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THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 BEQUEST 
 OF 
 
 Marian Hooker 
 
m^. 
 
 VINCIGLIATA 
 
 AND 
 
 MAIANO 
 
m. 
 
 VINOIGLIATA 
 
 AND 
 
 MAIANO 
 
 BY 
 
 LEADER SCOTT 
 
 AUTHOR OF BEKAIi>SANCE OF ART IN ITALY 
 TUSCAN SKETCHES, &c. 
 
 Jloreitcc, , 
 PRINTED BY G. BARBERA. 
 
 1891. 
 
■tv:^ 
 
 %M 
 
 LOAN STACK 
 
 GIFT 
 
-' --'\ 
 
 WSS3 
 
 TO JOHN TEMPLE-LEADER 
 
 KNIGHT COMMANDER OF THE ORDER 
 OF THE CROWN OF ITALY, 
 
 whose estate on Florentine hills, here described, 
 enshrines so much of ancient history, and natural 
 beauty, this book is dedicated. 
 
 158 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Among the many interesting excursions 
 from Florence, none is more enjoyable than 
 a drive to Vincigliata Castle, and certainly 
 none can be more interesting in an historical 
 aspect. Just as the Certosa is a standing 
 illustration of ancient monasticism, which 
 was such a distinct feature of Italian life 
 in past centuries ; and the Bargello and Pa- 
 lazzo Vecchio shew the civic rule of the Re- 
 public ; so Vincigliata illustrates the equally 
 important phase of the feudal era in Italy. 
 Tlianks to Mr. Temple-Leader, it is no more 
 a dumb and shapeless ruin, but a full and 
 
VIII PREFACE. 
 
 complete restoration, giving a clear picture 
 of the middle ages. 
 
 The want of an historical guide to Vin- 
 cigliata lias often been deplored by Englisli- 
 speaking visitors, and I have herewith endea- 
 voured to supply this key to the meaning 
 of the Castle. In Italian, the ground lias 
 been well occupied before me, and I can 
 only acknowledge myself greatly indebted 
 to the researches and interesting works of 
 Signor Giuseppe Marcotti, Signor Giovanni 
 Baroni, and Signor Guido Carocci, as well 
 as to the late lamented Baron Alfred de Eeu- 
 mont's charming articles on « Maiano, Vin- 
 cigliata and Settignano » in the Allgemeine 
 Zeitung (Aug. 1875), and an able account 
 of Vincigliata by the late deeply lamented 
 Lord Lamington, publislied in Blackwood's 
 Magazine for Nov. 1887. 
 
 I owe many thanks to Mr. Leader himself 
 for much information kindly given. In seek- 
 ing the story of Vincigliata Castle and its 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 possessors, I have been led into following out 
 that of the villas and town houses whicli toolv 
 its place, as the homes of those possessors, 
 in later eras. In doing this I have had no 
 occasion to leave tlie ground belonging to 
 the restorer of the Castle, for his villas are 
 quite as typical of Italian country life, and 
 his town houses of urban customs as his 
 fortress is of feudal times. 
 
 Of course it is not to be expected that a 
 book so localized will possess much attraction 
 for general readers, but students of Italian 
 subjects, and those travellers to whom their 
 day at Vincigliata has been a pleasant remi- 
 niscence may find it not void of interest. 
 
 Leader Scott. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface Page vii 
 
 THE CASTLE OF VINCIGLIATA. 
 
 Historical. 
 
 Medieval Vincigliata 3 
 
 The decline 22 
 
 The restoration 29 
 
 Descriptive. 
 
 The outer Ballium 36 
 
 The Quadrangle of the keep 42 
 
 The Chapel 70 
 
 The Guard-Room 75 
 
 The Council-Chamber 83 
 
 The Reception-Room 90 
 
 The Bed-Chamber 102 
 
 The Refectory 106 
 
 The Ante-Room 112 
 
 The Kitchen 114 
 
 The Breakfast-Room 119 
 
 I«* Gallery 123 
 
 The Study 125 
 
 The Ground Floor 135 
 
 The Cloister 136 
 
 The Church 142 
 
 The Swimming Bath 150 
 
 " II Libro d' oro " 158 
 
XII CONTENTS. 
 
 M A I A N 0. 
 
 The Fattoria Page 183 
 
 The Church of San Martino 207 
 
 The Nuns' Garden 215 
 
 The Villa Temple-Leader 218 
 
 Villa Catanzaro 229 
 
 La Fornace 232 
 
 Careggi 234 
 
 Villa Pergolata 239 
 
 Mezzana idem 
 
 Fiesolan Vineyards 241 
 
 Podere di Sbolgi, i Mazzi idem 
 
 Podere di Santini, or the Lastrone 245 
 
 Bon Riposo 247 
 
 IN THE PIAZZA PITTI 251 
 
 appp:ndix. 
 
 Vincigliata Castle, a " Quattrocento " Legend from the Ita- 
 lian of Cav. Guido Carocci 273 
 
 • A Vincigliata " 327 
 
 " Le Chateau de Vincigliata " 331 
 
THE 
 
 CASTLE OF VINCIGLIATA, 
 
HISTOEICAL. 
 
 MEDIEVAL VINCIGLIATA. 
 
 After the classic memorials of Rome and Magna 
 G-recia, no era has left a clearer mark on Italy than 
 the feudal times. In all the land there is scarcely an 
 eminence without the remains of some ruined castle 
 or stronghold ; even up on the heights of the Apen- 
 nines, many a crag is rendered more rugged in outline 
 by reason of an old tower or fragment of massive wall, 
 where once a feudal chief held sway. 
 
 And these remains are not only lingering on in 
 solid architectural form, but, amidst the people in coun- 
 try regions, many old hostilities still smoulder, and the 
 denizen of one village cherishes a keen traditional an- 
 tagonism to his neighbour of the next hill. 
 
 All these things recall an era when the power of 
 the strong was supreme over the weak, and when each 
 chief had to hold his own against other powers by 
 
4 MEDIEVAL VIXCIGLIATA. 
 
 warfare. In the country the artisan had no safe life 
 except within the walls of his Lord's castle, and in 
 the towns the same warfare existed on a larger scale. 
 There the most powerful men gathered partisans, in- 
 stead of serfs; and faction warred against faction, so 
 that the city architecture of that time, instead of being 
 domestic, was distinctly feudal. A medieval Italian 
 city bristled with towers and battlements, and every 
 house was a fortress. 
 
 This age, so well marked in Italian cities by the 
 older buildings, has in the country little to show but 
 a few old chronicles, a multitude of broken stones, and 
 some village jealousies. It is therefore a work of 
 equal utility to the historian, the archaeologist and 
 the student, to shew the characteristic medieval Castle 
 restored in its entire form, and this useful boon has 
 been given to his century by J. Temple-Leader who 
 has so well illustrated medieval times, in his restora- 
 tion of Vincigliata. 
 
 Vincigliata is a fine Castle standing on a hill to 
 the North of Florence, and is interesting both for its 
 architecture and its history, which begins some two 
 centuries before Arnolfo commenced his Duomo and 
 the Palazzo della Signoria, at Florence. 
 
 At that time the Burghers had not begun, as in 
 the security of their prosperous days, to people the 
 surrounding hills with viUas, where peaceful husband- 
 
MEDIEVAL VINCIGLIATA. 5 
 
 men tilled their vineyards. But between the mother 
 city — the Etruscan and Eoman Fiesole — on the hill, 
 and the daughter, Florence, growing to beaut}^ in the 
 field of Flowers in the plain, there were the strong- 
 holds of a few nobles, guarding the heights around the 
 new city. 
 
 One of these fortresses was Vincigliata, which stands 
 high on a rocky eminence to the East of Fiesole, its 
 towers and battlements outlined against a darker hill 
 behind it, whose summit shows another square massive 
 castle, standing boldly out against the blue sky. This 
 is Castel di Poggio, and of course, according to feudal 
 custom, its Lord was ever a mortal enemy of the Lord 
 of Vincigliata. 
 
 In ancient times Castel di Poggio belonged to the 
 Del Manzecca family, who possessed the qualities which 
 Dante gives to the Buondelmonte family, whose name 
 " Buon-del-monte " (good men of the mountain) was 
 derived from their brigandish propensities. The sons 
 of the Del Manzecca were such mauvais sujets that 
 the roads near the Castel di Poggio were not safe for 
 peaceful travellers. Nor was brigandage their only 
 failing, for history even relates that in 1348 Manzecca 
 di Francese del Manzecca and his friend Lorenzo An- 
 ghinetti were summoned to trial before the Esecutore 
 for the crime of having eaten meat in Lent in the 
 Castle of the hill! They must have been guilty of 
 
e MEDIEVAL VINCIGLIATA. 
 
 greater crimes than this however, for in 1348, the 
 Commune decreed the utter destruction of Castel di 
 Poggio. The precise reasons for this are not appa- 
 rent, as in that year while the plague ravaged Florence 
 the deliberations of the Signoria were insufficiently 
 chronicled — it was probabl}^ a step necessary to public 
 security, the Castle being little better than a strong- 
 hold of robbers. There exists, as proof of its destruc- 
 tion, a note of the payment by the Commune, in July 
 and August 1348, of 86 gold florins to Justo Bartoli, 
 Francisco Berti, and Niccoleno Pagni (the Magistrates 
 who caused Castel di Poggio to be destroyed), for the 
 pay and food of the workmen employed. 
 
 How long the more honourable Castle of Vincigliata 
 had stood on its grassy hill, is unknown. Its old 
 name was Careggi, and the first documental evidence 
 referring to it is a deed in the Florentine Badia regis- 
 tering a sale effected in Vincigliata on August 29"' 1031, 
 by four brothers, Pietro, Giovanni, Eambaldo, and Man- 
 fredo, sons of Sichelmo (nicknamed Sizo) to Tegrimo, 
 son of Giovanni subdeacon, of the quota of the rights 
 due to them on the possession of the Church of San 
 Martino near the Badia in Florence. The price given 
 was a gold ring and a horse, coin being evidently scarce 
 in those daj^s. 
 
 This deed executed at Vincigliata would imply that 
 the four brothers were in possession of it at the time ; 
 
MEDIEVAL VINCIGLIATA. 7 
 
 and another deed drawn up on March 28*^ 1069 by 
 Ser Alberto notary, proves that they belonged to the 
 important family Visdomini. By it we learn that Ugo 
 the deacon, guardian of the above named Church of 
 San Martino (being advanced in age and wishing to 
 conform to the will of archdeacon Giovanni, the foun- 
 der of the Church, himself a Visdomini, that none but 
 members of his own family should have the custody 
 of it), names as custodians the deacon Uberto, the 
 acolyte Giovanni, and Regembaldo, postulate, if he 
 would consent to take vows in the convent of the 
 Badia. 
 
 The same deed specifies that Uberto the deacon 
 was the son of a nephew of Guido the first custodian, 
 and that Giovanni the acolyte was the son of another 
 Giovanni Visdomini. Giovanni the deacon, who sold 
 his tithal rights to his kinsman of Vincigliata, was 
 probably a member of the same family. 
 
 It is very interesting to find the Visdomini thus 
 holding possesion of other church property as well as 
 the Lay Bishopric — if we might so style it — of the 
 Duomo. 
 
 From the 9**' century when the Cathedral was only 
 the Church of Santa Eeparata, the Visdomini took their 
 name from a singular privilege giving them the legal 
 administration of the income of the Bishopric of Flo- 
 rence whenever the See became vacant. This right 
 
8 MEDIEVAL VINCIGLIATA. 
 
 gave them immense power in the Church and City, 
 and the Bishop was expected to offer them a large 
 tribute, which usually took the form of edibles, and 
 was carried in great pomp to their towered palaces, 
 in the Corso degli Adimari. Dante speaks of them in 
 Paradiso, XVI, 112 : 
 
 Cosi facean h padri di color o, 
 Che, sempre che la vostra Chiesa vaca, 
 Si fanno grassi stando a consistoro. 
 
 " Such the sires of those, who now. 
 As surely as your Church is vacant, flock 
 Into her consistory, and at leisure 
 There stall them, and grow fat." 
 
 (Cary's trans.) 
 
 Here then we find these same lay ecclesiastics with 
 the exclusive custody and claim to the tithes of the 
 Church of San Martino near the Badia, and they were 
 also the founders of another Florentine Church which 
 still bears their name — San Michele Visdomini. They 
 were one of the oldest Florentine families; a certain 
 Buonaccorso Visdomini was knighted by Charlemagne, 
 in A. D. 802 ; and a Cerrettiero fought under the Em- 
 peror Henry I in 1002. They fled from Florence with 
 the other Guelphs after the defeat at Montaperti ; but 
 we find a second Cerrettiero, who won an unenviable 
 notoriety as favorite counsellor of the hated Duke of 
 Athens, and with difficulty saved himself from the 
 
MEDIEVAL VINCIGLIATA. 9 
 
 fury of the populace when the Duke was driven out 
 in 1343. 
 
 A curious old M. S. book in the Magliabechian Li- 
 brary (The Priorista di Griuliano Ricci) says : " In early 
 times the Visdomini were said to have been most noble 
 and ancient gentlemen of the Gruelph faction, who 
 in 1215 lived in San Martino, and had possessions and 
 towers ; thej^ changed their name and arms several 
 times." The Tosinghi, della Tosa, etc. were connected 
 with this family. 
 
 Whether the Visdomini held the Castle of Vincigliata 
 for a term of centuries, or a term of years, is not re- 
 corded, as there is a hiatus in the documents respect- 
 ing it till early in the 14*^ century, when we find it 
 in the possession of Bocca and Giovanni di Scarlatto : 
 they in 1318 ceded their rights of lordship to Griovanni 
 di Bartolo Usimbardi, who with his brother Barnaba 
 and his son Niccolo were the next inhabitants. 
 
 The Usimbardi were well known in Florence till 
 the 13**" century, when some of them emigrated from 
 the city during the civil wars of that time, and retired 
 to the Val d' Elsa where they became citizens of im- 
 portance at Oolle.* 
 
 * In the 16*^ century one of the family named Francesco 
 became father of three eminent sons : Usimbardo bishop of Golle, 
 Pietro bishop of Arezzo, and Lorenzo secretary to the Grrand-Duke 
 Ferdinand I. 
 
10 MEDIEVAL VINCIGLIATA. 
 
 A certain Bastiano Usimbardi was sent by the Re- 
 public to Majorca in 1422 to make a treaty of com- 
 merce. 
 
 As far as regards their life at Vincigliata, we have 
 only a few old documents and a pretty little legend of 
 a ghost which is said to haunt the precincts of the 
 Castle. 
 
 The spectre is that of a maiden, daughter of Gio- 
 vanni Usimbardi ; Juliet-like, she fell in love with 
 their hereditary foe, a son of the Del Manzecca of 
 Castel di Poggio, whom she had seen in the village 
 Church just outside the Castle walls. Unfortunately 
 while yet she lived in Florence the maiden had attracted 
 the admiration of his elder brother, one of the wicked 
 Manzeccas, and so the two brothers became rivals. The 
 villain first tried to murder Giovanni Usimbardi who 
 had indignantly refused him his daughter, and then 
 to kill his innocent brother who was his rival. The 
 lovers met at a certain window in the walls until the 
 girl's father found them and forbade them to meet 
 again, on which the youth vowed he would win the 
 maiden after all. Soon after this the patriotic Messer 
 Giovanni, in spite of his years, took the command of 
 a troop of city militia to go out and fight Castruccio 
 Castracane, who was marching his troops with other 
 Ghibellines against Florence. An unknown knight 
 with no device except a bit of blue ribbon was his 
 
MEDIEVAL VINCIOLIATA. 11 
 
 guardian angel, and twice saved liis life from the hands 
 of the elder Manzecca — but would never lift his visor 
 until after the victory of the Florentines. The two 
 soldiers then returned together, and Messer Giovanni 
 could no longer deny his daughter to his preserver. 
 But on the eve of the wedding day, Bianca from the 
 Castle walls watched her lover riding down the hill 
 to meet her ; and as he arrived at the gates of Yin- 
 cigliata she saw three men attack and murder him 
 under her very eyes — they were his evil-minded 
 brother and his minions. The girl lost her senses with 
 horror, and dying of grief soon after, her spirit still 
 haunts the precincts. So much for legend or romance, 
 but the story is so probable and like the times that 
 it may well be told here.* 
 
 In point of fact the relater of the legend has 
 mistaken the maiden's name, for the daughter of Messer 
 Giovanni Usimbardi was called Selvaggia — a name 
 which recalls that other heroine of a medieval love 
 story, Selvaggia the beloved of Dante's friend Cino of 
 Pistoja, who is celebrated in Petrarch's " Triumph 
 of love." 
 
 The household at Vincigliata in the short reign of 
 the Usimbardi was a large one and quite patriarchal. 
 There were Messer Giovanni and his wife Tessa, daugh- 
 
 See Appendix I. 
 
12 MEDIEVAL VINCIGLIATA. 
 
 ter of Pole Domenichi, of the parish of San Remigio, 
 and their daughter Selvaggia; also their son Niccolo 
 with his wife, another Madonna Tessa, daughter of 
 Juncte Nardi. Then there was Messer Giovanni's 
 brother Messer Barnaba with his wife Nera, their two 
 little girls Andreiole and Johanna, and a boy Manfredo. 
 
 The candles in the wrought-iron candelabra at Vin- 
 cigliata must have shone on quite a lively party ga- 
 thered round the solid table in the large dining hall ; 
 and the outer walls of the hallium must have echoed 
 to youthful voices and playful laughter, as well as to 
 the clang of the soldiers' warlike tread and weapons. 
 
 The first to leave the family circle was Messer Gio- 
 vanni, and ere long his brother Messer Barnaba fol- 
 lowed him to the tomb, leaving Niccolo head of the 
 family. The property then had to be divided by Nic- 
 colo and his cousin Gregorio (son of a third brother 
 who lived in Florence), with due shares to all the other 
 aunts and cousins. 
 
 It may be interesting to know the style of property 
 which constitued wealth in those days, and as the cousins' 
 legacy was a goodly heritage for the times, we will 
 make a condensed list from the portentous document in 
 queer old Latin which Ser Alberto the notary drew up. 
 
 The estate consisted of 
 
 A house with court and well in Via San Romeo 
 in the parish of San Remigio, Florence. 
 
MEDIEVAL VINCIGLIATA. 13 
 
 A house walled around in same parish, in Via di 
 Bingoccio. 
 
 A large house in same street with courtyard and 
 well ; of which Niccolo was to inherit five parts out 
 of eighteen by right of his father G-iovanni. 
 
 A house in Florence in the Via dei G-reci, parish 
 of San Firenze. 
 
 The Castle of Vincigliata known as " La Torre " 
 with its towers, court, garden, arable land, well, and 
 woodlands ; the half of which pertained to Niccolo in 
 right of his father's claim. 
 
 The Podere of the Torre, — of which also Nic- 
 colo had claim to half, — with its courts, trees, house, 
 huts and vineyards. 
 
 A piece of ground called " Campo al Borro." 
 
 Ditto called " Le Lame " both adjoining the 
 Church of Santa Maria. 
 
 Another piece called " La Lungaia." 
 
 Six other pieces. 
 
 The " Podere della Querela " which with its 
 houses, oil-press etc. also belonged to Niccolo as his 
 father's heir. 
 
 Several pieces of land respectively named '^ Gli 
 Areni," " Lo Staioro," '^ La Vignuola," "" Plan di No- 
 voli " etc. 
 
 Two portions of land with stone quarries, in the 
 parish of Settignano. 
 
14 MEDIEVAL VINCIULIATA. 
 
 The " Podere del Sancto " with its peasant's house, 
 vineyards, and woodlands, in the parish of Santa Maria 
 di Vincigliata. 
 
 A cultivated piece called " La Boccia." 
 
 A plantation called " Alia Castellina." 
 
 A cultivated and wooded bit. 
 
 Three other fields. 
 
 A piece of land at Montorzoli called " Al Muro 
 Orlandi " partly wood and partly pasturage. 
 
 A field for pasture. 
 
 The " Bosco al rio," a bit of woodland. 
 
 Cultivated and wooded land at Cafaggio. 
 
 A piece of pasture land. 
 
 Three fields in one called " Al Monte." 
 
 A portion of woodland called " II Collicciolo." 
 
 The " Podere di Mezzano " with house and sheds, 
 trees, and cultivated land. 
 
 A wooded and cultivated piece ** Agli Areni." 
 
 Another above the old vineyard. 
 
 Four others not named. 
 
 Five others named " Campobasso," " Poggerello," 
 " Bagno," " Ulivello " and "" Strada al Monte." 
 
 A piece of land with olives and trees. 
 
 A Podere called '^ Mulinaccio ; " with tower and 
 dovecot, canal, residence, mill, orchard, vines, olives, 
 trees and woods, quarries and cane plantations, in the 
 parish of San Martino at Maiano. 
 
MEDIEVAL VINCIGLIATA. 16 
 
 A piece of olive plantation and canes in same 
 parish called '' Campo alia Strada." 
 
 An olive plantation adjoining the monastery of 
 Maiano ; and lastly a cane plantation at the foot of 
 Monte Ceceri on the river Mensola. 
 
 Such an estate as this was of course very difficult 
 to divide without the assistance of the law, for Nic- 
 colo, as heir to his father, had a larger claim than Gre- 
 gorio on several lots, especially the Castle of Vinci- 
 gliata and its jjoderi. There were also Madonna Nera 
 widow of Barnaba, with her daughters Andreiuole and 
 Joanna, and her little son Manfredo to be provided for. 
 
 Accordingly they had recourse to the good old 
 institution of arbitration, and the two heirs by joint 
 consent elected Baldo son of Giovanni Orlandini as ar- 
 biter on their side ; w^hile Barnaba's widow Nera, on her 
 part, chose the three honest men Bencivieni Torna- 
 quinci Bonsostegni, Guccio Stefano Soderini, and San- 
 dro lacopo dell'Asino, as her private advisers; while 
 three notaries filled the office of public arbiters. 
 
 All these worthy men having studied the case gave 
 their judgments in the house of the Consuls of the 
 " Artes Medicorum " in the parish of Santa Cecilia 
 on June 7^^ 1335 ; there being present four notaries, 
 amongst whom a prodigious document in extraordinary 
 latin was drawn up, in the name of the arbiters. It 
 begins with an inventory of the estate and goes on: — 
 
1« MEDIEVAL VINCIGLIATA. 
 
 " Having seen and considered everything, respecting the 
 parties wishing to divide the property between them ; 
 having consulted and treated with many friends of 
 the parties ; and having deliberated between us ; we, 
 invoking the name of Christ, do hereby decree, pro- 
 nounce, sentence, declare, discern, arbitrate, divide, 
 give, concede, assign, adjudge and state, etc., the share 
 of each claimant,'' which decision shorn of its redun- 
 dancies runs something as follows : 
 
 The land was proportioned in eighteen precise 
 shares, Niccolo as only heir to his father, taking five 
 parts out of the eighteen, Gregorio two parts and 
 Bartolo, Ugolino, and other cousins receiving their due 
 shares ; but in regard to Vincigliata and another estate 
 Niccolo was entitled to a full half. 
 
 The widow Nera was to receive 200 florins in gold, 
 besides the repayment of her dote of 600 florins. Her 
 children Andreiuole and G-iovanna were to receive 1000 
 gold florins each as wedding portion, besides inheriting 
 the bed of their father Barnaba, which no doubt was 
 a splendid erection of carved wood, with tapestry cur- 
 tains hanging from its canopy. 
 
 Niccolo and Griovanni were also bound to provide 
 house-room and board, for Madonna Nera ; for her 
 daughters, till they were married; and for her little 
 son Manfredo for ten years from the day of his father's 
 death, besides paying 160 florins to Berti Azzucci di 
 
MEDIEVAL VIXCIGLIATA. 17 
 
 Cignano, Manfredo's guardian, for tlie support of the 
 boy. This is the way in which Florence guarded the 
 interests of her citizens in the 14"' century. It would 
 be well if our widows and orphans were to have of- 
 ficial guardians in these days. 
 
 It is to be supposed that the residence accorded 
 to the aunt and cousins was not at Vincigliata, for 
 only a month later in that year the same notary, 
 Ser Salvi Dini, drew up a deed for the sale of the 
 Castle for the price of 4060 gold florins to Paolo the 
 judge, son of Decco di Ceffino of Figline. Probably 
 the sale was effected to realise enough to pay the 
 legacies to Madonna Nera and her daughters ; thus the 
 whole family must have taken up their abode in one 
 of the Florentine houses, either in Via de' G-reci, or 
 Via di Bingoccio. 
 
 Neither did Paolo the judge hold it long ; a feudal 
 Castle must have been something of a white elephant 
 and an expensive luxury to a sober citizen, who had 
 to administer the laws in the city. He soon sold it 
 to the Buonaccorsi family, who though also burghers 
 were rich enoiigh to afford a castle in the country, 
 for they were members of a rich banking firm and 
 several of them had been priors of the Signoria. 
 
 Unfortunately a check to their prosperity befell 
 the Buonaccorsi just about this time. They had large 
 shares in the great loan made by the Bardi and Pe- 
 
 2 
 
18 MEDIEVAL VINCIGLIATA. 
 
 ruzzi to that debtor of bad faith King Edward III of 
 England, to help him through the campaigns of Cressy 
 and Poitiers ; and they suffered in the general crash of 
 Florentine banks in 1345. Being honourable citizens, 
 they immediately parted with Vincigliata for the be- 
 nefit of their creditors, and on the 25*'' of June 1345 it 
 was purchased by Niccolo son of Ugo degli Albizi. 
 
 As some consolation for their losses the Bardi re- 
 ceived permission from Edward III to quarter the royal 
 arms of England with their own as may be seen in 
 an old painted shield at Vincigliata. 
 
 Thus in the short space of ten years the Castle had 
 fallen into the hands of four different owners. The 
 Albizi were wealthy and powerful, and belonged to 
 the part of the grandi or nobles, but they were not 
 able to withstand the insidious attacks of a more 
 powerful enemy which attacked rich and poor alike. 
 On June 22°^ 1348 when the plague was raging in the 
 land, Niccolo, being ill of it, called in the notary Ser An- 
 drea di Lancia, and made a pious will, disposing that 
 the 'podere in San Gervasio, called "^ II Monte," should 
 form the endowment of a monastery or hospital, which 
 should be constructed, and where divine service should 
 be continually said. His sons and heirs, however, over- 
 ruled this, and showing that the Church of Vincigliata 
 was in evil condition begged that the j)odere might 
 be assigned to them for its restoration, which was 
 
MEDIEVAL VINCIGLIATA. 19 
 
 granted by a decree of the Vicar general of the Bishop 
 of Florence in 1348. 
 
 After the plague cariie wars and invasions. The 
 terrible John Hawkwood was in the Pisan service and 
 by way of keeping his White Company employed, he 
 marched to Florence. The walls of the city were strong 
 and well-defended, so he could not enter there, but he 
 revenged himself by storming all the country castles 
 he could find, and spoiling the villages and undefended 
 towns. 
 
 While ravaging the Fiesole hills we may be sure 
 Vincigliata would attract him, especially as at that 
 time it was not so strongly walled as the Albizi and 
 Alessandri afterwards made it. It is supposed that 
 Hawkwood's Company not only sacked but partially 
 destroyed it, for about the year 1367 or 68 we find the 
 Alessandri (lately Albizi) rebuilding it. Those were 
 times when a strong fort was a necessity even to a 
 mercantile Florentine citizen, who was liable at any 
 time to be driven out of his town house and obliged 
 to flee to his stronghold. 
 
 The Bianchi and Neri had by this time changed 
 into Gruelphs and Ghibellines ; and sometimes families 
 were split and brothers became bitter enemies, by tak- 
 ing up opposite sides. This now happened in the Al- 
 bizi family — who in 1360 were declared Grhibellines. — 
 Two of their number Alessandro and Bartolommeo sons 
 
20 MEDIEVAL VINCIGLIATA. 
 
 of Niccolao degli Albizi, however, took the contrary 
 part, and appeared before the legal court asserting 
 that, " having, with their consorts, become the oppo- 
 nents of Francesco di Uberto their kinsman and head 
 of the family, they wished to become popoli (of the 
 people, not grandi or nobles), to enter the " Arte della 
 Lana " and to change their name and their arms." 
 
 The request was granted ; the golden circlets of the 
 Albizi shield were figuratively trodden under foot, and 
 in their stead they took a lamb — argent in field azure — 
 this was given to them b}^ the " Arte della Lana " or 
 Wool Company ; but to distinguish it from the ensign 
 of the guild, the Alessandri lamb has two heads. 
 
 This was the branch of the Albizi to whom Vin- 
 cigliata belonged, and who had now need of its strength 
 as a refuge in the stormy times that were coming. 
 
 The Alessandri palace in the Via degli Albizi was 
 the rendez-vous of the heads of the Gruelph party; 
 and on festive occasions, such as the Palio or the 
 race of riderless horses on St. John's day, it was the 
 custom of the Gonfaloniere and the Signoria to watch 
 the races from its window. They went in state, robed 
 in ermine and crimson, with their green jerkined 
 trumpeters heralding them. 
 
 They were there on St. John's day 1378, when the 
 Ghibellines (no doubt their cousins the Albizi were 
 among the leaders) made a plan to take possession of 
 
MEDIEVAL VINCIGLIATA. 21 
 
 the palace of the Signoria in their absence. After 
 this followed the riots of the Ciompi, when the po- 
 pulace wanted to rule the city, and one of Alessandro 
 Alessandri's own wool combers, named Michele di 
 Lando, rose up like a second Hienzi, and, leading the 
 mob, marched barefoot into the palace carrying a 
 banner. He was then and there elected as Gonfalo- 
 niere by the populace, but fortunately he was a wise 
 man and used his power in restoring order and liberty ; 
 which done, he retired, leaving the Government in the 
 rightful hands again. On these and other occasions 
 Vincigliata must have proved to the Alessandri a house 
 of refuge to them from danger and fighting, and a shelter 
 when exiled from the city with others of their party. 
 
 They had already begun the restoration of the Castle, 
 and Ugo, son of Bartolommeo degli Alessandri, consi- 
 derably augmented the estate by purchasing neighbour- 
 ing lands, among which was the hill and Castle di 
 Poggio, — now no longer an inimical stronghold, but 
 a mere ruin; for it had been destroyed by order of 
 the Signoria in 1343 — to put an end to the evil 
 practises of the Manzecca brigands, some of whom 
 were taken and put to death. 
 
 The will of Ugo placing the estate under care of 
 a trustee is still existing, and is dated May 22"^ 1399. 
 
THE DECLINE. 
 
 And now followed long centuries of more peaceful 
 lordship. The " Torre " which when Niccolo Albizi 
 bought it in 1345 was described as " a tower with 
 a low dwelling house {domus hassis), offices, loggia, 
 garden and pergola,'' is cited in the deed of another 
 Niccolo (Alessandri) in 1429 as '^ A Lordly palace with 
 battlements and subterranean vaults, with an outer 
 wall, enclosing fowl houses, orchard and vineyard, 
 within the precincts." 
 
 They were a grand family those Alessandri, and 
 through the next two centuries, indeed as long as the 
 Republic lasted, we find their names in all the most 
 honourable offices. 
 
 Antonio was Master of the Mint (Zecca) in 1400 
 and 1409 ; Bartolommeo held the same office in 1434, 
 and Benedetto in 1464. Priors were chosen from the 
 family twenty-three times, and nine times did an Ales- 
 sandri rule the city as G-onfaloniere. 
 
 Being so much engaged in the city, most of their 
 life was passed in that palace in Via degli Albizi where 
 those brocade hangings won by their horses in the 
 races on St. John's day (when the Gonfaloniere and 
 Signoria used to go and witness the Palio) still adorn 
 the walls. They used Vincigliata more as a country 
 
THE DECLINE. 23 
 
 Louse to which they retired with their families in the 
 flowery spring, or went to superintend the vintage of 
 the many acres they had round that hill, in the autumn. 
 Many a knightly figure has ridden up or down the 
 stony little mule path now hidden in the pine-woods^ 
 that have grown up in later days. 
 
 Here in 1381 Niccolo son of Messer Bartolommeo 
 brought his bride on her palfrey with rich housings 
 and gay cortege. The bride Agnoletta Eicasoli had 
 ridden forth on that morning from the gates of Bro- 
 glio, another of the few medieval castles in Tuscany, 
 which to this day remain entire and habitable. She 
 was a daughter of Bettino Eicasoli whose direct des- 
 cendant and namesake till lately passed his summers 
 in the same unchanged feudal halls that Agnoletta left 
 five hundred years ago. 
 
 We can well imagine the wedding procession, for 
 we have a painting in the Belle Arti representing the 
 marriage of another bride from the Eicasoli family, 
 and are overpowered in contemplation of the pearl 
 embroidered zimarre, and gold brocade robes of the 
 ladies. Niccolo, the bridegroom, surely wore parti- 
 coloured hose and a velvet doublet and mantle worked 
 with gold, and his long curls had a plumed cap set 
 daintily on them. 
 
 And then the great kitchen at Vincigliata must 
 have been a busy scene; for wedding feasts in those 
 
24 THE DECLINE. 
 
 times were prolonged for two or three days, and all 
 the friends, tenants and dependents of the family made 
 their offerings of fat calves and lambs, of capons and 
 peacocks, of cheeses and sacks of flour, of '^ rosolio " 
 and good barrels of wine. The cooks roasted the lambs 
 and peacocks whole, and made wondrous pasties like 
 castles and dragons ; and there was music and dancing 
 in the hall, till the neglected armour jingled on the 
 walls. 
 
 On many a sunny morning Messer Ugo's young son 
 Alessandro has ridden down to the city to join his 
 illustrious fellow students Cosimo de' Medici, Leonardo 
 Buoninsegni, and his cousin Luca degli Albizi, in the 
 school of the learned E-oberto de' Rossi, where they 
 read their master's translation of Aristotle, and discussed 
 Plato with him at the sociable dinners he provided 
 for them ; * and here a few years later that same Ales- 
 sandro rode up the hill in silken doublet, with the 
 golden spurs gleaming at his heels which the Emperor 
 Frederick had bestowed when knighting him. 
 
 His brother Bartolommeo may have been with him 
 in still more gorgeous brocades and plumed cap, as 
 he came from the court of Rene d'Anjou at Naples 
 where he filled the offices of Councilor and Treasurer. 
 
 On the ramparts the daughters of this same Alessan- 
 
 Vespasiano, Vita di Cosimo de' Iledici. 
 
THE DECLINE. 25 
 
 dro Alessanclri have stood in their turn, clad in broidered 
 zimarre and flowing scarfs, watching their father ride 
 down the rocky road towards the towers of Florence 
 when starting on his embassy to Rome ; for he was one 
 of the four ambassadors sent by Cosimo to offer the 
 congratulations of the Republic to Cosimo's old friend 
 Thomas of Sarzana, when he became Pope Nicholas V. 
 At the same time Alessandro also paid homage to the 
 King Alfonso of Naples who was then at Tivoli. 
 
 One of the girls must have been that Ginevra de- 
 gli Alessandri who married G-iovanni the son of her 
 father's old school comrade Cosimo de' Medici, and 
 no doubt she often stood on the battlemented tower, 
 keeping watch over the Valley of the Arno, till she 
 could hear the ring of the horse's hoofs on the paved 
 road, and go to meet her lover. 
 
 Griovanni de' Medici soon after took her to the pa- 
 lace of his father as a bride. Ginevra has ever been 
 a name ill-omened in Florentine love stories, and not 
 all the grandeur of the Medici palace could shut out 
 sorrow from the young wife who in one year (1464) 
 lost her young husband, and her baby boy ; and then 
 Cosimo himself died at Careggi.* 
 
 According to the usages of the age, the bride would 
 have returned to her father's house when left a child- 
 
 GiNO Capponi, Storia della JRepubhlica di Firenze. 
 
86 THE DECLINE. 
 
 less widow, and we can imagine what a heavy heart 
 looked dow^i from Vincigliata on the wide valley 
 where she had lost all her loved ones. Thus through 
 many a century the Alessandri held possession of the 
 Castle, though in their days it no longer had to be 
 defended by balestra and arquebuse. 
 
 Its ramparts, no longer manned by cuirassiers, became 
 mossgrown, and the Castle sank into a mere family 
 dwelling house for a slowly diminishing family. After 
 the fall of the Republic there were no more famous 
 Alessandri, and though the family still kept up their 
 palace in the city, the Castle on the height was allowed 
 to drift into decay, till by the year 1637 only the Lord 
 Francesco lived here with a little son of ten years old 
 named Giovan' Antonio and a maiden aunt of seventy 
 years. This Francesco was, it is said, a fierce and 
 dreadful man, but yet so scrupulous in religious obser- 
 vances, that the priest never dared to commence a mass 
 until he came back from the chase to attend it. One 
 day his hunting detained the congregation waiting 
 so long that the priest at length began to say mass. 
 The Count returned, and finding his reverence already 
 at the altar, he was seized with rage, fired his gun at 
 him, and killed him on the spot. 
 
 By the time the boy Giovan' Antonio was twenty- 
 three years of age, both his father and aunt had died 
 and the only inhabitants of the great Castle were 
 
THE DECLINE. 27 
 
 this lonely youth and his page {famulus)^ a lad of 
 eighteen.^ 
 
 The next year he brought up to Vincigliata a bride, 
 whose name was Angela Albertini of Settignano. She 
 was accompanied by her tire-maiden named Antonia, 
 but did not long endure the solitude of the ancient 
 place, for she died within the year. 
 
 The following spring "Griovan' Antonio married a 
 Spanish lady, Donna Eleonora Brignosa, whose family 
 had probably come to Florence in the train of the Grand 
 Duchess Eleonora da Toledo, and who bore him sons 
 and daughters to bring a little life back again to the 
 old Castle. By 1664 the chronicle enumerates five chil- 
 dren. Francesco aged ten, Jacopo nine, Maria Anna 
 eight, Grinevra seven, and Filippo six years old. 
 
 The Lady Eleanor possibly grew tired of living so 
 far from town, or else about this time the Alessandri 
 built the more modern villa at the foot of the hill of 
 Vincigliata, which for a long time after this formed 
 the summer quarters of the family. Certain it is they 
 left the Castle and henceforth a peasant or agent 
 named Michael Galassi, with his wife and child are 
 chronicled as its only inhabitants; and so it decaj^s 
 till 1751, when the entry on the parish register is " No 
 
 * Church registers of YincigUata. Stato delle aninie from 1637 
 to 1769. 
 
28 THE DECLINE. 
 
 one inhabits the ruined palace of the Signori Ales- 
 sandri, but the holy water is still sj^rinkled in the 
 empty rooms as Easter comes round." Then we hear 
 of other villas in the parish falling into decay, and 
 the priest goes round giving his blessing on empty 
 walls, and receiving a dozen eggs from the peasant 
 as tithes. 
 
 In 1757 a few poor fariiilies still live in the sur- 
 rounding houses. In one " Villa di Mezzana " the 
 lawns serve as pasturage; and in another — ''the Ca- 
 stel di Poggio " which has fallen together with its old 
 enemy — the priest enters in his Easter book " I give 
 the holy water but for these two years past the fattore 
 will not let me enter. At Vincigliata there is a room 
 kept for Signer Giovanni Alessandri when he comes." 
 The next year even this is given up, and the palace 
 serves as a barn for the hay of the peasants ; in 1766 
 it is not even safe for that, and is locked up, the 
 contadino keeping the key, till in 1827 Signor Gae- 
 tano di Simone Alessandri sells the ruins and land to 
 Lorenzo di Bartolommeo Galli da Rovezzano. This 
 purchaser seems to have made no practical use of it, 
 for the late Baron Alfred von Reumont, author of a 
 charming book entitled " Majano, Vincigliata, Setti- 
 gnano," describes it as he saw it in 1855, in these 
 words : 
 
 '^ From Settignano I ascended to these ruins marked 
 
THE RESTORATION. 29 
 
 out by a double circle of walls, of which the exterior 
 one had in many places entirely disappeared. I entered, 
 by the only door left standing, into the court, which 
 leads to a ground floor with vaulted roofs half ruined, 
 and above which the quadrangular walls rise and 
 threaten to fall. The remains of the stairs and loggia 
 and the fragments of battlements and cornices are 
 buried under a heap of blocks of masonry, and stones, 
 overgrown with thorns, nettles, and creeping plants." 
 It is little to be wondered at, that when a new pur- 
 chaser offered, who saw the capabilities of the place, 
 the nephews of signor Galli were more than willing 
 to cede their heritage to Mr. Temple-Leader — but 
 with his name begins a new era — the rise of Vin- 
 cigliata. 
 
 THE EESTORATION. 
 
 As signor Marcotti remarks {Vmcigliata, pag. 10): 
 " Vincigliata was dead, and was being buried by degrees ; 
 only a few broken bones of the skeleton being visible 
 under the stony covering which time had thrown 
 over it." 
 
 Here is documental evidence of the fact, not a 
 fragment from State archives, but a statement in rustic 
 
80 THE RESTORATION. 
 
 Italian by the hands of the peasant who tilled the 
 fields of the podere near. We will translate it : 
 
 ** To the most illustrious signor Giovanni my master, 
 — the note of the tower as at present. Inside there 
 was a big door half above ground and half under, on 
 the right was a fruit garden, and on the left the cellar, 
 over the hut in the court there grew a vine which 
 spread all around, and in Father's time there was also 
 the tower, but when the roof was taken off the walls 
 fell down. 
 
 " I, Griov. Battista Merlazzi. 
 
 " 7 December 1857. " 
 
 Around these dreary ruins the new possessor walked, 
 possibly dreaming of the many scenes that had taken 
 place there while the ruined walls and towers were 
 still erect; and then charmed with the cool breezes 
 that blew round the hill, and the lovely plains spread 
 out below him, he thought what a fine site it would 
 be for a villa during the summer months. But the 
 historical interest of the place was too strong, — the 
 idea of a modern villa was soon given up, and the 
 possessor was fired with the idea of a complete and 
 perfect restoration. Yincigliata should become an il- 
 lustration of that feudal era which had passed away, 
 the walls that Hawkwood had stormed, and to which 
 the Albizi and Alessandri had fled, should rise again 
 
THE KESTOKATION. 31 
 
 stronger than ever; the battlemented tower should once 
 more crown the crest of the hill ; arms should shine in 
 the armoury ; and where ancient Florentines had ruled, 
 there, shields and blazons should still perpetuate their 
 memories. 
 
 In looking for an architect Mr. Leader's choice fell 
 on Giuseppe Fancelli — son of his own fattore (farm 
 agent) — a talented young man who was beginning 
 life with that exaltation of his art which marks all 
 true artists. He had studied the old masters who had 
 made Florence, — Giotto, Arnolfo, Brunelleschi, and 
 Orgagna, but the classical influence of the schools had 
 as yet chiefly influenced him. Mr. Leader now pro- 
 ceeded to train his taste in feudal architecture by taking 
 him to see many of the existing medieval castles etc., 
 such as those of the Malaspini in the Lunigiana, and 
 some ancient Tuscan buildings, all of which left their 
 impress on his art. 
 
 In choosing Fancelli and training him to the work, 
 Mr. Leader ensured to himself the advantage of an 
 architect whom he could so far command, as to keep 
 him closely to his own ideal of true restoration, without 
 modern innovations. 
 
 It was fitting th.at the architect should be, as it were, 
 a son of the soil, for being born at San Martino a Men- 
 sola (April 24*^ 1829) Fancelli's very earliest recollections 
 must have been connected with the ruins on the hill 
 
82 THE RESTORATION. 
 
 at the foot of which he dwelt; and who knows whether 
 the very building whose restoration was his master 
 piece and last work, was not also the first inspiration 
 of his career ! Being the son of a fattore, he was bred 
 to country life, but some of his ancestors had been 
 architects and sculptors,* and as soon as he was of an 
 age to choose, he exchanged the vineyards and olive 
 fields, for the art school at the Belle Arti ; which he 
 entered in December 1842. On leaving it in 1849, he 
 was apprenticed to the architect cavalier Mariano Fal- 
 cini, and won prizes in competitions at Siena in 1851, 
 and Florence in 1852 ; he also assisted cavalier G. Bac- 
 cani in the restoration of the Pergola Opera house 
 in 1856. This was the man whom Mr. Leader chose 
 for the work at Vincigliata ^ and we can imagine the 
 enthusiasm he threw into his studies of feudal archi- 
 tecture and how he explored every old castle he 
 could find. 
 
 Then the rocky height became a busy scene ; the 
 vine was torn away from the rubbish which kind na- 
 ture had placed it to hide ; the trees in the quadrangle 
 were uprooted, and the well of the Castle cleared out ; 
 
 * In the Boboli gardens there is a good figure of Vulcan 
 sculptured in marble by Chiarissimo Fancelli, one of the ancestors 
 of the architect. 
 
 ' Signor Fancelli also built the chapel of Mr. Leader's villa 
 at Maiano. The villa itself was added to by the prof. com. Fe- 
 lice Francolini. 
 
THE RESTORATION. 33 
 
 for every idle traveller who came to stroll in the ruins 
 had cast stones into it, and the crumbling walls had 
 added to the work, so that it was entirely choked. 
 
 Little by little the plan grew into form, and month 
 by month, there arose, from the ashes of dead Vin- 
 cigliata, the barbican, the keep and the tower, the 
 cloister and quadrangle of a new Yincigliata. Every 
 fragment of the old building which could be retained 
 found its office in the new. The wall of the keep 
 with the Alessandri arms in the keystone of its arched 
 gateway is the original wall. The foliated bracket 
 which still remained in the wall, where it had existed 
 for more than five hundred years — retained by Mr. 
 Leader's especial wish, the place of honour in upholding 
 the central arch of the roof of the loggia. "When 
 in 1874 the G-rand Duke of Saxe "Weimar came with 
 his family to visit the Castle in which he had a special 
 interest, having lately restored his own feudal castle 
 of Wartburg — a much grander work — he took par- 
 ticular notice of this stone, which he said " had done 
 for Yincigliata what the fossil bone had done for 
 Cuvier who from it could imagine and reconstruct the 
 entire skeleton of an antediluvian monster." 
 
 Nor was Mr. Leader less fortunate in his artisans 
 than he was in his architect. He found the archaeolo- 
 gical and artistic spirit strong in them, for the Italian 
 people are bred on legend and story. The barefoot 
 
34 THE RESTORATION. 
 
 peasant will read Ariosto and Tasso, and have a clearer 
 idea of the Paladins than he has of the Parliament ; 
 and a stone cutter from Settignano has still the aroma of 
 Michael Angelo hanging about him, and will not only- 
 talk of quattrocento and cinquecento sculpture, but will 
 make his chips fly from his chisel and bring those 
 very cinquecento forms out of the stone. 
 
 Such an artist of the chisel was David Giustini, a 
 stone cutter from Settignano, where stone has been a 
 medium of art for centuries; and such an one was 
 Angelo Marucelli, an honest workman, whom his com- 
 rades called ^ Canapino. " These two between them 
 did all the decorative sculpture, and have touched 
 every point with beauty. All the doors, external and 
 internal, are carved in arch, architrave, lintel and lu- 
 nette. Every bracket which supports either arch or 
 gallery, is either foliated or grotesque ; on pillar, stair, 
 and wall, is some carved form, and every form is 
 purely medieval. 
 
