ Medici for Poggio a Cajano described by, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">mission of Otto da Montauto to Trebbio described by, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Montughi and Careggi mentioned by, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">burning of Careggi and Castello described by, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">duel between G. Bandini and L. Martelli described by, <a href="#Page_42">42-44</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">love of, for Tullia d’Arragona, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">reception of Duke of Urbino described by, <a href="#Page_68">68-69</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Fiesole described by, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">scene between Filippo Strozzi and Jacopo Salviati described by, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>; <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Clarice Strozzi’s journey to Florence described by, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Vasari, Giorgio, description of Palmieri’s picture by, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>; <a href="#Page_8">8</a>; note, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>; <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Cafaggiuolo mentioned by, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Rusciano mentioned by, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of fountain at Petraja by, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>; <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">description of Medicean villa at Fiesole by, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>; <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, + <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Verino, The three brothers Pulci mentioned by, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Victor Emanuel, King of Italy, narrow escape of being burnt alive as a child, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">tree at Petraja of, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">Petraja favourite villa of, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Villani, Matteo, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>; <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">funeral of Lorenzo Acciajuoli, described by, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">siege of the castle of Artimino, described by, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Villari, Pasquale, Prof., <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">W</li> + + <li class="indx">Wade, Sir Willoughby, present owner of villa of the Benivieni, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Walpole, Horace, criticism on Zoffany’s picture of the Tribune by, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Watts, G. F., fresco by, at Careggi, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li> + + <li class="indx">Wotton, Sir Henry, letter from, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</li> + + <li class="ifrst">Z</li> + + <li class="indx">Zati, The, once Lords of Poggio, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</li> + <li class="isub1">picture given to the Church of San Martino a Mensola by, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp60" id="i_274" > + <img class="w100" src="images/i_274.jpg" alt="The View from the Terrace"> +</figure> + +<p class="center fs60 p4"> +TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH +</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"></div> +<div class="transnote" id="ENDNOTE"> +<strong>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE</strong> + +<p class="noindent">Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs +and outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support +hyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to +the corresponding illustrations.</p> + +<p class="noindent">Illustrations without captions have had a description added, this is denoted +with parentheses.</p> + +<p class="noindent">The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page +references.</p> + +<p class="noindent">Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors +have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences +within the text and consultation of external sources. Otherwise +misspellings in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been +retained.</p> + +<p class="noindent">Some hyphens in words have been silently removed, some added, +when a predominant preference was found in the original book.</p> + +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76926 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/76926-h/images/a.jpg b/76926-h/images/a.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b510ae4 --- /dev/null +++ b/76926-h/images/a.jpg diff --git a/76926-h/images/b.jpg b/76926-h/images/b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..303332c --- /dev/null +++ b/76926-h/images/b.jpg diff --git a/76926-h/images/colophon.jpg b/76926-h/images/colophon.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f9b99f1 --- /dev/null +++ b/76926-h/images/colophon.jpg diff --git a/76926-h/images/cover.jpg b/76926-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ac6a14 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