 The busts of the two stone carvers are placed one 
 on each side of the armoury door in the quadrangle, 
 and the architect has a niche in the loggia, so that 
 though all the three have passed away, their memory 
 still lives in endurable marble, like their works. The 
 architect Fancelli succumbed to miliary fever at the 
 early age of 38 ; the rustic sculptor David Giustini 
 died at a riper age ; his elder son follows up his pro- 
 
THE RESTORATION. 85 
 
 fession, and Ms widow and two younger sons have a 
 permanent home as custodians in the Castle which he 
 helped to adorn. 
 
 The situation of Vincigliata is an ideal one for a 
 feudal fortress, it stands on an elevated rocky plateau 
 down the side of which the Mensola and Trassinara 
 leap over the crags, while a deep valley lies between 
 it and the sandstone rocks and quarries of the Fie- 
 sole hill, where the dark cliffs rise strata above strata, 
 bored with dark quarries. 
 
 The outer walls form an irregular square whose 
 circumference is 370 metres ; the North side measuring 
 40 metres, the South 60, the East 120 metres, and the 
 West 150. 
 
 The barbican tower which contains the principal 
 entrance, stands at the N. W. corner, and a smaller 
 tower is placed at the N. E. angle : on the other 
 sides machicolations are thrown out, and at the cor- 
 ners are turrets supported on stone brackets. Within 
 this the hallium^ or bailey, in the form of garden and 
 vineyard surrounds the massive keep, which in true 
 feudal style is furnished with tower and inner bailey^ 
 with gallery and court ; — but we will reserve for the 
 next chapter a more precise description, which for 
 greater clearness we will put in the form of a cata- 
 logue raisonne. 
 
DESCRIPTIVE. 
 
 THE OUTER BALLIUM. 
 
 It may be said of the present owner of the Castle 
 that he found a wilderness, and made it a garden. The 
 ruins of the old Castle (Castellaccio, as it was called) 
 were a heap of stones on a bare and barren hill, nei- 
 ther tree nor shrub grew there to break the wild mo- 
 notony of the rocks and stones, except a few pollard 
 oaks and broom, ^ with here and there a patch of burnt 
 up grass. Now the whole hill is clad in a green ves- 
 ture of pines, cypresses and ilex, which clothe it in 
 beauty alike in winter and summer ; the seasons being 
 only marked by the flowers beneath them. 
 
 Through this vast plantation the road winds in 
 many turns, which the pedestrian shortens by plunging 
 
 * The Spanish broom was called Vmci, and was used to bind 
 faggots. It is possible that this was the origin of the name Yin- 
 cigliata. 
 
THE OUTER BALLIUM. 37 
 
 into the forest paths, and following the vagrant tracks, 
 sometimes coming across traces of the ancient mule 
 road which the dwellers and besiegers must alike have 
 trodden, in the days gone by, when Yincigiiata was a 
 feudal stronghold. 
 
 In the old tracks beneath the pines we stray one 
 morning in September. The Castle which has been 
 as a beacon to us, during the drive from the city, 
 when we saw it standing out firm and strong on its 
 eminence in the blue distance, now disappears from 
 view and we feel lost in the mazes of the pines. Now 
 and then a few battlements emerge above the trees in 
 some more open space, but it is not till the last turn, 
 that we perceive its outer walls, over which vines and 
 olives are visible in the terraced enclosure and far 
 above them rises the Castle with its bastions and bat- 
 tlements. So square and massive is it that we can 
 describe it in no other words than those old Napier 
 used for the medieval fortress of Semifonte in Val 
 d' Elsa. "" The Rocca (citadel)," he says, ''was qua- 
 drangular, magnificent, beautiful and inconceivably 
 strong, its walls studded with towers and battlements, 
 beetling out from their summits, and with turrets 
 hanging from every corner of the bulwark." 
 
 In fact Vincigliata appears to our eyes in the 
 sombre light of a clouded grey morning, the very 
 embodiment of the feudal architecture of the middle 
 
88 THE OUTER BALLIUM. 
 
 ages. There is an iron postern gate in the outer wall ; 
 we do not however enter, but pass round the circuit 
 till we reach the barbican, whose machicolated towers 
 rise behind the bridge. In these peaceful days the 
 simulated moat * is dry, and its banks fringed with iris 
 and Virginia creeper, while cypresses and ilex trees 
 sway peacefully above it. The bridge too is no longer 
 the exclusive drawbridge, but a solid structure which 
 does not suggest the necessity of shutting out a foe. 
 The first gate admits us to an open space, with coach- 
 house and stables on the right, and on the left, ser- 
 vants' rooms of solid stone masonry. In the centre the 
 great iron gate of the barbican confronts us with the 
 Leader arms surmounting it, and above them a shrine 
 carved in stone, with a relief of St. Lawrence, by 
 David Giustini. 
 
 Entering the gate we may admire from within, 
 the architecture of the barbican, which is perfectly 
 medieval, with its projecting machicolations supported 
 on brackets. The gallery which encircles it is a 
 continuation of the rampart on the walls and is sup- 
 ported on Lombard pillars resting on grotesque ani- 
 mals. Our steps now lead us through the hallium, or 
 bailey, which in these peaceful days is rather a garden 
 than a warlike quadrangle, as it contains great Le- 
 
 * The position does not admit of a real moat. 
 
THE OUTER BALLIUM. 39 
 
 banon cedars, tall cypresses, oaks, and baj^ trees, and 
 on the southern side a sunny vineyard and fruit garden. 
 All this is bounded by the wall with its high ram- 
 part and battlements, but our glances fall on many 
 a work of ancient art, enshrined in the wall, for 
 having no military use for his Castle, Mr. Leader has 
 made it historical by placing here a collection of me- 
 morials of past ages in Tuscany etc. We begin with 
 the earliest inhabitants, the Etruscans, whose tombs 
 form the most eloquent pages of ancient history. 
 Leaving the barbican gate, there is a niche to the 
 right containing : 
 
 1. An Etruscan funereal urn, in terracotta, with 
 the inscription, which in Roman letters would read : 
 
 ARNZ A CAPSNA SETHRNAL. 
 
 On the front is a relief, representing Jason or Cadmus, 
 fighting the warriors who sprang from the Dragon's 
 teeth. Near this is 
 
 2. Another ui^n, without inscription, on the front 
 of which is the combat between Eteocles and Polynices 
 sons of (Edipus and Jocasta; behind each of the brothers 
 is a winged genius bearing a torch. One of the most 
 beautiful myths in the Etruscan religion was the belief 
 in guardian angels or genii. 
 
 3. On the third sarcophagus lies the recumbent 
 figure of an "" obese Etruscan," seeming sublimely in- 
 
40 THE OUTER BALLIUM. 
 
 different to the scene of sorrow represented in the re- 
 lief beneath him — a parting scene between a dying 
 husband and his wife, a winged genius (death) stands 
 behind the husband. The next is 
 
 4. A much restored Etruscan urn in tufo — no in- 
 scription. The relief is the combat between Eteocles 
 and Polynices, on the left stands a nude winged female 
 genius bearing a torch. 
 
 5. This is a child's funereal urn in terracotta. It 
 has on the front a winged head of the Gorgon between 
 two pilasters, with a cypress on each side. 
 
 6. A heart-shaped shield with the arms of the Re- 
 public and the motto Libeetas. 
 
 7. Shield with Medici arms and other quarterings. 
 
 8. A small terracotta Etruscan urn without in- 
 sciiption. Subject: Jason with the ploughshare. 
 
 9. Armorial bearings in majolica. Device : a star 
 and lion's jaw, — signed V B. 1507. 
 
 10. Archaic stone cist. 
 
 11. A large stone Madonna and Child in a niche, 
 with a border of coloured fruit in Delia Robbia style ; 
 beneath it a coat of arms — lion rampant bearing a 
 staff. 
 
 12. A Ciborium sculptured in stone with ornate 
 scrolls in quattrocento style. 
 
 13. The Strozzi arms in marble. 
 
 14. Opposite the gate of the keep is a large arched 
 
THE OUTER BALLIUM. 41 
 
 recess in the wall with a fresco of St. Christopher 
 carrying the Child Jesus. The giant Saint is a fa- 
 vourite emblem in Italian medieval art, and finds a 
 prominent place in nearly every feudal building in 
 Italy ; appropriately so, as he is the emblem of strength 
 that bows down to no earthly power, but only to the 
 powers above. He was usually depicted opposite the 
 entrance door, for a belief existed that any one whose 
 gaze on going out of the Castle first fell on St. Christ- 
 opher, would not die a violent death on that day. 
 Beneath the fresco are the following Latin lines ex- 
 pressive of this superstition : 
 
 Christopliori faciem die qiiacumque tiieris 
 Ilia nempe die morte mala non morieris. 
 
 In this fresco Cav. Bianchi has happily reproduced 
 the naivete and quaint style of the trecento artists, and 
 so rendered it quite in keeping with its surroundings. 
 
 15. Shield carved in marble with the device of an 
 eagle and lion rampant. 
 
 16. Arms in majolica, much injured by time. Device : 
 two deer. 
 
 17. The arms of the Scala family with quarterings. 
 Here the wall ends, or rather takes a turn, a wide 
 
 flight of steps leading to a lower level : we will 
 however not descend them now, but turn towards 
 the keep, which rises solidly before us. Here we see 
 a veritable portion of the original Castle. This fine 
 
42 THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 
 
 arched doorway with the Alessandri arms in the kej^- 
 stone, is the door which was described as " half under 
 ground half above it." Now the whole arch is free 
 and has moreover a great nail-studded door. At the 
 corners of the keep are two ancient iron lamps, and 
 on the left the watch tower rises up showing its 
 ragged edges against the blue sky contrasted with 
 the dark cypresses behind it. 
 
 The Custode opens a small jDortion of the gate, we 
 step over it and enter the inner ballium or quad- 
 rangle. 
 
 THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 
 
 A Court, medieval and artistic such as Arnolfo 
 himself would have built, strong and massive, yet with 
 such a touch of art on every key-stone and arch, that 
 the strength is merged in beauty. On one side the 
 tower of the keej) rises up, with its massive stone- 
 bound windows, its machicolations, and Gruelphic bat- 
 tlements ; below it, at right angles, runs the jagged 
 outline of the rampart on the summit of the solid 
 walls. 
 
 The square architecture of the Castle is enriched 
 by a double row of i)rojecting galleries. The upper 
 
THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 43 
 
 one is of brick with stone pillars and brackets ; tlie 
 lower — which forms a terrace to the apartments on 
 the upper floor — is supported on brick arches spring- 
 ing from stone brackets ; its balustrade is finished by 
 a dog-tooth moulding, while in the spring of each 
 arch is a projecting head of grey stone. Here are a 
 sphinx, a female head, a lion, ram, bull, and several 
 monsters serving as gargoyles.^ This gallery is reached 
 by an outer staircase of stone, the base of which is 
 guarded in Florentine fashion by a Marzocco or lion, 
 carrying the Leader Arms, and placed on an octagonal 
 column, with the armorial bearings of former Lords of 
 Vincigliata on the base. In the corner opposite the 
 steps stands the traditional well, and on the right as 
 we enter, there is a " loggia " (arcade) of two wide 
 arches supported on an octagonal column, and two 
 pilasters ; all with foliated capitals. The vaulted roof 
 is of brick with stone ribs, and the bracket which 
 supports the rib of the central arch, is one of the 
 veritable remains of the old Castle. 
 
 - The tone of the whole quadrangle, though on a 
 smaller scale, recalls the court of the Bargello (which, 
 however, was only restored some years after Vinci- 
 gliata), but there is a feeling of calm repose about 
 this, which gives one a very different and more do- 
 
 ^ The gargoyles were sculptured by Angiolo Marucelli called 
 Canapino. 
 
44 THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 
 
 mestic impression, than the reminiscences of cruel 
 justice, and more cruel injustice recalled by the 
 Florentine Palace. As in the Bargello, the walls 
 here are full of sculptured armorial bearings, but 
 for the most part they are suggestive of peaceful 
 Lordship, rather than fierce party strife, and a stern 
 Podesta. 
 
 "We seat ourselves on the fine old wooden sedili 
 which are placed round three sides of the loggia, and 
 even these have soothing reminiscences, for in olden 
 times they have been the seats of meditative Domi- 
 nican friars, in the convent of Santa Maria Novella, 
 from whence they were brought. 
 
 Resting here our eyes fall on numberless speci- 
 mens of medieval and ancient art, and archaeology. 
 Here are Roman amphorae and Etruscan urns, emblems 
 of the life and death of the races which peopled this 
 hill before Florence was even imagined; there are 
 medieval saints that tell us of the early Christians 
 who lived here long after the last Etruscan was closed 
 in his tomb, with his Grods and his Lares about him ; 
 and there are modern inscriptions speaking of the 
 present, but we will take a more systematic inspection 
 and begin from the great door by which we have 
 entered. It is a fine door of Spanish chestnut adorned 
 with scrolls in iron work, and large headed nails. The 
 arms of the Alessandri and Leader families (the ancient 
 
THE QUADKANGLE OF THE KEEP. 45 
 
 and modern possessors) are sculptured in the arch/ and 
 on each side within the court are 
 
 1. Large torch holders and extinguishers in massive 
 iron work. It was here the page and squire placed 
 their torches to illume the court, or put them out when 
 their Lord came home at night from some emprise. 
 
 2. Over the door is a species of frieze in the form 
 of an architrave, on which are sculptured the arms of 
 the Pazzi, which came from the old Villa of the Pazzi 
 di Val d' Arno at Maiano (now Villa Leader), and two 
 other Florentine families who have been connected with 
 Vincigliata. High over the door, in the wall is 
 
 3. A medallion in glazed terracotta, — the Madonna 
 and Child surrounded by a garland of fruit, a copy of 
 Delia Robbia by G-inori. 
 
 4. A bas-relief in marble, representing the Eternal 
 Father in the act of blessing. 
 
 5. The Christian monogram IHS, placed in a double 
 circlet with the motto " Tibi Soli " above, the date 1633 
 below, and the initial T and G- on the two sides. The 
 letters refer to its former owner Tommaso G-uadagni. 
 These three objects seem a benediction on those who 
 enter, and give the strong gate of the Castle a senti- 
 ment very opposite to that gate of "" Dis " where the 
 wayfarer who entered was enjoined to " leave every 
 
 * The Alessandri without, and Leader within the gate ; the 
 former are the original ones from the old Castle. 
 
4C THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 
 
 hojDe behind liim." On the ground at the left of the 
 entrance is 
 
 6. A square block of old masonry, a part of the 
 third circuit of the ancient walls of Florence, which 
 were destroyed in 1868, when the city was enlarged 
 with the fallacious hope of its remaining the capital 
 of the new united kingdom of Italy. 
 
 7. On the wall is a stone with the following in- 
 scription : Giovanni Temple-Leader, gentiluomo inglese, 
 a d\ 5 marzo 1855 acquistd i ruderi del castello di Vin- 
 cigliata colle rispettive attinenze, dai fratelli Ferdinando, 
 Antonio, Piero, Bartolommeo e Giuseppe Pasquale del fu 
 Vincenzo Galli da Rovezzano, pei rogiti di ser Ferdinando 
 Cartoni notaro puhhlico Jiorentino.^ 
 
 Beneath the loggia : 
 
 8. Eoman amphora from Aquileia. 
 
 9. Eleven lamps in iron work of the style of Nic- 
 colo Caparra affixed to the wall. They are all of dif- 
 ferent designs, as are the foliated brackets which 
 suspend them, and are beautiful copies of cinquecento 
 metal work, from the forge of Contri of Settignano. 
 
 10. In a strong wooden frame on the ground is 
 
 * Translation : John Temple-Leader, English gentleman, on the 
 5*^ of March 1855 bought the ruins of the Castle of Vincigliata, 
 with the respective appurtenances, of the brothers Ferdinando, 
 Antonio, Piero, Bartolommeo and Giuseppe Pasquale sons of the 
 late Vincenzo Galli of Rovezzano, the deeds being drawn up by 
 ser Ferdinando Cartoni public notary of Florence. 
 
THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 47 
 
 a fine bronze bell dated 1256 of very rich pure tone, 
 with two lines of inscription in G-othic letters. The 
 upper line runs Mente Sancta Spontaneum Honorem 
 Dio et Patrie Liberationis, and the second line Gtianni 
 MI FECIT Anno Domini MCCLYI. Here the good Gianni's 
 learning and ideas seem to have failed, for he has filled 
 up the remainder of the circlet with the alphabet ar- 
 ranged in the following eccentric manner : LMMNOP 
 (two forms of the letter M) ABCDEFGHIJK. This in- 
 teresting old bell came from Bucine. The Prior had, on 
 obtaining money for new bells, given this to a bronze 
 founder at Pistoia, to be melted down, but it was 
 saved from such an ignominious fate, and bought by 
 Mr. Leader. The inscription is one which has been 
 used on other old bells (one in the Bargello having a 
 similar sentence). Mr. Leader thinks it a proof that 
 the bell was a thank-offering after a victory, while 
 signer Del Badia believes it a quotation from an an- 
 tiphon in the office of St. Agatha, before it was re- 
 formed by the Council of Trent. On the wall the 
 three principal figures are 
 
 11. A Madonna and Child, 
 
 12. St. Francis of Assisi, and 
 
 13. St. Clare. Three beautiful statues or rather high 
 reliefs of the Delia Eobbia school. St. Francis and his 
 disciple St. Clare — also a native of Assisi, and founder 
 of the order of the Claresse — are in grey robes the 
 
48 THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 
 
 folds of wliicli are simple and artistic. The attitude of 
 both is very devotional, as they kneel in adoration on 
 each side of the Madonna, who, clad in a blue robe 
 and purple bodice with white veil and wimple, holds 
 the divine Child at the breast, half kneeling on her 
 lap. The three figures, now detached, once formed 
 part of a lunette in the suppressed convent of Monte 
 Domini, which is now a Florentine almshouse (Pia 
 Casa di Lavoro) for the poor and aged. The statuet- 
 tes are probably the work of Andrea Delia Eobbia 
 or one of his sons, as the colouring points to a later 
 time than Luca himself, in whose works the figures 
 were nearly always white on a blue ground. Below 
 these are 
 
 14 and 15. An "Epiphany" and " Eesurrection." 
 Two small reliefs in terracotta, with remains of glazing 
 proving them to be by a follower of Delia Eobbia. 
 One has evidently been restored in old times, as a 
 portion of it is reproduced in wood, so enamelled that 
 it is only recognisable by the sound, and the worm 
 holes in the wooden part. 
 
 16 and 17. Two amphorae also from Aquileia are 
 in the comer. 
 
 18. Life size terracotta bust of Andrea Doria, the 
 great Genoese Admiral of the IS*'* century (1468-1560). 
 Though first an opponent, he became an ally of the 
 Emperor Charles V and liberated G-enoa from the French 
 
THE QUADEANGLE OF THE KEEP. 49 
 
 tyranny. He is represented with a long beard and has 
 a very astute, intelligent face. 
 
 19. An Etruscan funereal chest in terracotta, the 
 relief in the front represents the strife between Eteocles 
 and Polynices. This, and "" Jason killing with his 
 plough the teeth-sprung warriors " are the most common 
 subjects for the smaller and least important Etruscan 
 tombs; they were a kind of stock tomb which the 
 sculptor kept on hand for those who could not afford 
 to have an original design executed. 
 
 20. An oval relief in Carrara marble, representing 
 the profile head of Antonio Buonvisi. This is espe- 
 cially interesting to English people, from the fact of 
 his being such a true friend to Sir Thomas More. At 
 that time Buonvisi, a rich merchant of Lucca, had 
 large branch houses in London, and at Antwerp, so 
 rich was the family that in 1606 their patrimony was 
 estimated at 1,357,900 scudi. During More's imprison- 
 ment the Italian merchant was one of the kind sup- 
 porters of his family, and he even found means to send 
 delicacies to Sir Thomas More in his prison. Padre 
 Eegi, in his Life of More written at Bologna in 1881, 
 gives a letter written by the Chancellor to Buonvisi, 
 a short time before his execution. It ends thus : 
 
 " most faithful of friends, and, as I am proud 
 to style you, sweet pupil of mine eyes, may you live 
 in happy health, and may your family, to whom I 
 
60 THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 
 
 render homage, follow always from good fortune to 
 
 better. " The signature which is very significant 
 
 runs thus : 
 
 " Thomas Moee. 
 
 " It is superfluous to add " yours," as you already 
 know that I am yours, you having bought me with 
 so many benefits, besides I am this day in such a con- 
 dition that there is little to show to whom I belong." 
 
 The Ex-High Chancellor's wish was granted, the 
 Buonvisi continued to prosper and rise, for among 
 Antonio's descendants were Cardinals of Rome, and 
 Bishops of Lucca. The family is now extinct, though 
 one of its members was immortalized in a sonnet by 
 Milton who had visited him at Lucca. On the wall 
 above this portrait is 
 
 21. A statue of Christ seated, with one hand uplifted 
 in benediction, the date is probably about 1400. It 
 appears to have come from the fa9ade of some church. 
 
 22. Is another oval relief — pendant to n. 20 — a 
 portrait of " Castruccio degli Antelmini " also a famous 
 Lucchese, he is better known as Castruccio Castracane. 
 Capponi (Storia di Firenze, lib. Ill, cap. I) calls him 
 " Castruccio degli Inter minelli.'^ He was a great captain 
 and fought much against the Florentines early in the 
 14*** century. He had before this been a soldier in 
 England. Over Castruccio is 
 
 23. A sitting statue of an Evangelist with Gospel 
 
THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 51 
 
 in hand, of the same style of art as the Christ above 
 mentioned. 
 
 24. A group in high relief in white marble represent- 
 ing a bishop seated and a deacon kneeling in sup- 
 plication before him. The style is quite medieval, or 
 rather early christian, probably about A . D . 500. Near 
 this is an interesting 
 
 25. Bust of Pier Capponi in terracotta. The sturdy 
 old Florentine burgher, who in the 15*^ century was 
 so manful in defending the liberty of the Eepublic, 
 has an honest good face, and wears the long hair 
 customary afc the time. The dignified folds of the 
 " lucco " give majesty to the bust. 
 
 26. The central object on this side of the loggia 
 is a statue of St. Stephen, in white marble. The short 
 proportions of the figure would point to the 13*^ or 
 14*^ century, as its date, the face is exceedingly soft 
 and womanly but very devotional, the robes are full 
 and graceful. In his hand he holds a stone. The early 
 sculptor must have taken his inspiration from the 
 Aurea leggenda, by Jacopo da Voragine, of which an 
 Italian translation was one of the first works printed 
 at Venice in 1475. A part of the story runs thus : 
 
 " The Jews having envy and hatred towards Ste- 
 phen, and desiring to overcome him, undertook to con- 
 found him in three ways — by disputation, by wit- 
 nesses, and by tortures. But he overcame the disputants^ 
 
52 THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 
 
 declared the witnesses false, and triumphed over his 
 torments, for heaven helped him in each trial. In the 
 first, the holy spirit was given him that he should 
 speak well ; in the second, a heavenly face which ter- 
 rified the false witnesses, and all who were seated in 
 council saw his countenance as it had been the face of 
 an angel." This is evidently the moment the sculptor 
 has tried to represent. The pedestal to this first soldier 
 of the Church militant is formed by 
 
 27. A cijypus of white marble in commemoration 
 of a more worldly warrior, a Roman soldier, native of 
 Florence. The inscription is : 
 
 Q. TERSINA Q. F. 
 
 SCAP. LVPYS 
 
 FLOREN. MILES 
 
 COH. XII. VRB. ET DEX 
 
 TRI GENIVM 
 
 CENTVRIAE CYM 
 
 BASE MARMOREA 
 
 TESTAMENTO 
 
 PONI IVSSIT 
 
 And on the right side : 
 
 POSITA IDIB. APRIL. 
 MAMERTINO ET RYFO 
 COSS. 
 
 This cipj^us is illustrated in Gori's Etruscan In- 
 scriptions printed in Florence in 1726, from which we 
 learn that it was found in the gardens ef the Duca 
 
THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 53 
 
 di Salviati at Rome in 1573 ; that the brave Florentine 
 Tersina was a soldier of the Legion Scaptia, which 
 contained many Florentines, and to which Julius Caesar 
 himself had belonged. He fought in A. D. 182, in the 
 S""*^ year of the reign of Commodus, for that is the year 
 marked by the consulship of Caius P. Mamertinus, and 
 Cornelius Rufus. Above this military record is 
 
 28. A fine bracket bearing the arms of the Zati, 
 the ancestors of the Duca di San Clemente, and former 
 owners of a Villa at San Martino a Mensola. The 
 device is two chains crossed at honor point ; it sup- 
 ports a group of sculpture, a Madonna crowned and 
 seated on a Grothic throne, with the Child Jesus in her 
 arms. St. Peter with his keys stands on one side, and 
 St. Paul holds his sword on the other, two angels kneel 
 in adoration in front. 
 
 29 and 30. Parallel with this are two busts of 
 cinquecento Florentines, similar in style to that of Cap- 
 poni ; and still higher above these is 
 
 31. An Etruscan tomb, with a male figure recumbent 
 on the lid, and holding the patera, a shallow drinking 
 cup. It is a small urn in terracotta, colored, and was 
 in the great collection of the late Griacomo Servadio 
 M. P. for Montepulciano. 
 
 32. A similar urn with the inscription, which in 
 Roman letters would read : 
 
 THANA • APIA • ATAMAL • THANSISA • 
 
64 THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 
 
 and proves that this urn contained the ashes of a 
 certain Etruscan lady " Fannia Appia." This was a 
 well known family in Roman times, and belonged to 
 the gens Claudia, among whose members were the 
 Patrician Appius Claudius the Decemvir, and Appius 
 Claudius Csecus the Censor, who commenced the Via 
 Appia B. C. 312. The subject of the sculpture on the 
 front of the urn represents Jason or Cadmus, vanquish- 
 ing with a ploughshare the teeth-sprung warriors. The 
 lid at present on this tomb cannot be the original, as 
 it is a male figure and in a different clay. 
 
 33. Two medieval figures holding shields. 
 
 34. A female bust in terracotta. 
 
 35. Is another Etruscan urn in tufo, with the in- 
 scription, which in Roman letters would be : 
 
 LTH • TITI • PRANA • ATAINALISA • 
 
 Lars Titius Atainal (filius) whose ashes were enclosed 
 in this urn was probably an ancestor of the Roman 
 family of Titia, whose coins we find, struck in the time 
 of the Republic, about 100 years B. C. 
 
 36 and 37. Two amphorse from Aquileia fill the 
 corner. One is a peculiarly graceful shape with long 
 curves. Near these on the third side of the loggia are 
 
 38 and 39. Two very interesting specimens of 
 antique sculpture ; the busts in relief of "^ Flora " and 
 " Pomona." They are carved in a beautiful rose tinted 
 
THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 55 
 
 antique marble, and the eyes are in coloured glass, 
 which would point to the decadence after Hadrian as 
 their date. Flora wears flowers in her hair and long 
 braids hanging on the shoulders, in the style of some 
 Etruscan statues. Pomona has fruit and long ribbons 
 in place of plaited tresses. Under these is placed 
 
 40. A part of an ancient frieze in white marble 
 representing "" a group of Cupids or genii around 
 the forge of Vulcan," while he is making the arms 
 of Achilles {Iliad, chap. XVIII). The figures of the 
 " loves " are exquisitely modelled, one plays with the 
 crested helmet, another with the shield. Minerva with 
 her aegis stands on one side, and Neptune on the other. 
 From ancient art we now come to modern. 
 
 41. A niche beautifully sculptured in grey stone 
 
 by David Giustini contains the bust in white marble 
 
 of Griuseppe Fancelli, the architect who superintended 
 
 the restoration of the Castle. It is a faithful portrait by 
 
 the late sculptor Bastianini, and shows well the broad 
 
 massive head. Beneath it is this inscription in gilt 
 
 letters : 
 
 A 
 
 GIUSEPPE FANCELLI DA S. MARTINO A MENSOLA 
 
 ARCHITETTO 
 
 DIRETTORE DEI RESTAURI DEL CASTELLO 
 
 DI VINCIGLIATA 
 
 QUESTA MEMORIA 
 
 GIOVANNI TEMPLE-LEADER 
 
 PONEVA. 
 
56 THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. ' 
 
 42. A quaint realistic old relief in grey marble^ 
 representing Count Ugolino in the tower. The artist 
 •has certainly read his Dante and represents the fa- 
 mished Count, in the midst of his appalled family, 
 biting his hands, 
 
 . . . . le mani per dolor mi morsi 
 
 while little " G-addo " throws himself at his father's 
 feet in terror and anguish. 
 
 This relief, which has all the force of expression 
 that frequently marks a low style of art, was presented 
 to Mr. Leader by the Prezziner family. 
 
 43. Another amphora hangs beside the door leading 
 to the apartments on the lower floor of the Castle. 
 The lunette of the arch of the door is enriched by 
 a '' rose " in perforated sculpture with the Christian 
 monogram, and around it the inscription " nomini jesu 
 
 OMNE GENUFLECTATUR CELESTIUM TERRESTRIUM ET INFER- 
 NORUM." 
 
 We are now outside the loggia again, and in the 
 comer of the court where the Castle well is placed^ 
 but there are several things to be seen in the few 
 yards of wall before we reach the well, such as 
 
 44. The Papal arms (cross keys) in stone. 
 
 45. A slab of Egyptian hieroglyphics about a foot in 
 diameter, containing several rows of small figures ; and 
 
 46. A beautiful Gothic fountain in the form of an 
 
THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 57 
 
 arch resting on two twisted marble columns, inlaid 
 with mosaics in the style of those of San Paolo fuori 
 le mura at Eome. Above the arch rises a gable richly 
 sculptured and with crouching lions on each side. 
 The back of the niche is filled in with open sculp- 
 ture, and the base shows the arms of the Usimbardi 
 and Alessandri. The antique portion probably dates 
 back to the 12*^ or 13*^ century when the Saracenic 
 art of inlaid sculpture was imported from the East. 
 Near this is 
 
 47. A stone with the following Latin inscription : 
 
 SILVANO • AYG • SACRVM 
 
 CRESCENS • ALYPIANVS 
 
 IMP • CAESARIS • NERYAE 
 
 TRAIANI • AYG • GERM 
 
 DACICr DISP • FISCI • F • R • 
 
 It is a votive offering to the Grod Sylvanus the 
 woodland deity, by Crescens Alypianus, a civil officer 
 under the Emperor Trajan. 
 
 48. A medallion of white marble, the profile head 
 of a young Florentine, recalling the style of Masaccio, 
 in very low relief (rilievo stiacciato). "VVe now reach 
 the corner occupied by the Castle well. 
 
 49. The well, which was found filled up with stones, 
 is now, once more, one of the most characteristic 
 objects in the Castle. Its ancient octagonal form is 
 retained, and the native sculptor Marucelli has en- 
 
68 THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 
 
 riched it with all kinds of medieval work ; the panels 
 forming the parapet, contain the arms of the Usim- 
 bardi, Alessandi'i, and Leader. The pulley for the 
 bucket is of massive wrought iron of antique form, 
 and it is held in the mouth of a winged dragon crouched 
 on a pillar covered with the lilies of Anjou. On the left 
 
 60. Another small pila or basin, with a relief in 
 marble above it, representing St. Paul. It was taken 
 from a sepulchral monument of the 14*'' century, and 
 bears the date 1333, and the inscription in Gothic 
 letters : Cujus coiyus requiescat in jpace. 
 
 61. There is still another basin or fountain in the 
 wall close by, with a fine grotesque head as spout. 
 Over it 
 
 62. An inscription in Gothic letters and two shields 
 bearing arms, one the Piccolomini, the other the Scala. 
 Over this again 
 
 63. An Etruscan tomb, in tufo, with a relief re- 
 presenting a Temple, with six figures in togas. The 
 recumbent figure is of a lady with a fan and veil. 
 
 64. Is the shield of the Acciajuoli, a lion ram- 
 pant. 
 
 65. A Latin inscription : 
 
THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 59 
 
 D • M • 
 
 L • IVLIVS • APOLLONIYS • ET 
 
 L • lYLIVS • KARICYS 
 
 FECERVNT 
 
 SIBI • ET • SYIS • ET • LIBERTIS 
 
 LIBERTABVSQYE • POSTERISQYE 
 
 EORYM 
 
 ET • NEQYIS • ALIENIGERYM 
 
 CORPYS • INFERRE • YELLIT • ITEM 
 
 NE • DE • NOMEN • lYLIORYM • EXIAT 
 
 HYIC • MONYMENTO ' DOLYS 
 
 MALYS • ABESTO • 
 
 Probably it was placed over the tomb of the Julian 
 family, to record that the sepulchre was for their 
 exclusive use. And above this is another 
 
 56. Shield in white marble with the device — a 
 lion rampant, surrounded with a ribbon. 
 
 57. A statue, life size, of St. John Baptist in grey 
 stone, an emaciated figure in the realistic style of the 
 14*** century. It came from an old house in Borgo 
 Santa Croce, Florence. Over this is a 
 
 58. Small majolica inscription : 
 
 BACCIO • DI • MANE 
 NTE • BYON DEL MONTE 
 YICHARIO • L^ • 1617 • EP • L^ 
 SECONDA • L ANo • 1618 . 
 
 With this we may mention 
 
 59. Another inscription which is placed at the 
 
CO THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 
 
 meeting of the two arches of the loggia, and records 
 a certain '^ Rosso dei Buondelmonti," as captain and 
 commissario of the Florentine Republic in 1528 and 1629. 
 With the tragical love story of the first Buondelmonte, 
 spoken of in Dante, began all the wars of Guelphs and 
 Ghibellines, and it would seem the family had kept uj) 
 its power in Florence for many centuries after that, as 
 one is here recorded as bishop, and another as captain 
 of the Republic. Over the Vicar's tablet is a 
 
 60. Latin inscription of rather an awe inspiring 
 character, being an anathema of that terrible Pope 
 Gregory XI. It runs : 
 
 t ANATHEMA • GREGORII • PAPE • XI* 
 
 m • IVDICIO • NON • RES VRGAT • D AMNAT VS • MALE • PERE AT 
 
 CVM • IVDA • INIQVO • PARTEM • HABEAT • 
 
 SI • QVIS • HVNC • LOCVM • QUO VIS • MODO ' 
 
 SIVE • INGENIO • VIOLARE • PRESVJ^IPSERIT • 
 
 As a kind of antidote to this the next space is oc- 
 cupied by 
 
 61. A charming Madonna and Child with two angels, 
 in the style of Delia Robbia. The round is encircled 
 by the usual garland of flowers and fruit, with little 
 cherubs' heads peeping out from among them. 
 
 62. A relief in white marble, a cherub holding a 
 shield' bearing the lion rampant of the Acciajuoli ; and 
 next to it 
 
THE QUADEANGLE OF THE KEEP. 61 
 
 63. Another shield bearing the same device with 
 a paly of three under the lion, in dark stone. 
 
 64. A mock Latin inscription purporting to be the 
 votum of Sextus Publicius, but is only a catch in mo- 
 dern Italian. 
 
 65. Shield, — goat rampant with aGrothic inscription. 
 QQ. An interesting piece of medieval sculpture which 
 
 was brought from Lucca. It is in two parts, on the 
 right a seated figure of St. Bartholomew, with a young 
 priest, possibly Grherardo, kneeling before him. The 
 figures are rude in proportion and modelling, and are 
 crowded very uncomfortably into a niche too small 
 for them. The left side of the slab is occupied with 
 the following inscription : 
 
 QVISQVIS ADES SCITO DNVM LAUDABIS ET ITO 
 
 QVOD DOM ISTA DEI SCI QUOQ BARTOLOMEI 
 
 TPE FVNDATA FVIT ET PARITER RENOVATA 
 
 XPi MILLENO QVINQUAGENO Q. NOVENO 
 
 CVM BIS CENTENO NVMERO SIQVIDEM BENE PLENO 
 
 SACRA RECOLEBAT HIC ET PARITER RESIDEBAT 
 
 NOMINE GERARD NEC AD HEC NOVA MENIA TARD 
 
 EX STVDIO CVJUS TEMPLI STAT CIJLM ET HYJUS 
 
 PERSPICYA CVRA MOSTRAT QYEM SCULPTA FIGVRA. 
 
 67. Above this an inscription on majolica : 
 
 GIOVANNI • D 
 I • TOMASO • LA 
 PL Vo • ECOMo • 
 1502 E • 1503 • 
 
62 THE QUADRANC4LE OF THE KEEP. 
 
 Probably this John Lapi was vicar of the same church 
 as the Baccio Buondelmonte (n. 58) though he lived a 
 century before him. 
 
 68. Is a rather coarse painting of Santa Barbara 
 on brick; and the corner of the court is occupied 
 by the 
 
 69. Arms of the Monte di Pascha, — a Pyramid of 
 stones. 
 
 70. An amphora from Aquileia. 
 
 71. A marble round, with a skull in relief, and 
 above it the words " respice finem." 
 
 72. Heraldic shield of the '^ Degli Agli," — a lion 
 rampant of the field, charged with aglio (a plant of 
 garlic). The ancient palace of this family is still to 
 be seen in Florence on the Piazza degli Agli near 
 Santa Maria Maggiore. 
 
 73. Armorial bearings in grey stone, — a lion's head 
 with a helmet and shield beneath, which bears the 
 device of a lion rampant. 
 
 74. A small shield carved in stone. Device : a lion 
 rampant of the field, charged with 15 wheels 
 
 75. The arms — (a Bear and Ragged Staff) — from 
 the monument of Anna Dudley daughter of Robert 
 Dudley, who claimed to be Earl of Warwick and 
 Leicester and was created Duke of Northumberland 
 in 1620 by the Emperor Ferdinand II. Robert Dudley, 
 son of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester and of the 
 
THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 63 
 
 Lady Douglas Sheffield, was born in 1573 and came 
 to Florence where he was well received at the 
 Tuscan court. He bought a house in the Via della 
 Vigna Nuova at the corner of the street, looking into 
 Via Tornabuoni, and lived many years in Florence ; he 
 was a great naval architect and designed the mole at 
 Leghorn for the Grand Duke. 
 
 76. A very quaint fragment of sculpture in marble 
 representing a potter's shop. One man is blowing a 
 fire, another is pulling a vase out of the baking pot 
 on it ; while two others are carrying clay. The figures 
 are the short medieval type. Near this 
 
 77. A tablet which is interesting in the history of the 
 Castle, being a record of its purchase in 1827 : Lorenzo 
 di Bartolommeo Galli da JRovezzano, addi 21 aprile 1827 ^ 
 comprb i ruderi del Castello di Vincigliata^ coi suoi resedi, 
 da Gaetano del Cav. Simone degli Alessandri, pei rogiti 
 di Ser Luigi di Francesco Gavini, notaro jpubblico Fio- 
 rentino.^ 
 
 78. Now we come to the finest bit of art in the 
 court. A fine bas relief of veritable Roman sculpture, 
 in G-reek marble, representing a sacrifice. The fire is 
 
 ^ Translation : On the 21'* day of April 1827, Lorenzo son 
 of Bartolommeo Galli of Rovezzano purchased the ruins of the 
 Castle of Vincigliata, with its appurtenances, from Gaetano son of 
 Cav" Simone of the Alessandri, the deeds being drawn up by 
 Ser Luigi son of Francesco Gavini, public notary of Florence. 
 
64 THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 
 
 burning on an altar adorned witli rams' heads and 
 garlands, and the high priest in full robes is throwing 
 into it the votive corn, while the other priests stand 
 behind all crowned with laurels. One holds the vase 
 of com, another sounds the curved horn. The victim, 
 a fine bull garlanded with roses, is led forward by the 
 " carnifex " who is nude to the waist and brandishes his 
 sacrificial knife. The whole is in fine state of pre- 
 servation. Above this is a very different subject. 
 
 79. A terracotta statue of the Magdalen in hair robe 
 and girdle, not of the best era of art. 
 
 80. The arms of the Buonvisi family (that friend 
 of Sir Thomas More, whose bust we have mentioned) 
 — a star and circle, — with a helmet over it and a 
 half figure holding a scroll inscribed in old French : 
 Tout jour je pcnse, an abbreviation of their full motto : 
 Tou8 les jours je pense a hien faire. Above this is 
 
 81. A large head in marble probably Roman. On 
 the side of the door 
 
 82. The bust in white marble of David Giustini, 
 the late faithful and much lamented custode of the 
 Castle of Vincigliata ; he was an artistic stone cutter, 
 and to his chisel with that of Marucelli we are in- 
 debted for nearly all the sculptural adornments of 
 the Castle. Both this bust and that of Marucelli (n. 89) 
 are the work of Dante Sodini, a Florentine, sculptor, 
 who executed many of the marble statues for the 
 
THE QUADKANGLE OF THE KEEP. 65 
 
 fa9ade of the Duomo of Florence, among which, is a 
 " San Callisto," the head of which was modelled from 
 Mr. Leader and is indeed a yery good likeness. In the 
 year 1889 Sodini received a gold medal at the Paris 
 Exhibition for his statue of Fides (Faith). Behind 
 this is 
 
 83. A slab covered with Egyptian hieroglyphics and 
 a figure in ilat relief of a man holding up his hands. 
 
 84. A shield with the device — a star and a circle.- 
 Above the door leading into the principal apart- 
 ments is 
 
 85. A round in the style of Luca Delia Eobbia, — 
 a Madonna in white, on a blue ground, with a border 
 of varicoloured fruits. 
 
 86. The Pandolfini arms ; argent, three dolphins 
 naiant, purpure. 
 
 87. Shield in marble, arms, a lion carrying a bar. 
 
 88. Arms inscribed " Gruccio Johannis " — two lions' 
 paws. 
 
 89. Bust in white marble of Angiolo Marucelli, 
 known as " Canapino, " an artistic worker in stone 
 and marble who assisted much in the sculptural res- 
 torations. 
 
 90. A marble tabernacle with two figures of the 
 Madonna and St. John the Evangelist in trecento art. 
 Round the frame is the inscription : Sit cum prole jpia 
 lux nobis virgo Maria, Ajpocal (C V.) a v I . sunt nobis 
 
M THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 
 
 verba johanis. Underneath is Virgum conque sep FUS. 
 Near here are several armorial bearings in marble 
 such as 
 
 91. A marble slab with a coat of arms — a barry of 
 three, — it was an emblazonment that Hugh, the Duke 
 of Tuscany who reigned before the famous Countess 
 Matilda, gave to six of his barons. 
 
 92. A shield sculptured on a floral background, 
 bearing the emblazon — a chevron and three scallop 
 shells of the field. Beneath this 
 
 93. A shield. Device : a lion's paw. 
 
 94. The lion rampant of the Acciajuoli, forming part 
 of an old frieze with acanthus leaves on the ground- 
 work. 
 
 96. Shield, a bend charged with three crescents, 
 with Gothic inscription : S Herodi olim Cristofori di 
 Jacobi 2^ht. Probably from the tomb of one of the 
 Manetti. 
 
 96. Armorial bearings in marble, quarterings. Dexter 
 lion rampant. Sinister a barry of four. 
 
 97. Large bas-relief in white marble, an heraldic 
 composition, a dog with a helmeted head, over it a 
 half figure of justice with the scales. An inscribed 
 scroll encircles the figure, and underneath is the date : 
 1335. 9 Kalend Januarius in Grothic letters. 
 
 98. A fragment of a sepulchral monument dated 1317, 
 — bas-relief showing several figures weeping around 
 
THE QUADRANGLE OF THE KEEP. 67 
 
 a deathbed. We have now reached the outer staircase 
 which leads to the upper floor of the keep and whose 
 base is guarded by a 
 
 99. Marzocco or Florentine lion, on an octagonal 
 column, and bearing the Leader arms. There are 
 armorial bearings also on the base of the column. 
 1. Leader. 2. Alessandri. 3. Albizi. 4. Ceffini. On 
 the wall of the staircase we find the following sculp- 
 tures : 
 
 100. On the top of the stairs the Albizi arms with 
 the motto : Hoc etiain non sufjicit. 
 
 101. Coat of arms in marble ; a bull rampant sur- 
 rounded by fleurs-de-lys. Over it the inscription : Piero 
 di Francesco beccaio et suo, probably from the tomb of 
 a butcher named Piero. 
 
 102. Shield with the device — a dagger, a halberd, 
 and a fleur-de-lys. 
 
 103. Monumental shield. — An eagle, with the 
 motto S Marci. 
 
 104. A square of red granite with Egyptian hiero- 
 glyphics representing a king seated on his throne, and 
 rows of bowmen on their knees before him. 
 
 105. Latin inscription : L Julio L Pal Juliano. 
 On the ground of the court are several objects of 
 
 interest such as 
 
 106. A fragment of a pillar etc., from the ancient 
 Castle of Vincigliata. 
 
eg THE QUADRANGLE OP THE KEEP. 
 
 107. The debtor's stone. A wheel of six spokes 
 in grey marble inlaid on white. This is the veritable 
 stone which from the IS*** century was placed in the 
 centre of the Loggia del Mercato Nuovo in Florence, 
 for the shame and punishment of debtors, and merchants 
 who had failed dishonorably. The culprits were doomed 
 to be " bumped " uncovered on this stone in the sight 
 of all the market — a kind of moral punishment of 
 the wheel which no doubt was as wholesome in its 
 way as the torment of Ixion. Lippi (Malmantile, 
 Chap. VI, V. 73) alludes to this original custom in the 
 following lines : 
 
 Donne, che feron gia per ambizione 
 D'apparir gioiellate e luccicanti 
 Dare il cul al marito in sul lastrone. 
 
 (The Florentine satirists were generally very hard 
 on ladies' extravagance in dress.) The debtor's stone 
 was replaced by a fac-simile when the pavement of 
 the loggia was repaired, while the original preserved 
 here was rejected as ifoo much damaged for use. 
 
 108. Three square terracotta vases, in Roman style, 
 adorned with moulded garlands and masks. 
 
 109. Two circular funereal ash chests in archaic 
 workmanship in rough stone, with round covers. 
 
 110. Two similar ash chests, narrowing at the bot- 
 tom, in the form of truncated inverted cones. All the 
 
THE QUADEANGLE OF THE KEEP. 69 
 
 four came from Aquileia. High up in the wall of the 
 keep over the second gallery, is 
 
 111. A relief in marble, — Madonna and Child. 
 
 We have still some inscriptions to examine in the 
 quadrangle, but they are modern ones placed over the 
 sedia of the loggia, where they form a kind of Lihro 
 d' oro, consisting of gilt lettered tablets recording the 
 names of the Royalties who have visited and taken 
 an interest in Yincigliata. They are in chronological 
 order : 
 
 April 25'^ 1864. Prince Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of 
 Aosta. 
 
 November 16*^ 1872. Her Imperial Highness the 
 Grand Duchess Elena Paulovna of Russia. 
 
 June 18*^ 1874. Her Majesty Josephine, dowager 
 Queen of Sweden and Norway. 
 
 November 7*^ 1874. Their Eoyal Highnesses Charles 
 Alexander, reigning Grand Duke of Saxe Weimar, and 
 the Grand Duchess Sophia with their daughters the 
 Princesses Maria Alexandrina, and Elizabeth. 
 
 April 30*^ 1875. Prince Frederick William the heredi- 
 tary Prince of the German Empire and his consort 
 Victoria Princess Royal of Great Britain ; with Humbert 
 hereditary Prince of Italy, and his consort Margherita 
 Princess of Savoy. A very interesting quartette who 
 little foresaw, when all together here, what different 
 fates awaited them as future reigning sovereigns. 
 
70 THE CHAPEL. 
 
 March 81** 1876. His Eoyal Highness Prince Leopold 
 of England. 
 
 March 2''^ 1877. Their Majesties Don Pedro of Alcan- 
 tara and Teresa Cristine Maria of Bourbon, Emperor 
 and Empress of Brazil. 
 
 April 6^^ 1877. The Empress Eugenie and her son 
 Prince Napoleon. 
 
 May S"** 1880. Their Eoyal Highnesses the Count 
 and Countess of Flanders. 
 
 May 6'^ 1881. H. E. H. Princess Victoria, of Germany. 
 Crossing the court again, we enter the Castle, by 
 an iron door — the handles or knockers of which are 
 works of art, and take the form of finely-cast grotesque 
 figures, — and find ourselves in the guard-room. Before 
 glancing at the arms however, we give way to our love 
 of seeking after the unknown, and enter a tempting 
 little lobby on the left of the entrance ; here we find 
 we have very properly taken the ecclesiastical portion 
 before the military, for this leads us to 
 
 THE CHAPEL 
 
 which is very devotional both in tone and colouring. 
 
 In the entrance is a relief in the style of Luca Delia 
 
 Eobbia, — the subject, " Christ in the desert : " it is 
 
 an upright figure holding a cross, the modelling has 
 
THE CHAPEL. 71 
 
 all Lnca's own grace and simplicity, the figure is in 
 white on a blue ground. 
 
 The altar of the chapel is of Fiesole stone carved 
 in early style, almost Lombardic in effect. It is a faith- 
 ful copy of the altar beneath Cimabue's famous Madonna 
 in the Rucellai chapel of Santa Maria Novella, and is 
 supported on four fluted columns at the corners, and 
 a cluster of four in the centre. They have carved 
 capitals, on one of which are some angels' heads with 
 the legend Ave Maria gratia plena. The altar is 
 dedicated to the "" Annunciation " and above it is a 
 beautiful glazed sculpture of the " Annunciation," of 
 the Delia Robbia school, which was brought from the 
 church of Monte Domini, where it was once placed 
 behind the high altar. The Madonna robed in blue 
 and red is seated, with a vase of lilies at her feet; 
 the lily-bearing angel in white robes is kneeling before 
 her, and the Holy Dove flying down from above where 
 the Eternal Father is seen in a cloud. 
 
 The vase which holds the lilies has the arms of 
 the Da Somaia family, the altarpiece was therefore a 
 votive offering from one of the family in the Ib^^ 
 century, probably that Gruccio Andrea Da Somaia, one 
 of the Arte Calamala, who, together with Piero Rucel- 
 lai, was Master of the Mint for six months, from No- 
 vember 28*^ 1429 to May 1430. 
 
 The window is also very interesting, being partly 
 
72 THE CHAPEL. 
 
 of painted glass of the Renaissance era. The modern 
 part is by Matteis of Florence, and with its ornate 
 scrolls and shields forms a most harmonious setting to 
 the really beautiful antique portions, viz : the four 
 centre panes in medallion form, which are veritable 
 cinquecento work. The upper one is a " St. Sebastian " 
 said to have been designed by PoUaiuoli; the second 
 represents the parable of the " Prodigal Son ; " the 
 third the " Marriage of the Virgin, " — this pane has 
 a little half circle with figures of Adam and Eve 
 painted beneath the principal subject, and forming 
 the keynote to it; — the fourth, is "Christ disputing 
 with the Doctors." 
 
 All these four subjects are in the same style and 
 evidently of the same date as the windows of the Cer- 
 tosa and Laurentian Library in Florence, and like 
 those were probably the work of the monks of the 
 convent of San G-iusto alle Mura, which once stood 
 outside the Porta a Pinti. The art of enamel painting 
 on glass windows, instead of the older art of mosaicing 
 bits of stained glass to form the j&gures, originated in 
 this convent, where the monks had a regular laboratory 
 with furnaces to melt the enamel colours. A document 
 in the Archives mentions two monks Goto and Bernard 
 as painting some windows in the " Popolo " of Santa 
 Reparata. The best artists of Florence drew designs 
 for them. 
 
THE CHAPEL. 73 
 
 We will now turn to the smaller adornments of the 
 chapel and beginning on the right of the door, note : 
 
 1. A holy water font in Urbino ware ; under a 
 canopy held up by angels, all in very high relief, 
 there is a painting of the " Salutation ; " and beneath 
 it the heraldic device of the first possessor. 
 
 2. A triangular relief in bronze, — a copy in smaller 
 size of Passaglia's white-marble sculpture in the tym- 
 panum of the arch of the door of the Duomo. It re- 
 presents " the Madonna enthroned " with the lamb 
 beneath, and emblematical figures on each side. This 
 copy was made by Rossignoli in 1887. 
 
 3. A beautiful " Ciborium" sculptured in white mar- 
 ble by Stagio Stagi of Pietrasanta, in the 16*'' century. 
 It is in the form of a deeply vaulted arch with rich 
 cornice, and two angels kneeling beneath it. 
 
 4. A large painting of the 15*^ century Sienese 
 school, representing San Bernardino of Siena, a full 
 length figure in white robes, holding in one hand a 
 book open at the words Manifestavi nomen tuum homi- 
 nibus et ecce nunc ad te veniam. With the other hand 
 he shows a tablet bearing the sacred monogram I. H. S. 
 surrounded by rays of light. St. Bernardino always 
 preached with one of these tablets in his hand, and it 
 is said that a man who made dice and playing cards 
 complained to the Saint that his preaching had ruined 
 his trade. " Make tablets like mine instead of your dice 
 
74 THE CHAPEL. 
 
 and they shall be bought by many, " said the Saint ; the 
 man did so and as the worship of the monogram was 
 much in vogue, the tablets were looked on as amulets, 
 possessing a peculiar sanctity. In most of the ancient 
 houses of this time a stone sculptured with the mo- 
 nogram and rays was inserted in the building. 
 
 5. A Madonna sculptured in stone, a long pro- 
 portioned figure in not the best style of art. It was 
 found in a well in Borgo alia Croce. In the comer 
 by the altar is 
 
 6. A pastoral staff in metal, a copy of the famous one 
 by Benvenuto Cellini; the handle is covered with reliefs 
 in scenes from the life of San Lorenzo. Enamelled 
 on the staff are the arms of the Medici family who 
 restored the church of San Lorenzo in the 16**" century 
 when Pope Leo X gave the staff. On the altar are 
 
 7. A Crucifix in brass of the epoch of the 16*^ cent, and 
 
 8. Fourteen candlesticks, of which two are antiques 
 from the convent of Vallombrosa, two others have the 
 letters S M T F on them. The other ten are modern 
 copies of an ancient shape, with the Leader arms in 
 coloured enamel on the stand. On the right of the 
 altar stands 
 
 9. A finely forged iron candelabrum five feet high. 
 
 10. On the wall near the window is a medallion 
 in majolica representing Sant' Antonio, and on the 
 other side another round representing 
 
GUARD- ROOM. 75 
 
 11. Santa Maria Maddalena clei Pazzi. On the wall 
 opposite the altar is 
 
 12. A fine copy in bronze, admirably executed by 
 Emilio Ercolani, of the " Miracle of San Zenobio restor- 
 ing a dead child to life " from the tomb of the Saint 
 in the Duomo by Ghiberti. Over this 
 
 13. A Madonna and Child, — early Florentine school 
 — with gold background. 
 
 14. An octagonal holy water font of trecento sculp- 
 ture, placed on a sculptured column. In one panel of 
 the antique basin are the arms of the " Arte della 
 Lana," in another an angel playing a very wide round- 
 shaped viol, on one is a seraph, and in another an angel 
 plays the bagpipes or rather the ancient " sampogna" 
 which is said to have been the father of the organ. 
 
 15. There is a fine hanging lamp in open brass 
 work over this and in the centre a 
 
 16. Chandelier in beaten iron, partly gilded, a copy 
 of the old style by Contri da Settignano. Coming out 
 of the chapel we find ourselves in the 
 
 GUARD-ROOM. 
 
 The juxtaposition of the two different places is very 
 suggestive, not only of the Church militant, but of 
 medieval life and customs. A knight in olden times 
 
76 GUARD-ROOM. 
 
 rarely undertook an emprise without appealing to 
 the aid of either the Virgin of miracles or of his 
 Patron Saint; just as his very knighthood began by 
 baptism, and a vigil in the church, so every deed 
 of arms was begun by prayer in the Castle chapel, 
 after which he stepped into the armoury to arm for 
 the fray. 
 
 The guard-room is a large two vaulted room, serious 
 and sombre as befits its warlike uses. The two small 
 square windows are placed high in the wall. In the 
 vault are the arms of many good old Florentine knights. 
 Such as the Alberti, the Soderini, — to which family the 
 Gonfaloniere Piero Soderini belonged ; — the Buondel- 
 monte, those ancient "" brigands of the mountains," one 
 of whom was the faithless lover who caused all the 
 Guelph and Ghibelline wars ; — the Buoni, their rela- 
 tions who lived in the plain ; — the Cavalcanti, one of 
 whom, Guido, was Dante's friend ; — the dei Vinci, dei 
 Cambi, and the dei Tanaglie, all families connected by 
 marriage with the Alessandri who for so many cen- 
 turies possessed the Castle. y 
 
 The guard-room is surrounded with 
 
 1. Sedili in dark wood, and here we can imagine 
 the squires and pages seated and talking of the coming 
 strife, and boasting of victory before-hand, while wait- 
 ing till their Lords enter to be armed. Some would 
 probably cluster round the fire in the 
 
GUAKD-EOOM. 77 
 
 2. Large brazier in Venetian brass work which came 
 from Constantinople, while the light from the 
 
 3. Two iron candelabra suspended from the roof would 
 fall in glinting rays on their steel corselets. The can- 
 delabra of olden days have been faithfully reproduced 
 in these iron hoops, with their hooks and branches by 
 Contri of Settignano. There are also 
 
 4. Six chairs in the style of the 15*^ century in 
 carved wood, with the Leader arms, and 
 
 5. Two antique black arm-chairs with leathern backs 
 embossed in gilding. 
 
 6. A table of black wood on lyre-shaped tressels, — a 
 favourite shape in Italy in the 15*'' and 16*'' centuries. 
 
 7. An octagonal table beautifully inlaid in coloured 
 wood. 
 
 The weapons are arranged on rests round the walls 
 above the sedili. On the left side beginning from the 
 door are 
 
 8. Seven halberds of the shape known in the 
 IB*** century as guisarme or gisarme, and which is 
 distinguished from the ordinary halberd by a spike 
 on the back of the blade. There were glaive-gisarmes 
 with sabre-like blades, and bill-gisarmes with a bill- 
 hook blade. 
 
 9. Two javelins or spears, one with a flat blade 
 about a foot a half long, on long handle, the other 
 smaller. 
 
IS GUARD -ROOM. 
 
 10. A light cross-bow, with iron mountings. 
 
 11. A laccio or forked weapon, on a long pole. 
 These leashes were, in the wars of the Italian mer- 
 cenaries, used to take prisoners, by catching their neck 
 in the fork, and then binding them with cords. This 
 simple method explains the immense number of prison- 
 ers that were taken in those battles ; we read that 
 Hawkwood's men sometimes made as many as a thou- 
 sand prisoners in an engagement. N. 33 is a more com- 
 plete instrument of the same kind. 
 
 12. An iron army-lantern mounted on a long pole, 
 for use in night marches. 
 
 13. A two-edged sword. 
 
 14. A flint-lock gun of the IT**" century. 
 
 On the long side of the room the arms in the rack are 
 16. Thirteen halberds of various shapes. 
 
 16. Four halberds of the same form, with blades 
 in open worked steel. 
 
 17. Five javelins, one with spurs beneath the blade. 
 
 18. A curiously shaped bill-gisarme^ or bill-hook 
 shaped halberd with various spurs. 
 
 19. A long iron weapon, like a plain mace, which, 
 with a shake, sends out three four-edged blades, — 
 a sort of surprise javelin. 
 
 20. A massive iron sword to fasten on a pole to 
 cut the ropes of the scaling ladders in a siege. 
 
 21. Seven rapiers, some with beautifully worked 
 
GUARD -ROOM. 79 
 
 hilts in perforated steel, others with more primitive 
 guards of twisted wires. 
 
 22. Nine swords with iron hilts. 
 
 23. Two battle axes, one very small. 
 
 24. Two maces with plain, iron blades. 
 
 25. A curious mace with eight crescent shaped 
 blades, cut in the form of faces. A formidable weapon. 
 
 26. A pair of hollow-headed pincers to make cannon 
 balls with. 
 
 27. Long arbalist to fix into a loop-hole. 
 
 28. Hand cross-bow, in light wood. Although cross- 
 bows are quite remnants of antiquity as weapons, they 
 are still used at the feste at Borgo San Sepolcro. 
 
 29. On the wall above the arms, there hangs a 
 very interesting tournament shield in carved wood, 
 painted and gilded, which bears the Albizi arms, and 
 may have been used in one of the many " Giostre " 
 or tournaments held in Florence in the days of the 
 Eepublic. 
 
 On the third side the rack contains: 
 
 30. Three rapiers, one of which has no guard to 
 the hilt. 
 
 31. A large sword single edged, with iron handle. 
 
 32. Five halberds of different kinds. 
 
 33. A leash, or fork to take prisoners of war (see 
 n. 11) ; this one is furnished with springs on each prong 
 of the fork which so close in the neck that the prisoner, 
 
80 GUARD-ROOM. 
 
 once caught, cannot release himself without stran- 
 gulation. This was one of the weapons used by the 
 soldiers of the hated Duke of Athens. In one cor- 
 ■1k ner is 
 
 34. A pair of stocks for confining the feet and arms, 
 and in the other 
 
 35. A similar punishment which might be called 
 a collar for choleric shrews, for the blocks of wood are 
 made to confine the neck and arms of two quarrel- 
 some women who would thus be compelled to sit op- 
 posite each other with hands uplifted against each 
 other yet powerless to strike. Verily our forefathers 
 were adepts in the art on which an ancient treatise 
 was written : '^ Ye Arte of Ingeniouslie Tormentynge." 
 On the wall above these is 
 
 36. A Florentine painting of the quattrocento school. 
 A Madonna and Child with St. Catherine and angels, 
 on a gilt background. 
 
 The fourth side of the guard-room is occupied with 
 body armour, such as 
 
 37. A page's suit of armour for a boy, consisting 
 of a corselet with gorget and thigh-pieces, gauntlets 
 and greaves all in beautifully chased plate mail, style 
 of W^ century; in the centre of the cuirass is the 
 Guelph eagle and on the gauntlets a lion. 
 
 38. Knight's armour complete, of the same style 
 as the last, finely chased all over. There is a circular 
 
GUARD-KOOM. 81 
 
 shield with the Biscia or Viper of the Visconti of 
 Milan engraved on it. 
 
 39. A suit of '' tegulated " armour formed of narrow 
 plates of iron riveted together. It has a helmet with 
 a visor in form of a grating ; the style would mark 
 it as of the 13*^ century. It was made for a gigantic 
 man more than six feet high. 
 
 On some shelves in the centre is a collection of 
 pieces of armour. 
 
 40. A Spanish morion of heavy iron wdth engraved 
 embellishment. It is raised to a point in front. 
 
 41. Two helmets with ear pieces in the ancient 
 Roman form. 
 
 42. A steel morion of the shape called '' pots " in 
 the time of Charles I. 
 
 43. A huge plain steel helmet, for a gigantic warrior. 
 
 44. Medieval helmet, — Saxon form. 
 
 45. Helm with closed visor and a neck piece, pos- 
 sibly used for tournaments. 
 
 46. Trecento helmet with grated visor. 
 Below these on two shelves are 
 
 47. Eight breast plates of black steel such as were 
 worn by the corps of '' Giovanni delle Bande Nere " 
 in the time of the Medici. 
 
 48. Two cuirasses formed of steel plates. 
 
 49. Several chains and manacles for prisoners 
 of war. 
 
 6 
 
82 GUARD-ROOM. 
 
 60. A very heavy iron collar for a criminal. 
 
 61. Near here are two ancient spingardes of great, 
 length, one of which has on it the arms in wrought 
 iron of the Del Bnfalo family. Near the door is 
 
 52. A suit of " tegulated " armour, of iron plates 
 overlapping one another, similar to n. 39, and close 
 by it are 
 
 53. Two old lances, one of which is more than eight 
 feet long and yet extremely light. In the middle ages 
 
 ^^.such lances were used in warfare and in knightly 
 combats, but in the Florentine Giostre of the 14^'' or 
 15*'' centuries they were only used in the " Jousts of 
 the Ring " or the " Saracen's head." These tournaments 
 were generally held at Peretola near Florence on the 
 Prato road, and no expense was spared to make them 
 magnificent. The Florentine cavaliers spent unheard-of 
 sums in the gold embroidered velvet housings for their 
 steeds, and in artistic armour for themselves. With 
 these Giostre ended the last revival of chivalry in 
 Florence, so we may fitly leave the guard-room and 
 pass on into one of the most interesting rooms in the 
 Castle. 
 
83 
 
 THE COUNCIL CHAMBER, 
 
 This should rather be called the shrine of the 
 Florentine St. Bernard, for the walls are covered with 
 those beautiful frescoes illustrating the life of San 
 Bernardo degii Uberti, which were painted by Spinello 
 Aretino for the nuns of Santa Maria della Scala in 1398. 
 On the roof are portraits of the Countass Matilda 
 of Tuscany ; San G-iovanni Oualberto, the knightly 
 founder of the order of Vallombrosa ; and the Popes 
 Urban II, and Pascal II, all of whom were connected 
 with the life of the Saint. 
 
 Sedili of carved Spanish chesnut surround the room 
 on three sides, and before them is a richly carved and 
 massive table from a convent in Siena and some carved 
 chairs with the Leader arms. How did the frescoes 
 come to be in Yincigliata ? The window will, literally 
 speaking, throw a light on the subject, for behind its 
 chesnut shutter is an inscription which being translated 
 tells us : 
 
 " These scenes representing the deeds of St. Bernard 
 of the Uberti, which were painted in the 14*^ century 
 upon the walls of a chapel formerly existing in the 
 ancient hospital of Santa Maria della Scala, now the 
 monastery of San Martino, in the city of Florence, were, 
 by a new artistic method, brought hither to adorn this 
 
 i. 
 
84 THE COUNCIL CHAMBER. 
 
 Castle at the charge of the English gentleman John 
 Teriiple-Leader, who wished to preserve in this abode 
 of the ancient Lords of Tuscany the memory of a man 
 who held authority in the courts of Pope Urban II, 
 Pascal II, and the Countess Matilda." 
 
 Another and more ancient inscription, reproduced 
 from the church for which they were painted, gives 
 us the history of their origin. It is to this effect : 
 
 " In this chapel is painted all the history of St. Ber- 
 nard of the Uberti of Florence, from the beginning of 
 his conversion to the many miracles which he performed 
 after his life was ended. The which St. Bernard was 
 a monk and Abbot of San Salvi, and then Father and 
 Abbot of Valembr.osa (Vallombrosa) and of all the order; 
 and then was made cardinal, and then bishop of Parma, 
 and was canonized by the Holy Church ; and his fete 
 is the fourth day of December, and the said chapel was 
 
 caused to be made by Messer Bernardo de 
 
 in MCCCLXXXXVIII." 
 
 Messer Bernardo of the illegible name could cer- 
 tainly not have chosen a better artist to illustrate the 
 life of his saintly namesake, than Spinello Aretino, 
 whose pure outline and delicate harmonious coloring 
 are to be recognized in every figure. This Saint must 
 not be confounded with St. Bernard of Clairvaux whose 
 life this same Spinello Aretino painted in the Pieve of 
 his native town Arezzo ; but was a medieval Floren- 
 
THE COUNCIL CHAMBER. 86 
 
 tine ecclesiastic, of the family to which Farinata degli 
 Uberti belonged, — that stern old Ghibelline who could 
 even stand against his own party to save Florence 
 from destruction in 1260. Bernard was born early in 
 the 11*^ century and was son of Bruno and Aldobranda 
 of the Aldobrandi, herself, the sister of a heato Pietro 
 Igneo. He took monastic vows at Vallombrosa, rose in 
 the order till he was by Pope Urban II created Cardinal 
 in 1097 under the title of San Crisogono. He next be- 
 came Legate not only to this Pope, but to Pascal II who 
 sent him to Lombardy against the heretics and schis- 
 matics. Having reduced the northern cities to obe- 
 dience, he was in 1106 elected Bishop of Parma, and 
 an extremely zealous prelate he made, for he excom- 
 municated King Conrad, took Brescello, drew Parma 
 away from her alliance with the Emperor Henry IV, 
 and went to meet Lothair at Venice. All this energy 
 and power brought him the favour of Countess Matilda, 
 who seems to have placed him next to Pope Hildebrand 
 in her esteem, for she largely endowed the monasteries 
 of his order, and obtained privileges for him from the 
 Emperor Henry V. A document exists recording a 
 donation of the Countess to the Abbey of Nonantola 
 in 1102, where beneath her seal he has written : Ego 
 Bernardus dictus Cardinalis j^resbyter 8. B. E. et D. Pape 
 Paschalts II P. P. Longobardie jjartibus legatus atque 
 Vicarius dictante justitia e utraque ijarte. 
 
m 
 
 86 THE COUNCIL CHAMBER. 
 
 After his death he was cauoiiized, and liis successor 
 Lanfri^nc had his body placed in a leaden coffin and 
 buried under the confessional in Parma cathedral, 
 whence in 1548 it was removed to its present position 
 under the altar. 
 
 The Florentines so venerated his memory that 
 they consecrated a chapel to him in the Palazzo Vec- 
 chio, but in the civil wars, the Guelphs being in 
 power, exiled the Grhibelline Saint as well as the other 
 Uberti, and dedicated the chapel to the more widely 
 known *St. Bernard of Clairvaux. 
 
 So much for the Saint ; the frescoes in the Council 
 Chamber which illustrate his life, are in two rows of 
 " scenes " filling the three walls above the sedili. 
 
 Beginning from the left as we enter the room from 
 the guard-room we have in the short wall by the door : 
 
 1. Bernardo degli Uberti re-inforces the people of 
 Parma when the Cremonese army is occupying their 
 fortress. 
 
 2. Bernard consecrated Bishop of Parma by Pope 
 Pascal II. The drapery in this is extremely dignified. 
 
 3. Entrance into Parma as Pope's Legate. 
 
 4. Two miracles : a) A priest, released from prison 
 on the intercession of the Saint, presents his offering 
 on the tomb of St. Bernard : h) A man saved in a 
 dangerous fall. 'f^y. 
 
 5. This is only a part of a scene representing horses 
 
THE COUNCIL CHAMBER. 87 
 
 and some people in supplication. It probably refers 
 to the legend that St. Bernard had once driven back 
 the river Po which had overflowed. 
 In the whole length wall : 
 
 6. St. Bernard preaching against the heretics. 
 
 7. The heretics arrest St. Bernard in the Cathedral 
 of Parma and throw him into prison. 
 
 8. A young man released from the possession of 
 a demon at the tomb of the Saint. 
 
 9. A girl healed of a mortal disease. 
 
 10. a) A man praying at the tomb of St. Bernard, 
 and h) a woman who opens a door which is badly 
 guarded by two sleeping soldiers ; it possibly refers to 
 the liberation of the Saint when imprisoned by Conrad's 
 soldiers, in revenge for having excommunicated that king. 
 
 11. 12, 13 and 14. Figures of four Apostles. 
 Third wall as far as window : 
 
 15 and 16. Fragments of frescoes in which the 
 figure of San Giovanni Gualberto (founder of his order) 
 appears. It may refer to the legend that when Cardi- 
 nal Bernard was in want of money San Giovanni Gual- 
 berto appeared in a vision promising him assistance, 
 and in a short time two youths brought him money 
 from an anonymous donor. 
 
 17. St. Bernard dispensing charity. 
 
 18. The Emperor Lothair kneeling to do homage 
 to Bernard as Papal Legate at Verona. 
 
88 THE COUNCIL CHAMBER. 
 
 The fourth wall between two doors 
 19. Has five figures of Apostles and the arms of 
 the Uberti. 
 
 There are many interesting objects in the room : 
 
 1. Large carved table resting on very solid tressels 
 formed of grotesque heads and claws ; it was brought 
 from a monastery at Siena. On it are 
 
 2. A large casket in '' scorched " work, the figures 
 relieved by a punched groundwork. Subject : scrolls 
 and mythological figures. 
 
 3. Another casket also large, in cinquecento intarsia 
 as fine as Indian mosaic, in three colours : ebony, walnut 
 wood, and ivory. 
 
 4. Upright casket with outer drawers at top and 
 bottom ; it is of rosewood inlaid with geometrical figures 
 in ivory. 
 
 5. Another casket beautifully inlaid with coloured 
 wood and mother of pearl ; the design is composed of 
 scrolls, mingled with tulips and other flowers, and the 
 Medici arms in the centre. 
 
 6. Two noble arm-chairs stand near the table ; they 
 were brought from the house of Galileo, and are of his 
 time ; they are covered in red leather richly embossed 
 with gold and ornamented by large nails. 
 
 Against the wall between two doors there is 
 
 7. A large wedding chest of gilded wood, the front 
 composed of three panels finely painted in the style 
 
THE COUNCIL CHAMBER. 89 
 
 of the 14'^ century. The subjects are scenes from the 
 life of a royal knight, probably taken from the legends 
 of Charlemagne and the Paladins. 
 
 In the first scene, a king and queen are going out 
 on horseback, the queen with a falcon on her hand. 
 A huntsman with a dog is following them out of a 
 castle much too small for him. There is another castle 
 on a neighbouring hill which strongly suggests the 
 situation of Vincigliata and its hereditary foe, the 
 neighbouring fortress of Castel di Poggio. 
 
 The second panel represents the same royal couple : 
 the lady has drawn up her steed and waits in the 
 distance, the king has dismounted and appears to be 
 releasing three distressed damsels from a cave. The 
 same two castles are in the background. 
 
 The third panel shows the pair looking on at a 
 combat between two knights, who fight on foot with 
 long spears. The queen is still holding her falcon 
 on her wrist. The paintings are as finely finished as 
 the works of Pier di Cosimo, but shew a much earlier 
 style of drawing.   4 
 
 8. A fine carved cassapanca (long seat with a back), 
 in IS*** century style, over which is a 
 
 9. Large Crucifix painted on wood, in the style of 
 Cimabue or Margaritone. 
 
 From here a beautiful door carved in wood by Yin- 
 cenzo Morelli leads us to the 
 
#■ 
 
 90 
 
 A RECEPTION ROOM. 
 
 The arch of the doorway is sculptured by Giustini ; 
 the subject of the relief in the lunette is the Lord of 
 Vincigliata dedicating the Castle to the Virgin. 
 
 The windows are large, and glazed in lead-bound 
 circlets, alternated with heraldic devices in coloured 
 glass. 
 
 The walls are diapered in fresco, the diamonds 
 alternately filled with crosses, lions, and stags. The 
 vaulted roof is blue with golden stars, and in the 
 spaces are the armorial bearings of the families who 
 have intermarried with the Alessandri, such as the Ric- 
 cardi, the Rucellai, the Usimbardi, — former possessors 
 of Vincigliata ; — and the Tosinghi, who once possessed 
 a wondrous palace in the old market of Florence, the 
 fa9ade of which was covered with little Lombard arches 
 like the tower of Pisa. 
 
 The great arm-chairs are gilded, and covered with 
 crimson brocade ; all the other furniture would come 
 under the head of works of art — for instance the very 
 first thing to the left of the door is an old armoire 
 of the 16*** century carved and glazed. In it a perfect 
 museum. 
 
 1. On the half shelf on the top, six ancient Pharmacy * 
 jars : one lettered, the others painted. 
 
RECEPTION ROOM. . 91 
 
 2. A jug in antique Faience. 
 
 3. Curious square inkstand with the Medici arms. 
 
 4. A salt cellar of majolica — rococo style — a queen 
 carrying a dish. 
 
 5. Another salt cellar, same style — a woman seated 
 at a table, which is hollowed to hold the salt. 
 
 6. A curious vase with grotesque head beneath the 
 lip ; it is painted in scrolls, and shaped like an in- 
 verted cone. 
 
 7. Salt cellar — female figure in 17*^ century co- 
 stume, and turned up hat — holding a deep bowl. 
 
 On the upper shelf: 
 
 8. A square inkstand in majolica, at one end a 
 female bust with a yellow scarf. 
 
 9. White majolica bottle with armorial bearings 
 painted on it — three fleurs-de-lys and a crown. 
 
 10. Tall Delft vase with cover, blue and white. 
 11 and 12. Two fragments of Roman sculpture — 
 
 women's heads both veiled. 
 
 13. Fluted china coffee pot (style, French, of the 
 17*^ century), the handle and bowl painted with flowers 
 and butterflies, a head forms the spout. 
 
 14. Large Etrusco-Greek amphora with two handles 
 and cover, painted with red figures on black ground, 
 later Vulci style. Subject: two tall male figures, one 
 of whom carries a sling, and a small one in the middle ; 
 they all have the very long limbs and the proportions 
 
92 , RECEPTION ROOM. 
 
 which mark the transition from Etruscan to Greek 
 style. 
 
 15. Small Etruscan patera, in black Chiusi ware. 
 
 16. Small Etruscan " aryballos " or perfume vase, 
 with one handle and small neck. 
 
 17. Porcelain coffee pot (French style oilT^ century) 
 painted wdth flowers on a white ground. 
 
 18. Small coppa with two handles, red Etruscan 
 ware from Nola. 
 
 19. Archaic ointment vase, of red clay, bottle 
 shaped. 
 
 20. Two tall vases of Delft ware, different shapes. 
 
 21. Wine goblet of old Murano glass. 
 On the half shelf below these is an 
 
 22. Early christian casket of wood in form of a 
 house, painted with saints on a red ground. 
 
 23. Mother of pearl scallop-shell such as pilgrims 
 used. It is engraved in early 14*'' century style. Sub- 
 ject: the "death of the Madonna." 
 
 24. An ancient cylindrical padlock. 
 
 25. Small triptych, early style of painting, about 
 A. D. 1400. In the centre panel are the Madonna and 
 child Jesus, on the left Anna and Joachim, on the 
 right St. Paul and St. Barbara, — the background is gold. 
 
 26. Two small Egyptian idols. 
 
 27. Ancient model of a mummy. 
 
 28. Six Etruscan idols or Lares. Lares were gene- 
 
RECEPTION ROOM. 93 
 
 rally hung up around tlie inner hearth of an Etruscan 
 dwelling and were supposed to be its guardians. 
 
 29. Nine small Etruscan bronze vases for domestic 
 use, also several fragments of bronze utensils, which 
 were found on Mr. Leader's estate at the Doccia, on the 
 Fiesole hill, and are remnants of the Etruscan city 
 which was the mother of Florence. 
 
 On the second large shelf we find 
 
 30. A casket, dating from the 14^^ century ; it 
 is of wood inlaid in Byzantine mosaic, and round 
 the sides is a frieze of figures representing a mar- 
 riage. 
 
 31. A beautifully shaped Etruscan vase (Prochous) 
 in Chiusi ware, the bowl is adorned with a pattern 
 in sgraffito (scratched into the wet clay), the high neck 
 is narrow at the base and widens out into a cup shape. 
 The handle and rim have little raised projections. 
 
 32. Another Chiusi vase {Stamnos) in form of a 
 melon, on a stand. It has two handles. 
 
 33. Two pairs of ancient scissors beautifully chased 
 and ornamented. 
 
 34. Fine relief in ivory, Herodias with the head 
 of St. John the Baptist. 
 
 35. Ivory triptych ; in the centre is a relief of the 
 Resurrection, on the sides are the four Evangelists, 
 two in each wing. 
 
 36. A little Etruscan drinking cup in black ware 
 
M RECEPTION ROOM. 
 
 from Chiusi; the form is that of the Cyathus, a fl&,t 
 cup with a tall handle raised much above it. 
 
 37. An octagon formed of panels of carred ivory 
 mounted on ebony. In the centre a prophet and 
 two biblical figures, all round are Roman pagan 
 subjects ; they seem to have belonged to different 
 caskets. 
 
 38. " Theseus and the Minotaur " in the very 
 finest carved ivory, on an ebony base (a miniature gem 
 of 16*'' century work). 
 
 39. Beautiful relief in ivory (14*'' century) of the 
 Madonna and Child, with St. Catherine and three other 
 saints, most graceful in figure and drapery. 
 
 40. Small triptych in ivory, set in a framework of 
 pointed gables in wood inlaid with ivory. 
 
 41. Ivory relief. Madonna enthroned in clouds, with 
 an angel worshipping her. 
 
 42. Charming ivory statuette of Madonna and Child, 
 IS*** century. 
 
 43. Ivory statuette of St. Sebastian ; the modelling 
 is curiously heavy and expressionless. 
 
 44. Ancient casket of wood with metal plates, on 
 which are some minute figures iw stucco. Subject: a 
 Roman triumph. 
 
 45. Ivory powder-flask, on which, in rich relief, are 
 carved, men with guns, a hare and a dog, mingled with 
 thick scrolls and foliage. It has the Medici arms and 
 
RECEPTION ROOM. 95 
 
 crown, with another herakUc device, a bend and star 
 in chief. 
 
 46. Two small Etruscan . lamps in terracotta. One 
 has a handle. 
 
 47. A perforated majolica bowl containing fragments 
 of Etruscan and Roman objects in bone found in the 
 Fiesole tombs. Here are hairpins, styli, whorls, por- 
 tions of a '' subulo " or double flute etc. 
 
 48. Large iron key, antique and solid. 
 
 49. Splendid ivory powder-flask or hunting horn; 
 1 72 fee't l^ong, richly carved in geometrical designs in 
 Indian style. S 
 
 50. Etruscan two-handled cup (ca^i^/? ants) with figures 
 painted in black, on a whitish ground. 
 
 51. Little Etruscan " aryballos " or ointment vase 
 in Chiusi ware. 
 
 52. Two pairs of ancient snuffers. 
 
 We now reach the lower shelf across which is 
 lying a 
 
 53. "Walking stick with the head wonderfully carved 
 into a representation of a Baron seated in an arm-chair, 
 with the Gruelphic arms on the base. It looks like amber, 
 but is in the same wood as the stick. 
 
 54. Large majolica vase with three handles and 
 cover. It has three medallions with heads, on a blue 
 ground ; the body of the vase is painted with scrolls 
 and foliage, in yellow, white, and blue. The coloring 
 
96 RECEPTION ROOM. 
 
 and metallic lustre would seem to mark it as a specynen 
 of early Caftaggiolo manufacture. 
 
 65. Fragment of a Roman statue. A hand holding 
 the "discus." -.^ 
 
 56. A Shield and crown in bronze gilt. It appears 
 to have been a bracket for holding a lamp attached 
 to the wall. 
 
 67. One of the stone cannon balls which were fired 
 against the tower of San Miniato, when Michael Angelo 
 defended it, in the siege of Florence by the Prince of 
 Orange in 1527. It was brought from San Miniato 
 by signor Liverati, a painter, and by him given to 
 Seymour Kirkup Esq., the Englishman who discovered 
 Giotto's portrait of Dante in the Bargello. He presented 
 it to Mr. Leader on March 17"* 1871. 
 
 68. Head of Olympian Jove. Roman sculpture in 
 marble. 
 
 69. Two Etruscan bronze specchi or mirrors; they 
 are too much oxydised for the inscriptions, if there 
 were an}^, to be perceived. 
 
 60. An Etruscan bronze bowl, much broken. 
 
 61. Some Armille and other fragments of Etruscan 
 bronze objects. 
 
 62. A most interesting jewel casket in Gothic style. 
 It is carved with figures in relief in wood, the figures 
 painted, the box gilded. The figures which form the 
 frieze round the side of the box represent the cere- 
 
RECEPTION ROOM. 97 
 
 monies of conferring knighthood as they were performed 
 in the middle ages. The new cavalier .is seen entering 
 the font as in baptism, then he is being armed, then 
 he goes on his first emprise, and comes home to kneel 
 at his lady's feet. On the cover in carved Gothic let- 
 ters are the words : lo sono chontento^ da jjoch' amove 
 m a ])unto e vinto. 
 
 And round the key hole : Kon ajprire se d'amore 
 non hai sentire. 
 
 63. Three dome-shaped reliquary boxes covered in 
 embossed leather of minute work, with the sacred 
 monogram I. H. S. on the covers. 
 
 64. A larger box similarly shaped with the Ac- 
 ciajuoli lion on the cover. 
 
 65. Long box in compartments for crayons and 
 pencils, covered with the same fine work in leather. 
 
 66. Yery rich, and large casket, rococo style, in 
 ebony, covered with raised foliage in ormolu^ and fruit 
 of all kinds cut in precious stones, such as lapislazuli, 
 cornelian, onyx, jasper, sardonyx, etc. 
 
 67. Profile head in mixed ivory and wax (the face 
 being modelled in wax). Possibly one of the Grand 
 Dukes, as he wears a long wig, lace lappets and cuffs, 
 and the cross of the order of St. Stephen. 
 
 68. Here is a little geology, to vary the art and ar- 
 chaeology, — some fine crystals of white Arragonite (verj^ 
 hard carbonate of lime) from the Yincigliata hill, and 
 
98 RECEPTION ROOM. 
 
 69. Some crystals of Barytes. 
 
 70. Three Etruscan glass lacrimatories beautifully 
 oxydised. 
 
 71. An " etui " in fine red leather. 
 
 72. An ancient casket covered in red leather, 
 gilded and bound with clamps of iron, which has 
 been gilt. It bears the armorial device of a goat 
 rampant. 
 
 73. A very small casket, silvered and with gilded 
 clamps. 
 
 74. Curious old quadrant with four magnets in the 
 flat plate. 
 
 Near this cabinet stands 
 
 75. A grand wedding chest of wood, carved and 
 gilded. The diaper pattern which covers the front 
 and side panels has the Acciajuoli lion rampant in 
 relief in each diamond. On the sides the Acciajuoli 
 and Alessandri arms are emblazoned in color. 
 
 76. A massive " credenza " of carved .black wood. 
 The columns at the sides are twisted, they support 
 a frieze of grotesque head and scrolls across the top. 
 The centre column is composed of several statuettes 
 one over the other. 
 
 On the upper shelf of this are 
 
 77. Four fruit dishes in perforated majolica with 
 raised heads at the ends. 
 
 78. Four similar dishes, but of a flatter form. 
 
RECEPTION ROOM. 99 
 
 79. Salt cellar of majolica. Three syrens holding 
 lip a bowl. 
 
 80. On the second shelf are two fruit dishes on 
 stands, with plates beneath them, similar to the ones 
 above. 
 
 81. A flower vase, same style. 
 
 82. Two vegetable dishes in majolica painted with 
 flowers ; in appearance they have a French style. 
 
 83. Two vases, " Urbino," one with a snake handle. 
 On the third shelf are 
 
 84. Half a dozen cups and saucers in red and white 
 china, red cocks on a white ground. One of them has 
 a maker's mark A. J. cut in the clay before glazing. 
 
 85. A milk jug, stjde of the French pottery of the 
 18*'^ century. 
 
 86. A two-handled glass bowl, engraved. 
 
 87. Two bottles, similar work, in pyramidal form 
 with screw stoppers. 
 
 88. Four smaller bottles with gilt rims. 
 The fourth shelf contains 
 
 89. A beautiful two-handled mug of Wedgwood's 
 " cameo " porcelain ; white figures on blue ground, a 
 copy of the famous Portland Vase in the British Mu- 
 seum. The subject is '^ Theseus and Ariadne," the 
 modelling of the figures and purity of design are ex- 
 quisite. 
 
 90. Two old Murano vases with double handles. 
 
100 RECEPTION ROOM. 
 
 91. Two fine old Venetian glasses, " light as air." 
 
 92. A blue glass goblet, anciently in the Sal via ti 
 family, bought from their heir Ugo Ricasoli. 
 
 93. A two-handled bottle. 
 
 94. Six tall Venetian goblets with the Medici balls 
 engraved on them, which came from Palazzo Pitti. 
 
 On the under shelf: 
 
 95. A claret jug with metal cover of old Bohemian 
 glass, moulded and engraved. 
 
 96. Bottle with stopper, similar work. 
 
 97. A bowl. 
 
 98. A bowl in perforated majolica with a shield 
 painted in the centre — emblazoned with a cross, 
 charged with nine crescents. 
 
 99. A plate of white majolica with painted arms; 
 quarterings a lion, and a crescent. 
 
 100. Unique goblet in ancient glass, a foot high. 
 It was found in fragments in some excavations at Vada 
 in the Maremma district, Mr. Leader being present on 
 the occasion. It is extremely interesting as one of 
 the very few specimens of Etrusco-Grreek engraved 
 glass. The intagli, which are roughly cut, represent 
 the Boeotian Atalanta running the race with Hippo- 
 manes, and in the rim are incised in Greek letters 
 ATLANTE HIIIOMEN^ The now decaying town of 
 Vada was once the site of Vada Volaterrae, — an eminent 
 Etruscan poi*t connected with Volterra. 
 
RECEPTION ROOM. 101 
 
 101. A white majolica dish with a fluted edge and 
 the Acciajuoli arms in the centre. 
 
 102. Plain white plate, emblazoned, — shield argent, 
 a harry of six, azure. 
 
 103. Large crystal goblet without stand, it has a 
 gilt edge and is engraved with a dragon, the arms of 
 the Arnaldi, an ancient noble Venetian family connected 
 by marriage with the present possessor of the Castle. 
 One of the Arnaldi family, which originally came 
 from Vicenza, was beheaded by the tyrant Eccellino. 
 
 104. Two plain glass bottles with handles. 
 
 105. Two cut glass bottles with long necks and 
 flattened bowls. 
 
 106. A bottle in fluted glass. 
 
 107. Eighteenth century cruet stand, cut glass and 
 gilded. 
 
 108. On the other side of the cabinet is another 
 of the Albizi family wedding chests, similar in style 
 to number 76. The front panel is covered with fleurs- 
 de-lys, carved in relief on the surface, and gilded. 
 The Albizi arms are emblazoned on one side. 
 
 109. At the end of the room is a fine sedia, with 
 raised dais, and high carved back. It came from the 
 convent of Santa Maria Novella, and above this throne- 
 like seat is hung 
 
 110. A medallion portrait of Queen Victoria, in 
 white marble, by the sculptor Dante Sodini. It is a 
 
102 BED-CHAMBER. 
 
 memorial of the visit of her Majesty to Vincigliata 
 during her stay in Florence in 1888. 
 
 111. Between the windows is another wedding cas- 
 sone, or large chest, in gilded wood with painted panels, 
 representing in very mediocre art the story of Lucre tia 
 — and "" false Sextus " the artist not having confidence 
 in his art has written over it, Roma-Lucretia : a very 
 interesting antique. 
 
 Above this is 
 
 112. A mask of Brunellesco, cast from his features 
 after death. 
 
 We will pass now by another sculptured door with 
 the Anjou arms on the architrave, and a figure of 
 St. George in the lunette, into the 
 
 BED-CHAMBER 
 
 where we find Renaissance iVrt in a more domestic 
 form. Here is 
 
 1. A chest of drawers in carved wood ; the side 
 columns are caryatides supporting statues of nude male 
 figures. Projecting heads, beautifully carved, form the 
 handles, and in the lock are little genii surrounding 
 a head. On this is placed 
 
 2. A flower vase with three tiers of spouts in 
 Faience, behind which hangs 
 
BED-CHAMBER. 103 
 
 3. A large mirror with carved ebony frame, cinque- 
 cento work. 
 
 4. A casaa which once belonged to the Medici 
 family ; it is carved in walnut wood to represent basket 
 work ; with the Medici arms in relief on the front. 
 
 5. A painting of the school of Filippo Lippi : the 
 " Kings of the East worshipping the infant Saviour; " 
 the Madonna is one of the most graceful figures. 
 
 6. On the same wall is a portrait by Subterman, of 
 one of the Mannelli family dating from the 17*** centur}^ 
 He is drawn with a lace collar and cuffs, and a full 
 crimson robe, — the hair and beard are in the style of 
 Vandyke. 
 
 7. Chest of drawers in the same style as n. 1. The 
 corner columns are formed of seated figures and Cupids, 
 the handles are children riding dolphins, the locks are 
 brass mounted. The room contains besides 
 
 8. Four gilded arm-chairs, covered with yellow 
 satin, with a rich scroll pattern apjjlique in crimson 
 velvet. Work of the 17''^ or 18*' century. The chairs 
 belonged to the family d' Elci of Siena. Before the 
 window stands 
 
 9. A toilette table and mirror, finely carved in walnut 
 wood by Frullini of Florence. In the tympanum of 
 the door leading to the dressing room is 
 
 10. A relief of triangular form in marble represent- 
 ing St. John Baptist carrying a lamb, and on the wall 
 
104 BED-CHAMBER. 
 
 near it a beautiful Madonna and Child, a bas-relief in 
 white marble by Bastianini; his last and unfinished 
 work. The frame is richly carved in wood. 
 
 11. A priedieu, of ctnquecento style, carved in wood 
 by FruUini, stands b}^ the bed; and above it 
 
 12. An exquisite painting of the school of Francia ; 
 a Madonna, with the holy Infant at her breast, is 
 seated with the young St. John dressed in skins, lean- 
 ing on her knee, while St. Lawrence and St. Ste- 
 phen in deacon's robes, stand on each side. The 
 painting is extremely rich in colouring and finished 
 like a miniature, the limbs of the children beautifully 
 rounded. The antique " rococo " frame is carved and 
 gilded. 
 
 13. The bedstead, carved in wood by Frullini, is a 
 magnificent imitation of cinquecento style. The Rica- 
 soli arms are sculptured on the back and two statu- 
 ettes of angels guard the foot. The " baldacchino " 
 (tester), cornice, and claws are all rich in carving. The 
 coverlet is of the same antique needle-work as the 
 chairs ; a crimson velvet scroll on a yellow satin ground. 
 
 14. A cushion in red satin with raised needle-work 
 in gold, and the Albizi arms in the centre ; is placed 
 before 
 
 15. Another carved priedieu by Frullini, and above 
 it on the wall near the door by which we have 
 entered hangs 
 
BED-CHAMBER. 105 
 
 16. An ivory carving in a frame : '' Christ's entry 
 into Jerusalem," and 
 
 17. A holy water " pila " in majolica. Subject : 
 Madonna and angels. 
 
 18. In the corridor leading to the court, and in the 
 lavatory which is parallel to it are several framed 
 parchments, the genealogical trees of famous Tuscan 
 families. Here is the combined genealogy of Count 
 Ugo or Hugh, and his descendant the Countess Matilda 
 of Canossa, the ruler of Tuscany in the 11*^ century. 
 She was the successful opposer of the Emperor Henry V 
 who twice invaded Italy, the friend of Pope Gregory VII, 
 and the builder of many churches. She made a vow 
 to build 1000 churches, and in reality founded several 
 hundred, some of which are still left in country and 
 mountain villages. 
 
 19. Genealogical trees of the Albizi, two different 
 branches. 
 
 20. Tree of the Albizi-Alessandri, the branch who 
 were possessors of Yincigliata. 
 
 21. Tree of the Fioravanti of Pistoia. 
 
 22. Also one of the Capponi of Avignon. 
 
 23. Five carved chairs with high backs. 
 
 From this passage we find ourselves again on the 
 loggia having made the round of the Castle, but 
 instead of re-entering the quadrangle we will descend 
 the inner staircase, which leads to the rooms below. 
 
106 THE REFECTORY. 
 
 In a niche in the staircase is the stone statuette of a 
 nun, and a beautiful iron lamp on a bracket covered 
 with foliage in beaten iron. 
 The first room we enter is 
 
 THE REFECTORY. 
 
 A room, 37 feet in length, with vaulted roof and two 
 large windows barred without, and shuttered within, 
 in true fortress style ; they are glazed with the lead- 
 bound circlets of medieval times, — not perhaps con- 
 ducive to light, but withal very characteristic, and 
 when in the afternoon hours the warm sunlight pene- 
 trates them, it sombrely illumines a very noble room. 
 The walls and ceiling are frescoed in panelling with 
 the armorial bearings of many of the historical Flo- 
 rentine families who have been connected with Vin- 
 cigliata. On the wall by the entrance, the double red 
 Eagle of the Gruelphic party spreads its wings vic- 
 toriously over the Grhibelline dragon ; with the fol- 
 lowing inscription : 
 
 Purpureoeque aquilce vidricia signa sacerdos 
 Donavit Clemens guelpMs, viridemque draconem 
 Quern rostro et pedibus victrix evisceret aves. 
 
 On the opposite wall are the Papal Cross keys, and 
 the golden lilies of Anjou, while the lunettes of the 
 
THE EEFECTOEY. 107 
 
 vaulting contain a whole heraldic history of Florence. 
 A female figure supports the Peruzzi arms with the 
 family motto Dusuper datum est, which, however well 
 it might have fitted them in the 14*'' century, before 
 they were involved in the great Bardi failure, has 
 since been slightly ironical. 
 
 The arms of the Bardi themselves are significant 
 with their motto : Non scherzare con V orso — se non 
 vuoi esser morso (Do not play with the bear unless 
 you wish to be bitten). There are the Nasi and Ac- 
 ciajuoli arms, with religious mottos, and the lion and 
 tower of the Ricasoli with their expressive Cum bonis 
 bonus — Cum perversis perversus, which, if not exactly 
 Christian, is very natural. 
 
 The refectory is furnished in baronial style with a 
 great table which fills the length of the room in the 
 centre, and is supported on a series of massive tressels 
 of carved and polished wood, with grotesque and heavy 
 claws. On this are three branch candlesticks of me- 
 dieval style, in beaten iron and gilding ; they are all 
 of different foliated designs, and are from the forge of 
 that artistic metal-smith Contri of Settignano. 
 
 The two great candelabra with hoops and garlands 
 which hang from the ceiling are by the same artist, 
 who is in his way quite a modern Niccolo Caparra. 
 
 The room is furnished with four great cinquecento 
 arm-chairs in carved wood and red leather, such as 
 
108 THE REFECTORY. 
 
 were reserved for the use of the Lord and Lady of 
 the Castle in ancient times, and two black oak chairs 
 of trecento era with high carved backs, besides twenty- 
 four cross-legged chairs, covered in buff leather embossed 
 in the back with the Leader arms. There are also 
 two other tables of cinquecento style on scroll tressels, 
 and the artistic adornments of the room are as follows. 
 Over the door is placed 
 
 1. The head of a stag, the royal gift of King Victor 
 Emmanuel, by whom it was shot at San Eossore. By 
 the wall 
 
 2. A wedding chest of carved wood standing on 
 claws. The corners are adorned with grotesque figures, 
 the centre panel in front has the Alessandri arms, a 
 two-headed lamb, and the two other panels have reliefs 
 of sea monsters. 
 
 3. A beautifully illuminated parchment, in the fine 
 style of the Ib^^ century, entitled in Latin " Seven 
 laws of health {Septem leges sanitatis),'^ all very good old 
 maxims. 
 
 4. Busts of Ugo and' G-emma degli Alessandri (1400) 
 in painted terracotta by Cartei. 
 
 5. A bronze medallion in a carved '^ rococo " frame. 
 Profile head of John Temple-Leader, the present pos- 
 sessor of Vincigliata, by David D'Angers, a celebrated 
 French sculptor who was also an ardent republican, and 
 represented Paris in the Assemhlee Comtituante of 1848. 
 
THE REFECTORY. 109 
 
 6. A carved wood cassa or chest dated 1500, once 
 belonging to the Ricasoli family, whose arms, a lion, 
 tower, and fleiir-de-lys, are carved on the centre panel. 
 The other two panels have grotesques and foliage, with 
 a comic mask at each corner. 
 
 7. A large painting (5 yards 12 inches in length) of 
 the last Supper by Santi di Tito, which we learn from 
 the inscription was painted by him for the refectory 
 of the monastery of Monte Domini, whence Mr. Leader 
 purchased it. It is a picture mellow in colouring, 
 full of expression, and interesting from the arrange- 
 ment of the figures, which differs from other " Cena- 
 coli, " in two of the disciples being placed on the outer 
 side of the table, a distinction usually given to Judas 
 alone. He is here only marked by the absence of the 
 sacred nimbus which encircles all the other heads. 
 
 8. A Byzantine painting in form of a Gothic arch. 
 It is on a gold background, and represents St. Nicholas 
 of Myra (or Bari) in episcopal robes, with the three 
 golden balls in his hand, emblematical of the purses 
 he gave the nobleman of Panthea, for his three destitute 
 daughters ; and over it in the lunette is St. Elizabeth of 
 Hungary with her apron full of roses. 
 
 9. At the end of the room opposite the door stands 
 a richly carved " credenza ; " the columns at the corner 
 are composed of three full-length statues, one over the 
 other, with grotesque heads below. 
 
110 THE REFECTORY. 
 
 On the top of the " credenza " are 
 
 10. Two kneeling angels, of the school of Delia 
 Robbia, holding candlesticks. 
 
 11. Four cylindrical vases of yellow Faience. 
 On the upper shelf: 
 
 12. A large ewer, in blue and yellow majolica, early 
 Pesaro style (about 1400), covered with painted leaves 
 and with several heads projecting from the surface. 
 
 13. Two modern vases by Cantagalli. 
 
 14. Three antique metal salvers embossed. 
 
 15. Fine ewer shaped painted vase (vaso alia Re- 
 becca) of Urbino majolica, cinquecento era. Subject : a 
 bishop and two saints. 
 
 On the second shelf: 
 
 16. Four ancient vases from the Pharmacy of the 
 order of St. Stephen, bearing the cross of the order. 
 
 17. Interesting and carious group in majolica of 
 the IG''' century. A lady, dressed in Medici style, is 
 wooing Apollo (a nude male figure seated beside her) 
 and has taken away his lyre. Probably a compliment 
 to some poetess of the period. 
 
 18. Cantagalli vase. Copy of one from the ancient 
 Certosa Pharmacy. 
 
 19. Two plates, French, 18*^ century, flowers and 
 red scrolls on a white porcelain. 
 
 20. A fluted bowl. Pesaro, IS**" century, — design 
 in blue and yellow. 
 
THE REFECTORY. Ill 
 
 21. Antique Pharmacy vase for holding " scabious." 
 
 22. Group in antique white porcelain. Two young 
 fauns holding the Gruelphic arms, a double eagle. 
 
 On the lower shelf: 
 
 23. Modern Cantagalli plate, with comic head painted 
 on it. -''> 
 
 24. Similar one, head of Garibaldi. 
 
 25. Similar one, head of Dante. 
 
 26. Beautiful antique Faience plate, with a head of 
 the Madonna and the inscription S. Maria ora pro nobis. 
 
 27. Very large circular dish 2 Y2 feet in diameter, 
 of green and gold Faience, or early Pesaro ware, coarse 
 and curious. 
 
 28. Plate on which is painted the head of a girl 
 with long yellow braids of hair crossed on her chest 
 
 29. Two perforated dishes of white antique majo- 
 lica with the Alessandri arms painted in the centre. 
 
 30. Fluted bowl on a stand, blue and white majo- 
 lica with the armorial bearings of a Cardinal. 
 
 31. Dish of fruit imitated in majolica. 
 
 32. Antique ewer, a design in blue and white. 
 On the wall to the left of the "" credenza " hangs 
 
 33. An arch shaped Byzantine picture similar to the 
 St. Nicholas n. 8, representing the Ecce Homo, with a 
 Madonna enthroned above. 
 
 34. Ancient mirror with carved ebony frame touched 
 with gilding. 
 
112 ANTE ROOM. 
 
 36. Large chest slightly carved. 
 
 36. A plate of majolica with a glaze imitating 
 antique marble ; curiously light ware. 
 
 In the passage leading out of the refectory is 
 
 37. A head of a boy in marble, and 
 
 38. A brass lamp of Moorish form. 
 We now enter the 
 
 ANTE ROOM. 
 
 A square room vaulted with brick, the vaults 
 painted with escutcheons ; it is furnished with a large 
 cupboard and several carved chairs with the Leader 
 arms, and two tables on tressels in form of a lyre, 
 style of Ib^^ century. The room is full of interesting 
 objects such as : 
 
 1. A very curious casket finely inlaid in coloured 
 wood and ivory mosaic, in the style of the 16*^ century. 
 It is furnished with many inner drawers and shelves, 
 all covered with " intarsia," and inside the lid are 
 sculptured the emblems of the crucifixion. It probably 
 belonged to an abbess. 
 
 2. Large " Ali Baba " jar (orcio) in coarse Faience 
 with two handles ; the whole surface is covered with 
 a design of vineleaves in green. 
 
 3. On a table near the window stands a large oval 
 
ANTE ROOM. 113 
 
 basin on claws, with a beautiful Etruscan-sliaped brass 
 pitcher. 
 
 4. A curious round metal box with four inner 
 compartments, on the covers of which are the re- 
 spective letters N. P. G. R. On the outer cover of 
 the box are enamelled the arms of the city of Pi- 
 stoia, with the inscription Doganieri beneath them. 
 It was probably the money box used by the cu- 
 stom-house officers at the city gates in a past cen- 
 tury. 
 
 5. Ancient horn lantern ; the top has a shield with 
 the Salvia ti arms. 
 
 6. On the wall is a 14"' centur}^ painting of St. Paul 
 with his sword and book, and 
 
 7. A similar one representing St. Christine with 
 the arrows in her neck. Over the window are 
 
 8. Two embossed brass plates. 
 
 9. By the door leading into the kitchen stands a 
 magnificent escritoir in carved walnut wood. The 
 corner columns have full-length figures of warriors, 
 above grotesque caryatides. The panels are adorned 
 with heads of Medusa in relief. On this are 
 
 10. Five old lanterns of the 15*^ century, in iron 
 work with fluted moveable tops, and 
 
 11. Another lantern of the date A.D. 1400, orna- 
 mented with little raised disks bearing the emblem- 
 atical dolphins of the Pandolfini family. 
 
114 THE KITCHEN. 
 
 12. In the corner is a fine majolica oil jar with 
 the Medici arms painted in front. 
 
 13. A clock, date 1600. The works are beautifully 
 made in chased brass, set in a tall wooden case. 
 
 14. On the wall is a Madonna and Child with two 
 saints of the Byzantine school of about A. D. 1200, and 
 on the table beneath it 
 
 16. A fine oval brass basin with the Medici arms, and 
 
 16. An Etruscan-shaped brass pitcher with a dragon 
 for spout ; both these came from the Palazzo Pitti. 
 
 From the ceiling hangs 
 
 17. An hexagon lantern in blue and white glass 
 framed in polished iron work. Copy of antique. 
 
 THE KITCHEN 
 
 is large and vaulted with brick. The fireplace, which 
 is copied from the one in the Castle of the Strozza- 
 Yolpe, is raised, and has recessed chimney-corners on 
 each side. It is built of brick and stone ; the front of 
 it is of castellated form, with a brick turret on each 
 side ; the central arch is supported on two sculptured 
 heads, and the Leader arms are carved in front. The 
 large iron dogs and accessories are quite in medieval 
 style. If the fireplace is a castle, the sink is suggestive 
 
THE KITCHEN. 115 
 
 of a Gothic church ; the back of the immense stone 
 trough being a recess, in the form of a Gothic arch, 
 picked out with sculptured grey stone. 
 
 The kitchen is furnished with dark wooden shelves 
 running round the walls on all sides, and richly filled 
 with antique majolica plates and dishes, besides many 
 interesting works in metal. "We can count forty-two 
 plates in quaint old Montelupo ware. On consulting 
 the work on majolica by Drury Fortnum F. S. A. we 
 learn that the pottery of Montelupo — a little town 
 near Empoli — is '^ distinguished (or we should rather 
 say notorious) for having produced the ugliest and 
 most inferior painted pieces that bear the signature 
 of their maker, and the place where they were made." 
 The kitchen plates at Vincigliata perfectly answer to 
 this, and their signature proves their identity. Yet 
 though the men in armour and horsemen etc. on them 
 are not fine works of art, they are with their yellow 
 background very effective on the dark shelves, and 
 emphasize the chronology of the room very perfectly. 
 
 Besides these characteristic plates we have 
 
 1. An ancient brass well-bucket (secchia), with lions' 
 claws for feet, and a finely wrought handle, trefoil 
 shape. 
 
 2. Two blue and white pharmac}^ vases are on the 
 window-sill, and between them 
 
 3. A curious old pepper-mill, of the 13*^ century, 
 
110 THE KITCHEN. 
 
 formed of one circular fluted stone turning within 
 another. On the sides are grotesque heads ; hanging 
 near is 
 
 4. An iron hand-lamp in shape of a flat iron, with 
 a handle at the wide end. 
 
 5. Iron hook for hanging meat, in form of two 
 circles with hooks depending from them. On the upper 
 shelf between the windows are 
 
 6. Seven antique drug vases of diflerent shapes, 
 and in the centre of the wall 
 
 7. A splendid plate ofCastel Durante ware. Probably 
 dating from about 1525, when the famous manufactury 
 was at its best period. The subject is a Crucifixion 
 with two angels above. The rim is floriated. 
 
 Above the window is 
 
 8. An embossed brass plate, and hanging on the 
 wall near 
 
 9. A large copper warming pan with a perforated 
 design on the cover, of leaves encircling a grotesque 
 head. 
 
 10. A German warming pan with a quaint in- 
 scription punched on it, giving instructions how to 
 use it, and a warning not to burn the hands in the 
 eflbrt. The old German legend runs thus : "" Das ist 
 ein wermpfan genant werspravchen wil der nims in 
 die rechte hant und tve nur wager hin und her far 
 unso wert das pet-schan werden warm aber ir mist- 
 
THE KITCHEN. 117 
 
 spravchen mit verstant damit ir evch nicht prent in 
 die hant. Anno 1734." The late lamented Emperor 
 Frederick of Prussia was so amused with this that he 
 copied the inscription with his own hand, when he 
 visited Vincigliata in 1875. 
 
 11. Four vases are on the shelf above this, and in 
 the corner hangs 
 
 12. A finely wrought copper " secchia " beneath 
 which is 
 
 13. A bronze mortar, embossed with lions' heads 
 and foliage. The handles are in the form of dolphins ; 
 on the side are the arms of the Orsini — three bears ; — 
 it was brought from the Palazzo Pitti. 
 
 14. Pair of bellows in carved wood, Venetian style. 
 Subject : a warrior in the centre, and satyrs and nymphs 
 around. The nozzle is of wrought bronze, ending in 
 a dog's head. 
 
 15. Ancient chopping table on four legs, with the old 
 knives stuck into a cleft at one end of it. Above this 
 
 16. A brass ewer of graceful shape. 
 
 17. A bowl, of blue and white ware. 
 
 18. Another bowl of majolica, with flowers painted 
 on it. 
 
 19. A fine circular majolica dish, moulded and 
 painted. 
 
 20. Three small jars. 
 
 On the pillar above the fireplace are 
 
118 THE KITCHEN. 
 
 21. Two large two-handled vases; one of them has 
 a spout. 
 
 In the front of the fireplace : 
 
 22. A large ancient lamp in iron and horn, which 
 was used in processions. It was copied in 1889 for 
 Carlo Alessandro Grand Duke of Saxe Weimar. 
 
 23. A spit of the ancient model, with all its appurte- 
 nances, is placed outside the left wall of the hearth, 
 which the bar passes through. It was an ancient pos- 
 session of the Salviati family in Mugello, and was 
 bought from their heir Ugo Eicasoli. 
 
 On the shelves over the washing trough are the 
 following objects : 
 
 On the upper shelf: 
 
 24. A fine painted majolica drug vase, of Urbino 
 ware with dragon handles. Subject: St. John Baptist 
 in the wilderness. 
 
 25. Another pharmacy vase, with the Durante arms 
 in front, — a pale and three hogs of the field. The 
 spout is formed of a head, and the inscription on it 
 is Syro di Lupoli (Syrup of Hops). 
 
 26. A Raphaelesque plate, with fluted edge, and 
 a cherub in the centre. 
 
 27. A plate, — mythological subject. Lion chasing 
 some nymphs round a fountain. 
 
 On the middle shelf: 
 
 28. Brass urn with spout and three legs. 
 
THE BREAKFAST ROOM. 119 
 
 29. A white marble mortar, square outside, carved 
 in relief; on three sides acanthus leaves, on the fourth 
 a castle. 
 
 On the under shelf: 
 
 30. Ancient iron box with two iron compartments, 
 for coffee or tea. 
 
 31. Two bronze mortars ornamented with lions' 
 heads in relief. 
 
 In the corner hangs 
 
 32. A curious ancient conglomeration of iron hooks 
 to grapple a bucket when it had fallen into a well. 
 
 33. A large majolica plate with the Salviati arms. 
 
 34. Three drug vases of divers shapes, and 
 
 35. A bread bin, such as was used in the Romagna. 
 
 THE BREAKFAST ROOM. 
 
 Is a square apartment next to the kitchen. The 
 arms emblazoned on the arched roof are those of the 
 Alessandri, Usimbardi and Leader. It is furnished in 
 cinquecento style, with an octagonal table finely carved 
 in wood, two consoles and several chairs with sloping 
 backs, covered with buff leather, with the Leader arms 
 embossed. There are several interesting objects here. 
 On the left of the door near the window is 
 
120 THE BREAKFAST ROOM. 
 
 1 . An ecclesiastical chair in carved walnut, and over it 
 
 2. A mirror framed in carved ebony, — style of 
 A. D. 1600. 
 
 3. On the console, a curious Eoman sculpture — a 
 double head in white marble. Pomona on one side, 
 and Bacchus on the other. 
 
 4. An ancient strong box, in red leather and iron, 
 the handle is in the form of two dogs face to face. 
 
 5. Table linen press, of the 15*^ century ; it is a 
 screw press the frame of which has Corinthian columns 
 at the corners. The base is covered with reliefs re- 
 presenting rural scenes, with lions' heads at the corners. 
 On the cross-bar that supports the screws is a frieze 
 of male and female heads. 
 
 6. Two carved chairs with leather seats, — date 
 14*'* century. 
 
 7. Two similar chairs with gilded leather, — style 
 rather later. 
 
 8. Sideboard carved with caryatides and grotesque 
 heads. On it are 
 
 9. Five vases for flowers, one is antique, the others 
 are copies ; they are of blue and white majolica with 
 many spouts. In the corner of the room is 
 
 10. A large oil jar painted with the Medici arms, 
 which formerly belonged to that family. 
 
 11. A chest of drawers, 17*^ century style, in finely 
 carved wood, with brass mountings. On it stands 
 
THE BREAKFAST ROOM. 121 
 
 12. A ver}^ beautiful statuette, the work of Luca 
 Delia Eobbia, representing himself in the costume of 
 a peasant. The pose is simple and graceful, and the 
 modelling pure enough to suggest Luca's own hand. 
 The face is certainly the same type which we see in the 
 portraits of the Eobbia family painted by Andrea Del 
 Sarto in the cloister of the SS. Annunziata, and is 
 precisely the same face as the head of himself, which 
 he sculptured on the door of the Sacristy of the Duomo. 
 
 13. Ancient 2 " braccia " measure (1 yard, 10 inches), 
 dated 1779. 
 
 14. Antique seal, in the form of a vice, strongly 
 made in iron. The impression is the arms of the 
 Alessandri of Vincigliata. 
 
 15. An ancient lantern, the iron work covered with 
 raised figures of flies and shells. 
 
 16. Another lantern, taller than this last, ornamented 
 with female heads, and the Florentine gigli; this once 
 belonged to the Bargello, and may have illuminated 
 the footsteps of many a stern Podesta on his way to 
 and from the Hall of Judgment. 
 
 17. On the wall above the table is a roundel with 
 the device of a Cock and a Cross — the united arms 
 of the Bigallo and Misericordia. It must have formed 
 part of the decoration of the Loggia del Bigallo, in 
 Florence, between the years 1425 and 1475, while the 
 union of the two charitable companies was enforced 
 
122 THE BREAKFAST ROOM. 
 
 by the Signoria ; an union which did not last long, as 
 the objects of the companies were different, the Bigallo 
 having hospices for Pilgrims, the Misericordia succour- 
 ing the sick and dying. It was not till Cosimo the 
 First's time that the Bigallo became exclusively a 
 foundling hospital. 
 
 18. A clock in a tall case which strikes 24 hours 
 in the day, according to the old Italian reckoning. The 
 face is beautifully worked in brass with the night hours 
 inlaid in darker metal. Date 16^^ cent. In the corner is 
 
 19. A large bronze mortar. The outside is adorned 
 with the relief of a man spearing a bear, and the 
 armorial bearing of a dog rampant ; the handles are 
 formed of women's heads and the rim has an inscription 
 in raised Gothic letters : Pietro Doisement, Francese 
 A Perugia mi fece. Anno Dom. MDCXXII, E E D E S 
 Angioli. 
 
 20. On an IS*** century writing table are two bronze 
 models of mortars for bombs. 
 
 21. Model of a long thin cannon of the 17"' century. 
 On the wall between the two doors: 
 
 22. A relief in marble of a Madonna and Child, a good 
 copy of the school of Mino da Fiesole, in a stone niche. 
 
 23. A Byzantine painting of a bishop with his 
 crozier. 
 
 24. The Bardi arms in a roundel with the three 
 Leopards of England added ; granted to the Bardi by 
 
I" GALLERY. 123 
 
 Edward III, very small consolation for the money 
 lent (and lost) to that famous warrior and impecunious 
 King. This completes the round of apartments on 
 this floor, so we will again return to the quadrangle 
 which is the starting point for everywhere. 
 
 P^ GALLERY. 
 
 Ascending the lion-guarded open staircase, we reach 
 the private apartments of Mr. Leader, which give on 
 the balcony formed by the lower of the two Lombard 
 galleries round the keep. On the third side of the 
 quadrangle over the loggia, this becomes a wide 
 terrace with two windows in the outer wall, giving 
 a glorious view of the rock-bound hill of Monte Ceceri, 
 and of the Val d'Arno Fiorentino in all its richness 
 and glory, with its villa-studded green slopes, its olive 
 plantations and vineyards, and the blue mountains 
 which bound it. On the first side of the gallery are 
 
 1. A square of Venetian mosaic in a geometrical 
 pattern. 
 
 2. An arch-shaped mosaic of the Madonna, in blue 
 robe and green mantle. 
 
 3. A sculpture in white marble. Madonna and 
 Child under a canopy upheld by angels. St. Bernard 
 
124 I" GALLERY. 
 
 and 8t. Francis stand in the side compartments. It is 
 a beautiful work by one of the Pisani. 
 On the second side is 
 
 4. The front of the marble sepulchre of Pjetro 
 Strozzi. The inscription in the centre with the Strozzi 
 and Pitti arms on either side is inlaid in marble mosaic. 
 The former is 
 
 D. 0. M. 
 
 PETRUS STROZZA 
 
 CAROLI F. SENATOR 
 
 FLORENTINUS SEPUL 
 
 CHRUM HOC SIBI POSTE 
 
 RISQ. DECREVIT FILII 
 
 PIENTISS. POS. ANNO 
 
 SAL. MDCVII. 
 
 On the end of the terrace are the Piccolomini arms 
 in marble, a cross charged with six crescents. And 
 over the southern window the Leader arms in majolica. 
 
 The private apartments of the owner are similar 
 in plan to those on the other floors. In the first room 
 is a fine bust in terracotta, of the Countess Matilda 
 of Tuscany. She wears a little embroidered cap, of 
 a smaller form than that which Petrarch's Laura is re- 
 presented as wearing, and also a fillet binding her hair ; 
 on her breast is a kind of shield with the device of 
 a cross. 
 
 The second room has a large chimney-piece in 
 
THE STUDY. 125 
 
 stone, on which are sculptured amid ornate foliage the 
 arms of the Peruzzi famil}^ who once possessed it, — a 
 lion rampant bearing a pear. It came from an old 
 palace in Via della Vigna Vecchia, Florence. The 
 back of the hearth is formed of a curious old relief in 
 iron representing Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. 
 In the lobby leading to the study is a beautiful 
 stained glass window by Matteis. Subject: St. G-eorge; 
 over the door is a lion rampant, and a Venetian glass 
 chandelier hangs from the ceiling. 
 
 THE STUDY 
 
 forms quite a little museum of medieval objects. The 
 window has ancient circular panes of glass ; and here, 
 in a great arm-chair of gilded red leather, one might 
 sit, looking down on Florence, lying in its valley far 
 beneath, its domes and towers touched with sunshine, 
 its sheltering hills clad in blue mist, and feel that one 
 is transferred to the centuries that have gone by. The 
 peasants ploughing with their white oxen beneath 
 the faint shadows of the olives might be the selfsame 
 figures which Griotto saw ; the soldiers whose arms flash 
 in the light as they march up the hill, might be the 
 troops of John Hawkwood or Baglioni. Even within 
 
126 THE STUDY. 
 
 the room there is nothing to bring us back to the 
 present. We see 
 
 1. Four arm-chairs with gilded leather backs, which 
 came from Galileo's house. 
 
 2. A beautiful fireplace sculptured in stone, with 
 foliage and armorial bearings ; such a chimney-piece 
 as Benedetto di Maiano made for the bride of Borghini, 
 in the 15"' century. It is lined with dark wood and 
 on its shelf are 
 
 3. Several grotesques carved from gnarled knots of 
 wood, turning the eccentricities of nature into eccen- 
 tricities of art with great ingenuity. 
 
 If one looks closer, the present century is hinted at in 
 
 4. A fragment of wood which was part of a beam 
 of York Cathedral, and inserted in it are a crucifix 
 and medal made from the metal of one of its bells, 
 which was melted at the time of the fire there in 1840. 
 Beside the fireplace hangs 
 
 5. A rusty old coat of mail which again breaks the 
 illusion by reminding us how long ago was the time 
 when the knight of Vincigliata went out to fight. It 
 must have been some centuries even since his descen- 
 dants could have used the 
 
 6. Two antique flint-lock pistols, which hang near. 
 They are beautifully chased and adorned with little me- 
 dallion heads in relief. On the barrel of one is inscribed 
 Lorenzo Comminaso, and on the other Giov. Antonio. 
 
THE STUDY. 127 
 
 In the corner stands 
 
 7. A fine cassone in intarsia, one of the kind which 
 was made for Matthias Corvinus King of Hungary by 
 Benedetto da Maiano, before he began to work in stone, 
 and which got spoilt in a disastrous voyage. It is lined 
 with red velvet and gold brocade, and contains some 
 musical treasures, such as 
 
 8. An antique zithern, with the sounding-board 
 painted in wreaths of flowers, and a 
 
 9. Mandolin, beautifully inlaid with mother of 
 pearl, signed Vincentius Vinaccio fecit ^ Neapoli, sito nella 
 Cdlata dello Spedaletto A, D. 1780. On tbe cassone 
 stands 
 
 10. A curious old Dutch casket with several drawers 
 of wood, covered with red leather, inlaid with figures 
 of different coloured leathers, the outlines being gilded 
 and the faces painted. It gives the story of Joseph, 
 with that naive ignoring of local colouring and chro- 
 nology, which induced the Dutch artists to use their 
 native costumes in all their religious paintings. Here 
 Egyptians, Ishmaelites, and Hebrews, are all in the 
 wide hose and broad hats of the Fleming of the 
 15*'" century. This unique casket once belonged to 
 G-alileo himself, it having been given to him by a 
 friend in Holland. It was bought by Mr. Leader at 
 the Villa G-alileo. 
 
 11. A ver}^ large cabinet carved in dark wood, 
 
128 THE STUDY. 
 
 with columns, grotesques, etc. In it are a collection 
 of ancient books, rare bindings, and 
 
 12. A very small spinet of the IG**' century, in ebony 
 inlaid with ivory. On the cover are small Dutch 
 figures in ancient costumes, and inside it is the in- 
 scription Joannes Maggius Eomanus inventob, a si- 
 gnature rather puzzling in connection with the evident 
 Flemish workmanship. It may have been a Dutch 
 copy of one of Maggi's spinets, and the honest Fle- 
 ming gave the Italian the credit of his invention. 
 
 There are besides in this case 
 
 13. Several old books and some Persian book-covers. 
 
 14. An Indian dagger whose hilt is inlaid with 
 gold. In this handle is a penknife and enclosed again 
 in the handle of the knife a small steel point which 
 was poisoned, and kept for the Rajah's false friends 
 and secret enemies. This belonged to Mahahwassey, 
 Rajah of Coorg. There is also an Indian weapon of 
 another sort : 
 
 15. A skull-cracker carved in wood nearly as hard 
 as iron, and 
 
 16. Louis XV's purse, embroidered with the arms 
 of both King and Queen ; it was in this that Louis XV 
 kept his louis d'or when he played cards with his 
 courtiers in the evening. It was given to Mr. Leader 
 by the Countess Passerini who had received it from 
 a French lady, an emigree. 
 
THE STUDY. 129 • 
 
 17. A large carved armoire whose columns are 
 composed of figures and masks ; the panel beneath has 
 a splendid scroll and the armorial device, a lily and 
 a bar. It contains a great many interesting objects, 
 among them we find 
 
 On the upper shelf: 
 
 18. A pair of very ancient slippers embroidered in 
 green and gold, together with an old fan, which were 
 given to Mr. Leader by the late Marchesa Riccardi- 
 Strozzi, the}^ having been in the Riccardi-Strozzi family 
 for generations. 
 
 19. Statuette of St. Francis in dark stone. 
 
 20. Two angels in very old glazed majolica, seem- 
 ingly fragments of candelabra. 
 
 21. Another fragment representing St. Christopher. 
 
 22. An etui of the last century, in light blue and 
 silvered metal, given to Mr. Leader by the late Robert 
 Liddel at Christ Church coll. Oxford. 
 
 23. A similar etui in gilt metal in the style of 
 the end of the 18"' century. 
 
 On the second shelf: 
 
 24. A metal plate with the likeness of the unhappy 
 Isabella Orsini embossed on it. 
 
 25. Several antique silver knives, forks, and spoons, 
 with gilded handles richly repousses. 
 
 26. A pistol case and powder bag, in embossed 
 leather. 
 
 9 
 
180 THE STUDY. 
 
 27. A circular casket in the same style of work. 
 
 28. An ancient hour-glass. 
 
 29. A metal plate with a relief representing a 
 sacrifice to an idol. 
 
 30. A glass plate with the Pucci arms painted on it. 
 
 31. An antique bronze inkstand ; on the dome 
 shaped cover is a kneeling genius holding a torch. 
 It is an inkstand that suggests '^ inspiration." 
 
 32. An old bell with the Medici arms. 
 On the third shelf: 
 
 33. A very curious old tankard, carved, — cover 
 and hinge and all, from a single piece of beech-wood. 
 It is the work of a Norwegian peasant, and has twelve 
 archaic coloured figures of the Apostles round it, with 
 a Gothic inscription, and the date 1359. It is a very 
 interesting specimen of medieval Scandinavian art, and 
 was bought by Mr. Leader from a peasant in the valley 
 under Gausta Field and the Riuchan Foss (water- 
 fall), in Norway. 
 
 34. Two gauntlets in steel and buff. 
 
 35. An Etruscan idol. 
 
 36. A Roman bronze Hercules. 
 
 37. Two Chinese figures. 
 
 38. A square plaque of majolica, with portrait of 
 Pope Pius V. 
 
 39. Six ancient knives ; the handles are carved 
 figures in ivory. 
 
THE STUDY. 131 
 
 40. A glass lacrymatory, and a fragment of a bronze 
 ring with a scarab in onyx, very mucli carbonized by 
 the action of fire ; found at Aquileia on August 30*'' 1879. 
 
 The lower shelf contains 
 
 41. A Venetian brass Grondola lantern, with glass 
 sides. 
 
 42. An Egyptian idol. 
 
 43. The terrestrial and celestial globes, in brass, 
 engraved, — very interesting scientific instruments of 
 the 17"' century. 
 
 44. A gilt-headed bamboo walking cane, which was 
 used by the great uncle of the present owner of Vin- 
 cigliata. 
 
 45. An old dagger finely chased. 
 
 46. A brass candelabrum, a page holding a branch. 
 
 47. Some battledores in crimson velvet and gold, 
 which belonged to Palazzo Pitti, and with which the 
 ladies of the Court of the G-rand Duke Ferdinand III 
 played; the cypher F. Ill is still legible on them. 
 
 At the side of the armoire stands an ebony cabinet of 
 six drawers, ornamented in rococo style with gold leaves 
 and sprays riveted on, and with fruit oi ])ietre dure. 
 
 The table which is of carved black wood has on it 
 
 48. Two brass candlesticks with grotesque figures 
 for claws, and 
 
 49. A statuette in majolica of the Madonna of Lo- 
 reto. Beneath her is written Virgo Lauretana. 
 
182 THE STUDY. 
 
 Opening out from the library is a lavatory, which 
 contains 
 
 50. An ancient marble ^^/Za or font, an octagon 
 shaped basin on a column, with an inscription in Gothic 
 letters, and in the entrance which opens on the wide 
 terrace, a Madonna in marble. 
 
 We now ascend the second flight of stairs in the 
 court to the upper outer gallery, which leads us to 
 another floor of similar plan to the former ones. The 
 rooms are not regularly furnished, but they have a 
 good many treasures in them notwithstanding. Here 
 is a whole collection of wedding chests or cassoni^ that 
 might have contained the trousseaux of half the 
 W^ century brides of Florence. Most of them are 
 inlaid in coloured wood, in Raphaelesque scrolls ; some 
 more ancient ones are carved. One has the name and 
 armorial bearings of Maria Jacometti Ceroni, another 
 has the tower of the Torrigiani on its shield, and 
 others have various devices. 
 
 There is a portrait of Loysius Princeps Card. Estensis 
 and two Madonnas, one in terracotta, the other in 
 marble, in the style of the 14*^ century, besides a paint- 
 ing of a Madonna and Child in a curious half oriental 
 style of dress, such as Jacopo Bellini might have 
 painted when he came back from the East. Also 
 some Byzantine Madonnas with their gold backgrounds 
 and stiff figures. 
 
THE STUDY. 138 
 
 Her© is a curious iron arrangement of -vvinch, cogs, 
 and wheels with cannon balls hanging about it, that 
 is very suggestive of the age of besieged castles. It 
 is however only a turn-spit. 
 
 There is now nothing to explore above us but the 
 tower, the narrow spiral of Avhich we begin to ascend. 
 Even here we find works of art. A majolica ijlaque 
 painted in " Gubbio " style, representing the miracle 
 of San Gi-allicano, meets our eyes at one turn ; and at 
 another the arms of Santa Maria Maggiore, and a 
 sculptured saint, which formerly held the alms box 
 of a hospital. 
 
 The first chamber in the tower has on its walls the 
 Leader arms, and an inscription commemorating the re- 
 storation of the Castle by Mr. Leader, in A. D. 1862. 
 
 The chamber above this is dedicated to the Al- 
 bizi-Alessandri, and under their arms are Verino's 
 verses 
 
 Albitios fama est Arrheti ex urhe profectos 
 Stemmate cliviso genus Allexandria proles 
 Traxit, et ex uno profliixit uterqiie parenfe : 
 Utraque nobilitas clara est helloque togaqiie. 
 
 This roojn contains an interesting bell, with the 
 inscription in Grothic letters Franoiscus Pucci Floren- 
 
 TINUS ME FECIT A. D. MCCCLII — XPS VINCIT, XPS RE- 
 GNAT, XPS IMPERAT. 
 
184 THE STUDY. 
 
 The highest room has a window from which is 
 appended the iron cage in which prisoners were kept. 
 An awful punishment, when the Italian sun beat on 
 their heads, or the icy mountain blasts blew cold on 
 winter nights. The cage is copied from the one at 
 Piacenza. 
 
 The last spiral staircase is a hanging one, of solid 
 stone, suspended from the roof by iron clamps forming 
 the keystone of the vault. Ascending this we reach 
 the summit of the tower, and see all Val d'Arno spread 
 beneath us; and Florence looks like a crystallization 
 of buildings, the thousands of villas and villages seem- 
 ing like atoms being attracted towards it, in the basin 
 formed by the many blue hills, which make beautiful 
 undulations on the horizon. Looking over the battle- 
 ments we trace the ramparts, turrets, and roofs of the 
 Castle, down to the shadowed arches of the cloister, 
 eight stories below us ; and realize not only what 
 a great architectural work has been achieved in the 
 restoration by Mr. Leader, but also what grand old 
 fortress builders were the men in the medieval times 
 who could plan such a mass of masonry, beautiful in 
 all its parts, and as strong as it is beautiful. At once 
 a dwelling place, a weapon of war, and a shrine of art. 
 
135 
 
 THE GROUND FLOOR. 
 
 We have now seen all the rooms in the two prin- 
 cipal floors, and will descend to the lower apartments, 
 which are at present occupied by the cicstode. A ilight 
 of steps leads us down to a square antechamber, very 
 dark, and with a high barred window, and vaulted roof. 
 Here are 
 
 1. Four carved high-backed chairs. 
 
 2. A very interesting trecento painting, on gold 
 ground, representing the '* Madonna enthroned ; " on one 
 side of her stands St. Stephen and St. Dominic, on the 
 other St. G-eorge and St. John Evangelist. It was 
 evidently a votive picture ; for the donor, in the form 
 of a diminutive figure in black, is kneeling before the 
 Madonna. 
 
 3. In the wall opposite the window is a fragment 
 of marble with a shield bearing the device : three 
 pyramids in chief, and the giglio of Florence in base, 
 and, above it, a part of a Grothic inscription, in which 
 the word Arnolfi is plainly legible. It is probably a 
 sepulchral memorial of the family of " Arnolfo di Cam- 
 bio," builder of the Duomo. A long passage leads us 
 to the underground cellars at one end, and at the other 
 to some fine vaulted rooms occupied by the custode. 
 A corner of the wall of this passage is formed by a 
 
186 THE CLOISTER. 
 
 stone from the ancient Castle, with the Alessandri arms 
 on it. The passage conducts us also to the lower 
 entrance of the Castle, a low pitched and frescoed 
 archway, forming a porch to the entrance hall, in 
 which is a fine lavatory in the 14^*' century style 
 carved in stone ; which together with the magnificent 
 chimney-piece in the kitchen of the custode, was a 
 remnant of the old Castle. Through the quaint porch 
 of which I speak we enter 
 
 THE CLOISTER, 
 
 which in its way is nearly as charming as the 
 quadrangle. It is a portico running round a square 
 piece of green grass like a small Campo Santo of 
 Pisa ; and in true old Florentine style, the wall of 
 every arch is enriched by frescoes. 
 
 The arches are of the round Lombard form, and 
 are supported on sixteen octagonal columns whose 
 base is a low wall running round the square. The 
 capitals, as Lombard capitals should do, show every 
 variety of sculptured ornamentation. One has the 
 evangelists' symbols, one four lions with the Leader 
 arms, another four eagles with the Usimbardi arms. 
 Above these are grotesque gargoyles. 
 
 In fact the form and meaning of quattrocento art 
 
THE CLOISTER. 137 
 
 is perfectly reproduced by the clever chisel of David 
 Giustini. 
 
 Shall we examine the frescoes or the archaeological 
 specimens first ? — We will take the paintings on the 
 walls, for they give the groundwork of the history of 
 the Castle. They are the w^ork of Cav. Gaetano Bian- 
 chi, one of the best imitators of ancient art in Flo- 
 rence.^ These have none of the crudeness and harshness 
 of modern fresco, but are as mellow as if they had 
 been done for ages, and as simple in outline and naive 
 in design as though Giotto himself had drawn them. 
 
 On the wall to the left of the porch, we see Messer 
 Ugolino di Aldobrandino de' Yisdomini, Lord of Vin- 
 cigliata, before marching with the Florentine army 
 against the Sienese in 1257. He is represented as in- 
 voking the aid of the Virgin on the emprise. Messer 
 Ugolino is fully armed, excepting the helmet and 
 shield with the Yisdomini device, which lie on the 
 ground beside him, as he kneels before the Madonna, 
 who is enthroned beneath a Gothic canopy, the steps 
 of which are covered with a rich carpet. The draw- 
 ing of the Madonna, and the Holy Babe holding a bird 
 in his hand is very true and graceful. 
 
 ^ Cav. Bianchi is the able restorer of the Giotto frescoes in 
 Santa Croce and the Bargello, and has frescoed some rooms in 
 the State Archives at Pisa, the Municipal Palace of Udine, and 
 the Villa Demidoff at Florence. 
 
188 THE CLOISTER. 
 
 To follow the frescoes in chronological order we 
 must now cross over to the opposite side of the cloister 
 and begin with the vicissitudes of Vincigliata. In 
 the year 1363, that terrible Englishman Sir John Hawk- 
 wood, who had for some years been fighting for the 
 Pisans, drew near Florence with his "White Company. 
 Of course this meant war with Florence, and on Octo- 
 ber 3'^ 1363, Hawkwood surprised the Florentine camp, 
 and obliged the army to fly for refuge to the city. The 
 walls were strong and well-defended, so that the White 
 Company could only skirmish in the vicinity, but they 
 revenged themselves by ruining the country as much 
 as possible. The Brunelleschi family held Petraia 
 against them so well that they retreated to harass the 
 forts on the Fiesole and Montughi hills ; and it was 
 supposed to be in April that Hawkwood took the Castle 
 of Vincigliata and partly destroyed it. The fresco 
 represents this episode in two scenes ; the legend 
 beneath the first reads : John Hawktoood with his English 
 Company and the Pisans, marches to attack the Floren- 
 tines, and the second fresco represents the Company de- 
 parting from Vincigliata with their spoils in May 1364. 
 The men are carrying away sheep and cattle, prisoners 
 and treasure, down the steep bare rocks on which the 
 Castle stands. And yet this terrible enemy of Florence 
 was destined in a few years from that time to become 
 its honored champion, and on the whole a faithful one. 
 
THE CLOISTER. 139 
 
 The fourth scene represents the restoration of the 
 Castle by Alessandro and Bartolommeo Alessandri 
 degli Albizi, some years after its damage by Hawk- 
 wood ; while the third commemorates their change 
 of name and arms. It was in 1372 that these same 
 Albizi brothers, not agreeing with the family poli- 
 tics, cast off their party the grandi^ and became po- 
 ]pola7ii, calling themselves Alessandri, and taking as 
 their ensign the two-headed lamb, instead of the 
 circlets of the Albizi which are here being trodden 
 Tinder foot. 
 
 The wall at the lower end of the cloister is oc- 
 cupied by a large fresco representing the marriage of 
 Bartolommeo Alessandri to Agnoletta di Bettino Ri- 
 casoli in 1381, — the first bride brought to the Castle 
 after its restoration. In this fresco the costumes are 
 very interesting, being perfectly authentic for the time. 
 The bride is clad in a zimarra of royal purple, em- 
 broidered with pearls, and a headdress of gold cloth 
 with pearls, from beneath which falls the short veil 
 of silk gauze which marked a new-made bride. Her 
 attendant wears the high turban which was aflPected 
 by the fashionables about that time, and which came 
 from the East, together with the fashion of gold em- 
 broideries and other extravagancies. 
 
 The 19"' century artist has followed the example 
 of his Ib^^ century brethren, and put himself into the 
 
140 THE CLOISTER. 
 
 fresco ; — he is the spectator with dark complexion and 
 grey moustaches wrapped in a " lucco." Between the 
 frescoes are the armorial bearings of all the line of 
 Lords of Vincigliata from the curious device of the 
 Usimbardi — a monk holding an hour-glass — to the 
 scallop-shells and lions' heads of the Leaders. 
 
 Over the door is a beautiful lunette by Luca Delia 
 Robbia, a " Resurrection " (figures in white on a blue 
 ground). The Christ is rising from the tomb, only 
 half the figure being visible ; — this conventional re- 
 presentation of the mystery of the resurrection is 
 especially frequent in the early Florentine masters 
 of the 14*** and IS**' centuries. The two Maries kneel 
 by the tomb. Their figures, as well as the draping 
 of their mantles, are extremely graceful. This beautiful 
 lunette was originally in the " Ritiro Capponi " in 
 Via San G-allo. 
 
 Sixteen Roman amphorae from Aquileia are placed 
 round the low parapet of the cloister, and in the 
 centre of the grass plot stands a large sarcophagus 
 in marble which is almost unique in interest, having 
 served in different ages as the tomb of both a Pagan 
 and a Christian. 
 
 It is of the oblong Roman form, and supported 
 by two lions couched on a base. On the Pagan side 
 the sculptures are slightly injured by time, as they 
 count half a score more centuries than the other. 
 
THE CLOISTER. 141 
 
 There are figures of tritons and other sea deities and 
 the following inscription : 
 
 D. M. 
 
 CASCELLA APOL 
 LONIA C FECIT C 
 MAESTRI EYDOXOM 
 ET FILIE DVLCISSIME 
 LYCILLE YTRASQVE B 
 ENEMERENTIBVS. 
 
 (To the manes of the Gods ! ApoUonia Cascella 
 erected this monnment to Eudoxius Maestrio, and his 
 most gentle daughter Lucilla, both most worthy.) 
 
 It appears that in the 14"' century a certain Da 
 Oaprona of Pisa chose this sarcophagus for his own 
 tomb, hallowing it to its new office by adding a front 
 of Christian sculptures. Here in the centre of a row of 
 Grothic arches is the same conventional resurrection as 
 in La Eobbia's lunette, but of a much ruder period 
 of art. On the right are the Madonna, St. Paul, and 
 Mary Magdalen ; on the left St. John the Evangelist, 
 the angel of Peace, and a saint who might be either 
 St. Raniero or Nicodemus, both of whom were especially 
 venerated in Pisa in the middle ages. 
 
 Two Pisan crosses are sculptured at the ends, and 
 
142 THE CHURCH. 
 
 beneath the sarcophagus is the device (eagle and castle) 
 of the " Domini Caprona," a noble family extinct in 
 Pisa for ages. 
 
 THE CHURCH. 
 
 It is now time to explore a little outside the 
 Castle. The iron door in the barbican gate opens into 
 a country road, which, in a few hundred' yards walk, 
 brings us to the village church of Vincigliata, which is 
 4edicated to Santa Maria and San Lorenzo. It stands 
 picturesquely on an eminence surrounded by a group 
 of houses, and it has a very ancient tower that, judg- 
 ing from its masonry, might almost date from the time 
 of the Countess Matilda — that indefatigable builder of 
 Tuscan churches. Indeed it has a documental pedigree 
 almost to her epoch, for the " popolo " of Santa Maria 
 a Vincigliata is mentioned in the book of Montaperti in 
 the year 1260. There also exists that deed of 1318, 
 by which the sons of Scarlatto cede their rights in its 
 tithes to the new purchasers of the Castle, the Usim- 
 bardi (see page 9). In 1335 the Usimbardi family 
 ceded the patronage to the Buonaccorsi, and on 
 June 25^** 1345 Vanni the heir of Buonaccorsi promised 
 the rectory to Niccolo degli Albizi, in recompense 
 for services rendered by this Niccolo to Simone Buo- 
 
THE CHURCH. 143 
 
 naccorsi grandfather of Yanni. This was the Niccolo 
 who at the same time bought the Castle, and who, 
 when ill of the plague in 1348, made a will leaving 
 his poderi at Monte, in the parish of San Gervasio, to 
 endow a hospital or a monastery, but which will was 
 set aside by his sons Alessandro and Bartolommeo (see 
 page 18). They thought it would be a better memo- 
 rial of their father to restore the parish church, which 
 was much out of repair, and obtained the sanction of 
 the Vicar general of the Bishop of Florence, to appro- 
 priate the podere of Monte to that use. 
 
 The restoration seems to have been nearly a refa- 
 brication, for the arms of the Albizi and Alessandri 
 are to be seen in keystone and cornerstone, over the 
 whole church. An old document gives us the descrip- 
 tion of the church, as the Alessandri built it. It is an 
 inventory made in 1790 by the prior Giovan Battista 
 Fabbrini before he modernized the building ; he says : 
 ^ The church is 30 braccia long, and 13 wide (57 72 feet 
 by 24 feet, 11 inches) ; it has only a nave and three 
 doors, one for the sacristy in the choir, another near 
 the tribune, the third being the principal entrance, 
 and only one window with glass, and iron grating. 
 The choir is behind the high altar in the East. It is 
 square, with its dome a cielo di carrozza (probably a 
 waggon vaulted roof)." 
 
 At present, it having been restored in 1790 by 
 
144 THE CHURCH. 
 
 this Fabbrini, it is a very ordinary country church, 
 with little to mark its antiquity internally ; except 
 the arms of its first restorers, a niche in the choir 
 for holy water, and a fine " lavabo " in the sacristy, 
 both sculptured in the style of the Ib^^ century. 
 
 It contains also the tomb of Filippo Campani who 
 was rector here in 1682, with its inscription cut in a 
 slab of macigno. 
 
 There once existed a beautiful picture by Filippo 
 Lippi, which was in the choir in the time of the 
 Alessandri. Vasari says that " Messer Alessandro degli 
 Alessandri, then a knight and friend of Lippi, caused 
 him to paint for his country church at Vincigliata, 
 on the Fiesole hill, a picture with S. Lorenzo and other 
 saints (on the left SS. Cosimo and Damiano, on the 
 right SS. Agostino and Antonio), with the portraits 
 of himself and his children." When this picture 
 adorned the choir, the altar had a " paliotto " with 
 S. Lorenzo painted on gilded leather, — this was there 
 in the time of the curate Vestri 1619, but his successor 
 Bartoli replaced it with a " purgatory " painted in 
 panel; on the altar were a large painted crucifix and 
 smaller cross bound with threads of gold. Lippi's 
 painting and the crucifix are all gone; the painting 
 is preserved in the Alessandri palace and its place in 
 the church filled with the inferior "^ Holy Family with 
 San Lorenzo " which the curate Campani placed there 
 
THE CHURCH. U5 
 
 in 1682. There is also an old mediocre painting of 
 the martyrdom of " Santa Cristina." 
 
 The sacristy contains a curious collection of relics. 
 The names of a few are St. Donato, St. Tertullian, 
 St. Vitale, St. Vincent, Emeritus the martyr, St. Placi- 
 dus, etc. etc. The priest, who is a quaint and garru- 
 lous old churchman, tells a dreadful legend of one of 
 his predecessors who was killed at the altar by Fran- 
 cesco Alessandri, which we have related (page 26). 
 
 We are anxiou.s to ascend the tower, and inspect 
 the bells which are said to have ancient inscriptions on 
 them, but we find there is no internal staircase to the 
 tower, so a primitive external ascent is made by the 
 more courageous members of the party. A contadino 
 is called to bring a ladder, which is drawn up on the 
 roof of the canonica (priest's house) and being reared 
 against the tower from that " bad eminence," is held 
 by the man while the explorers ascend ; but the 
 legend of the bells is illegible, so we cannot tell their 
 story. 
 
 The canonica is a long low villa of which " all 
 the windows are doors," as a child once aptly remarked; 
 they are fringed above with a vine, and open on a 
 garden, full of oranges and lemons, of tomatos and 
 grapes, with a fine fig tree or two. On the wall of 
 the lower terrace is a very good bust of St. Lawrence 
 in terracotta, early Florentine style. The church, 
 
 10 
 
146 THE CHURCH. 
 
 which was once dedicated to the Virgin and San Lo- 
 renzo, is now called San Lorenzo, its name having been 
 changed by the IS**" century restorer, the priest Giovan 
 Battista Fabbrini, who also turned the choir in the 
 opposite direction to its original situation. 
 
 Near the canomca is one of those picturesque roofed 
 gateways so common in Italy, and the houses of 
 Mr. Leader's peasants, who are just now engaged in 
 cutting off the leaves and superfluous stalks of the 
 vines, left so ragged after the grape harvest, and from 
 this archway emerges our friend the wood-ranger with 
 his gun slung over his shoulder. We join company 
 with him, for he is to be our guide down to another 
 church connected with Vincigliata, that of San Martino 
 a Mensola. He takes us by a short cut plunging 
 straight down the hill, and cutting off all the turns 
 of the zig-zag carriage road. 
 
 We cross a little torrent, called the Trassinaia, and 
 find ourselves in a gorge which might be in Norway, 
 so wild is it. Lofty cliffs, crags and pine trees are 
 all massed together on the sides of the rocky stream 
 which goes plunging down between these natural walls 
 till lost in a hazy dell at the bottom. Behind the 
 crags we hear the ring of the stone cutters' hammers, 
 and realize that not far from where we see a man 
 working, was the quarry, now worked out, from which 
 Brunellesco took the stone for his cupola. 
 
THE CHURCH. 147 
 
 At tli9 foot of the descent we emerge from the 
 pine- wood near a large and handsome villa which once 
 belonged to the Alessandri, but now forms part of the 
 estate of Mr. Leader, who purchased the villa from 
 Conte Carlo Alessandri. It is the house to which that 
 family retired when Vincigliata began to decay, or 
 was no longer found suitable to household life, and is 
 in the style of Italian villas, of the 17*^ century, with 
 ample rooms and a charming long corridor ; but it 
 contains no other remains of antiquity except some 
 sedili in the hall. From a balcony on the upper floor, 
 may be seen a most beautiful view of the hills sur- 
 rounding Florence. There is a south garden where 
 lemons and myrtles bloom, and a north one where 
 black cypresses overshadow the walls; and near this 
 is the chapel, on the roof of which is a curiously 
 arranged bell with an outer clapper. The Alessandri 
 "" lamb " is to be seen everywhere, on door and gate. 
 
 The altar of the chapel is of stone, and above it 
 hangs a Madonna painted in the style of the 15*^ cen- 
 tury, while on it is placed a beautiful crucifix of 
 inlaid pearl and ivory ; on the pearl panels are en- 
 gravings of the Christ, the dove, and St. Francis 
 beneath. 
 
 A little below this villa the Trassinaia joins the 
 Mensola, and here is Mr. Leader's mill which looks 
 as though it might have ground the Alessandri corn 
 
148 THE CHURCH. 
 
 for centuries past. At one side of the mill is a tower 
 with arched windows, and on the other a grape vine 
 climbs over the wide door of a wheelwright's shop. 
 
 We cross the bridge that spans the double stream 
 and ascending a road through some vineyards reach 
 the pillared porch of the pretty country church of 
 San Martino a Mensola. 
 
 There has been a church in this spot ever since 
 the 11*^ century when the Benedictine monastery close 
 by was founded. After that epoch it fell into ruins, 
 and was rebuilt about 1450 by Pope Nicholas V, in the 
 time when St. Antonino was bishop of Florence. 
 
 It has a nave and two aisles ; a great variety of 
 armorial bearings are sculptured in the keystones of 
 the arches, and capitals of columns, bearing witness 
 to the dominion of many Florentine families. There 
 is a treasure of art in this little church which is, 
 I believe, quite unknown to the generality of visitors 
 to Florence. First there is one of the finest of Fra An- 
 gelico's paintings, over the altar to the left of the 
 choir ; an Annunciation, with the most exquisitely 
 painted Madonna and Angel. In the left corner of 
 the picture he has added, as a supplementary subject, 
 a small view of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from 
 Paradise, forming a keynote to the mystery of the 
 birth of Christ. 
 
 Over the high altar is a large triptych of Gothic 
 
THE CHURCH. 149 
 
 form, with paintings of the school of Griotto. In the 
 centre is a life-size Madonna and Child, with St. Julian, 
 and St. Amerigo, and at the Virgin's feet a kneeling 
 figure of the donor, — one of the Zati family, with 
 the date '' October MCCCLIII." In the right com- 
 partment full-length figures of SS. Martin, Gregory, 
 and Anthony. In the left, Mary Magdalen, SS. Nicholas, 
 and Catherine. 
 
 The Pieta contains the story of St. Martin divid- 
 ing his cloak with the beggar, and the arms of the 
 Zati-Velluti. 
 
 The altar on the left of the chancel has a paint- 
 ing, said to be either by Cennini or Orgagna. It is 
 in three Gothic arches, containing respectively full- 
 length figures of the Madonna and two saints ; the 
 tympanum of each arch is occupied by a half-length 
 representation of a prophet, and over all is a frieze 
 of angels. 
 
 In the centre of the jjredella is the conventional 
 resurrection, with the patron Betti di Corbignano, 
 and his wife kneeling at each side of the tomb. 
 
 The two altars in the aisles have also fine pictures, 
 but one of them has been much injured by time. 
 
 The house close by the church is connected with 
 the modern Vincigliata, as being the birthplace of 
 Giuseppe Fancelli the architect; and not far from it 
 is a contadino's house, once called " Villa Buon Ri- 
 
160 THE SWIMMING BATH. 
 
 poso " which belonged to Boccaccio's father and was 
 by him sold in 1336. The poet Boccaccio has de- 
 scribed the place in two or three of his works. 
 
 We now descend a little lane between two hedge- 
 rows and reach the bridge over the Mensola, where 
 we come down with a shock from past ages, and find 
 that convenience of modern locomotion a tram-car, 
 waiting to convey us to Florence. 
 
 THE SWIMMING BATH. 
 
 Out at the postern gate, and beneath the pine 
 trees, we take our way under the guidance of the 
 wood-ranger, who knows every turn and dell, in the 
 vast pine-woods of Vincigliata. Down he plunges 
 and we after him, in a kind of " follow my leader " 
 procession, sliding down the slopes made slippery by 
 generations of pine needles ; now stumbling over the 
 stones of an old mule road, then rounding a group 
 of myrtles ; down, down to a contadino's house, and 
 farm yard, where a number of Ali Baba oil jars 
 stand in a row near a heap of yellow Indian corn, 
 on the aja or threshing-floor, and a black eyed conta- 
 dina with a mummylike babe in her arms is leaning 
 on the stone lintel of the door (for even this is built 
 
THE SWIMMING BATH. 151 
 
 in medieval style), and she gives iis a smile, like a 
 sunbeam. 
 
 Here we leave the Vincigliata ^^odere and find 
 ourselves at a turn of the road with another gate at 
 right angles, which latter the wood-ranger proceeds 
 to open by some mysterious process, with the aid of 
 a secret tool found in a crevice of the w^all, and we 
 find ourselves in a more mysterious dimness, descending 
 steeply among the dark cypresses which border a pre- 
 cipitous path winding round the rocks. 
 
 On the other side is a steep defile where grow cy- 
 presses, ilex, and myrtle, arbutus, and Spanish broom, 
 with here and there a silvery mountain thistle, or 
 starry mountain pink. Still down, down to a deep 
 gorge where the Mensola (Boccaccio's Mensola) comes 
 tumbling amidst its crags, and crossing over it on the 
 bridge built by Mr. Leader, we reach the bank of a 
 little green lake, beneath great crags of rock, that hang 
 above it, jagged, ragged, and projecting; and rich in 
 sombre tints of brown and grey. 
 
 This is the bath, and a more beautiful spot for a 
 swim could scarcely be found. 
 
 Its solitude is almost overpowering, — nothing to 
 break the silence but the ripple of the Mensola over 
 its stones, the faint rustle of the wind in the pine-woods 
 opposite, or the swish of a bird's wing as it flies in 
 and out of its home in the great crags above. On one 
 
162 THE SWIMMING BATH. 
 
 side is a medieval looking tower built by Mr. Leader, 
 with young pine plantations near it, and at its foot 
 a grove of oleanders, whose red blossoms drop into 
 the lake. 
 
 Here and there the ancient quarries from which 
 stone has been taken ages ago, are formed into alcoves 
 for diving platforms, for dressing-rooms, and rustic 
 arbours by the water-side whose arches are covered 
 with ivy. In the rock at the end of the lake is a 
 shrine with a Madonna, in Delia Hobbia's style, above 
 a vase of flowers, and at the other end a water garden 
 where grow water-lilies, iris, papyrus, and high pampas 
 grass ; while a punt floats on the lake, so that timid 
 swimmers may be reassured. In the dressing-room is 
 another majolica Madonna. 
 
 Close by, Mr. Leader is building a little villa in 
 the style of a Roman loggia, for bathers to have re- 
 freshment and repose. On the south side are woods 
 stretching far up the hill, and terrace after terrace of 
 great stone walls enriched with oleander, ivy, purple 
 iris, and fringed with pines. 
 
 The bath is certainly ideal in beauty. But this 
 is not all, for in this lovely hollow is contained a 
 whole chapter of Florentine art history. Here came 
 Griuliano di San Gallo and Benedetto da Maiano, who 
 was bred among these quarries, to choose from this 
 spot the stone for their architectural work. Michael 
 
THE SWIMMING BATH. 153 
 
 Angelo's plans for the Laurentian Library and the great 
 stairs leading thereto, were put into stone hewn from 
 this hollow, now filled with limpid water. From this 
 quarry, called on that account " Cava delle Colonne," 
 came the columns of San Lorenzo, Santo Spirito, and 
 the choir of the SS. Annunziata. Some of the last pu- 
 blic works for which this quarry yielded stone, were the 
 restoration of the sacristy and Medici chapel in San Lo- 
 renzo in 1817, when the columns were taken from it. 
 The stone cutters on that occasion were Antonio Bar- 
 tolini and Francesco Materassi of Settignano, who each 
 earned four francs a day. On this occasion a large 
 piece of rock fell upon two workmen, one of whom, 
 BuUi, died after a few days, and the other, whose name 
 was Maiano, broke his leg. 
 
 The quarry was not used again till 1833, when the 
 stone for the new staircase of Palazzo Pitti was taken 
 from it, the chief cutter being Pietro Bartolini, pro- 
 bably a son of the Antonio, mentioned above, for of- 
 fices are very often hereditary in Italy. 
 
 In fact this rocky basin has helped to make Flo- 
 rence, and is hallowed to art in the memory of the 
 great artists who have handled and shaped its stones 
 into works of beauty. 
 
 The stone is of various kinds, there is a very dark 
 grey sandstone called by the workmen ptetra higia, 
 and a pale bluish sandstone called pietra serena. These 
 
154 THE SWIMMING BATH. 
 
 have different textures in different parts, there is a 
 rough stone which they call ruspe, that withstands 
 exposure to atmospherical influence ; and a finer grain 
 called pietra fine, which is used for interiors and for 
 sculpturesque decorations. There are some kinds al- 
 most as hard as granite, which are known as forte, 
 and others soft and easy to work with the chisel, 
 named tenere. The hard stone takes a polish almost 
 as fine as marble. The ])ietra higia being both hard 
 and strong, is chosen for stairs in Florence, which 
 modern ladies find as hard to ascend as did Dante in 
 his day, and is that macigno spoken of by the same 
 Dante when railing at his fellow citizens as 
 
 .... queir ingrato popolo maligno, 
 Che discese di Fiesole ab antico, 
 E tiene ancor del monte e del macigno. 
 
 " That ungrateful and malignant race 
 Who in old times came down from Fiesole, 
 Ay! and still smack of their rough mountain flint." 
 
 (Gary's trans., Inf., XV.) 
 
 The geological formation of the Vincigliata hill 
 and Monte Ceceri is not by any means confined to 
 the stones above mentioned. The Professor Gruido Vi- 
 mercati, C. E., in a learned article on " The hill of Vin- 
 cigliata" in the Rivista Scientifica Industriale, speaks of 
 several rare minerals to be found there especially py- 
 rites, limonite, aragonite, and barytes, the crystals of 
 
THE SWIMMING BATH. 155 
 
 which are found in a layer of flaky clay (argille sca- 
 gliose) which speaks of ancient volcanic action. Dr. 
 Francesco Passerini has also, written on " The minerals 
 and rocks of Vincigliata," and in the third Congress 
 of Italian Scientists held at Florence in 1841, Signer 
 Vittorio Pecchioli presented numerous specimens, and 
 a long list of minerals found on that hill. 
 
 The bath is at the very foot of Monte Ceceri, that 
 mountain of stone which makes such an effective 
 object as seen from Yincigliata. Here for the height 
 of several hundred feet are layer upon layer of macigno, 
 and jpietra serena hewn into rugged hollows, and great 
 quarries propped up by rough pillars of rock left by 
 the quarrymen who have dug them out. 
 
 Excepting three quarries, all those on Monte Ceceri 
 now belong to Mr. Leader. A winding path through 
 the ascending terraces of shrubbery, and a grassy road 
 beneath the grey olives on the hill, bring us at length 
 into the dusty and deeply rutted road to them. Such 
 a road ! worn into deep hollows and ruts, and with 
 pieces of the solid rock jutting up amidst them. Here 
 we see the placid white oxen dragging the loads of 
 stone, calmly ignoring the impediments in their way ; 
 and two poor little donkeys struggling under the same 
 difficulties, and so fully alive to them, that it is only 
 the cruel lash of the drivers, which keeps them up 
 to the terrible strain. 
 
15« THE SWIMMING BATH. 
 
 Here we lose sight of the smiling vale of Arno and 
 see stone, stone, and yet more stone, in every direction. 
 
 On the left, great yellow cliifs stand out into the 
 landscape with a few silvery barked poplars, standing 
 up against the blue sky with their roots in the rocky 
 soil. On the right is a mountain towering above us 
 formed of strata of grey and yellow rock alternated 
 with layers of friable stone. The paths wind along 
 the edges of precipices, and lead to vast caves which 
 seem like grand primitive temples, for the wide gal- 
 leries recede in ascending steps beneath the roughly 
 hewn roofs, supported on massive columns of living 
 rock, and one can go up the wide steps till almost 
 lost in the distance. Like primitive temples these too 
 have been the scenes of human sacrifice, for it often 
 happens that a large piece of rock falls on some unfor- 
 tunate or careless workman and crushes him. Our 
 guide while telling us this, is urging us to pass quickly 
 by the mouth of the quarry, for that is generally the 
 dangerous spot. 
 
 Through all these fifty quarries the chief sounds 
 are the boom of the blaster's powder, echoing sud- 
 denly, or the constant ring of the stone cutter's ham- 
 mer ; for no less than 500 workmen are employed 
 on this hill. Fiesole has been poetically called the 
 Mother of Florence ; here one realizes that the idea is 
 not wholly poetic, for during all the centuries that Flo- 
 
THE SWIMMING BATH. 157 
 
 rence has existed, tlie stones of Fiesole have formed it. 
 The Etruscan walls, the Eoman Theatre of Fiesole 
 itself, the medieval fortresses and palaces, the churches, 
 and modern houses of Florence, all had their birth from 
 this inexhaustible hill, and not only the material part 
 of Florence, but the soul of her art also arose from here. 
 The material which nature supplies, has always a 
 great influence on the art of a country. The forests 
 of Grermany and Switzerland produce wood carvers ; 
 the alluvial clay on the plains of Lombardy brought 
 forth the beautiful terracotta adorned architecture of 
 the Lombard towns ; and so Monte Ceceri remotely 
 caused the rise of Florentine sculpture. There have 
 been endless generations of stone cutters at Maiano 
 and Settignano from the times when the Romans cut 
 their friezes for the Theatre at Fiesole, and Arnolfo's 
 men carved the stone for his buildings. And time 
 after time has the artisan turned into the artist. Mino 
 da Fiesole soon left the rough macigno and carved his 
 Madonnas in the smoother marble ; Desiderio di Set- 
 tignano, Benedetto and Giuliano da Maiano learned 
 that stone was a vehicle to express their artistic inspi- 
 rations, by using the chisel in their father's work- 
 shops ; and who knows whether the David of Michael 
 Angelo would ever have been the pride of the Floren- 
 tines, if the child had not passed his babyhood amidst 
 the ring of the hammers in these quarries, and seen 
 
158 IL LIBRO D'ORO. 
 
 the scrolls and angels emerge under his foster father's 
 chisel. 
 
 So even a stone quarry has a history and artistic 
 interest in this wonderful land which has embalmed 
 the past. 
 
 " IL LIBRO D' ORO.'^ 
 
 We might call this chapter " the ethics of a visit- 
 ors' book." Now a "visitors' book " has many aspects : 
 it may be to some a mere uninteresting list of un- 
 known names, to others a vehicle to record enthu- 
 siasm, or complaint, and to indulge in that universal 
 tendency to inscribe himself, which belongs to mankind 
 in general. To others again a visitors' book is a page 
 of history, or a precious collection of autographs ; this 
 is more especially the case when the object visited is 
 of an artistic or historical nature. Such a page of 
 history is the Album of the Castle, in which one finds 
 memorials of the Italian travels of Royalties and cele- 
 brities, and evidence of their taste and appreciation 
 of art. There is a great deal of national, as well as 
 private character to be learned from a visitors' list. 
 Here we have the princely signature in one single 
 word "" Leopold " or "" Beatrice ; " the free-and-easy 
 Americans who sign '^ Belle Brooks " or " Kitty Rooke ; " 
 
IL LIBRO D'ORO. 159 
 
 the unassuming Italian who always gives his Christian 
 name and surname and nothing more ; and the decorous 
 English who may omit the familiar name, but never 
 forget to write themselves as Miss or Mrs., Captain 
 or Mr. N. or M. 
 
 Curious coincidences sometimes occur, for instance, 
 it is strange that one of the very first entries in Yin- 
 cigliata Album should be the " Conte Carlo degli Ales- 
 sandri," a descendant of its ancient possessors. 
 
 A visitor interesting to the owner was Signor Luigi 
 Bucalossi, an Italian by birth, who writes after his 
 name " a British subject who voted for Mr. Leader at 
 Westminster. " 
 
 There is quite a remarkable collection of royal 
 autographs which we will take in chronological order. 
 The Duke of Aosta * heads the list with his aide-de- 
 camp Captain Roberto Morra ; they visited the Castle 
 on April 24*'' 1864, before it was finished, and when the 
 cloister was quite in a state of embryo, little more 
 than the excavations having been made. 
 
 Some years later, on April 14*'' 1872, came The- 
 rese Princess of Hohenlohe, with Prince Frederick of 
 Hohenlohe, and the Princess Catherine de HohenzoUern 
 Sigmaringen ; and soon afterwards the G-rand Duchess 
 
 ^ Just as this is going to press (January 1890) the sad news 
 arrives of the death of the Duke of Aosta, a calamity in which 
 the nation is in sympathy with its monarch's sorrow. 
 
IGO IL LIBRO D'ORO. 
 
 Helene Paulovna of B/Ussia — widow of the Grand Duke 
 Michael, uncle of the Czar Alexander — and her lady 
 in waiting, the Baroness de Eaden. The Grand Duchess 
 made the cuatode David Giustini (who was also the 
 sculptor of much of the ornamentation) tell her the 
 history and meaning of everything she saw. This was 
 only a few months before her death in February 1873. 
 On November l'"" 1874 the Grand Duke Charles Alex- 
 ander of Saxe Weimar drove up to the Castle witli 
 the Grand Duchess Sophia and the Princesses Maria 
 Alexandra (afterwards Princess of Reuss) and Elizabeth ; 
 together with a large suite, the Conte Conestabile, 
 Comm. Aurelio Gotti, and Cav. Campani, — three of the 
 best historians of Florence acting as their ciceroni. The 
 refectory was specially illuminated on the occasion, to 
 the great admiration of the young Princesses. So 
 literary a man as the Grand Duke, who, besides his 
 royal and military titles, is also Rector of the University 
 of Jena, would be sure to take an intelligent interest 
 in such a work as this, besides, he was a judge of the re- 
 storation of medieval castles, having restored his great 
 Castle of Wartburg. His pithy remark on the ancient 
 bracket which Mr. Leader would retain in its old place 
 in the loggia of the court in spite of the architect's 
 inclinations (see page 33), shows how thoroughly he 
 understood the subject. In a letter to Mr. Leader some 
 little time later, he writes : " Cinquecento is a time, of 
 
IL LIBRO D'ORO. 161 
 
 which we greatly admire the art, but it is a time in 
 which we should have had slight pleasure in living." 
 Perhaps the most interesting Royal party inscribed 
 in the Album was the quartette of Crown Princes and 
 Princesses who with their suites visited Vincigiiata 
 on April 30*'^ 1875. 
 
 A DI XXX APRILE MDCCCLXXV 
 
 GIOVANNI TEMPLE-LEADER 
 
 EBBE L'ONORE DI RICEVERE 
 
 IN QUESTA SUA VILLA DI MAIANO 
 
 FEDERIGO GUGLIELMO PRINCIPE EREDITARIO 
 
 DELL' IMPERO GERMANICO 
 
 COLLA CONSORTE VITTORIA 
 
 PRINCIPESSA REALE DELLA GRAN BRETTAGNA 
 
 E 
 
 UMBERTO PRINCIPE EREDITARIO 
 
 DEL REGNO D' ITALIA 
 
 COLLA CONSORTE MARGHERITA 
 
 PRINCIPESSA DI SAVOIA. 
 
 Here are their signatures : 
 
 VICTORIA CROWN PRINCESS OF GERMANY AND PRUSSIA AND PRINCESS 
 ROYAL OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 
 
 MARGHERITA DI SAYOIA. 
 
 FRIEDRICH WILLHELM KRONPRINZ DES DEUTSCHEN REICHS UND 
 KRONPRINZ YON PREUSSEN. 
 
 UMBERTO DI SAYOIA. . 
 
 11 
 
162 IL LIBRO D'ORO. 
 
 They were then four gay young people, with all 
 their monarchical honours and anxieties in prospect, 
 and little dreaming that to one the crown would only 
 be brought in the hands of death, and heralded with 
 pain, and that to her who loved him, it would be 
 that crown of grief — widowhood. Margherita and 
 Umberto have had a brighter fulfilment, and have 
 grown into the hearts of their people, by ruling not 
 so much with the sceptre, as with the heart, and long 
 may they reign. On that April day they were all full 
 of spirit. When Col. Morra recalled having visited the 
 Castle with Prince Amedeo, the Prince Humbert said 
 jestingly : " You have risen in the world since then. 
 You were captain and my brother's aide-de-camp, now 
 you are colonel and aide-de-camp to the Hereditary 
 Prince, and better than all — a member of Parliament." 
 Prince Frederick of Prussia was particularly taken with 
 the G-erman warming pan, and the room rang with 
 his laughter as he copied the inscription on it (see 
 page 116-117), in his note book, which he used a good 
 deal that day. 
 
 The Princesses signed their names standing, and 
 with their gloves on, but Prince Frederick in his 
 methodical manner, seated himself at his ease in an 
 arm-chair, took off his gloves, and gave the ceremony 
 quite the aspect of an affair of state. On their return 
 to Berlin they did not forget Vincigliata, for Baron 
 
IL LIBRO D'ORO. 163 
 
 Alfred von Eeumont wrote to Mr. Leader on Octo- 
 ber 2'^^ 1877 : " A short time ago, our, and also your, 
 Princess Royal talked to me of Vincigliata, where you 
 received her, with the liveliest interest. The Princess 
 spoke all the time in Italian, and I was happy to find 
 she shares our predilection for Florence." 
 
 Her Royal Highness Princess Margherita now Queen 
 of Italy also kept a pleasant memory of the day, for 
 she desired the Marchese di Villamarina to express to 
 Mr. Leader her sense of gratification in their reception 
 there. 
 
 A party from Scandinavia ! Josephine Beauharnais, 
 Queen-mother of Sweden, with her Dame d'honneur 
 and escort, spent one day in Florence on coming up 
 from Rome, and employed it in driving to Vincigliata. 
 The Queen, being connected with the Bonapartes, 
 had a great sympathy for Italy, and being a good 
 catholic the pretty little chapel pleased her more than 
 anything else, she shook hands and congratulated Mrs. 
 Leader on the possession of it. Her death took place 
 shortly after this visit. 
 
 In March 1876 Prince Leopold of England arrived to 
 see the Castle, which possessed a personal interest, as he 
 had in 1860 passed some months in Mr. Leader's Villa 
 at Cannes. Of course he was regaled with wine of the 
 Vincigliata vintage, of which he so approved, that he 
 would drink no other kind during his stay in Florence. 
 
164 IL LIBRO D'ORO. 
 
 Now, come a party of grandees from the other 
 hemisphere. Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress 
 of Brazil, whose names are entered simply as 
 
 I). PEDRO D' ALCANTARA. 
 THERESE CHRISTINE MARIE. 
 
 They were accompanied by their suite, while Com- 
 mendatore Gotti and Cavalier Persiani acted as cice- 
 roni. It was in March 1877, and the wind blew 
 especially keen, but the Emperor bore it like a stoic, 
 saying he had known winds as cold on the Sierra 
 Nevada. He enquired into everything and took notes 
 in the most systematic manner. The Empress chatted 
 with much sympathy on the subject of Tuscany, where 
 her sister the Grand Duchess Maria Antonietta had 
 reigned, but she became quite melancholy when Naples 
 was named, for there her childhood had been passed 
 while her father Francis I, of Bourbon, was still king. 
 But even her memories of a lost kingdom were but 
 slight compared to the sadness of the next royal per- 
 sonage who visited the Castle, i. e. the Ex-Empress 
 Eugenie, who was accompanied by her son the Prince 
 Imperial on April 6'** 1877. Those simple names '' Eu- 
 genie, " " Napoleon " seem to make the page w^eep, so 
 sad are the memories they bring of an Empress without 
 a throne, a wife widowed, a mother bereaved, and a 
 
IL LIBRO D'ORO. 165 
 
 young career which, in place of inheriting an Empire, 
 began and ended with a treacherous death in a far-off 
 land. On the day when mother and son were at the 
 Castle together, the Prince in the exuberance of youth 
 began to vie with the Marchese RafPaele Torrigiani and 
 Marchese Eoccagiovine, in gymnastic feats, and climb- 
 ing in perilous places, till the Empress maternally 
 chided him for alarming her. The Empress was espe- 
 cially pleased with the guard-room and told Mr. Leader 
 it reminded her of a story of the tournament at Eglin- 
 ton Castle in 1839, in which Louis Napoleon took 
 part. It seems that on the first day the lances were 
 found to be too tough, and they hurt the champions, 
 so for the next combat they were partly sawn across, 
 but this, as far as artistic eflPect was concerned, was an 
 unlucky inspiration, for the weakened lances wagged 
 ludicrously in the knightly hands. 
 
 On March 12*^^ 1881 Louis Victor Prince of Austria 
 is inscribed as " Victor de Clepheim," and on the 23"^ 
 the Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lome, who was 
 then on her wedding tour incognito, Avrites her name 
 as Lady Sundridge. 
 
 The next royal entry is Mary Adelaide, Princess of 
 Great Britain and Ireland, Duchess of Teck, who came 
 in May 1884 with the Duke of Teck and her children, 
 and a large party of friends including the beautiful 
 Lady Windsor, nee Paget. 
 
166 IL LIBRO D'ORO. 
 
 Then comes that memorable year lb88, when Flo- 
 rence was a perfect rendez-vous of Royalty, and when 
 seven reigning sovereigns lunched together at the 
 Palazzo Pitti. The party which the Queen of Servia 
 chronicles, as visiting Vincigliata on " April 7i8 "^ (the 
 Servians evidently use the double date like the Rus- 
 sians), may have been planned at that very luncheon 
 table. The imposing list is headed "Natalie," "Alexan- 
 dre," then follow the "Count and Countess de PlatofF," 
 " G-eorges Due de Leuchtenberg, " the ladies of honour 
 of her Majesty the Queen of Servia, and of the Queen 
 of Wiirtemberg ; Baron Wolff, and an imposing array 
 of members of the Strozzi and Torrigiani families in all 
 numbering twenty-four. These all lunched under the 
 trees in the outer court and Queen Natalie was of the 
 gayest, little foreseeing that her boy would be taken 
 from her, and that what was then a pleasure tour 
 away from home would soon be turned into exile. The 
 little Prince had paid a previous visit to Vincigliata 
 in February when he came with Prince Alfred, son 
 of the Duke of Edinburgh, and their respective tutors. 
 The names are entered 
 
 ALEXANDRE. 
 ALFRED. 
 DR. WOKSU. 
 DR. ROLFS. 
 
IL LIBRO D'ORO. 167 
 
 And the last of the Royal visitors inserted in the 
 Libro d' oro, who is she ? Here is her signature 
 
 d^J^ /S^/^^<P^ 
 
 With her came the Princess Beatrice, and| Prince 
 Henry of Battenberg, and their suites. 
 
 .o. 
 
 
168 IL LIBRO D'ORO. 
 
 As for Princes and Princesses not of the blood 
 royal their names are legion. They come from Eussia 
 and Poland : Princesses Troubetskoy, and Ypsilanti, 
 Princess Alexandrovna Ghika ; — from Rome, Florence, 
 and Naples : the Princes Borghese, Odescalchi, Strozzi, 
 and Corsini, Duke and Duchess of Ceri, and the Prince 
 and Princess of Telamone who were so pleased with 
 Yincigliata that they came twice in one week. Here 
 are German Barons and Grafin in crowds : the Baron 
 and Baroness Tchudy, a whole famil}^ of Barons von 
 Eottenstein, Baron de Hornstein, and Carl von Bun- 
 sen ; also English aristocracy, such as Lord Plunket 
 Bishop of Meath, now Archbishop of Dublin, with 
 Miss Henrietta Guinness, on April ll*** 1878 ; the 
 dowager Viscountess Galway in May 1883, and Lord 
 and Lady Windsor, March 7"" 1888, with others whose 
 name is legion. One day a party of Spanish grandees : 
 " El Conde de Casa Rojas, y el Yisconde de Recamo ; " 
 another morning the " Vicomte and Vicomtesse de So- 
 veral "" from Portugal. Here come the Earl and Coun- 
 tess of Craw^ford with a whole party of ladyships from 
 Scotland, and then a group of the Parisian haut ton ; 
 Count A. de la Rochefoucauld with the Baron Talley- 
 rand Perigord and his friends. 
 
 As for the Statesmen and celebrities, the album 
 would prove a mine of treasure to the autograph col- 
 lector, for in it are the names of the most famous Eu- 
 
IL LIBRO D'ORO. 169 
 
 ropean Statesmen, beginning from our own Gladstone, 
 his colleagues, and adversaries. Here are the signa- 
 tures of Thiers, Mignet and other French politicians ; 
 Ex-President Grant, and Cardinal M'Closkey, Arch- 
 bishop of New- York, from the new world ; with Italian 
 leaders in scores, from the late Bettino Ricasoli, and 
 Quintino Sella downwards. They know how to ap- 
 preciate it too, for Baron Bettino Ricasoli wrote to 
 Mr. Leader : " Lib'^ral actions should be praised by in- 
 telligent and worthy men, and the merit is the greater 
 when they add to the instruction and honour of the 
 country to which they belong. In truth you greatly 
 merit public appreciation, for the intelligent and ge- 
 nerous rebuilding of the monumental and historical 
 Castle of Vincigliata. Would that many might follow 
 your example. As for me I am proud to confess myself 
 grateful on the part of the public, on whom you have 
 conferred a benefit by your splendid example.'' 
 
 The Hon. Quintino Sella is even more enthusiastic. 
 " From my visit to the Castle," he writes, " I have 
 formed a high opinion of your character and of the 
 ideal which guided you in your work. If a picture 
 which faithfully recalls past times is valuable, if all 
 that gives us an idea of life in ages preceding us, is 
 precious, should we not say that edifice is incompa- 
 rably more valuable, which, by accurate study and lavish 
 expense, succeeds in making the domestic life in a 
 
170 IL LIBRO D'ORO. 
 
 medieval fortress live again in the mind of the intel- 
 ligent spectator ? I therefore feel it my duty as an 
 Italian, and as a cultivator of learning to be grateful 
 for the work so marvellously carried out by you. You 
 claim another title to my gratitude, for planting the 
 ground surrounding the Castle with woods. How much 
 the condition of Italy would be improved if Italians 
 would follow your example ! Accept, therefore, not 
 only my thanks, but above all my sentiment of admi- 
 ration for all that you have done." 
 
 Nor are the English visitors less appreciative: the 
 late Earl of Crawford and Balcarres wrote to Mr. Leader 
 on June 5*** 1875 : " When I thanked you for your 
 most interesting account of your reconstruction of the 
 old fortress of the Alessandri, I had not revisited it, 
 since the restoration. I can now say, that I never 
 was more astonished in my life, than when I had the 
 pleasure of going over it a few months ago. — It is 
 a thing sui generis, unparalleled in its completeness, 
 and the skill and taste that have presided over every- 
 thing you have done there. Modern Italy, the heir 
 of the medieval, owes you a deep debt of gratitude for 
 such a work. All my family and myself have to offer 
 you a thousand thanks for the kindness and the cour- 
 tesy with which you have permitted us to visit it, 
 and to drive through the beautiful woods and roads, 
 which have transformed the face of the country in 
 
IL LIBRO D'ORO. 171 
 
 your neighbourhood from what I well remember as its 
 appearance, as well as Vincigliata, more than thirty 
 years ago." 
 
 The authors inscribed are many, and not a few 
 of them have drawn from the place inspirations for 
 books, notably Signor Marcotti, the Baron de Reumont, 
 Signer Baroni, Lord Lamington and Signor Carocci, 
 who have all written very learned and interesting 
 things on Vincigliata. Besides these the autographs 
 may be studied of many a famous European writer 
 such as Lord Houghton (Richard Monckton Milnes who 
 adds to his name '' Poeta Inglese " ), Count Tolstoi, Carl 
 Hillebrand, De Amicis, Villari, Fusinato, Klara Lovic, 
 Charles Yriarte, Madame de Segur, Gallenga, etc. etc. 
 Besides these are the more familiar ones of the poet 
 Swinburne, T. A. Trollope, Hamilton Aide, Charles 
 Dudley Warner, Marion Crawford, Ouida, Linda Vil- 
 lari, Edgar Taylor, Helen Zimmern and others. 
 
 Then there are names in whose ring we hear echoes 
 of medieval Florence and her sturdy burghers, such 
 as Strozzi, Tolomei, Albizi, Alessandri, Visconti, Tor- 
 naquinci, Martelli, Machiavelli, Mccola Lapi, Cap- 
 poni, Medici, etc., whose ancestors may have visited 
 the Castle seven or eight centuries ago. 
 
 The contrasting parties that rove about the rooms 
 are very curious ; here, on January 29*^" 1889, we have 
 a regiment of soldiers, whose officers sign for them, and 
 
172 IL LIBRO D'ORO. 
 
 express enthusiastic admiration, and there (October 14*'') 
 a party of nuns and novices from the " Conservatorio 
 di San Giovacchino " with their Mother Superior write 
 that they have " visited this marvellous Castle." 
 
 One day the black soutanes of the students of the 
 Seminary are fluttering ecclesiastically in and out of 
 chapel and guard-room, another a party of artists or au- 
 thors roams through them, chatting cleverly and writ- 
 ing epigrams after their names. One day a batch of 
 literary English stars among whom are Bentley and 
 John Forster, another the energetic members of the 
 Alpine club. Then arrive the processions of carriages 
 that announce a Congress. Celebrities from all j^arts 
 of the world have signed their names, on Septem- 
 ber IT*** 1875, when the guests, at the centenary of 
 Michael Angelo made an excursion hither. Here is the 
 report of the journalist " Yorick " one of the number : 
 " We reach Vincigliata. The Castle is open, although 
 the noble proprietor is absent from Florence. The 
 party disperses in the rooms, the court, and the cloi- 
 sters. The construction almost entirely modern is con- 
 ducted with such an exquisite sentiment of the antique, 
 with such a happy imitation of form and colour in the 
 frescoes and ornamentation, in the furniture and ac- 
 cessories, with such a rare perfection in every minute 
 particular, that one would swear one saw the feudal 
 manor of a fierce Tuscan baron left intact, silent and 
 
IL LIBRO D' ORG. 173 
 
 deserted, enchanted like the ancient city of Zobeide ; — 
 ah ! what a splendid house ! " 
 
 Only a few days after this, on September 21"^ the 
 " Congress of Italian architects and engineers came, 
 and last year (1889) the '' Historical Congress " was 
 received at Vincigliata, and after some pages of emi- 
 nent names Vv'e find a warm eulogy of the Castle, which 
 is pronounced '' a worthy monument of history and art, 
 an imperishable record of the manners of the ancient 
 Lords of our fortresses, and of the warlike middle ages." 
 
 But there are less public visitors chronicled in the 
 Libro cV oro — this time the gold is the gold of friend- 
 ship. The master has a circle of friends who meet 
 here year after year to celebrate two , or three festal 
 days. The Italians have a pretty custom of keeping 
 the '' giorno onomastico " or fete of the Saint whose 
 name corresponds to that of the person feted. In this 
 case the two fetes are St. Louis, June 21'*, in honour 
 of Mrs. Leader whose name is Luisa ; and St. John's 
 day, June 24*^, for Mr. Leader whose name is John. 
 
 The real birth-day of the owner of Vincigliata is 
 also celebrated in the English style. On these occa- 
 sions the refectory is not only illuminated but filled 
 with guests, and when the fete is recorded in the Album, 
 one or other of the literary stars is generally inspired 
 to verse. At one time it is a humorous poem about 
 the Lord and his vassals, in which all the guests' names 
 
174 IL LIBRO D' ORO. 
 
 are woven ; at another an epigrammatic toast to Mr. 
 and Mrs. Leader. 
 
 Here is a specimen of these impromptu odes and 
 sonnets by Cav. Abele Mancini of Melfi, Basilicata : 
 
 Salve ! o vetusta mole, 
 Che i secoli sfidando, 
 L'eta tu vai iiarrando 
 Al vate, al pellegrin. 
 
 Salve, tre volte salve ! 
 Tempio di gloria e d' arte ! 
 E su famose carte 
 Sia noto alPavveiiir 
 
 Quante dovizie accogli, 
 Quai palpiti tu desti; 
 E imperituro resti 
 II nobile Signor, 
 
 Che ai poveri ed all' arte 
 Yolge pietose cure : 
 Oh ! r epoche venture 
 Benediranno a te ! 
 
 As a free translation we may give : 
 
 All hail ! thou strong and ancient pile 
 That passing centuries dost defy, 
 Thy stones vrith old-world tales beguile 
 The bard, or pilgrim passing by. 
 Thrice hail ! thou fane of glorious art, 
 May future ages reading find 
 In many a famous page or chart 
 The wealth thou hast in thee enshrined. 
 Thou wakest our emotions deep, 
 ' Yet calm and aye unchanging keep, • 
 (In thee is no disparity) 
 And him thy Lord may all time bless. 
 Who on his age leaves his impress, 
 A touch of art and charity. 
 
IL LIBRO D' ORO. 175 
 
 Oiie evening the party being inspired to poesy, 
 some one proposed a theme in " Rime obbligate " or 
 writing a poem on given rhymes. Not a mere doggrel 
 such as usually results from our games of " Bouts 
 rimes," but a regular sonnet. The sonnet seems in- 
 digenous to Italy from the days of Petrarch. There 
 is never a family ceremony, be it birth-day, christen- 
 ing, or wedding-day, but some friend has a sonnet 
 apropos to the occasion. In this case the task was 
 less easy, for 14 rhymes were given, some of which, 
 — especially the words Simone and hallotte, — bearing 
 reference to the cause of the festivities, led to a similar 
 choice of subjects in all. It was the fete of St. Simon, 
 and of course boiled chestnuts (ballotte) took a prominent 
 part on the table at dessert. Italians say : 
 
 Per San Simone 
 Ballotte e vin nuovo 
 
 and also : 
 
 Per San Simone si mangia ballotte per divozione 
 
 (On St. Simon's day one eats ballotte for devotion). 
 
 The custom refers to an old usage among the country 
 people ; on St. Simon's day you.ng lovers used to carry 
 a present of the new chestnuts to their betrothed, and 
 expected to be regaled at supper with new wine. 
 
 As the Yincigliata sonnets are untranslatable on 
 account of the obligatory rhymes, I give them as 
 they are. 
 
176 IL LIBRO D'ORO. 
 
 The first is by Padre Giulio Metti, who afterwards 
 became Bishop of Leghorn. 
 
 Il San Simone a Vincigliata. 
 
 SONETTO. 
 
 Fra i canneilon, lo sbiffe e le ballotte, 
 Fra la sciampagna, il brigidin, la mela, 
 Abbiamo dato affe tali ribotte 
 Che per un pezzo puo vogar la vela. 
 
 Se fosse ancora giorno, e non gia notte, 
 Come ci attesta il lume di candela, 
 Darem sul prato cento belle botte, 
 Come r ilarita d' ognun rivela. 
 
 Dunque gridiamo : Evviva San Simone, 
 Che del marrone sotto la divisa 
 Qui ci ha uniti senz' agro di limone. 
 
 I nostri " Evviva " ascoltin dall' Incisa 
 Quando in partir di qui senza lampione 
 Direm : " Viva Giovanni e la Luisa." 
 
 The second is by the late poet Signer Giuseppe 
 Fieri : 
 
 Qui dove sianio a mangiar le ballotte 
 Ed il pasticcio ripieno di mela, 
 Qui dove si conviene a far ribotte 
 Spiega il pensiero ad altri di la vela. 
 
 Quando V Italia in tenebrosa notte 
 Di libertade spense la candela 
 Qui fu il potente tristo a dar le botte 
 A lei che il vero ai popoli rivela. 
 
 E sito mi raostro contro a Simone 
 E niuno tenne un' egiial divisa, 
 Si disputo d' un fico e d' un limone. 
 
 Resta perenne in questa mole incisa 
 La gran memoria perche sia lampione 
 A quest' eta, se lo suo ben ravvisa. 
 
IL LIBRO D'ORO. 177 
 
 One of tlie poets of these classic suppers was the 
 late Cavalier Teseo Prezziner, a great student and 
 writer of Florentine history; on November 18*^ 1868 
 he records his 31'* visit, and his name appears quite 
 as frequently afterwards. 
 
 Another entry which is always made in the Master's 
 own hand some time in October, is the record of the 
 vintage (vendemmia)^ when he and his family assist in 
 gathering the grapes, which grow in the southern 
 hallium and the adjacent ])odere. 
 
 Now for the amusing side of the visitors' book. 
 So many persons like to record a thought or an im- 
 pression, and leave the impress of their character as 
 well as name. One honest visitor confesses himself 
 non senza invidia (not without envy), and another 
 "^ wishes the proprietor would make him his heir." 
 A classical scholar parodies Csesar and writes " Vent, 
 vidi et admiravi ;'^ another quotes Tacitus. A romantic 
 person exclaims : 
 
 Tace il labbro, ma il cor rapito parla 
 Che qui vetusta eta trova ed ammira. 
 
 (The lips are silent, but the ravished heart speaks, 
 That here admiring it lives in past ages.) 
 
 A literary party, comprising Cavalier Priore Com- 
 mendatore Tommaso Uguccioni, Cavalier Griovanni Lo- 
 
 12 
 
178 IL LIBRO D'ORO. 
 
 rini, etc., left the following record of their visit on 
 November l'» 1868 : 
 
 Sul vertice del colle, 
 
 D' eta trascorse vivo monumento, 
 
 Maestoso s'estolle 
 
 II feudal Castello, 
 
 Che non piu di feroci odj di paile 
 
 E fatto ostello, 
 
 Ma per insigne 
 
 Di Signor generoso alto concetto 
 
 Or serve all' arte. ' 
 
 (Crowning the hilly land 
 
 A monument of ages long gone by, 
 
 Majestic and grand, 
 
 The fortress doth rise. 
 
 No more does hate ferocious, or fierce feud 
 
 Contest for the prize, 
 
 A more noble part 
 
 By generous gentlehood is now bestowed 
 
 — It serveth for art.) 
 
 Another adds in Italian "^ Blessed be the stranger 
 who comes into Italy, to raise again a monument of 
 its ancient glory," and an enthusiastic Frenchman 
 says : " Honneur a celui qui avec autant de gout que 
 df intelligence a su i^essusciter un heau joyau. — Jean 
 Makie Bos.'' 
 
 The late Signor Medoro Savini visited the Castle 
 on October 1^^^ 1874, and " lived again for an hour 
 in an heroic epoch, forgetting the prose of civilization 
 such as taxes and the civil list." 
 
IL LIBKO D'ORO. 179 
 
 Here are some patriotic visitors: one lady named 
 Clelia being about to leave for her beloved Lombardy. 
 
 "^ My country is the world, my roof the heavens, 
 mankind are my brethren, and conscience is my judge." 
 A.nother quotes Leopardi's famous lines beginning : 
 
 dame, o cavalieri, 
 giardini, o palazzi ec. 
 
 Some like to be mysterious and write a list of 
 comic false names, or the curious entry " Jenny — 
 Switzerland " while on one page is a veritable '^ Mr. 
 Barnes of New York ! " Here we have an enigma 
 without an answer, there an acrostic. There are signa- 
 tures in Arabic, and Chinese, in Welsh, and Russian, 
 in Turkish and Latin, in fact the visitors' book is 
 full of interest to those who know how to look for it. 
 
MAIANO. 
 
THE FATTORIA. 
 
 Like his predecessors, Mr. Leader has made himself 
 a home a little nearer the world than the heights of 
 Vincigliata, and spends his autumn months at Maiano, 
 a pretty nucleus of villas on the olive-covered slopes 
 of a hill between Fiesole and Vincigliata, .just below 
 Monte Ceceri. 
 
 In its way Maiano is quite as full of interest as 
 Vincigliata, but it is of a totally different kind. At 
 the Castle above, everything speaks of the stern feudal 
 times, of wars and party strife ; down here among the 
 leafy vineyards there are many reminiscences of the 
 past, but they are of gentle nuns, of peaceful " Signori," 
 or ardent artists ; for Mr. Leader's Fattoria was once a 
 monastery, in his villas lived Florentine cavaliers, and 
 under his vines have walked the sculptors, poets and 
 painters, whose names are household words to us. 
 
184 THE FATTORIA. 
 
 Benedetto and G-iuliano da Maiano grew up within the 
 sound of the bells that now call the peasants to mass 
 in the village church of Maiano ; Desiderio da Set- 
 tignano found the stone for his beautiful shrines in 
 the quarries just above ; Pico della Mirandola and Mar- 
 silio Ficino walked here, and talked not only of Plato, 
 but they imagined a villa on the hill, so working 
 up the delights of this '^ Chateau en Espagne," which 
 was to have fountains and woods, a south aspect and 
 all other delights, that Pico exclaimed : " Ah, Ficino ! 
 do you not seem to see the house we have imagined, 
 and longed for, as we see things in a dream ? " 
 
 The villa at Maiano seems a fulfilment of this 
 dream, and every rood of the Englishman's estate has 
 a story to tell of Italy in the past. 
 
 It is a bright autumn day when we leave the tram 
 at the Doccia, and walk towards Maiano down a winding 
 road, where aloes and oleanders fringe the walls of the 
 villa gardens on one side ; and a little wood of oak, 
 cypress, and ilex straggles down the slopes on the 
 other. 
 
 We soon reach the gate and arched entrance of 
 Mr. Leader's Fattoria, and find our friend the wood- 
 ranger waiting to introduce us to the Fattore. 
 
 Probably not all our English readers know precisely 
 what a Fattoria is, as we have no equivalent for it in 
 
THE FATTOKIA. 185 
 
 England. It is the honse of the Fattore or manager of 
 an estate (in Scotland, Factor) — the place where wine 
 and oil etc. are made. Most of the land in Tuscany is 
 cultivated on the " half-and-half system," i. e. the pea- 
 sant who undertakes to cultivate a j[>odere (or farm) re- 
 ceives no wages in money, but takes half the produce 
 of the crops, rendering the other half to the master. As 
 the owner has to supply the farm stock and utensils, 
 and takes the risks, this kind of farming is not always 
 the most profitable, unless the contadino be very honest 
 and industrious, or well watched and directed. 
 
 On small estates this is a simple contract between 
 the peasant and land-owner, but on large ones where 
 there are many ijoderi to be worked, it is necessary 
 to employ an overseer, whose office it is to see to the 
 amount of the crops, to rule the expenditure, and di- 
 vision of profits ; and in fact to take the whole super- 
 vision of farm duties. Of course a great responsibility 
 rests with the Fattore, and in cases where he is not 
 quite disinterested, the peasants experience some of 
 the drawbacks of having a middle-man. 
 
 A Tuscan saying refers to this : 
 
 Fammi Fattore un anno, 
 
 Se non arricchisco e mio danno. 
 
 (Make me Fattore for a year, and if I don't get rich, it is the 
 worse for me). 
 
186 THE FATTORIA. 
 
 Signore Emilio Fancelli of Maiano, however, is not 
 one of this class. His father was Pattore before him ; 
 his brother, the architect, rebuilt Vincigliata, and the 
 whole family are devoted to the interests of the Pa- 
 drone in whose service they have remained honest 
 working men for two generations, a fact reflecting as 
 much honour on the master as on the employed. 
 
 The half-and-half system would not be tolerated 
 in England, though the aim of the system is good and 
 fair. It supposes a partnership between capital and 
 labour ; the master representing the former, and taking 
 all the responsibility of the capitalist ; the contadino 
 representing labour, and taking the profit thereof. 
 Thus the land belongs to the master, and the contadino 
 shares the crops equally with him. The gain is not 
 in such equal proportions however, for the Padrone has 
 to supply utensils, farm stock and oxen etc. out of his 
 half, whereas the contadino eats and drinks his corn, 
 wine, and oil, unless he be very thrifty, or the podere 
 so large that he has enough crops to sell, and to lay 
 by a little money — a very rare case. Nevertheless 
 the Italian peasant has his own ways of saving. He 
 will lay up a store of linen and garments for his 
 daughters' wedding portions, and will endow each of 
 them with a necklace of pearls or coral — one of them 
 of course inherits that of her mother. Of late the 
 contadino taste in heirlooms has undergone a change, 
 
THE FATTORIA. 187 
 
 and in place of pearls the bridal dote is invested in 
 a huge gold chain as thick as one's finger. 
 
 The Landlord's liabilities do not end at the farm 
 stock, there often come bad years, the late frost nips 
 the young corn, or cuts off the buds of vines and 
 fruit trees ; a great storm floods the podere, and pros- 
 trates the newly ripened corn ; the hail pelts the 
 olives off the trees, or spoils the ripe grapes ; then 
 the lessened share is not enough to keep the peasant 
 and his family all the year, so he has to borrow of 
 the Padrone. If he has luck he may pay off the debt 
 when the next year's crops come in, if not, the Pa- 
 drone ruefully considers it a bad debt, and thinks that 
 a podere is not the best investment for his money. If 
 he be a hard man, he changes his contadini, and turns 
 the family adrift to find another master, but with most 
 Italian land-owners the peasants have an hereditary 
 holding, and several generations work successively in 
 the same fields, the Padrone showing them a feudal 
 protection. One may be sure from the willing faces 
 and reverential affection, shown to the master of 
 Maiano, as he walks beneath his vines, that his pea- 
 sants have no fear of bad years weaning them from 
 his kindly care. 
 
 There are, in some cases, other compacts between 
 master and labourer, besides the mere division of crops, 
 thus some of Mr. Leader's paff?' sound quite patriar- 
 
188 THE FATTORIA. 
 
 chal. The contadini of the larger jjoderi are bound to 
 render certain services to him during the year, such 
 as digging 100 braccia of earth, either for draining 
 or agriculture ; supplying or planting 60 cuttings of 
 woodland trees or fruit trees, and a hundred faggots. 
 The contadini are besides obliged to keep poultry and 
 supply the quota thereof to the Padrone's table. The 
 larger poderi have to furnish two capons, a couple of 
 chickens, and six dozen eggs. 
 
 There are also personal services to be rendered. 
 The contadini take a week's service in turn. During 
 this week the one on duty must be each day at the 
 disposition of the master at his house in Piazza Pitti 
 until midday, to assist the porter ; he also brings the 
 provisions, such as dairy and vegetable produce etc. 
 from the Fattoria. The peasants take turns, in acting 
 as night-watchmen at the Castle of Vincigliata, and 
 the villa at Maiano ; and their wives do the laundry 
 work for the Padrone a month each in turn. As there 
 are twenty-six ^oderi, these duties fall lightly on all. 
 
 The very small poderi are only bound to the laun- 
 dry duty, the tribute of plants and poultry being re- 
 mitted. The little garden of herbs and flowers named 
 Bon Rij)oso is excused even from this slight service. 
 Any peasant who keeps a horse is bound to serve his 
 master's needs with it either for the Calessino (country 
 vehicle) or cart, and this service is duly recompensed. 
 
THE FATTORIA. 189 
 
 The Fattoria is the centre of all this farm work, 
 the Fattore regulating the service of the peasants : at 
 Maiano the Fattoria may be seen in perfection, for 
 English system has been grafted on Italian industry, 
 and we find our morning here is as instructive as it 
 is interesting. Our first impressions on entering, are 
 certainly more ecclesiastical than agricultural. The 
 great arched doorway is still suggestive of a monastery, 
 for there are the little grilles^ through which visitors 
 in olden times held their only communication with 
 the devout sisters within ; and having passed the porch 
 we find ourselves in a pretty little cloister with a fine 
 fresco of Spinello Aretino's on the wall opposite us. 
 The monastery well is in the centre, and when we 
 glance into its depths we find it lined with exquisite 
 masses of caj^el-venere^ or maiden hair fern. Beside 
 the well a great Seville orange tree is growing, and 
 its spreading branches reach above the first story, nearly 
 filling half of one side of the cloister. Summer and 
 winter that tree has blossomed for centuries, and 
 shrouded nuns have plucked the blossoms, which they 
 might distil into scent, but which never should wreath 
 them for an earthly bridal. 
 
 The ground of the cloister is strewn with great 
 oil jars lying about in all directions, and giving quite 
 an oriental air to the arches, the well, and the orange 
 tree. We sit on the low parapet of the cloister and 
 
190 THE FATTORIA. 
 
 glancing around discover that the arches on two sides 
 are supported on octagonal pillars, of solid Doric ma- 
 sonry, and on the other two by round pillars with 
 Ionic capitals. The former show the remains of the 
 original cloister, which dates prior to the eleventh 
 century, for at that epoch the nuns possessed the 
 right of entertaining each new bishop of Fiesole, 
 when he went to take possession of his See ; an 
 expensive privilege apparently, for a sumptuous feast 
 had to be prepared by the nuns for Bishop, Dean 
 and Chapter, and even the priests and acolytes. 
 
 The limited funds of the monastery appear to have 
 proved insufficient for the restorations, as we learn 
 from an old deed in the archives that a certain 
 monk, — Fra Biagio di Loro (brother of " sister Agnes " 
 of their order) who lived in the Spedale of Santo Spi- 
 rito in Florence, — had advanced a hundred gold florins 
 towards the vaulting of the cloister and other resto- 
 rations, the nuns binding themselves to give him rooms 
 in the monastery or elsewhere, with a salary sufficient 
 for his expenses as long as he lived. If he elected 
 to live in Florence or away from the monastery, then 
 they were to give him yearly a barrel of wine, and 
 a large jar of oil ; and when he died the value of 
 this was to be spent in masses for his soul, with that 
 of Madonna Agnes his sister, and all his benefactors ; 
 and moreover that these masses should be on St. Agnes' 
 
THE FATTORIA. 191 
 
 day. The monastery was in early times a donative of 
 the See of Fiesole, and the Bishops were its first be- 
 nefactors. , Several of the Popes granted it privileges 
 and donations : thus Pope Martin V gave it the tithes 
 of the Church of " San Miniato a PagnoUe," with the 
 obligation to maintain a priest there ; and Alexander VI 
 united with it the oratory and glebe of " San Michele," 
 which was close by the monastery. Another chapel 
 called the "" oratory of San Michele " also belonged 
 to the nuns, for we find that in June 1344, Marghe- 
 rita Visdomini (here again we see the Visdomini dis- 
 pensing ecclesiastical preferment), Abbess of Maiano, 
 placed that chapel under the custody of a jpinzochera 
 (a lay sister of the order of St. Francis) who was 
 bound to receive there the procession on Rogation 
 days, and to give refreshments to the priests who 
 took part in it. 
 
 In 1634 this oratory passed into possession of the 
 canons of the Cathedral of Fiesole with a compact 
 that the fete of San Michael should be kept up, and 
 the priests entertained on Rogation days, besides an 
 annual payment to the canons of two lbs. of Venetian 
 wax.^ But to return to our monastery, the archives of 
 which contain such a long list of donations and lega- 
 
 ^ The oratory afterwards passed to two other rehgious com- 
 panies, and in the 18*^ century fell into disuse, and has now be- 
 come part of a villa. 
 
192 THE FATTORIA. 
 
 cies from devout laymen and women, that in course of 
 time it became quite wealthy, and could afford to pay 
 good artists for its decorations, among which the fresco 
 by Spinello Aretino, — which we have been enjoying 
 all the time we hear these old stories, — must be 
 reckoned the chief. It takes on the wall the whole 
 width of an arch, and represents the " Madonna of 
 Mercy," who is clad in a robe of white and gold, 
 with an outspread mantle sustained by angels over a 
 kneeling group of people — one of those masses of 
 expressive faces which only a true old Florentine 
 master could render interesting. On the right is the 
 Abbess of Maiano in her Benedictine robes, with her 
 nuns and novices in wimples and vestments, and behind 
 them a multitude of women, dressed in flowing zimarre, 
 and hooded mantles. On the left a row of popes — 
 evidently early ones, for they wear the single tiara, 
 and not the triple one which was brought in by 
 John XXIII in 1410, nor even the double one which 
 was used by Benedict XII as early as 1334. Behind 
 the popes is a line of solemn monks, and at the back 
 are the laymen of the period in flowing lucco and ber- 
 retta. The coloring, though faint with years, is very 
 sweet and harmonious, the extreme lower edge had 
 been effaced, — for between the time of the nuns, and 
 the present owner, the monastery had been let out to 
 peasants, and the cloister made a playground for chil- 
 
THE FATTORIA. 193 
 
 dren — but it has now been beautifully restored, by 
 Cavalier Biancbi, who ' ver}" wiselj^ has not touched 
 the rest of the painting. 
 
 Entering the house of the courteous Fattore, in 
 whom we are glad to find a brother of the architect 
 of Vincigliata, we can trace everywhere the form of 
 the monastery under the modern dwelling house. The 
 neat little bed-rooms are monastic cells, with their tiny 
 cupboards in the wall and their small deep windows. 
 The kitchen and sala are two or three cells in one, 
 from the latter a terrace has been thrown out from 
 which there is a lovely view of Val d'Arno. The old 
 fortress of Vincigliata and Castel di Poggio stand on 
 their cypress-covered hills on the left, and Mr. Leader's 
 villa with its picturesque tower and warm red roof 
 on the right, while his olives and vines clothe the 
 hills between them, which slope down to the plain, 
 where the towers and domes of Florence fill the middle 
 distance. 
 
 Over the door of the cell which now forms the 
 Fattore's hureau, is an inscription in gilt letters carved 
 into the stone recording the name of 
 
 S EMILIA PALMERINI 
 
 who must have been a recluse with especial pretentions, 
 for her name does not appear on the list of Abbesses. 
 
 13 
 
194 THE FATTORIA. 
 
 In a corridor is a scroll of stonework with the arms 
 and names of three other distinguished devotees. 
 
 S GINEVRA ADIMARl 
 
 SAM COSTANZA 
 
 S M. IVSTIN DL BORGO 
 
 The first of these was Abbess in 1642, and the last 
 
 — Sister Maria Justina dal Borgo — is inscribed in the 
 book of the monastery in 1629, as having given four 
 scudi towards the expense of an organ for the Church. 
 
 This Register, li Registro di Ricordi e Obblighi^ of 
 th'e sacristy of the monastery of San Martino is ex- 
 tremely interesting, it is an ancient manuscript bound 
 in dark red leather, richly stamped and gilt in the Per- 
 sian style, — probably a gift from some learned friar 
 who had been to the East in search of manuscripts. 
 
 — It begins with the Christian monogram, and invoca- 
 tions to the Trinity, the Virgin, and all the Saints, to 
 St. Benedict founder of the order, St. Romolo head of 
 the Fiesole bishopric, and to Pope Martin. After which 
 follows " Here in this book to the glory of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, memorandums in the form of an inventory 
 shall be made." Here then we get an insight into 
 all the life and interest of a nun in those days ; we 
 find that the holy wafer was kept in a bone box, pro- 
 bably one of those carved caskets peculiar to the era. 
 
THE FATTORIA. 195 
 
 and that an embroidered cnshion was put on the seat 
 of the Father Confessor. We learn the contents of 
 the sacristy, from the five crosses and crucifix, even 
 down to the six brooms and two bundles of matches, 
 which last cost a crazia (7 centimes). Here we find 
 the inventory of the corredo (trousseau) of the waxen 
 Madonna, who changed her rich garments according 
 to the season, and had different mantles of white 
 flowered damask, of taffeta, of yellow satin, of red and 
 ermine, of blue damask, and of yellow stuff. We learn 
 that the nuns took turns in the care of the sacristy, 
 each holding that office for a year, and we may be 
 sure that each one recorded her own especial works, 
 though they write that this is " not for vain glory, 
 but to excite devotion in others, that they may do 
 like good works, and to prevent the ambition of those 
 who in times to come might appropriate the credit 
 of that which they have not done." 
 
 Thus in 1707 Sister Angiola Felice Del Nero 
 mended the veil used on the fete of Corpus Domini, 
 which was much torn, and re-trimmed the drapery of 
 white and cloth of gold, with gold lace ; but it being 
 a very tedious work to transfer the embroidery she 
 availed herself of the " assistance of eight or ten nuns 
 who were skilled m that kind of work, and who executed 
 it with diligence and charity." Sister Francesca pos- 
 sessed no money of her own, but in her year of office 
 
196 THE FATTORIA. 
 
 she induced her father Signer Francesco Poggi to give 
 a crimson pianeta trimmed with silver. The " mother 
 chamberlain " kept silkworms in 1779 and with the 
 profit on them she bought a chalice which cost 30 scudi. 
 True, she was seven pauls short of the price, but her 
 sisters made it up. 
 
 Then more economies are chronicled, rather a 
 touching entry this time. A certain novice, when she 
 took the vows in 1781, presented to the sacristy a 
 green brocade gown which she had worn in the gay 
 world, and the industrious nuns fashioned it into a 
 gorgeous vestment trimmed with gold. 
 
 Then we get a glimpse at the devout excitements 
 which break the dead calm of conventual life. 
 
 There was a day, August 14*'' 1586, when the ancient 
 Madonna of Fiesole, called the Primerana, was carried 
 in procession round Fiesole and then left for some time 
 at the monastery at Maiano, where the nuns burned 
 many a candle in its honour ; again it is written " on 
 Good Friday 1714, we made a grand (maestoso) sepulchre, 
 with a hundred and twenty lights, and Monsignor Pan- 
 ciatichi with all the seminary came to visit it, to his 
 profound consolation ; and he, seeing that the coffer 
 which holds the Host was very ancient, promised us 
 a new painted one of the value of five scudi.'' 
 
 In 1730 there is the unusual record of the Baptism 
 of an English baby, " the daughter of the illustrious 
 
THE FATTORIA. 197 
 
 Signer Berti of England/ by permission of Monsignor 
 M. Strozzi and the nuns of this monastery. The god- 
 father was Signor James Collins and the child was 
 named Elizabeth Pellegrina/' 
 
 With this we will close the book and resume our 
 explorations. 
 
 The next door we open brings us back from the 
 past into the active business of the present, for it is 
 the door of the drying room. Here are layers on 
 layers of matting supported on frames, and on them 
 are different kinds of grapes in process of drying, the 
 red ones are kept to rigovernare — i.e. to put into 
 the new wine when the fermentation is over, — the 
 white grapes are chosen to dry and make vin santo, 
 and the richest black kinds for aUatico. The largest 
 grapes are kept for the table. The roof is festooned 
 with red garlands of tomatoes and pendants of garlic 
 and onions. 
 
 On the floor below this we may see all the work 
 of the Fattoria. Here is the granary with its heaps 
 of corn and sacks of wheat, a yellow mountain of 
 maize, a brown hill of saggina for the poultry, a grey 
 one of oats, etc. ; and next to it the laboratory, a large 
 place full of sieves and strainers, flasks and baskets, 
 flour bins, and cupboards, funnels and siphons, packing 
 
 Probably Burt, or Bertie, which is an old English name. 
 
1»8 THE FATTORIA. 
 
 cases and corks. At the end is a revolving sieve which 
 sifts Hour simultaneously into several compartments, 
 beginning from the finest to the last and coarsest kind, 
 after which the bran is cast out at the end. Then 
 there is a bottling room with its crates, cork pressers, 
 and seals, and a locked up room where 36 barrels of 
 vin santo have been kept to ripen so long that a 
 perfect veil of cobwebs, eloquent of mellowness, have 
 been woven about them. Indeed so rich and mellow 
 is the Maiano vin santo that the Princess Victoria now 
 Empress Frederick pronounced it very much like 
 Tokay. 
 
 Now we descend to the ground floor, and here in 
 what used to be the refectory, an immensely long 
 room, whose arched roof is supported on brackets, the 
 oil is stored. What a quantity of oil must those four 
 and twenty Ali Baba jars contain which are ranged 
 on a raised platform all round the room ! for each one 
 is capable of containing 10 or 15 barrels, each barrel 
 weighing 90 lbs. and in good years they are not only 
 all full, but are double in number. It used to be a 
 puzzle to our childish brains, how the forty thieves 
 got into the jars ? that question is solved here, for 
 each jar could hide two or three men ; the only 
 enigma that remains is, how Morgiana's limited caul- 
 dronful of oil was rendered sufficient to kill them all ? 
 
 We are not the first to make the allusion it seems. 
 
THE FATTORIA. 199 
 
 for we are told that when the same Princess Victoria 
 entered the oil room she exclaimed gaily : " Morgiana 
 and the forty thieves." 
 
 " "What a loss it would be, if one of these jars were 
 to break," one of us remarks. 
 
 " We have guarded against that," replies the Fat- 
 tore pointing out the peculiar structure of the floor, 
 which slopes a little towards the centre, down the 
 whole length of which a grating is inserted. A conduit 
 is placed beneath this, so that any oil which may 
 chance to be spilled is carried ofP to a receptacle below 
 and re-purified. Of course the grating is artistic — a 
 graceful scroll in perforated iron work. 
 
 " And how is the oil purified ? " 
 
 " I will show you," says the Fattore as he smilingly 
 leads the way to 
 
 THE CHiAEiTOio {clarifying room)^ 
 
 a vast place all arches and pillars, which must surely 
 in olden times have been the great kitchen of the 
 monastery. 
 
 Here we see the last process of oil making, the 
 clarification. The first thing that strikes us are cer- 
 tain mysterious names, such as mandorle (the almonds), 
 santo (the saint), ragnaia (the cobweb),^ grillo (the tree 
 
 * Ragnaia is the name of a long strip of oaks with a little 
 water in the middle for taking thrushes and other small birds. 
 
200 THE FATTORIA. 
 
 cricket), etc., appended to the walls and in front of 
 each label stand two immense conche (pans) large enough 
 to contain 60 or 60 gallons each, many of them partly 
 filled with oil. " What have cobwebs and saints, not 
 to mention crickets and other creatures, to do with 
 pans of oil ? " we enquire ; and learn that the labels 
 on the walls are the names of the twenty-six different 
 lioderi belonging to Mr. Leader, that the peasant who 
 cultivates each podere brings his oil to his especial 
 pan, to be clarified ; this being done, it is weighed 
 and divided, he taking his share, which is half of 
 the produce. 
 
 Above the pans a shelf runs the whole length of 
 the walls, and holds the barrels in which the oil is to 
 be placed, to be carried away. Some good years the 
 combined amount reaches 1200 barrels or more. 
 
 But to return to the clarifying process. The finest 
 or first drawn oil is placed in one pan and the last 
 drawn or coarsest in another. The fine oil remains 
 on the surface and becomes pure in a few days, but 
 the other kind requires to be put into hot water to 
 be cleared, it is then called sansa. The clarifying room 
 is furnished with a great furnace for heating water, 
 and with hot pipes across it to keep the atmosphere 
 tempered, so that the oil should not freeze in winter. 
 We seem to have been tracing the process of oil 
 making backwards, for instead of following it upwards 
 
THE FATTOKIA. 201 
 
 from the olive tree to the dinner table, we have seen 
 its latter phases first, and now trace it back to 
 
 THE STRETTOIO {oU mill). 
 
 A\^e follow a man with a long basket of olives on 
 his back into a great vaulted space where immense 
 cogwheels are slowly revolving over our heads in a 
 fitful jogging sort of way. The largest wheel turns 
 the smaller cogs of three oil mills arranged in a 
 triangular position round it. 
 
 The oil mill consists of a huge stone wheel revolving- 
 upright around an immense stone basin, and crushing 
 the olives in its course. A man stands at the edge of 
 the basin with a wide spade in his hands, shoveling 
 some of the brown greasy masses of half crushed olives 
 beneath the wheel at every turn. The motive power 
 of the whole machine is to be seen in the floor above 
 the mill, where a white ox is driven slowly round and 
 round, turning the bar which moves the large wheel. 
 When more than one mill is required, two oxen are 
 harnessed. 
 
 As soon as the olives are thoroughly crushed, the 
 reeking brown mass is put into certain circular bags 
 of woven hemp resembling lobster pots, and these 
 being placed in a strong steel-bound press, two men 
 squeeze the oil out by hanging with all their weight 
 on a long bar which acts as lever. The oil oozes into 
 
202 THE FATTORIA. 
 
 an underground receptacle whence it is carried to the 
 pans in the clarifying room. 
 
 Each peasant takes his turn in the use of the mills. 
 In the busy season they are all three occupied at once. 
 Olives are gathered in the winter months, when they 
 ripen and fall off the trees. The jjodere is a busy scene 
 at that time when men, women, and children are all 
 to be seen at work ; the men mounted on the branches 
 of the trees, girls with outspread aprons catching the 
 fruit as it falls, and children stooping to pick up the 
 brown berries from the furrows beneath the dusky 
 olives. A farm in Italy reminds one of the Biblical 
 Canaan, for its produce is corn, wine and oil. We have 
 seen the first and the last, now there remains i'or us to 
 see the wine made. For this the Fattore takes us to 
 
 THE TINAIA, 
 
 a large cellar-like place, furnished with monstrous 
 tint, or iron-bound tubs of wood, each one holding se- 
 veral hogsheads, and every one labelled with the name 
 of a podere. Into these vats the grapes are put when 
 plucked, and here they are stamped or pounded till 
 the tino is full of juice, which is left a week or two 
 to ferment, and then being drawn off by means of a 
 tap at the bottom forms the best wine. The skins and 
 stems are afterwards pressed in a gabhia (cage), and the 
 liquid forms the vino stretto or less fine quality of wine. 
 
THE FATTORIA. 203 
 
 There is still a third process and a third qualit}^ of 
 wine known as acquerello (wine and water). The re- 
 sidue of the grapes — skins, seeds and stalks — are put 
 into a vat, and a quantity of water is poured over 
 them; after a few days this is drawn off, and makes 
 a very light drink for the summer. Last of all the 
 pips are collected, and given to the pigeons. 
 
 There are various processes to be gone through such 
 as the rigovernatura or mingling of half dried red grapes 
 after the first fermentation, to give the wine a rich co- 
 lour and flavour, before it is finally carried to the 
 
 where there are rows of great hogsheads, two or three 
 yards in diameter each with a porcelain label stating 
 the quality and quantity of the wine, and the year 
 of the vintage. The quantity of wine made yearly at 
 the Fattoria varies from 600 to 1200 barrels. 
 
 The Fattore, though a busy and responsible man, is 
 yet under authority, for above him is the Maestro di 
 casa who issues orders, examines the accounts, and 
 exercises a general superintendance over the whole 
 estate. Mr. Leader's Maestro di casa is Signor Alessan- 
 dro Papini, a gentleman well known for his handsome 
 presence, wit, and abilities. 
 
 A list of the poderes under his vice rule may fitly 
 end this chapter : 
 
204 THE FATTORIA. 
 
 1. Ragnaia. 
 
 2. Villa di Maiano. 
 8. Marmigliano. 
 
 4. Fomace (the kiln). 
 
 5. Tatti. 
 
 (i Pian di Novoli. 
 
 7. Podere di Mezzo. 
 
 8. Chiesa (church of Vincigliata). 
 
 9. Careggi. 
 
 10. Torre (the tower or Castle). 
 
 11. Vanella. 
 
 12. Noce (the nut) at Ontignano. 
 
 13. Mazzi (the bundles) Fiesole. 
 
 14. Villa gia Catanzaro. 
 
 15. Mulinaccio (old mill). 
 
 16. Mandorle (almonds). 
 
 17. Mezzana. 
 
 18. Casa al vento (house exposed to the wind). 
 
 19. Torricella (little tower). 
 
 20. Orto di Maiano. 
 
 21. Grillo (tree cricket). 
 
 22. Camerata. 
 
 23. Bon riposo (good repose). 
 
 24. Lastrone (large flat stone). 
 
 25. Santo (the saint). 
 
 26. Corbignano. 
 
 It is interesting to know that n*" 1, 6, 9, 10, 15, 
 
THE FATTORIA. 205 
 
 17, 19 and 25 are the same poderi under the same 
 names, which were held by Giovanni Bartoli Usim- 
 bardi in 1335 and in his will left by him to his 
 son Niccolo and his cousins, five hundred and fifty 
 years ago. 
 
 We are copying the names from the Fattores book 
 while enjoying the view on his beautiful terrace, and 
 waiting for the hospitable lunch to which we are invited; 
 for, be it known, that our friend the woodman — who 
 also has his abiding place here — has other accomplish- 
 ments besides a knowledge of the forests. He has quite 
 a special genius for cooking beefsteaks, and as for his 
 omelettes they are as light as a feather ! His collations 
 {colazioni) are quite an institution, and the master's 
 guests are often regaled at the Fattoria. One such oc- 
 casion was that on which Mr. Leader's old friend G-lad- 
 stone lunched here on January 11*^ 1888 with him, 
 after just such a morning as we have spent in inspect- 
 ing the processes of oil-making, and learning how an 
 Italian 'j)odere is managed. Host and Guest had been 
 fellow stu.dents at Christ Church Oxford 60 years ago, 
 they had also been colleagues in Parliament. On this 
 meeting at Maiano the politician being blithe with 
 the memory of old days, and inspired with the beauty 
 of the rural life in the land of the vine and olive 
 half sang 
 
 Beatus ille qui procul negotiis, 
 
20tt THE FATTORIA. 
 
 and his host, not the less an admirer of Horace, 
 responded so aptly that in alternate strophes they 
 recited the whole ode as though they had been still 
 young classical students at Alma Mater. 
 
 Gladstone was insatiable in his search for knowledge 
 about Italian agrarian affairs, and wanted to know every 
 minute particular. He would have seen the working 
 of the podere system, at its best here, for never were 
 Italian contadini more favourably placed than under 
 this English master, to whom they are all evidently 
 attached, for every face brightens into smiles as the 
 " Signor Padrone " passes by with some genial remark. 
 No doubt the peasant profits more than the master, 
 who considers the Fattoria rather in the light of a 
 plaything for his occupation, than a profitable in- 
 vestment. 
 
 This renewed intercourse did not end here, for 
 much of the Statesman's time in Florence was passed 
 with Mr. Leader, who was the companion of the G-lad- 
 stones in exploring Fiesole, the whole family driving 
 afterwards to Vincigliata where they lunched. An- 
 other day (the 18*") was spent by the Gladstone family 
 (including the Rector of Hawarden and his wife, with 
 the Hon. J. "Wallop, familiarly called Jock by his 
 friends) at Maiano, where they explored the stone 
 quarries of Monte Ceceri, and the rock-bound bath, 
 and Mrs. Gladstone played the organ at the church 
 
THE CHURCH OF SAN MARTINO. 207 
 
 of Maiano. The Palazzo Pitti, Petraia, Certosa and 
 other sites were also enjoyed by them under Mr. Lea- 
 der's guidance. At the Certosa Gladstone was actually 
 out-talked by Padre Mac Mahon of Kilrush. Miss Helen 
 Grladstone was delighted with that convent, and wished 
 she could have such a place for her college at Cambridge. 
 
 THE CHURCH OF SAN MARTINO. 
 
 From the peaceful avocations of an Italian farm 
 we pass with a step into the still more peaceful calm 
 of the church ; for the chapel of the nuns, which is 
 now the parish church of Maiano, is literally under 
 the same roof as the Fattoria! A flight of steps and a 
 side door in one of the busy vaults we have described 
 brings us to a quiet little -piazzetta, with the Canonica 
 or priest's house on one side, and opposite to it the 
 fa9ade of the church with its " La Robbia " St. Martin 
 in the lunette over the door. All is so fresh and new 
 that, we do not recognise the antiquity of the little 
 building till we enter its single lofty nave, where in 
 the solid walls, and stone bench surrounding them 
 we have evidence that we are in a building, dating 
 certainly from Griotto's time — for that stone seat 
 along the whole length of the walls was never used 
 
a08 THE CHURCH OF 8 AN MARTINO. 
 
 after the 13*'' century. It is probable — as we have 
 proof of its existence in the 11*** century — that this 
 was one of the nine hundred and ninety churches 
 which the Countess Matilda of Tuscany caused to be 
 built. Its present form is that of a latin cross, but 
 it is evident that the choir and transepts were added 
 later, so we may suppose that like most of Matilda's 
 churches this one originally consisted of the simple 
 lofty nave and perhaps a semicircular apse. The roof 
 is in its original form, a gable supported on wooden 
 beams. The length of the nave is 60 feet 2 inches, 
 its width 21 feet 2 inches ; there are two windows in 
 it, one of which was filled with painted glass in 1654, 
 by the nuns Sister Brigida de' Eossi, and Sister Antonia 
 Adimari, who also presented to the church a painting 
 of the " Assumption of ttie Virgin." 
 
 A third wheel-window, with a beautiful representa- 
 tion of the Madonna and Child in coloured glass by 
 De Matteis, lights the nave. The choir has a rood- 
 loft, and is of much later architecture than the nave. 
 
 The Register of the nuns, from which we have 
 before quoted, contains several entries which serve 
 towards the history of the church ; here we find under 
 the date of 1477 : " In the name of God Amen. I, Sister 
 Bartolomea will note down the expenses I shall make for 
 the restoration of the church, the which fell in a great 
 storm (the nuns used a curious expression gran fortuna 
 
THE CHURCH OF SAN MARTINO. 209 
 
 di tempo). Precisely on the day of St. BartholomeWj at 
 an hour before sunset, there fell down both the church, 
 and the bell tower; and everything was injured in the 
 jpodevi, the olives and vines all beaten down, we could 
 gather nothing at all. Grod and St. Martin help us." 
 
 Probably the choir was at that time rebuilt in its 
 present form, for in 1497 there is an entry dated 
 June 9^^ : "" All the accounts which we have had to 
 make with Sister Antonia, Abbess of the convent of 
 Maiano, for the chapel of the high altar in the said 
 church are paid, and with one accord every person 
 who has had anything whatever to do for it has been 
 paid by me Ser Antonio di Niccolo, capjpeUano of the 
 same. The expenses of the chapel all being paid 
 amounted to 200 lire." 
 
 Other improvements are recorded in 1554 and 1669, 
 and again in 1830, when the pavement was renewed, 
 the drainage improved (for the floor was damp from 
 percolations from the cemetery), and some of the altars ' 
 were restored by Padre Antonio Gonelli, parish priest. 
 
 The latest restorations are those made by the present 
 proprietor, who may be said to have nearly rebuilt the 
 church. He it was who added the stone balustrade in 
 front of the high altar, — the work of the other two 
 altars, and the coloured glass windows, which are fine 
 works by De Matteis ; also the small bell tower, and the 
 glazed terracotta relief of "" San Martino " over the door. 
 
 14 
 
210 THE CHURCH OF SAN MARTINO. 
 
 The old organ was also renovated and enlarged at 
 the expense of Mr. Leader, who had the organ builder 
 in his house for several months until the nuns' ancient 
 instrument had become a good modern organ. The 
 same benefactor also removed the cemetery, for its 
 ground touched the wall of the church, and was several 
 feet above the level of the interior, causing the per- 
 colations that troubled Padre Gonelli. 
 
 But to go back to the good works of the nuns so 
 quaintly chronicled in their book. In 1573 Sister Ma- 
 rietta and Sister Fiammetta spent thirty gold scudi 
 in gilding and carving, for the adornment of the Ma- 
 donna on one of the altars ; and in 1584 the reverend 
 Sister Maria Benedetta, " moved by zeal for the honor 
 of our Lord Grod, and for the adornment of the church 
 of the said convent, caused an ancona or altar to be 
 made, entirely new, and most ornamentally adorned 
 with a picture containing the Madonna in the midst, 
 St. Martin on the right, and St. Benedict, Abbot and 
 head of the order, on the left. And it was ornamented 
 with the finest gold." Here follows the account, by 
 which we find that the master carver was paid 224 lire, 
 the gilder 231, and the master painter 240. There were 
 also the smaller expenses of the builder who fixed it, the 
 custom-house dues and porters, etc., '' all of which Sister 
 Maria Benedetta has paid at her own expense, and may 
 our Lord God accept it for the benefit of her soul and 
 
THE CHURCH OF SAN MARTINO. 211 
 
 the preservation of her life in this world, and to her 
 increasing in virtue and health and every other good." 
 
 This painting is a very good specimen of the later 
 Florentine school, and is now placed over the entrance 
 door. It has been attributed to Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, but 
 this is impossible, as he was no longer alive in 1584. 
 
 This pious gift awaked the zeal of three other 
 " reverend and courageous young nuns : Sister Maria 
 Benigna, Maria Francesca, and Grinevra degli Adi- 
 mari, to perform another worthy and laudable work, in 
 placing a picture on the altar of the Crucifixion (once 
 that of Saint Agnes), and to dedicate the altar anew 
 to the "^ Holy Rosary of the Annunciation." And 
 these three reverend nuns '^ having made between 
 themselves this most devout and praiseworthy pro- 
 position, they with their own personal fatigue and 
 faculty called together Griovanni Battista the wood 
 carver. Maestro Griovanni Battista the painter, and 
 Maestro Paolo the gilder, and agreed with each the 
 price for the work appertaining to his calling, and 
 then gave the order how the picture was to be made." 
 How well we can imagine this interview ! the keen 
 ruddy faces of the Florentine artists, and the white 
 wimpled nuns, whose pure and serious faces, though 
 lit with enthusiasm for their oflPering, would never- 
 theless be tempered with anxiety not to be drawn into 
 too great expenses. How the six Tuscan tongues would 
 
212 THE CHURCH OF SAN MARTINO. 
 
 have chattered! the men reasoning, the saintly women 
 protesting and pleading, till all was arranged for the 
 sum of 80 scudi — or 560 lire — between them, besides 
 the extra expenses of curtain and fringe, etc. etc. 
 
 On June 20^'* 1621 an interesting ceremony took 
 place, which the nuns thus describe : " On Sunday the 
 Illustrious and Reverend Monsignore TommasoXimenes, 
 Bishop of Fiesole, consecrated our church in honor of 
 St. Martin, bishop and confessor, — as was the ancient 
 title of the church ; — and, in the high altar he 
 placed the following relics, i.e. a relic of St. Quirinus, 
 of St. Fulgens, St. Severianus, and Sts. Januarius and his 
 companion martyr, as well as of one of the Eleven thou- 
 sand virgins of St. Ursula ; the which holy rite was 
 performed with decent solemnity, and the usual in- 
 dulgence of 40 days annually granted to every person 
 who visits the church on the anniversary of the day 
 of consecration. And at the said ceremony were pre- 
 sent all the clergy of the Cathedral, and other priests 
 and monks, and great multitudes of people, and there 
 were also present two of our Ojyerai (committee of 
 works for the restorations) Signer Jacopo dal Borgo, 
 and Signer Baccio Martelli, Florentine gentlemen, and 
 this shall be a perpetual memorial, etc." 
 
 The former of the two gentlemen was probably the 
 father of one of the nuns Justina dal Borgo, who in 1629 
 assisted in the expenses of a new organ, which replaced 
 
THE CHURCH OF SAN MARTINO. 213 
 
 the more primitive instrument for which Sisters Dianora 
 and Lodovica had paid 20 ducats in 1545-46. In 1764 
 Michelangelo Crudeli of Lucca restored it again. 
 
 Opposite the organ in the church is a large monu- 
 mental tomb to " Agostino del Nero," whose daughter 
 was a nun in the adjoining monastery. He decreed by 
 his will in January 1572, that wherever he died his 
 body should be carried to Maiano and buried in the 
 church of the monastery ; accompanied only by the 
 monks of the Doccia, and that the nuns should have no 
 expense nor obligation to say masses for him, only he 
 prayed that each time they passed by to the choir, 
 they would say a Miner ere or a De i^rofundis, so that 
 God may have mercy on his soul. The tomb consists 
 of an arch of macigno placed on two lions carved in 
 marble, with the family arms — a hound rampant in 
 field sable — and the inscription : 
 
 D. 0. M. 
 
 AUGUSTINO NERIO PATRICIO FLORENTINO 
 
 PORCILIANI CASTRI IN AGRO LATINO REGULO 
 
 CUNCTIS HONORIBUS IN REP.FUNCTO 
 
 NERUS ET FRANCISCUS F. PATRI CARISSIMO 
 
 AUGUSTINUS NEPOS AYO OPTIMO 
 
 MULTIS CUM LACHRIMIS POSUERE 
 
 VIX AN. LXXI MEN. VII D. XX 
 
 OBIIT Vn ID. MAI. ANNO SAL. M D LXXVI. 
 
214 THE CHURCH OF SAN MARTINO. 
 
 The Porciliani CastH in agro Latino of which Del 
 Nero was the feudal Lord, is now the King's favourite 
 hunting ground, — Castel Porziano. 
 
 The pulpit of the church was also a gift of one of 
 Del Nero's posterity, a certain Filippo Del Nero, in 1630. 
 
 The priest now takes us behind the choir and into 
 the sacristy, near which is a large room with a few 
 presses and some paintings. This must be the room 
 which the nuns called la sala vecchia (the old hall), 
 and which the Abbess Donna Elisabetta Angela Mi- 
 lanesi restored, and made into a chapter-house in 1714, 
 as the devotees had no convenient place for holding 
 their chapters. " On the 2"^^ of February 1714, they 
 brought here in procession the miraculous image of 
 the Madonna ; and Donna Maria Geltrude Corti at her 
 own expense and for pure devotion made the altar for 
 it." An ancient chest here contains some treasures 
 which the priest is proud to display. One a fine 
 missal in red and black letters dated 1682, which is 
 richly bound in gilded leather with a plate and clasps 
 in silver repousse. 
 
 Next he takes out a beautiful thurible in the form 
 of a temple, made in chased silver, and swung on long 
 silver chains, and also a navicella or boat-shaped vessel 
 for holding incense, which has angels modelled on the 
 covers. 
 
215 
 
 THE NUNS' GARDEN. 
 
 The prettiest and most suggestive place about the 
 monastery is the garden to which Mr. Leader himself 
 becomes our guide. A long grassy path beneath fruit 
 trees leads us to a tiny chapel or oratory, round the 
 arched doorway of which climbing plants are clinging. 
 It has an arched roof, and on the end wall a fresco 
 representing the " Madonna enthroned " with St. John 
 and St. Martin on the right, St. Filippo Neri and 
 St. Benedict on the left. This oratory was built and 
 decorated in 1633 at the expense of Sister Maria Do- 
 nati. Beside this is a little campo santo enclosed by 
 a low w^all, and here in old times the nuns were bu- 
 ried. When the monastery was suppressed, and dese- 
 crated by the French under Napoleon I, the nuns were 
 united to those of San Donate in Polverosa ; and in 1802 
 with the name of Angiola Teresa Buti closes the long- 
 list of Mothers Superior which begins with Mother Ce- 
 cilia in 1132. Even their remains were removed from 
 the forsaken " God's acre " where they had lain in 
 peace, but the master still respects the spot, and it 
 is dedicated to flowers of the sweetest odour. Beds of 
 Neapolitan violets cover the ground, and a perfect 
 hedge of sweet scented carnations and clove pinks 
 fringes the top of the low parapet which encloses it. 
 
2U\ THE NUNS' GARDEN. 
 
 Seated in this peaceful little place one's mind be- 
 comes retrospective, and pictures the white veiled 
 figures that once trod these green paths beneath the 
 fig trees. Each one was alone in soul and shut out from 
 the world, although she only had to glance before her, 
 and see the sun shining on the roofs and spires of 
 busy Florence, where she had left all she loved behind 
 her, never to go out again, — never to see mother or 
 father at the family hearth, — never again to receive 
 the kiss of human affection. What sad achings there 
 must have been in some young hearts ! what longings 
 to escape from the shadows of the monastery, to the 
 sunny and wide world below, for not all were willing 
 devotees. In olden times, a girl who from constitution 
 or family circumstances was not eligible for marriage 
 was doomed to the cloister from her early youth, and 
 sacrificed to it with all the pomp and ceremony due 
 to sacrifice. 
 
 The nuns themselves record the consecration of 
 seven of their order to vows of perpetual seclusion. 
 " On the fourteenth day of June 1648 seven nuns of 
 this our convent of San Martino at Maiano were con- 
 secrated by the Illustrious and most Eeverend Monsi- 
 gnore Eoberto Strozzi, Bishop of Fiesole — a solemn 
 mass having been sung by the principal musicians 
 from Florence, with a diversity of instruments, and 
 the assistent clergy were — (here follows a long list 
 
THE NUNS' GARDEN. 217 
 
 of clergy, canons, and prevosts) — with many of the 
 Florentine nobility and other persons. And after mass 
 was sung we went in procession with the seven nuns 
 to the little church of the Madonna, and the Bishop 
 consigned them to perpetual seclusion." Sister Mad- 
 dalena Giovanna Nardi, member of an old Florentine 
 family, was one of the seven who gave up freedom 
 and sunshine for their whole lives under the idea that 
 they served God by cutting themselves off from all 
 his good gifts. Only once a year was the seclusion 
 broken, when by an antique usage the recluses came 
 forth from their cells for eight days, not for any great 
 religious festival, but — it seems a bathos to record 
 it — to make lasagne. Lasagne are made of paste of 
 the same grain as maccaroni, which is rolled flat, and 
 cut into pieces, then dried and kept for use. Proba- 
 bly the good nuns made a large supply while the 
 flour was fresh, and called in all available assistance. 
 They were cooked either with cheese like maccaroni 
 or stewed in gravy. 
 
 Having with the thought of this succulent edible 
 come down from the regions of retrospect, we stroll 
 away from the cemetery and gather sweet flowers in 
 the wider gardens above, where on this November day, 
 perfect beds of jonquils are nodding their white clus- 
 ters of blossoms in the sun, just as though they had 
 mistaken the brilliant light for spring sunshine; where 
 
218 THE VILLA TEMPLE-LEADER. 
 
 cape jasmine and mignonette are blooming, and hyssop 
 and sage, thyme and rue add their more pungent odours. 
 And so we leave the convent-fattoria and follow the 
 master to his own country house whose red roof and 
 picturesque tower we have seen amidst the cypresses 
 from the Fattore's terrace. 
 
 THE VILLA TEMPLE-LEADER 
 
 is a good specimen of a Florentine Villa of the 15*'' cent. 
 In some ways it is modernized, but the form and ge- 
 neral style are still preserved. A large Doric portico 
 has been added to the front, which like most Floren- 
 tine houses of that period presented a wide flat expanse 
 of masonry, only pierced with stone-bound windows 
 protected by iron gratings. The tower crowned by a 
 loggia, from whose arches the most magnificent pano- 
 rama on all sides is to be obtained, is also new, as is 
 the second floor of the Villa. The architect for these 
 restorations was Prof. Comm. Felice Francolini. 
 
 The first room we enter from the northern door 
 is a huge hall, the height of the ground and first 
 floors ; a gallery with stone balustrades runs round 
 the entire walls at about half the height, and gives 
 access to all the rooms on the first floor. 
 
THE VILLA TEMPLE- LEADER. 219 
 
 This ideal ball-room (which supports the tower) 
 was built for Mr. Leader by the architect to whom 
 the restorations of the Villa were confided. There was 
 formerly a kind of court-yard in its place, which being- 
 open towards the north made the rooms very cold. 
 The gallery round it is very useful in freeing the 
 rooms on the first floor, which were formerly uncomfort- 
 ably arranged one within the other. The furniture 
 corresponds well with the style of the room, and is 
 covered with some beautiful cinquecento applique work 
 which came from the D' Elci palace of Siena. It is 
 a fine scroll of crimson velvet applique in needle-work 
 on gold coloured satin, and was very much admired 
 by the Princess Victoria of G-ermany, now the Empress 
 Frederick, when she visited Mr. Leader here in 1876 
 with her lamented husband, and the present King and 
 Queen of Italy then crown Prince and Princess. 
 
 The immense chimney-piece in this really baronial 
 hall is a work of fine art, and was carved in stone 
 by Francesco di Pasquale Giovannozzi of Settignano. 
 The work is exquisite, the most life-like birds nestle 
 amongst the flowers, all carved in high relief. One 
 of the pilasters of the chimney-piece, the only part then 
 finished, was exhibited at the first London exhibition 
 in 1851. We will sit a while before it, while recall- 
 ing the story of the Villa, so that we may be in the 
 right vein for exploring the rooms. In 1427 the house 
 
220 THE VILLA TEMPLE-LEADER. 
 
 was in the possession of Monna Antonia di Buonaccorso 
 Boscoli, widow of Andrea Tolosini. Her nephew and 
 heir Giovanni di Bandino Boscoli, who was an ex-monk, 
 sold both Villa and podere about 1464, to Benedetto 
 son of Bartolommeo degli Alessandri, one of the family 
 then living at the Castle of Vincigliata. After four- 
 teen years of peaceful possession Messer Benedetto 
 fell upon evil days, and the same storm which de- 
 stroyed the church of the nuns was also the ruin of 
 this Villa which lies close to it. Messer Benedetto 
 himself says in his report to the Commune in 1481 : 
 " As it is well known that on St. Bartholomew's day in 
 the year 1478 * there came a great storm of wind {icna 
 fortuna di vento) at Maiano, which threw to the ground 
 the house I inhabit, and also ruined the houses of the 
 peasants, the olives and other fruits, with such a great 
 loss of property, that three hundred large florins would 
 not pay the damage which that " fortuna " did for 
 me — as you yourselves must very well know." Clearly 
 the old word "" fortune " ought to be read misfortune 
 in this case. Messer Benedetto had a wife, named Mar- 
 sobilia degli Orsini, who seems to have added much 
 to his pecuniary embarrassments, for we read that on 
 
 ' Here Messer Benedetto's memoiy must have failed him or 
 the nuns have mistaken the year, for they report the gran for- 
 tuna di vento as happening on St. Bartholomew's day 1477. 
 
 (Libro di Bicordi, etc.) 
 
THE VILLA TEMPLE-LEADER. 221 
 
 her account, as well as for mercantile reasons, lie was 
 debtor for so large a sum to Conte Guido Sforza of 
 Santa Flora (a village in the Sienese district), that the 
 Villa was by the Council adjudged to him in payment, 
 but his son Count Federigo sold it to the doctor Gri- 
 rolamo di Bartolommeo Buonagrazia ; the deed of sale, 
 endorsed by the notary Ser Antonio Rovai, is dated 
 February 1'* 1510. Girolamo's son being left a minor 
 his guardians sold it to Alfonso di Luigi Pazzi, a long 
 line of whose descendants inhabited it till A. D. 1700. 
 
 The Pazzi family was composed of conflicting ma- 
 terial, and comprised both sinners and saints. In one 
 of their villas on this Fiesole hill, the feast was made 
 when Lorenzo and Griuliano de' Medici were invited 
 to meet the Cardinal Riario and — though this was not 
 specified in the invitation — to " come and be killed." 
 Fortunately Griuliano declined the invitation, and the 
 plan of the assassination in the Duomo was decided 
 on instead, which resulted in the exile or death of so 
 many of the Pazzi family, and in their efligies as 
 traitors being painted on th.e walls of the Bargello. 
 
 This conspiracy was all over more than a century 
 before this house became their home, and the exiled 
 Pazzi were again in power both in their city palaces, 
 and their country villas. The family was now proud 
 of its saint, Santa Maddalena de' Pazzi, who took the 
 veil and entered the convent of Santa Maria degli 
 
222 THE VILLA TEMPLE-LEADER. 
 
 Angioli, in the parish of San Frediano at Florence. 
 As a child she is said to have lived much in this 
 Villa, and we are shown the room supposed to have 
 been hers, a square lofty apartment next the kitchen, 
 now used as a servants' hall. 
 
 The Saint began her devout career in her infancy 
 by refusing to eat the cjDoling watermelon, of which 
 she was so fond ; she taught the " christian doctrines " 
 to the peasant children, and wove herself thorny 
 crowns of prickly pomegranate branches ; in her child- 
 ish walks she recited orations, and so injured her 
 health by these infantine asceticisms that the doctor 
 had to be called in. Her writings show that she loved 
 nature, and in these childish days she took note of 
 the doves " whose lament is a song and who sing in 
 lamentation," of the shy partridge, the homely red- 
 breasts, and the fruits "" some of which ripen early 
 and some late." At the age of sixteen she voluntarily 
 gave up both country delights and town gaieties and 
 took the veil. Her conventual life was remarkable 
 for accesses of spiritual fervour, or that kind of hysteria 
 which in those days usually marked the emotional 
 recluse. At one time she rang the convent bells and 
 called excitedly to the sisters " Come all of you ad 
 amare I' amove.'' At another time she plunged into 
 icy water to extinguish the inward fire which devoured 
 her. Her portrait shows a delicate but emotional face 
 
THE VILLA TEMPLE-LEADER. 223 
 
 with large eyes, and flexible mouth ; a face capable 
 of great expression. This was the ecstatic devotee 
 whom in 1620 Pope Urban II pronounced a '^ Beata," 
 and whose fame so rose after her death that Pope Cle- 
 ment IX canonized her in 1669. 
 
 Some of the Pazzi were like most Florentines of 
 their day of a literary turn of mind, and one of them 
 being a friend of Gio. Mazzuolo (known as Padre Stra- 
 danoj took a part in starting the literary society called 
 the " Umidi " which was instituted for the purpose 
 of reading the classics and keeping the Italian language 
 pure. In the following century this society merged 
 into the " Crusca," which is still extant. He was also 
 a member of the more jovial and lighter social clubs, 
 the Accademia dei " Piacevoli " and " Piattelli " where 
 wit and humour were cultivated. 
 
 This branch of the Pazzi family became extinct 
 in 1700 when Luigi di Cosimo died, leaving his for- 
 tune to his sister Camilla, wife of CaV. F. G-rifoni, from 
 whom it passed to their son Michele Grifoni. So en- 
 cumbered was the estate, however, by the debts of his 
 uncle Luigi Pazzi, that on September lO*** 1710 Michele 
 sold the Villa to Matteo de' Neri Tolomei and his bro- 
 ther, from whose descendants Mr. Temple-Leader ac- 
 quired it on February 11*'' 1850, the purchase being made 
 a cancello chiuso (with closed gates, including every- 
 thing then in the house) by which besides the Villa, 
 
224 THE VILLA TEMPLE-LEADER. 
 
 he became possessor of many interesting pictures and 
 family relics. 
 
 We now pay a visit to Mrs. Leader in a cosy 
 morning-room where the sun shines in through a veil 
 of flowers, and the walls are hung with artistic treas- 
 ures. Here is the head of a girl, a charming work by 
 Gaspar Netscher ; a fine portrait of Lady Maynard by 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds ; a landscape by Breughel, and a 
 collection of ivor}^ minatures of ladies in the time of 
 Louis XIV and XV, which would have delighted Horace 
 Walpole. Then Mr. Leader takes us to see other pic- 
 tures and we pass through various rooms and are in- 
 terested in many retrospections. The red drawing-room 
 contains some fine views of Venice by Francesco G-uardi, 
 so like those of his master — Canaletto — that the two 
 hands can scarcely be distinguished. They have all 
 the limpidity that can be desired, but as in Canaletto's 
 works, so also there is less variety of tint in Guardi's 
 pictures than the artists of this century have disco- 
 vered in the wonderful streets of Venice. 
 
 A life-size — almost full-length — portrait of Lord 
 Brougham with his characteristic face strikes our at- 
 tention. " That was painted forty-five years ago, " says 
 Mr. Leader, giving us an amusing story of it. " A cer- 
 tain Miss Flaherty in her enthusiasm for Lord Brough- 
 am's eloquence in the two causes of diffusion of know- 
 ledge, and suppression of the slave trade, gave him 
 
THE VILLA TEMPLE-LEADER. 225 
 
 L. 30,000, so lie said that I should get some good out of 
 his windfall, and he gave me that portrait painted by 
 Gambardella. Lord Brougham was rather an impatient 
 sitter however, and when the face was done, he flatly 
 refused to waste his time in sitting for the hands. 
 ' Anybody's hands will do,' said the statesman, so 
 ' Gallenga,' who was a friend of G-ambardella, posed 
 for the hands." 
 
 This circumstance might prove rather puzzling if 
 a physiognomist and professor of palmistry should in 
 some future age chance to compare notes on Lord 
 Brougham's character, for the face has all the states- 
 man's rugged keenness, and the hands show the delicate 
 tapering fingers of the artistic temperament. The ex- 
 minister was at the time living in the Chateau Eleo- 
 nore at Cannes where Mr. Leader had also a Villa. 
 The room has two good portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Leader 
 taken many years ago by the painter Manara, and a 
 beautiful landscape by Eichard Wilson. There are 
 several large mirrors which once formed part of Prince 
 Borghese's noted forty mirrors. 
 
 The dining-room, which is of a cool green tone, 
 is hung with pictures once belonging to the former 
 inhabitants of the Villa. The Pazzi have left two 
 views formerly in their palace at Florence where the 
 Banca Nazionale now stands ; one of Naples and one of 
 Messina, which being taken in the 16*^ century are now 
 
 15 
 
226 THE VILLA TEMPLE-LEADER. 
 
 archaeologically interesting. There are some fine por- 
 traits of the Tolomei who owned the house after the 
 Pazzi. One of them is that of a nun — for they also 
 had a Beata in the family, — born in 1513, who was 
 known to the world as Fiammetta, but who took the 
 veil as Sister Humility (Umilta) and was raised to 
 the rank of Beata after her death, which took place 
 in the Convent of Boldrone in September 1591. Then 
 comes her nephew Giovanni Maria Tolomei Grucci, 
 and Margherita Frescobaldi who first married in 1644 
 Neri Tolomei Gucci, and afterwards became the wife 
 of Piero Mazzoni Count d' Urbech ; these portraits and 
 those of two of the sons of Count d' Urbech are all fine 
 paintings by Sustermans ; they are represented in red 
 lucco and point lace, and are very fine portraits. The 
 large chimney-piece of the dining-room is carved in 
 Fiesole stone by Attilio Giustini, and was the prize 
 work at a late exhibition of local art in Florence. 
 
 In a little oratory on the ground floor there is a 
 fine copy of Giovanni Bellini's exquisite Madonna in 
 the Church of the Frari at Venice. But we have left 
 till last the mention of a picture which is very in- 
 teresting. It is a Madonna kneeling in adoration of 
 the divine Babe. Behind it is written " Alessio Bal- 
 dovinetti pinse." There is a second inscription on the 
 back placed there by a descendant of Baldovinetti, 
 saying that he had bought the picture for ten rusponi, 
 
THE VILLA TEMPLE -LEADER. 227 
 
 in order to have a memorial of his ancestor in the 
 house, but that having well studied the picture, he 
 held it rather to be the work of Domenico Grhirlan- 
 daio, who was the favorite scholar of Baldovinetti. 
 
 The rooms in the first floor open on the large ter- 
 race above the portico, and anything more enchanting 
 than the view from this balcony or from the arches 
 of the loggia of the tower can scarcely be imagined. 
 There exists in the Villa a certain old painting of the 
 environs of Florence taken from this side of the house 
 in the time of the Tolomei by Giuseppe Medici (1806), 
 which it is very interesting to compare with the 
 present scene, and trace the changes. Vincigliata, on 
 the left, was then a ruin on a bare hill, now it is a 
 perfect Castle, surmounting a mass of forest. 
 
 Of all the villas depicted therein, very few remain 
 in the same hands, and most of them are modernized 
 in form. All the most historical ones seem to be now in 
 the possession of Englishmen, Mr. Leader owning those 
 of the Pazzi, Tolomei and Salviati etc. ; Mr. Spence 
 the famous Medici Villa; Lady Crawford Villa Pal- 
 mier! ; and Mr. Eoss Poggio Gherardi. 
 
 The gardens of the Villa Leader are charming: a 
 wide lawn and immense terrace to the south, with 
 palms, magnolias and orange flowers, with here a fish 
 pond, and there a swimming bath. It was on entering 
 this delightful terrace that the late Emperor Frederick 
 
228 THE VILLA TEMPLE-LEADER. 
 
 when Crown Prince of German}^ exclaimed emphati- 
 cally : " What good air ! Oh ! what a beautiful view, and 
 what a pleasant place to live in!" and the Princess 
 was equally enthusiastic. From this a shrubbery full 
 of arbutus and myrtle leads by many a winding path 
 down into the valley where the Mensola rushes over 
 the rocks in the gorge, and forms the great swimming 
 bath deep among the cliffs (see page 150). 
 
 In the shrubbery on the north side of the house 
 is a private chapel which Mr. Leader caused to be 
 built for his wife's use by the architect Signor Giu- 
 seppe Fancelli, the restorer of Vincigliata. The chapel 
 was begun in August 1863, and being completed by the 
 following spring, was consecrated by the Vicar-general 
 of the diocese of Fiesole on May 23**^ 1864. On the fol- 
 lowing day — the fete of the SS. Vergine in Auxilium 
 Christianorum — the inauguration of the chapel for pu- 
 blic worship took place. High mass was solemnized by 
 the Rev. Canon and Marquis Luca Medici, and eight 
 other priests with a full orchestra composed of chosen 
 professors from Florence. It was quite a festal day 
 at the Villa and the little church was crowded. 
 
 The chapel consists of a single nave, the walls of 
 which are divided by pilasters of acagliola with com- 
 posite capitals. The roof and ornamentations are of 
 stucco gilded and painted by the artist Enrico An- 
 dreotti. The painting behind the altar of the " Vergine 
 
VILLA CATANZARO. 229 
 
 in Auxilinm Christianorum " with St. John Baptist and 
 St. Luigi Gonzaga, is by Annibale Gatti. The altar, 
 on which is a relic of the Holy Cross, is of different 
 coloured marbles, and the '' Ciborium " of American 
 lapislazuli. There are three good painted windows 
 by Ulisse de Matteis : one contains a Madonna and Child, 
 and the other two the arms of Mrs. and Mr. Leader. 
 The fresco on the ceiling is by Gatti. 
 
 Within the grounds of the Villa Leader is yet 
 another charming house, the late 
 
 VILLA CATANZARO 
 
 with its graceful loggia, which is now the summer 
 retreat of the Count Arnaldi and his wife, Mrs. Leader's 
 daughter. 
 
 Like all this group of houses, it is also full of 
 interesting reminiscences. It once belonged to the 
 Valori family, and was the home of that Francesco 
 Valori who took such a prominent part in the rebellion 
 against the Medici {cacciata dei Medici) in 1493-94. 
 
 He it was who was carried in triumph into the 
 Palazzo Vecchio on the shoulders of his partisans on 
 November 9*'' when Piero de' Medici and his brother 
 Cardinal Giuliano had to fly from the enraged populace 
 disguised as monks. He it was who supported Savo- 
 narola as ruler of the Republic in the name of Christ, 
 
280 VILLA CATANZARO. 
 
 and who in 1497 was himself Gonfaloniere. He fought 
 fiercely for Savonarola against the besiegers of the 
 Convent of San Marco on that stormy night when Fra 
 Girolamo and Fra Domenico were unresistingly dragged 
 away to their death ; and after this brave but useless re- 
 sistance Francesco himself was murdered in the streets 
 of Florence by the friends of two rebels whom he had, 
 while in office, condemned to death, and his wife, drawn 
 to the window by the noise in .the street was at the same 
 time killed by a cross-bowman. Francesco's descendant 
 Baccio Valori shared much the same fate in 1513, when 
 he took part in another conspiracy against the Medici 
 and was exiled, together with Filippo Strozzi. They got 
 some partisans together at Montemurlo, but were made 
 prisoners by Vitelli who conducted them to Florence 
 like captives in a triumph, and they who had been 
 as princes, had to ride through the streets on sorry 
 nags with other rebels. Baccio was taken to the Bar- 
 gello whence he was only brought out to be executed 
 in the piazza. His estates were confiscated by the 
 Ducal chamber, and not till March 22"^ 1547 was this 
 Villa given by the G-rand Duke Cosimo to his secretary 
 Lorenzo Pagni de' Bordoni of Pescia, in reward for his 
 services. He, being delighted with its site, determined 
 to rebuild the house, which he did in 1552 in its present 
 style with loggia and turret. At the end of the loggia 
 is a fountain, over which is the shield of Bordone — 
 
VILLA CATANZARO. 231 
 
 a lion rampant holding a pilgrim's staff — and the 
 following inscription : 
 
 LAURENTIUS BORDONIUS EX HONESTA 
 PAONORUM PISCIAE FAMILIA A SECRE 
 TIS COSMI MED. FLOR. DUCIS II CUIUS 
 MUNERE HOG ACTUS EST AGELLO 
 COELI TEMPERIE LOCIQ : AMOENITA 
 TE DUCTUS HANC VILLULAM ANIMI 
 GRATIA SIBI NEPOTIBUSQ. CONQ. 
 CONSTRUXIT AN. MDLII. 
 
 In 1567 Lorenzo gave this Villa to endow a " commen- 
 da," in the order of St. Stephen, of which he made his 
 nephew Michelangelo di M. Girolamo Orlandi the patron. 
 Then in 1643 G-iovanni Monzecchi, Gonfaloniere 
 of the Golden Lion, bought the house, but in 1717 
 it passed into possession of the nuns of the adjoining- 
 convent of San Martino, who retained it till their 
 suppression in 1808, when it fell again into the hands 
 of the government, till in May 1816 Doctor Carlo di 
 Mariano Catanzaro bought it, and adding an upper 
 story left also his record on its walls: 
 
 AMOENITATE DUCTUS 
 CONSTRUXIT L. BORDONIUS A. MDLII 
 
 RESTAURAVIT ORNAVITQUE 
 
 C. CATANZARO I. C. A. MDCCCXXXIII 
 
 UT FORO PROCUL CUM PROLE ET UXORE DILECTA 
 
 ANIMO RELAXARET. 
 
 It passed into Mr. Leader's possession on April 8*^ 1862. 
 
882 
 
 LA FORNACE. 
 
 The houses of the peasants on this estate are not 
 much less interesting than the villas ; one of them, 
 La Fornace, was the home of an Englishman, Lord 
 Charles Dudley son of Robert the second Duke of 
 Northumberland (see page 62-3). Long before Dud- 
 ley's time the house was the dwelling of another 
 and more fortunate branch of the Valori family, and 
 belonged to Filippo son of Bartolommeo Valori, the 
 sturdy old Florentine who defied Ladislaus King of 
 Naples, and who was sent as an ambassador to Pope 
 Martin V at Constance. He travelled in grand state 
 with two attaches, one of whom was Filippo Rinuc- 
 cini, and a suite of sixty-two horsemen, besides twelve 
 sumpter mules. 
 
 In 1417 Valori was one of the rulers of the state, 
 and the family never lost their prestige, till the unfortu- 
 nate disputes with the Medici, of which we have spoken. 
 Through the successive hands of the Bartoli, Carosi 
 and Minerbetti families, the Fornace passed in 1640 to 
 the Countess Luisa Fabroni who left it as a heritage to 
 her kinswoman Countess Maddalena Fabroni the wife 
 of Charles Dudley, whose family had by this time 
 quite taken root in Florence and. become Italianized. 
 Her son and heir was Antonio, a canon of St. Peter's 
 
LA FORNACE. 283 
 
 of Rome, but lie was not allowed to take peaceable 
 possession, for the Fabroni disputed his right to the 
 family possession ; and an arbiter in the person of 
 Ottaviano Vasoli was in 1716 called in to arrange 
 matters, which^he did by decreeing two thirds of the 
 property to father Antonio Dudley, and one third to 
 Leonardo Fabroni. As they did not choose to enjoy 
 the estate together, they both agreed to privately sell 
 their rights to two brothers, Gaspero and Pier Fran- 
 cesco Mormorai. The Dudleys had many ties in Italy, 
 they were connected by marriage with the Appiani, 
 Princes of Piombino; with the Malaspina's of Lunigiana, 
 Marquisses of Olivola ; with the Dukes of La Cornia, 
 the Counts of Carpegna, the Fieschi's, Marquisses of 
 Lavagna, and also with the Paleotti, a noble Bolo- 
 gnese fsuMlj, one of whom became the wife of the 
 famous Duke of Shrewsbury, while her brother Mar- 
 chese Paleotti was hanged at Tyburn for the murder 
 of his servant. What strange contrasts and vicissi- 
 tudes there are in families! 
 
 From the Dudleys the Pomace passed through an- 
 other line of purchasers, till it finally came into 
 Mr. Leader's possession on May 5^^ 1852 and now forms 
 part of the picturesque group of houses belonging to 
 him at Maiano. 
 
 Nearer Yincigliata is another group of interesting- 
 houses, which are now inhabited by peasants, but were 
 
284 CAREGGI. 
 
 formerly villas in the occupation of the Alessandri and 
 other former Lords of the Castle. One of these still 
 retains its ancient name of 
 
 CAREGGI, 
 
 and it stands a little off the road beneath the Castle 
 on the east. In the time of the Usimbardi it was a 
 country hostel, with a bakehouse and butcher's shambles 
 attached, and was known as " la Querciola." It passed 
 into possession of the Alessandri-Albizzi with the rest 
 of the domain in 1345. They retained it until Decem- 
 ber 10*** 1547, when Giovanni Antonio Alessandri sold 
 it to Riccardo Del Pace, who seems to have married 
 into the family, for on his death it was left to his 
 widow the Countess Baldinaccio, daughter of Bernardo 
 Alessandri. She disposed of it, in 1562, to Angelo 
 Del Mancino Sostegni, whose son Mccolo ceded it in 
 his turn to a merchant of Florence named Alfonso 
 Benzi on October 31"* 1584. 
 
 In the next deed of sale, the house is first de- 
 scribed as a casa da signore (gentleman's residence). 
 This is an act of notary, drawn up by Ser Filippo 
 Bottigli, and records the sale of the Villa and jpodere 
 to Baccio d' Ulivieri Malespina, a music master ; the 
 Villa is here called Romituzzo instead of Careggi as 
 
CAREGGI. 285 
 
 before, and we may conclude that it was rebuilt and 
 newly named by either the Alessandri or the Sostegni. 
 However the new name disappeared again, and as 
 Careggi it has stood ever since. 
 
 Through the hands of two other successive pur- 
 chasers, it came more permanently into possession of 
 the Lasagnini family ; Pier Filippo son of Bartolom- 
 meo Lasagnini having bought it on September 5**" 1600. 
 The Lasagnini were a neighbouring family, originally 
 from the parish of San Martino a Mensola, which 
 place we have mentioned; they established themselves 
 in Florence in the beginning of the IB**" century, and 
 were entered in the Arte del Muratori (builders' com- 
 pany), where the purchaser of Careggi became head 
 of the company, was made a noble, and buried with 
 aristocratic honors in the Church of Santa Maria 
 Novella. 
 
 His brother Lorenzo attained eminence in the 
 church and founded two chapelries, one in San Pier 
 Maggiore and another in San Donate dei Vecchietti. 
 
 Pier Filippo Lasagnini had great social, as well as 
 business qualities, and was one of the most prominent 
 members of that interesting literar}^ circle which Sal- 
 vator Eosa presided over in Florence about 1648-58. 
 That satiric genius had been obliged to fly from Naples 
 after being embroiled in the insurrection of Masa- 
 niello ; — he went to Eome where he had lived before. 
 
23tt CAREGOI. 
 
 and while there he met Cardinal Giovanni Carlo de' Me- 
 dici, son of the Grand Duke Cosimo II, who brought 
 him to Florence to paint the masterpieces which now 
 adorn the galleries here. 
 
 His caustic wit delighted the Florentine literati, 
 and his house near the " Croce al Trebbio " (afterwards 
 the Palazzo Buontalenti) became a kind of literary 
 reunion, where a witty circle met frequently, and 
 amused each other with recitations. The learned Pier 
 Filippo Lasagnini was a prominent member of the 
 coterie, and when in course of time the friends, taking 
 the name of dei Percossi, formed themselves into a 
 regular academy for dramatic recitations and impro- 
 visations, his family assisted greatly. 
 
 The comedies were usualty written by Salvator 
 Rosa himself, and sometimes when they proved espe- 
 cially good, the company was invited to recite them 
 at the Casino di San Marco, before the Cardinal de' Me- 
 dici who then lived there. The parts of the women 
 were taken by Lasagnini's young nephew, " a youth 
 of high intelligence," and by a friend of his, Giovan 
 Filippo Marucelii. 
 
 This young Marucelii afterwards became an abate, 
 and, having literary tastes, amassed a library of 55,000 
 volumes of which he made a Catalogue raisonne entitled 
 Mare Magnum, written by his own hand and filling 
 112 volumes. On his death, in 1703, he left this va- 
 
CAREGGI. 237 
 
 luable collection to the city of Florence, and it now 
 forms the Marucellian librarj^ in Via Cavour. 
 
 The boyish comradeship appears to have become 
 lasting, for when these young actors of maiden cha- 
 racters were both elderly men, the Abate Francesco 
 and his brother the senator purchased, in 1693, the 
 Castel del Poggio, near the Villa of his friend Lasa- 
 gnini at Careggi. 
 
 Lasagnini delighted in this country Villa. He im- 
 proved and adorned it, and added an oratory with an 
 altar, in which he placed a fine painting, representing 
 St. Bartholomew and St.Nicolo di Bari. An inscription 
 is still legible over the door of the chapel, where the 
 arms of the family surmount the following lines : 
 
 D. 0. M. 
 
 DIVISQ. BARTHOLOMEO ET NICOLAO BARENSI 
 
 SACELLUM HOC BARTHOLOMEUS LASAGNINI 
 
 SYNDICUS MAJOR SER-^ ET REY-^ PRINCIPIS 
 
 CARDINALIS FRANC^ MAR- MEDICES 
 
 A FUNDAMENTIS EREXIT 
 
 ANNO SAL. MDCCVI. 
 
 In 1723 a Florentine noble named Griovanni Micceri 
 bequeathed his property and name to the Lasagnini, 
 whose arms were after that date quartered with his 
 own. The family became extinct in Eleonora Lasa- 
 gnini-Micceri who married into the Minucci family. 
 
288 CAREGGI. 
 
 The ancient registers of the parish of Vincigliata 
 entitled Stato delle Anime contain in their pages a 
 concise story of the decay of both Castel del Poggio 
 and Careggi. In 1669 '^ Don Francesco de' Lasagnini 
 aged 30" is chronicled as inhabiting the Villa. His 
 name duly appears every year till 1672. Then in 1729 
 a Signor Bartolommeo Lasagnini is mentioned, and 
 in 1758 the register says : '^ No one lives in the Villa 
 of Signor Bartolommeo Lasagnini, but one of his 
 contadini has the charge of it." After 1761 it is 
 mentioned no more. 
 
 The Abate Marucelli's Castel del Poggio shares a 
 similar fate. In 1729 it is chronicled as the " Villa 
 di Castello dell' Illustrissimo Signor Marucelli." In 
 1754-57 no one lives there, but the priest goes to give 
 holy water, at Easter, and gets a fee of a dozen eggs 
 from the contadino ; but in 1764 the Fattore is in 
 charge, and the priest writes : " At the Villa of Castel 
 di Poggio the Fattore has not liked me to give the 
 holy water for two years past, and I shall not go." 
 So the Castle of Vincigliata and all the parish decayed 
 till Mr. Leader purchased the whole domain. 
 
239 
 
 VILLA PERGOLATA, 
 
 on the southern slope of Poggio alia Croce, near 
 some ancient stone quarries, was at one time in the 
 possession of the Alessandri ; but in the beginning of 
 this century was the home of an English lady, Joanna 
 Clare, widow of Mr. Woodburne-Annesley. — She im- 
 proved the surroundings of her elevated home, by 
 making a maze of winding paths in the wood on the 
 hill side, thus turning it into a shrubbery. Among 
 the objects in the house, when bought by its present 
 possessor, was a likeness of this young Englishwoman, 
 shewing her to have had a charming face and figure. 
 She is represented with long fair hair falling over 
 her shoulders, and is holding a guitar, thus displaying 
 a well formed hand and arm. The portrait, which is 
 in "pastel," and well preserved, is now at Maiano. 
 Another interesting Villa and farm house is 
 
 MEZZANA 
 
 which lies between Castel di Poggio and Vincigliata. 
 This too was a Villa of the Alessandri, who in 1349 
 bought it of the feudal Lord of Castel di Poggio, one 
 of the terrible Del Manzecca. They retained it till 
 January 16*'' 1609, when they ceded it to Francesco 
 
840 MEZZANA. 
 
 Nacci as part of the wedding portion of a daughter 
 of the house, Maria degli Alessandri. Her son Griu- 
 liano sold it, and through two other purchasers it 
 came in 1657 into the possession of Vincenzo Assirelli 
 who rebuilt the Villa. 
 
 His son Piero, uniting the jjocUri with those 
 of Mandorle and Mulinaccio, endowed in 1673 the 
 " commenda Assirelli " which he had founded in the 
 order of St. Stephen. In later days his descendants 
 obtained the permission of the Grand Master of the 
 order to transfer the value of the lands into Funds 
 equivalent to their value, and then ceded them to the 
 nuns of the order of the Conception. But when in 1808 
 the religious orders were suppressed, the lands lapsed 
 to the demesne, and were used to help in endowing 
 the Legion of Honor. Again they passed into religious 
 hands when on the repristination of devout corpora- 
 tions in 1817 they were put into possession of the con- 
 vent of Santa Maria Novella of Florence. The convent 
 being a second time suppressed, they once more lapsed 
 to the demesne in 1866, and finally were bought by 
 Mr. Leader in the following 3^ear. Thus through various 
 vicissitudes in the alternate power of chivalry and ec- 
 clesiasticism, the lands of the Usimbardi and Alessandri 
 have after many centuries become again united under 
 one rule. 
 
241 
 
 FIESOLAN VINEYARDS. 
 
 This morning our explorations on Mr. Leader's estate 
 lead us further afield, as we have to visit some of the 
 twenty-six poderi^ which have an especial interest, 
 either archaeological or historical. Our good guide, the 
 wood-ranger, meets us on the Piazza of Fiesole and 
 we follow him round the little Municipal Hall with 
 its many memorials of country prefects, and up a steej) 
 lane between the backs of villas, circling the hill till 
 we reach a long piece of the Etruscan wall at the very 
 highest point. Here just without the wall and probably 
 partly built of its ancient stones is the 
 
 PODERE DI SBOLGI, I MAZZI, 
 
 a picturesque group of cottages and a quaint archway 
 perched on the crest of the hill above Maiano, and 
 facing Yincigliata. This is the highest point of the 
 Fiesolan hill: from here Mr. Leader's ^oc?m one beneath 
 the other stretch down the side of the hill towards 
 Maiano, and here his corn, vines and olives ripen under 
 the hot southern sun, as those of the Etruscans and 
 Romans did in ages gone by. One can scarcely move a 
 step without being reminded of these ancient peoples. 
 
 16 
 
242 PODERE DI SBOLGI, I MAZZI. 
 
 The great stones of the wall, still clinging to each 
 other in timeless strength, recall that mysterious nation 
 of builders and tomb-makers ; and as we are thinking 
 of them, the swarthy contadino^ whose very face is of 
 rt classical type, tells us that just by the wall two Ro- 
 man (?) skeletons were found in rude stone coffins. 
 Then he takes us to a field about which he has a 
 wonderful story to tell. " In the days of my father, " 
 he says, " when they first began to plough this field 
 hundred of skeletons were found, they were quite entire, 
 and each one lying on large slabs of stone, with other 
 stones placed gable- wise over them — large slabs, so 
 that three on each side rested slanting against each 
 other and covered the whole man." 
 
 "^ And were the skeletons preserved ? " we enquired. 
 
 " No signora, for no sooner had the fresh air blown 
 upon them, than they began to crumble away, and 
 the bones sank down one by one till in an hour or 
 two nothing remained but dust." 
 
 Mr. Leader himself corroborates this. " The two 
 bodies were found on January 1** 1856," he writes, "I 
 remember one of a middle-aged man of great size, 
 his grave was 7 feet 7 inches in length, it was roughly 
 cut out of the rock a little below the surface, and 
 formed of large tiles roofed over. In this tomb was 
 a fibula, and an archaic little bronze idol. There was 
 another of a young man with his teeth perfect and 
 
PODERE DI SBOLGI, I MAZZI. 243 
 
 white, and a collar of beads ; his grave was a foot 
 shorter than the other. They were probably barbarians 
 killed in the fight close to Fiesole in the time of 
 Stilicho. That is a mere guess." 
 
 It is a very good guess, though for the mode of 
 burial is decidedly more Teutonic than Latin. The 
 fibula also bears witness, for it is decidedly of Grothic 
 form and workmanship, unlike the fibulae of the Latin 
 races. The head of it is flattened into a sunlike disk 
 with rays, the shank also flattened into form is set 
 in the raised Lombard fashion with four uncut amethysts 
 and has a scroll engraved in the surface ; there are 
 numbers of fibulae of the same form in the museum 
 of Mayence. 
 
 The idol is a primitive female head and body, end- 
 ing in a kind of serpent's head, all the remains are of 
 the fourth century after Christ. 
 
 The beads found in the young man's grave are of 
 amber very much calcined, and blue Roman glass. 
 The young G-oth had probably acquired them in his 
 Italian marches, or taken them from the neck of a 
 Roman foe. It was in October 8*^ 405, that Radagai- 
 sus the Goth led a great and mixed army of barba- 
 rians up this hill having fought his way from the 
 Alps down the length of Italy to Fiesole. They were 
 encamped here when Stilicho marched up from Flo- 
 rence against them , and after a fierce fight on 
 
244 PODERE DI SBOLGI, I MAZZI. 
 
 that stouy ground, overcame Radagaisus with great 
 slaughter. 
 
 The inhabitants of Fiesole and its new colony Flo- 
 rence had lately become converts to Christianity, and 
 as this victory chanced to take place on the fete of 
 Santa Eeparata, it was looked on as miraculous, and 
 the anniversary was kept with great honors. Moreover 
 the Florentines, who had not long since turned their 
 Temple to Fortune on the Campus Martins into a Chris- 
 tian Church, dedicated it anew to Santa Eeparata, and 
 so we may say that the history of the Duomo began in 
 this ancient battle field, and that the skeletons of those 
 unknown barbarians in Mr. Leader's podere formed the 
 first link in the story. 
 
 It is true that other armies besides the Goths of 
 Radagaisus have marched across this hill; Hannibal 
 led his tired but victorious troops from the victory on 
 the Trebia by this route ; and in the century next be- 
 fore Christ the city was twice laid waste by the Ro- 
 man armies, the second being the vengeance of Sylla. 
 The warriors of the field were not in these engage- 
 ments, or they would have been found either in tumuli 
 or funeral urns, so we will be content with our first 
 hypothesis, and leaving this ancient battlefield follow 
 our guide to the 
 
245 
 
 PODERE OF SANTINI or THE LASTRONE. 
 
 The route lies along a rough mountainous path 
 whose solid pavement, showing here and there, be- 
 speaks it the old Etruscan road. On this brilliant No- 
 vember morning the landscape has an unique effect. 
 We are rounding the rocky spurs of the mountain at a 
 great height above the plain. The yellow cliffs on our 
 right with their crowns of olives show rich and warm 
 against the sapphire sky, and the precipice on the 
 left below is so steep that at times we almost seem 
 able to touch the tops of the cypresses in the gardens 
 beneath us. Beyond those cypresses and Villa roofs all 
 is blotted out from our gaze. The valley is a boundless 
 sea of mist, in which the Duomo, with Giotto's and Ar- 
 nolfo's towers shoot up isolated, like masts from a sub- 
 merged ship, and the hills afar off loom through a white 
 veil like distant islands. A rough descent brings us to 
 the " Lastrone " where there is another remnant of an- 
 tiquity, a subterranean tank like the one called the 
 Fonte Sotterra in the Borg' Unto at Fiesole. The con- 
 tadino brings out a lamp of Etruscan form and leads 
 us down a cutting in the rock, where a few steps bring 
 us to the level of a deep pool of water in what looks 
 like an arched cave. There is no masonry however, 
 and we find that the cavity hollowed out of the solid 
 
246 PODERE OF «ANT1NI OR THE LASTRONE. 
 
 rock, is probably nothing more than an ancient quarry, 
 though I am not learned enough in the archieolog}^ of 
 tools to tell by the work, whether the implements that 
 cut it were in the hand of an Etruscan, Roman or 
 Florentine artisan. 
 
 The aja (threshing-floor) of the contadinos house 
 is an antique terrace before a large archway, leading 
 to the house, and it commands an enchanting view 
 of Val d' Arno. The house was once a Villetta 
 belonging to the Salviati family, whose grander coun- 
 try house rises in square solidity a little below this 
 hill, near the Badia/ That large house was partly 
 destroyed by fire in the time of the siege of Flo- 
 rence, 1529-30, when a brigade of wild young men 
 rushed about the country setting fire to all the most 
 valuable things. This house of Mr. Leader's probably 
 belonged to a less famous branch of the Salviati 
 family, than that of the Cardinal-Legate Griovanni, 
 or the Captain and Ambassador Jacopo, or that Maria 
 Salviati wife of Giovanni delle Bande Nere, and mo- 
 ther of Cosimo the first Grand Duke, who in turns 
 possessed the great square house near. The owner 
 may have been Averardo son of Filippo Salviati, 
 whose wife, "" the magnificent Madonna Alexandra dei 
 Neri," was a friend of her devout neighbours the 
 
 It is known as Mario and Grisi's Villa. 
 
BON RIPOSO. 247 
 
 nuns of Maiano, and in 1574 gave them a beautiful 
 chalice veil of silk embroidered with gold. Quite 
 close to this jjodere is that of 
 
 BON RIPOSO, 
 
 another descending scale of terraces covered with vines 
 and olives, which are interspersed with beds of violets, 
 and borders of chrysanthemums and jjinks. At the 
 end of these flowery terraces rises a new water-tower 
 built by Mr. Leader, and forming a reservoir for the 
 waters of a perennial spring just beneath the convent 
 of the Doccia. From here the water is carried by iron 
 pipes to supply Maiano. 
 
 We ascend the external steps and entering the 
 tower stand on the gallery which surrounds it, and 
 look down into the depth of water which the solid 
 masonry contains. 
 
 " How much water is there here ? '' we ask. 
 
 " About eight thousand barrels," replies our guide, 
 " it is 20 feet deep." 
 
 In front of the tower on a lower level is a large 
 tank for the use of the jpodere. The contadino's house 
 is a very antique building with large stone seats in 
 front of the door, and a raised chimney corner in the 
 kitchen which would contain quite a family party. 
 
248 BON RIPOSO. 
 
 It was once a Villa belonging to the Orlandini family 
 whose Palace in Florence used to do duty as the seat 
 of the British Embassy in Italy. 
 
 In looking over the records of the Orlandini in 
 Florentine history one regrets that they nearly all 
 chronicle traitorous deeds. "We will hope this house 
 did not belong to Bartolommeo Orlandini whom Grino 
 Capponi styles vilissimo uomo for having fled from 
 his post as defender of the Castle of Marradi in 1440, 
 allowing Visconti's general Piccinino to enter with 
 his army, and thus giving them the key to Tuscany. 
 In 1441 this same Bartolommeo being Gonfaloniere 
 — for he was richer in honours than in honour — sent 
 for a brave young captain of the Republic, named 
 Baldaccio d' Anghiari, and kept him talking in the 
 corridor of the Palazzo Vecchio till two assassins, paid 
 and concealed by him, rushed out and killed Baldaccio. 
 The young soldier's widow Annalena withdrew from 
 a world which was so cruel to her, and turned her 
 house in Via Romana known as the " casa Annalena " 
 into a hospice and convent. Neither do we wish the 
 house, to have belonged to another of the family, 
 Piero Orlandini who, lounging in Florence with other 
 young men at the time of the conclave in 1523, amused 
 himself by betting a hundred scudi against the succes- 
 sion of Griulio dei Medici to the Papacy, and when 
 he lost refused to pay ; on which the " Otto " ordered 
 
BON RIPOSO. 249 
 
 his head to be cut off. There was a yet worse Piero 
 Orlandini in 1530 who followed the traditions of his 
 family and betrayed Empoli to the Spaniards. "With 
 his accomplice Andrea Griugni, he had the unenviable 
 notoriety of being painted in effigy among other 
 traitors on the walls of the Bargello. The Orlandini 
 were rich and powerful withal, and it was in their 
 house in Florence that Pope John XXIII lodged after 
 his deposition in 1415. But the sun is getting low, 
 we must leave this historical hill so full of old mem- 
 ories, and descend again to our home in the plain, 
 with thanks to Mr. Leader for letting us read, in his 
 vineyards and houses, so many pages of the story of 
 by-gone days, which he has enshrined within them. 
 
IN THE PIAZZA PITTI. 
 
IN THE PIAZZA PITTI. 
 
 As our explorations in Mr. Temple-Leader's Castle 
 and Villas have illustrated some phases of the feudal 
 and country life of the Florentines of past ages, we may 
 well conclude the circuit by taking the town house of 
 the same proprietor, as an illustration of the civic 
 life of the burgher of the Eepublic. The Florentine 
 burgher had usually three possessions, the Castle which 
 his forefathers of feudal times had handed down to him ; 
 the less ancient Villa which served, as in Messer Agnolo 
 Pandolfini's time, for the health resort of the family in 
 the summer, and the fountain of supply for household 
 necessities from its cornfields and vineyards, olive plan- 
 tations, orchard, and poultry yard, — and lastly the town 
 " Palazzo " which was the central hearth of the gens 
 (for the branches of one family often occupied whole 
 streets of contiguous houses) thus giving the head of 
 
254 IN THE PIAZZA PITTI. 
 
 the family a recognised standing in the city, and 
 (qualifying him for public office. 
 
 This clannishness of the Florentine burgher is 
 emphasised by the number of streets which, to this 
 day, retain the names of families, such as "" Via dei 
 Bardi," '^ Via dei Martelli, " " Via dei Tornabuoni,'' etc., 
 and is shown even now in the national patriarchal 
 way of living, — the bridegroom always bringing his 
 bride home to the paternal roof. 
 
 It will not be surprising then to find that Mr. 
 Leader's town house, 14 Piazza de' Pitti, although 
 distinct from the well known Palazzo Pitti, was never- 
 theless the abode of members of that family and 
 name, closely related to the proud Luca Pitti. 
 
 The ancestry of the Pitti dated from a certain 
 Bonsignore son of Tolomeo of Lucca, Lord of the 
 grand old Castle of Semifonte {Summus Fons) in Val 
 d' Elsa, of which we have quoted Napier's descrip- 
 tion (page 37). That typical fortress being destroyed 
 in 1202, Bonsignore went on a pilgrimage to Palestine 
 where he died, and Bonsignore the second, his son, 
 came to Florence, where he took root and flourished 
 so quickly that his son Matteo was elected prior 
 in 1283. From this time till 1530, the Pitti held 
 office as Priors 47 times, and thirteen of them acted 
 as "" Gonfalonieri di Giustizia," or supreme magistrates 
 of the Eepublic. Bonaccorso, the 4*'' of the line, was 
 
IN THE PIAZZA PITTI. 255 
 
 devoted to the Church, and built the hospital and 
 monastery of Sant' Anna at Verzaia. 
 
 His son Neri married Corradina di Giovanni Strozzi, 
 and through her sons Pietro, Luigi, Francesco and Bo- 
 naccorso the fame and fortune of the house rose to 
 its highest point. We need only follow out the de- 
 scendants of the eldest and youngest, for in the line of 
 Pietro continued the possession of the Palazzo n. 14 — 
 now Mr. Leader's ; while in that of the youngest, the 
 prosperity of the Pitti was destined to blaze forth with 
 seeming refulgence, and as suddenly to be quenched 
 for ever, a warning instance of unbridled ambition. Bo- 
 naccorso, the youngest of the four brothers, was much 
 esteemed in the city, and won the chief posts in govern- 
 ment, though he " suffered much from enemies." He 
 was moreover an author, and in 1412 wrote a chronicle 
 named Cronaca di Bonaccorso Pitti/ which was pub- 
 lished by Griuseppe Manni in 1720, in a quarto volume. 
 He also — when worried by the enemies above men- 
 tioned — wrote a Canzorie Satirica in which the animus 
 was more anger, than satire, and which certainly could 
 not have appeased his enemies' wrath. Another of his 
 poems was called Rime de' due Buo7iaccorsi da Monte 
 Magno. His style was brilliant, but marred by the use 
 
 ^ The original was till 1805 in the hands of Ser Andrea Pitti 
 his lineal descendant. 
 
25fi IN THE PIAZZA PITTI. 
 
 of French phrases, he having lived some time in France. 
 Of his three sons, Luca the youngest was by far the 
 most eminent. He was sent as ambassador to Fran- 
 cesco Sforza in 1449, and fought in the war with King 
 Alfonso of Naples in 1453. He formed a close friendship 
 with Cosimo de' Medici, Pater Patrice, by whom he was 
 knighted with great pomp in the Baptistery of Flo- 
 rence. 
 
 In 1458 he was elected ^ Gonfaloniere di G-iustizia," 
 but his overweening pride caused him to rule in such 
 an overbearing manner that the Councils rebelled 
 against him. However he filled the palace of the 
 Signoria with armed men, and they were compelled 
 to agree to his measures, and create a new balia 
 composed of his partisans. This Council instituted 
 quite a reign of terror, one of the first acts of which 
 was to deprive Grirolamo Machiavelli (grandfather 
 of the famous Niccolo) and others of their honours, 
 and throw them into prison.^ 
 
 For eight years Luca carried on this species of 
 tyranny in the name of Cosimo de' Medici, and such 
 was his hold on Cosimo, who was now old and weak- 
 ened in intellect, that he looked on Luca as a public 
 benefactor, and loaded him with honours. Public pro- 
 cessions were held in celebration of his knighthood, on 
 
 See Machiavelli, Isiorie Florentine, Kb. YII, cap. 4. 
 
IN THE PIAZZA PITTI. 257 
 
 which occasion Cosinio and the Signoria made him mag- 
 nificent presents; Machiavelli says they amounted to 
 the value of 20,000 ducats. 
 
 Being now at the pinnacle of his power and spurred 
 to emulation by the fine palaces which Filippo Strozzi 
 and the Medici were erecting, he began to build a great 
 Villa at Euciano about a mile from the cit}^, and a 
 town palace amidst his family houses, which he de- 
 clared " should be large enough to hold the Palazzo 
 Strozzi in its cortile." 
 
 The Doric basement of this great palace was rising 
 fast, when Cosimo died, and Piero de' Medici reigned 
 in his stead. Now Piero was " a Pharoah who knew 
 not Joseph ; " he was no friend of Luca but favoured 
 Diotisalvi Neroni his rival. Two factions were there- 
 fore formed which ere long came to arms. Luca held 
 his own and Neroni's party fled, but Luca — who had 
 obtained his ends so unscrupulously, and whose under- 
 hand practices were exposed by his enemies — lost 
 both honour and prestige, and sunk low in public 
 opinion. Machiavelli says : " No instance was more 
 notable in this change of affairs than that of Messer 
 Luca Pitti, who soon found the difference between 
 victory and defeat, honour and dishonour. A deep 
 solitude brooded over his houses, which had been so 
 frequented by citizens. His friends and kinsmen not 
 only forbore to accompany him in the streets, but were 
 
 17 
 
268 IN THE PIAZZA PITTI. 
 
 atraicl even to salute him lest they should share his 
 tall, for some of them had already lost their civic 
 honours, and others their prosperity on his account. 
 The superb edifices which he had begun were aban- 
 doned by the builders, his privileges were turned into 
 injuries, his houses were disgraced." Luca died in 1472, 
 despised and hating his life. His unfinished palace 
 was bought for 900 florins by Cosimo I, for his wife 
 Eleonora, and Ammannati was instituted architect for 
 its completion. 
 
 Before beginning this ill-starred palace, Luca must 
 have lived in the family home on the other side of the 
 Piazza^ probably at n. 14, where his father's elder brother 
 Pietro had become the head of the house. Pietro too 
 had become a magistrate, and was three times "Podesta" 
 at Fifenati. Luca's ambition seems to have fired that 
 of his family in general, for they began rebuilding the 
 Palazzo (now n. 14) at the same time that the larger 
 house was rising up opposite to it. It was likewise 
 begun on a grand scale, with a Doric basement, and 
 the original plan would have included seven arches of 
 massive stones across the frontage. Luca's fall must 
 have stopped the progress of this as well as of his 
 own palace (Machiavelli distinctly speaks of houses 
 in the plural), for the last arch and a half on the 
 right are still unfinished. The works must have been 
 abandoned, and in course of time the adjoining walls 
 
IN THE PIAZZA PITTI. 259 
 
 built up against it, for the half arch in the lower 
 fa9ade remains now, though the building has been 
 finished above it. 
 
 Luca's young cousin, G-inevra Lanfredini (Pietro's 
 daughter), being heir to her father's property, became 
 mother of Jacopo, who being a famous literary man, 
 again rendered illustrious the name of Pitti, which he 
 took by his grandfather's will. He was elected senator 
 to the Grand Duke Cosimo in 1572, and sent ambas- 
 sador to Pope G-regor}^ VIII. Like his ancestor Buo- 
 naccorso, he also wrote a Florentine history, which is 
 very valuable, as it takes just the time between the 
 chronicles of Yarchi and Segni (1494 to 1529). 
 
 His wife was Maddalena Gaddi, the daughter of 
 Sinibaldo Gaddi, a man almost as influential as Luca 
 Pitti himself. He was sent ambassador to Paul lY 
 in 1555, and as he had lent a great deal of money 
 to the State, he was in 1556 made officer of the " Monte " 
 or public funds. He too married a Strozzi, so that 
 in a distant manner Maddalena and Jacopo claimed 
 cousinship. 
 
 Sinibaldo's brother Niccolo went to France as am- 
 bassador to Louis XI, on December 6'^ 1490, and he 
 made such a good impression that the King wrote to 
 Florence that he had retained him as Court Counselor, 
 Maestro clelle richieste di Casa nostra, and that he had 
 the entire management of Italian affairs in France. 
 
•260 IN THE PIAZZA PITTI. 
 
 His nephew and namesake Niccolo G-addi, Madda- 
 lena's brother, won a name as being the greatest artistic 
 and literary collector of his time, excepting only the 
 Medici family. He lived near San Lorenzo in a street 
 which was called "the Paradise of the Gaddi." Here 
 he had large gardens with fountains, statues, and rare 
 plants, which laid the foundation of the Orto hotanico, 
 or Florentine botanical gardens ; and here was a fine 
 gallery of paintings, and a magnificent library of co- 
 dices, which in later years were assorbed into the Lau- 
 rentian library. Niccolo was very magnificent in his 
 style of living, and when he was a marriage guest at 
 the wedding of Donna Leonora de' Medici at Mantua, he 
 made a splendid appearance with a number of servants 
 in rich liveries, besides having handsome litters and 
 carriages. It was through him that the owners of the 
 Palazzo n. 14 were called G-addi instead of Pitti, for his 
 only legitimate son dying young, Mccolo after founding 
 and endowing two hospitals, left his house and treasures, 
 together with his name, to Camillo and Cosimo, sons 
 of his sister Maddalena, wife of Jacopo Pitti. The 
 date of this change of name is proved by two entries 
 in a " Priorista " in the Marucellian library, where 
 among the members of the "^ Council of 48 " ' we find 
 
 * This Council was instituted in 1532, and was so arranged 
 that four counselors went out, and other four were elected every 
 month in rotation. 
 
IN THE PIAZZA PITTI. 261 
 
 on June 22""^ 1605 tlie name of Cosimo cli Jacojjo Pitti, 
 and in x4.iig-nst 2°*^ 1615 that of Ms brother as Camillo 
 di Jacopo Pitti, Hoggi (sic) Gaddi (now G-addi). 
 
 Camillo and Cosimo divided the G-addi-Pitti family 
 into two branches. Camillo's son Jacopo Gladdi, who as 
 eldest son would have lived in his grandfather G-addi' s 
 j^aracZu'o, evidently profited by his classical surroundings, 
 and became famous for his Latin odes and eulogies on 
 famous men. He also wrote poems and historical works 
 as well as the Trattato Storico della Famiglia Gaddi 
 preserved in the Laurentian library ; and from whose 
 interesting pages these facts have been gathered. Segni 
 writes of him che il nostra Jacopo Gaddi ^ at giovani 
 che uscivano dalle scuole^ predicava il huon gusto, e fa- 
 cesse loro per quanto gli era possihile disimparare il 
 cattivo. How well we can imagine him in his flowing 
 red lucco, stopping to talk to the schoolboys in hose 
 and jerkins, trying to interest their higher tastes, and 
 giving them good maxims. His poems, " SilvsB and 
 Carmine," were printed in Venice in 1655. 
 
 In 1748 his line became extinct in Sinibaldo, son 
 of Pietro, who had been created Marchese by Grian 
 Gastone. 
 
 Nor did the line of Cosimo who, it is presumed, 
 inherited his father's house n. 14 Piazza Pitti, last 
 much longer ; it died out in 1796, G-aspero di Lorenzo 
 di Gaetano being its latest member. 
 
262 IN THE PIAZZA PITTI. 
 
 The great Gaddi collection must have been dispersed 
 after Sinibaldo's death, for we find a wary monk, Padre 
 Barone of Lucca, was in treaty with an Englishman, 
 to sell for a large amount the collection which he 
 intended to buy very cheaply from Gaspero, the last 
 of the line, but Canon Bandini of the Laurentian 
 library petitioned the Emperor Francis I, then master 
 of Tuscany, that the purchase might be made for the 
 public use, and the treasures kept in Tuscany. Ac- 
 cordingly on April 24*** 1755 the government bought 
 the codices ; 355 of them were placed in the Lauren- 
 tian library, and 727, with 1457 printed books (old 
 editions) in the Magliabechian. 
 
 Thus in the old home of the Pitti died out the 
 families of Pitti and Gaddi, for in the present century 
 we find it in possession of the Lanfranchi, a Pisan 
 family, whose name together with other Ghibellines 
 is connected by Dante in the conspiracy of Count Ugo- 
 lino at Pisa, and also in his betrayal and death by 
 starvation in the " tower of hunger." One of the 
 tenants of n. 14 was probably that Carlo Giuseppe di 
 Rossi Lanfranchi, who wrote a Cantata for music, which 
 was sung in honour of the arrival of Pietro Leopoldo 
 of Austria in Florence, with Donna Maria Luisa of 
 Spain, his bride. 
 
 The Lanfranchi remained in possession of the house 
 till 1857 ; it was then purchased by Mr. Leader who 
 
IN THE PIAZZA PITTL 268 
 
 improved it for modern use, by adding an iron and 
 glass gallery round jjart of the internal cortile, form- 
 ing a kind of conservatory, on which the reception 
 rooms open, he also placed a wide loggia on the roof 
 which commands an enchanting view of Florence and 
 the surrounding country. 
 
 The staircase of this house remains, as designed by 
 the architect of the Pitti, a wide and handsome spiral 
 staircase of stone with a massive central column ; the 
 rooms have some 17"' century frescoes, but there are 
 few remains of art of earlier and purer style; there 
 are however some good modern pictures, the property 
 of the present owner. In the large drawing-room is a 
 fine specimen of the work of Cavalier Annibale Gatti, 
 who is descended from a long line of painters, the 
 first of whom was pupil of Annibale Carracci at Bolo- 
 gna in the 17*^ century. 
 
 The painting which represents Q-alileo showing his 
 telescope to Milton is remarkable for a masterly con- 
 trast in lights. Milton is in a lamp-lighted room look- 
 ing through a telescope, while the moon shines on a 
 group of young people on a terrace outside, and an 
 old woman is going down stairs by the light of a lan- 
 tern on the other side. 
 
 Another interesting picture is the portrait of Mr. 
 Leader's old friend Trelawney, in the GJ-reek dress which 
 he wore after the Byron episode at Missolonghi, when 
 
afi4 IN THE PIAZZA PITTI. 
 
 he espoused the cause of the chieftain Ulysses (or Odis- 
 8eus), whose daughter he had married. It is a fine 
 portrait, and the costume suits the determined face so 
 well that it is not surprising an English Officer, who 
 was brought into their camp as a prisoner, should have 
 failed to recognise a fellow-countr3nnan in the seeming 
 chieftain. And what a determined character he had ! 
 what other man — after a wound such as he received 
 from the English traitors in the eyrie cave on the crags 
 of Mount Parnassus — what other man would have had 
 the fortitude to sit in one position for forty days 
 till nature had healed the wounds in breast and 
 collar bone and jaw, which there was no surgeon to 
 dress ? 
 
 "Whether the cause of Ulysses were j-ust or not, 
 Trelawney, having once embraced it, was faithful to 
 death. 
 
 There are some charming portraits of the Leader 
 family by Sir Thomas Lawrance's favorite pupil Harlow, 
 in the room which contains Trelawney's likeness, be- 
 sides two good Morlands, a painting by Peter Neefs, 
 a beautiful sunset by Ruysdael, which was formerly 
 in the collection of Lord Rendlesham ; and six large 
 miniature copies on ivory, of pictures in the Dresden 
 gallery. 
 
 Nor is sculpture wanting. There is a copy in marble 
 by Signor Calo of the Venus de' Medici and also two 
 
IN THE PIAZZA PITTI. 265 
 
 marble busts of Mr. and Mrs. Leader by the late sculptor 
 Fantaccliiotti. 
 
 Two large ancient Japanese jars, with, metal orna- 
 ments by Dubois of Paris adorn one table, while two 
 beautiful Venetian flagons in bronze-gilt have been 
 brought from the " Palazzo Vendramin " on the Grand 
 Canal of Venice, and now have their place here amid 
 some metal and inlaid caskets, and other curiosities. 
 The large glass chandelier is also of Venetian manu- 
 facture from Murano. 
 
 The dining-room opens on the glass gallery, and 
 against its cool green-hued walls a large sideboard, 
 in carved walnut wood, stands out in good relief. 
 The subjects of the carvings are figures and foliage, 
 the work of Cavalier Luigi FruUini of Florence. On 
 it stands a great ewer of artistic Russian work in 
 bronze-gilt. The chief pictures in this room are a 
 very expressive portrait of a Dutch civic dignitary 
 by Van der Heist ; — the portraits of two boys of the 
 Albizi family in the 16*^ century; a portrait of Gi- 
 rolamo Priuli, Doge of Venice ; two ovals. Flora and 
 Pomona ; and a large landscape by Pandolfi repre- 
 senting the Chu.rch and Convent of San Domenico at 
 Siena with the famous Fonte Branda, of Dantesque 
 memory, just beneath them. These three last men- 
 tioned pictures were in the old Palazzo Pazzi — where 
 the Italian Bank now stands. There is a wonderfully 
 
266 IN THE PIAZZA PITTI. 
 
 well preserved rural landscape with figures and cattle 
 by Reinagie, and full-length portraits of Ferdinand I, 
 and Cosimo II Grand Dukes of Tuscany. 
 
 The " blue room " has its walls frescoed, and con- 
 tains an elegant little marble statuette of Elena Varesi 
 — a distinguished actress and charming singer. — 
 This statuette by Ximenes was bought by Mr. Leader 
 at the Duke of Dino's sale. 
 
 The red ball-room is lighted by a great Venetian 
 chandelier from Murano, and contains a good portrait 
 of Mrs. Leader by Gasser. 
 
 A Madonna by Sassoferrato hangs in the yellow 
 bed-chamber, and near it is an ancient holy-water pila, 
 with a "^ holy family " in silver-gilt and lapislazuli ; 
 and a 17*^ century Danish cabinet inlaid in ebony and 
 ivory, reprcisenting scenes of the chase. 
 
 N. 13, the corner house adjoining this one, also be- * 
 longs to the same owner, and was anciently one of the 
 houses of the Pitti family, probably that of Vincenzo 
 Pitti, a senator in the time of Cosimo II. 
 
 The prestige of the old name seems to have revived 
 in this later and distant cousin of Luca Pitti, for he 
 held many State offices with honour, was known as 
 just and prudent in government ; and nelV universale 
 acclamazione was called the " father of the poor. " He 
 died on February 25*'' 1631, and was buried in the 
 neighbouring Church of Santa Felicita. From the 
 
IN THE PIAZZA PITTI. 267 
 
 extinction of the Pitti family, this house n. 13 be- 
 longed to the Fantoni, from whom Mr. Leader pur- 
 chased it. 
 
 Some of the Fantoni were also poets ; a worthy 
 lawyer named Luca Fantoni (probably the purchaser 
 of the house from Vincenzo's descendants) recited a 
 funeral oration in the Accademia degli Svogliati^ on All 
 Soul's day 1646, on the death of Alessandro, son of that 
 same Vincenzo Pitti. 
 
 Another Count Giovanni Fantoni wrote a funeral 
 elegy for the Empress Maria Teresa of Austria, and a 
 third and later occupant, Griovanni Fantoni — known as 
 the Tuscan Horace — was very much esteemed in his 
 own day, although on looking back at his works, we re- 
 cognise that for all his fame during life he was only 
 a 2^oete de societe, an affected imitator of the classic 
 poets. He was member of " Arcadia; " that literary 
 club which is still lingering on in Rome, the pecu- 
 liarity of which is that its members assume a fantastic 
 poetical name. Griovanni Fantoni's Arcadian name was 
 "Labindo," and under this appellation he put forth 
 odes and anacreontics by the dozen, many of which 
 were collected and published at Pisa in 1819 by Nic- 
 colo Caprero. 
 
 The odes are all addressed to friends ; it seems to 
 have been Labindo's custom to follow the Roman usage 
 of distributing verses to his acquaintance. His style 
 
268 IN THE PIAZZA PITTI. 
 
 is ostentatiously formed on that of Horace, he writes 
 sentimental poems to Phillis (Filli), Lesbia, Nice, etc. 
 with sometimes a satire on woman's frailty and vanity. 
 A poem to an elderly lady who apes youth, and an 
 anacreontic to an old woman, read like paraphrases 
 of Horace ; as does a " satire on a certain Eanieri Cal- 
 sabigi di Livomo," who hopes to obtain a pension 
 from a minister by dedicating a poem to him. How- 
 ever, though the star of Labindo has faded now, it 
 shone refulgent in his own generation. A brother poet, 
 Vincenzo Corazza of Bologna, wrote an ode which after 
 comparing him to Phoebus, to the swan of Dirce, etc. 
 continues : 
 
 Tocca, Labindo, tu quella tua lira 
 Che dopo il Yate di Venosa niuna 
 Mano moitale di toccar fu ardita; 
 Toccala e canta. 
 
 (Touch thy lyre oh! Labindo, that lyre whose strings no 
 mortal hand has dared to sweep since the Seer of Venosa (Horace) ; 
 touch it and sing!) 
 
 Although the direct line of Pitti is extinct, it is 
 interesting to know that a lateral descendant, Sig. Pitti- 
 Laparelli, is still living in n. 12, one of the ancient 
 homesteads of the family. 
 
 There is plenty of historical interest attached to 
 an old house in Florence, and this may be said not 
 
IN THE PIAZZA PITTI. 269 
 
 only of these two on Piazza Pitti, but of nearly any 
 house or palace in the city. The very stones cry out 
 the story of the past, and the rooms we live in could 
 tell many a romantic episode. The new Florence aris- 
 ing in the nineteenth century will be less eloquent 
 and less lasting. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
vincictLiata castle 
 
 A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND 
 
 from the italian of 
 Cay. GUIDO CAROCCI. 
 
 I. 
 
 Ten or twelve years ago, some ruins all covered with 
 ivy and wild foliage, stood on the bare crest of a hill, a 
 little detached from Monte Ceceri. A few crumbling walls, 
 the remains of a fortress gate, and ancient loggia, some 
 rooms with their roofs half destroyed, and the corbels which 
 once sustained the ruined battlements, were all that remained 
 of the ancient Castle, which the neglect of man and vicis- 
 situdes of time had little by little reduced to a mass of 
 ruins. 
 
 Yet those ruins were so picturesque and showed a pile 
 so pleasing, and at the same time simple and elegant, that 
 one felt regret in seeing them continually crumbling away. 
 How many artists have lingered to gaze upon and sketch 
 them ! How many passionate admirers of the antique have 
 attentively examined each wall and sculpture, and scanned 
 
 18 
 
274 VINCIGLIATA CASTLE. A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 overy trace which could speak of the ancient state of the 
 Castle or its history ! 
 
 A few steps distant there stood some huts, built mostly 
 of the stones of the fallen Castle, and a little church with 
 an ancient bell-tower. — This was the village of Vincigliata. 
 None of its inhabitants had a word to say about those 
 remains which they called the " old tumble-down palace 
 {palazzaccio) of the Alessandri." At the most they could 
 only have told us some vague ghost story of the unquiet 
 spirits which wandered sighing beneath the dark vaults. 
 
 In fact one of those curious and enthusiastic archaeologists 
 was constrained to give himself up to his own thoughts, 
 which in the poetic melancholy inspired by the silence and 
 the ruins, carried him into who knows what past ages. And 
 yet the Castle ought to have some history, some tradition, 
 or memory, and not be wholly condemned to oblivion ! 
 A veil of mystery which no one had ever taken the trouble 
 to penetrate, seemed to envelop those ruins, forgotten and 
 abandoned by all. 
 
 One morning in August, about three or four years ago, 
 under a sun fierce enough to scorch the very stones, two 
 persons trod a stony path which descended from the quar- 
 ries of Fiesole, and wound their way through the valley 
 of the Mensola, under the hill of Vincigliata. The travel- 
 lers who thus defied the power of "" Sol Leone " (the dog 
 days) were two artists, — or rather one was a famous land- 
 scape painter, the other — myself — but a simple amateur 
 who now and then took the brush in hand. 
 
 On the hill before us, a medieval Castle rose so majesti- 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 275 
 
 cally, that it seemed as though neither ages nor winter 
 storms had been able to injure it. That Castle was Vinci- 
 gliata which we have represented as being a heap of ruins 
 only ten years ago. 
 
 Those picturesque remains had not then been condemned 
 to perish uncared for. A rich gentleman, English by birth, 
 but Italian in opinions and ideas, had seen the place and 
 been inspired to restore the Castle, and now Vincigliata 
 towers superb and majestic as in the days of its ancient 
 grandeur. 
 
 The two wayfarers having reached a place where the 
 path, capriciously following the course of the torrent, was 
 deliciously shaded by some ilexes, paused to contemplate 
 a superb point of view, and to ask an old man who was 
 seated on a rock the shortest road to Vincigliata. 
 
 " From here," the old man said, " you only have to 
 follow the path to the top of the hill — it is a little dif- 
 ficult, but you are young and will not mind that." 
 
 He had answered our first question so courteously that 
 I was induced to ask another, were it only to see whether 
 he had anything to tell us respecting the place. 
 
 " Do you live near here ? " I asked. 
 
 " My home was once on this hill, but now I live here 
 no longer. Before Vincigliata was rebuilt this spot was 
 deserted, or nearly so, and the sparse grass which grew 
 among the stones, served to feed my sheep while I was 
 sheltered from the sun and rain beneath the vaults of the 
 Castle. I was safe and undisturbed there, for none of the 
 neighbours dared to enter, lest they should see the spirits." 
 
27B VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 " And were not you afraid of the spirits ? " 
 
 He laughed and replied : " I must confess that in a 
 score of years I never heard anything more than the wind 
 whistling through the windows, and have seen nothing more 
 alarming than the pretty effects of light when a moonbeam 
 shone down through the cracks in the roof." 
 
 I have always had a special delight in asking old people 
 about the places they live in, hoping that some day or 
 other I might chance to hear some peasant tradition which 
 has come down to us through who knows how many genera- 
 tions. 
 
 This time we were beginning well — the old man had a 
 fluent tongue, and already let out that he knew something, 
 consequently there was nothing to do but to seat ourselves 
 here and draw out our friend. That was precisely what 
 I did, while Ferruccio (such was my companion's name) 
 took out block and paint-brush and began to sketch a 
 "" bit, " where the Mensola falls over some rocks with a 
 lovely efl'ect. 
 
 " Did you say that the people about here believe that 
 there is a ghost in the ruins of the Castle ? " 
 
 " They might not all believe that, but the fact remains 
 that they never dare to enter the vaults. Only some very 
 old people know anything about it, but I have heard my 
 father tell how sighs were once heard among the ruins, 
 and at night the figure of Madonna Bianca has been seen 
 wandering under the arches." 
 
 " Who was this Madonna Bianca ? " I interrupted, 
 
 ' Eh, signor mio, that would be a long story to tell." 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 277 
 
 " Yet if it will not trouble you.../' 
 " Oh ! not in the least." 
 
 And the old man forthwith narrated in all its particulars 
 the legend which has served as material for my story. 
 
 II. 
 
 Ah ! how lovely she was ! Seventeen years of age, with a 
 face full of life and expression, a trim and lithe little hgure, 
 unusual spirit, and bewitching affability. 
 
 It might be said that lio one in Florence could help 
 his heart beating more quickly on receiving a glance or a 
 fleeting smile from Bianca Usimbardi. When she walked 
 out leaning on the arm of a maid, or perhaps on that of 
 her father, every eye was drawn towards her, every glance 
 lingered upon her, but with that respect which beings above 
 humanity inspire. In the gay reunions of young men and 
 noble maidens, who met on summer evenings under some 
 loggia,^ or gathered in the country to celebrate May-day 
 festivities,- she was always the queen of the fete, and the 
 
 1 From ancient times the most powerful families of the city had a 
 colonnade or loggia beneath or near their houses, which formed a place 
 of meeting for guests, and was sheltered from sun and rain. 
 
 The evenings were generally spent with friends under the loggia. 
 The best specimens to be seen at the present day, are the loggia of 
 the Palazzo Rucellai, opposite their palace in Via della Vigna Nuova ; 
 and that at the corner of the Palazzo Corsi now Alinari's shop. This 
 formerly stood at the other end of the palace. Several of the older 
 loggie have been bricked up and turned into shops and offices. 
 
 - May-day or Calendimaggio was kept by much social feasting. The 
 young people celebrated rural fetes on that day, wore garlands of flowers 
 and sang May-day songs. 
 
278 VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 young men vied with each other who shoukl speak with 
 her, or press her pretty hand, or obtain a rare smile. 
 
 Many scions of the richest and most splendid families 
 had called on Messer Giovanni Usimbardi to ask Bianca's 
 hand in marriage, but their quests had always been fruitless. 
 
 At seventeen when the world in its true aspect is opening 
 before a young girl, then all her deeper feelings begin to 
 take life.... Bianca had as yet known no love but that of 
 her father, mother and brother. Monna Tessa, her mother, 
 who had for some time been an invalid, very rarely saw 
 her daughter, for she had left Florence to go and breathe 
 the pure air of the Mugello, on an estate belonging to her 
 father, who was one of the Domenichi family. 
 
 The rather severe education which Bianca had received 
 from her father, and the simple life led by the Usimbardi 
 family had prevented her from forming much acquaintance 
 with the world. 
 
 Yet she felt within herself a certain void, she knew that 
 something was lacking, and had begun to suspect that 
 besides family affection it was necessary to concentrate her 
 love on some other person. 
 
 But notwithstanding these ideas and the numberless 
 suitors who presented themselves as soon as she entered 
 society, she found no man worthy of her affection. She 
 observed that the young men were either too fond of jesting 
 indiscriminately with women in general, and were too ambi- 
 tious, or else devoted to arms and contests, and not such 
 as worthily to sustain the responsibilities of a family. 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 279 
 
 " Oh ! Madonna," exclaimed a maidservant one day 
 entering the room where Bianca was seated at work, 
 " something dreadful must have happened ! " 
 
 " Why Berta ? " asked the girl with interest. 
 
 '' Why ! — because on returning from the Piazza de' Si- 
 gnori I saw a great coming and going of people, and certain 
 faces tierce enough to frighten one.... I believe news must 
 have come from the army." 
 
 " From the army ? Perhaps Castruccio — tell me, where 
 is my father ? " 
 
 " Messere has not yet returned." 
 
 " Do you know where he went ? " 
 
 " I think he went to the Loggia of the Elisei." ' 
 
 " May God be merciful to him ! but he — blessed man 
 that he is — might have stayed away. He knows well enough 
 that that place is not liked by the populace, and that 
 every evening some disputes arise there, caused by certain 
 men who seem to live on quarrels, and who would do 
 much better to take arms for the country, which has so 
 much need of them." 
 
 At that moment an unusual noise of footsteps and clash 
 of swords caused the two women to rush to the window 
 which gave on a little street leading to the church of 
 San Romeo. 
 
 ^ The Loggia of the Elisei family (connections of the Alighieri) was 
 facing the church of Santa Margherita on Piazza de'Donati in the old 
 market. By an ancient concession this loggia was a kind of city of 
 refuge, for the Podesta and Esecutore could not arrest a criminal who 
 had sought its shelter. 
 
28^) VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 Tlie sun had already set, and in the obscurity Bianca 
 was only just able to distinguish a man who with sword in 
 hand attempted to overtake another wrapped in a cloak who 
 was running in the direction of the Piazza della Signoria. 
 Hut at that moment the person who was being pursued 
 stumbled, fell, and began to cry : " Help ! Help ! " 
 
 That voice rang sorrowfully in the breast of Bianca ; she 
 knew too well what it meant, and did not hesitate to take 
 action immediately. A moment later and followed by the 
 maid and a serving man, who had heard the cry, Bianca 
 was already in the street kneeling beside the fallen one 
 who was bleeding profusely from a wound in the breast. 
 
 The girl gazed an instant on the wounded man, then 
 gave a cry and fell fainting on the pavement. 
 
 The man was her father ! 
 
 HI. 
 
 Those \vere sad times for Florence ! 
 
 The factions of the Bianchi and Neri, though apparently 
 extinct, continued to smoulder here and there beneath the 
 surface, and from time to time put forth fierce flames. The 
 remembrance of reciprocal hatred, of feuds, murders, and 
 slaughters committed in the beginning of the 13*^^ century 
 was still too new for people to succeed in forgetting it all 
 at once. There were always rancours between one family 
 and another: those who had taken one side in a faction 
 looked askance at others who had fought under the opposite 
 flag, and would not have scrupled to begin fighting again 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 281 
 
 (ill the first occasion that presented itself. Thus every one 
 lived in suspicion, and all feared lest the streets of Florence 
 should again become the field of civic war. 
 
 Add to these unenviable conditions that Castruccio Ca- 
 stracane degli Antelminelli with his Lucchese bands devas- 
 tated the territory of the Republic with a bitter war, in 
 which the Florentine military forces more than once had 
 to succumb to the overpowering strength of the enemy. 
 
 This was the sad state in which Florence found herself 
 at the time of our story — that is in 1325. 
 
 Giovanni Usimbardi ' was one of those men who, without 
 abandoning the customs of their own modest life, know 
 how to inspire in others that faith and respect which is due 
 to talent and culture. A friend of Dante Alighieri, Caval- 
 canti, Forese Donati and many other illustrious citizens of 
 the time, he had participated in their studies, ideas, and a 
 little even in their political opinions. However Usimbardi 
 had never chosen to irrevocably launch himself in either of 
 the parties which divided the city. 
 
 He perceived that contests only tended to the ruin of 
 one's own country, and to encourage ambitious ideas in 
 neighbouring states. And yet as men always look more 
 to appearances than to facts, the enemies of the Alighieri, 
 having seen him with Dante, held that he belonged to the 
 Bianchi faction, and if in 1301 he was not exiled with 
 Dante it was nothing short of a miracle. Yet to be brief, 
 Usimbardi was thought much of in public meetings by 
 
 ^ For history of the Usimbardi family see page 11 etc. 
 
282 VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 those wise men who placed the interest of the Republic before 
 those of a mere party. 
 
 On the evening when our story begins, the 23'*^ of 
 September 1325, Usimbardi, after having taken his usual 
 stroll round the Baptistery and the Duomo, went to the 
 Loggia of the Elisei, beneath which a group of citizens met 
 every evening to discuss the news of the day. 
 
 On that evening the conversation had been lively enough, 
 for several arguments arose, which showed but too well that 
 the sentiments of hate and animosity which had so long 
 harassed the country were not yet extinguished. 
 
 They were talking of the war still waging with Antel- 
 minelli, of the reprisals of their own army, under the 
 captain Raimondo Cardona, when from the direction of the 
 tower of the Castagna, a young man arrived in the loggia, 
 who as soon as he could sufficiently calm his feelings, and 
 recover his breath, exclaimed in a tone of voice which froze 
 the souls of all who heard him : 
 
 " Florence is lost ! " 
 
 " Lost ! " cried every one as with a single voice. 
 
 " At least if not entirely ruined, she has lost her forces 
 horribly. Cardona has met the hostile army in the lower 
 valley between Montecatini and Fucecchio, has been defeated, 
 and he himself with a large part of his army, is thrown 
 into prison by Castruccio Castracane. The news has only 
 just been brought to the Signoria by a wounded knight, 
 who rode day and night to warn Florence to arm herself 
 to the defence." 
 
 This notice fell like a thunderbolt on all who were 
 
VmCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 283 
 
 gathered in the loggia. There was a moment of icy silence, 
 then some began to whisper a word into the ear of their 
 neighbours, some muttered imprecations, and others plunged 
 into a dispute on the causes of the defeat. 
 
 " Idiotic ignorance in those who are at the head of our 
 affairs," exclaimed Simone del Manzecca, a turbulent and 
 overbearing youth, who had taken a large part in every 
 litigation and quarrel which had happened lately in Flo- 
 rence. 
 
 " Say rather that the blame lies with those who weary 
 the city with disputes and contests, which are anything 
 but honourable," Usimbardi retorted impetuously. " It is 
 on account of such men that the Republic has been con- 
 strained to have recourse to mercetary troops to augment 
 her militia. And you Simone del Manzecca, who inveigh 
 against the Signoria, should first blame yourself who being 
 at the head of every disturbance have had your part in 
 causing the troubles of your native city." 
 
 " And do you dare tell me this ! you Messer Giovanni 
 Usimbardi, who with the Alighieri, Cavalcanti and all the 
 other Bianchi made such bitter war with the Neri ? " 
 
 " I never made war on any one, because I have always 
 deplored these unreasonable discords, but meanwhile, my 
 good Messer e, now that your fellow- citizens are bravely 
 fighting against their enemy, and Florence has need of 
 the arms of all her sons, you being young, strong, and 
 your own master, stay here preferring foolish town quar- 
 rels, to the well-being of your country. Blush for yourself 
 and do not dare to accuse others of causing the evils 
 
284 VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 which you and your unworthy comrades have brought on 
 the Kepublic." 
 
 And with these words Usimbardi descended the steps 
 of the loggia and hurried towards his house. 
 
 But when he reached the arch of the little street leading 
 to San Romeo, he perceived that he was being followed, 
 and turning, saw a man wrapped in a mantle, who, sword 
 in hand, was in the act of attempting to wound him. Mes- 
 ser Giovanni immediately grasped his sword, which every 
 man kept at his side in those stormy times, but before he 
 had time to defend himself the unknown was upon him, 
 and he felt himself wounded in the breast. Usimbardi 
 called for help, then fell exclaiming : " Simone del Manzecca, 
 I did not believe you an assassin ! " and swooned away. 
 
 On recovering consciousness he found himself in his 
 own bed, and under the angelic care of his daughter 
 Bianca. 
 
 IV. 
 
 A year before the events I have related took place, a 
 young man had presented himself one fine morning at the 
 Usimbardi family palace craving audience of Messer Gio- 
 vanni. 
 
 " I do not think this is the best moment to speak with 
 him, " observed one of his servants. " My master is just 
 starting with his daughter for his Castle at Vincigliata, and 
 will not be able to delay many minutes, as the horses are 
 ready." 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 285 
 
 " Tell him I have urgent need to speak with him, and 
 that I too am going towards Vincigliata." 
 
 The servant bowed and retired from the room, soon 
 returning to say that " Messer Giovanni begged him to 
 defer the interview till next day." 
 
 " In that case tell your master that I am going to fetch 
 my horse, and shall overtake him on the road.'' 
 
 A quarter of an hour later Giovanni Usimbardi riding 
 beside Bianca, — who was mounted on a white mule with 
 housings of blue and gold, — issued from his palace, and 
 crossing the city took the road leading to the monastery 
 of San Salvi, outside the Porta alia Croce, followed by two 
 armed men, who rode at a little distance. 
 
 When the cavalcade began to ascend the lane leading 
 to the church of San Martino a Mensola,* the sound of a 
 swiftly trotting horse was heard behind them. A moment 
 afterwards a dusty and wayworn horseman joined the party. 
 
 " Simone del Manzecca ! " said Messer Giovanni in a 
 tone of amazement. 
 
 "" Precisely so." 
 
 " And was it you who wished to speak to me ? " 
 
 "" It was, Messere." 
 
 Usimbardi made another gesture of astonishment, and 
 then spurred his horse a little away from his daughter, 
 that he might listen to Manzecca.^ 
 
 " Messer Giovanni," said the latter after a little hesita- 
 tion, " I have to confide a secret to you, and to beg a favour 
 
 ^ See page 148. 
 
286 VINCIC4LIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 which, although long desired, I have never yet dared to 
 express. I warn you that your reply will decide whether 
 I may always lead a happy life, or whether I must exist 
 in sorrow, or perhaps make an end of my life." 
 
 " Simone ! I really do not understand a word you say, 
 nor do I comprehend how you can choose as your confidant 
 a man to whom you have so frequently shown your dis- 
 like and opposition." 
 
 ** Listen, I may have shown myself opposed to you on 
 certain questions, being probably influenced by my friends, 
 but now I am ready to ask a thousand pardons, because.... 
 I love your daughter...." 
 
 "" I sincerely hope you are jesting, Del Manzecca." 
 
 " I swear by the head of my mother that I speak from 
 my heart, and earnestly sue for the hand of Bianca." 
 
 " Impossible," replied Usimbardi with the most freez- 
 ing coldness. 
 
 " And why should it be impossible ? " 
 
 " Because Giovanni Usimbardi loves his child too well 
 to sacrifice her whole life. And a sacrifice it would be, 
 I say, to unite her to a man who has no other thought 
 but quarrels, civic discords, tumults...." 
 
 " Pardon, Messere, -~ if I have had such thoughts it does 
 not consequently follow that I may not abandon them, and 
 in fact, from this moment I swear to occupy myself neither 
 with wars nor factions." 
 
 ' Empty words — empty words ! You made the same 
 promise to Betto Betti when you asked the hand of his 
 daughter Bice, and yet the poor soul died of the griefs you 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTKOCENTO LEGEND. 287 
 
 caused her. No! we tread paths too opposite to be ever 
 united, the daughter of Giovanni Usimbardi will never be 
 the bride of.... Simone del Manzecca." 
 
 And Usimbardi drawing rein a little returned to Bianca's 
 side. 
 
 During the rest of the way, which by a steep path led 
 to the top of the hill of Vincigliata,' not one of the three 
 spoke a single word. Messer Giovanni and Bianca seemed 
 wrapped in contemplation of the marvellous panorama open- 
 ing beneath their eyes. Del Manzecca riding behind them, 
 let the reins fall on his horse's neck, and with drooping 
 head remained lost in dark thoughts. 
 
 It was plain that he really suffered. The contrast 
 of his humiliation and the pain produced by Usimbardi's 
 words, to his usual pride, and bold character, shewed 
 that sorrow had overwhelmed him, and he sat immovable, 
 chained to his horse, without knowing what was going on 
 around him. 
 
 What a strange contrast ! That man so hard, the enemy 
 of peace and tranquillity, who dreamed of nothing save 
 arms and tumults from morning till night, who looked with 
 utter indifference on all the maidens of the city, was now 
 enchanted by a glance from Bianca, whom he had seen 
 the first time at the " Neghittosa " - on May-day. From 
 the moment he had known her, he never failed to follow 
 her whenever she appeared, and passed hours in pacing 
 
 * This was the old paved mule road, traces of which still remain. 
 See page 37. 
 
 ■^ The Loggia of the Adimari family in Via Calzaioli. 
 
288 VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 beneath her house, contemphiting the windows at whicli 
 she sometimes appeared. In fact Simone was in love. 
 
 Meanwhile the little cavalcade had reached the draw- 
 bridge of the Castle of Vincigliata, and Usimbardi delayed 
 a moment to salute del Manzecca, who had remained some 
 distance behind. The young man perceiving this hastened 
 his steps and asked: "Are you still decided in your refusal? '' 
 
 " It is irrevocable." 
 
 " The worse for you," muttered Simone between his teeth. 
 
 Burying his spurs in the flanks of his poor horse he 
 bowed, and departed at such a wild pace that he was in- 
 stantly lost beneath the trees which sheltered the road to 
 Castel di Poggio,' then a strong fort belonging to the Man- 
 zecca family. 
 
 From that day Simone deteriorated more than ever. 
 He quarrelled with everyone, began new contests, and in- 
 stituted a bitter feud against poor Usimbardi, dogging every 
 step he or Bianca made. This feud spurred him on to 
 such lengths that it led to the consequence I have already 
 narrated. 
 
 V. 
 
 What dark days were those for the inhabitants of Vin- 
 cigliata ! 
 
 It was November, the North wind, which always dominates 
 those hills, seemed more bitter than usual, the sun had 
 not the strength to penetrate the heavy masses of clouds 
 
 * See page 5. 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 289 
 
 which darkened the sky, and from time to time a fine rain 
 fell, and contributed to render the weary autumn day even 
 more melancholy. 
 
 As soon as his severe wound permitted him, Messer 
 Giovanni Usimbardi left his Florentine palace, and together 
 with Bianca and his wife, who had just returned from the 
 Mugello, went up to his Castle at Vincigliata to try if in 
 the pure mountain air he could recover the strength he 
 had lost during his illness. 
 
 At first the effect seemed to fulfill his hopes, but when 
 the warm October sun was replaced by the fogs and damp 
 of November the improvement went at a snail's pace, and 
 poor Usimbardi was obliged to stay many a day shut up 
 in his room without even the consolation of a ray of sun- 
 light to enliven him for a half hour on the terrace. Monna 
 Tessa was still an invalid and could do little towards nurs- 
 ing her husband. Giovanni's brother Barnaba Usimbardi,^ 
 who lived nearly all the year in the Castle, was occupied 
 either with his studies, or else went out hunting in the 
 woods, and rarely came in to chat with his relatives. Nic- 
 colo, Giovanni's son,^ was then studying under a friend of 
 his father's, who had been a scholar of Brunetto Latini, 
 and he only came to Vincigliata on rare occasions. 
 
 It is easy to imagine how long the hours were to poor 
 Bianca. Young, beautiful, and courted by all, yet con- 
 strained to stay up in that solitary height, without seeing 
 a living soul, she passed her days either seated by her sick 
 
 ^ See page 12. 
 
 ^ See page 13 et seq. 
 
 19 
 
290 VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 father's cliair, or in working at her chamber window, where 
 she eouhl gaze on tlie beautiful view of Florence crowned 
 witli a lumdred towers, gleaming on the banks of the limpid 
 Arno in the fertile plain below. At rare intervals she took 
 a walk round the confines, or on the ramparts of the Castle 
 to breathe the fresh air, or drink in the beauties of some 
 exquisite sunset. She was on these occasions accompanied 
 by her faithful maid Berta, whom Bianca loved as a sin- 
 cere friend, almost a sister. 
 
 Early one Sunday morning Bianca descended the steps 
 of the Castle, and went to walk outside its confines. Any 
 one who looked at her would easily have perceived that she 
 was the prey of melancholy thoughts, and indeed she had 
 good reason for her sadness. On the previous evening 
 before she went to bed, her father called her to his side 
 and said : " Listen to me, Bianca. You know how mucli 
 I love you, your brother, mother and all my household. 
 I only live for you all, and without you I should have no 
 wish but to end my troublous days. And yet, my child, it 
 is necessary that we must part for a time, I shall return 
 though I do not know precisely when ; I have a duty to fulfill, 
 the well-being of the city is compromised, and she has need 
 of the arms of all her sons. Now as some of my deadly 
 enemies have been saying that none of the Usimbardi house 
 have taken arms for the Republic, I intend to join the militia 
 as soon as my liealtli is sufficiently restored." 
 
 On hearing these words Bianca was stunned as by a 
 thunderbolt, and as soon as her father had finished, she 
 burst into tears, and uniting her prayers to those of her 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTKOCENTO LEGEND. 291 
 
 mother, besought the okl man to abandon his design, but 
 it was like trying to move a rock, and at length they were 
 obliged to desist. 
 
 That night she could not close her eyes, and at day- 
 break she went out as though to hokl counsel Avith nature. 
 It was a dreary and unpleasant day, it rained, and the tm- 
 montana (North wind) was howling as it rushed through 
 the apertures of the battlements which crowned the Castle 
 walls. Bianca wrapped a wimple round her white neck, 
 passing it over her head to keep the wind from disarranging 
 her hair, and having caused the door of the northern turret 
 to be opened, she took her way swiftly to the church of 
 Santa Maria di Vincigliata,' which stood at about a hundred 
 paces from the Castle. 
 
 The church was deserted, and Bianca, traversing its 
 entire length, passed on to kneel before the high altar, over 
 which a large lamp was burning before an image of the 
 Madonna. It was to this image — which was held to be 
 miraculous — that she directed her earnest gaze and prayers^ 
 supplicating the Virgin to keep her father from forsaking 
 them. She remained there for some time, weeping and 
 praying, but at length raising her eyes she found herself no 
 longer alone. A handsome youth, with his right arm in a 
 sling, was leaning against the wall, entirely occupied in 
 gazing at her. Bianca glanced l)ut once at him, and then 
 arose to go away. The young man preceded her, and as 
 she stopped to take the holy water from the pila he offered 
 
 ^ See page 142. 
 
292 VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 it to her on the point of his finger. Bianca thanked him 
 
 with a sweet but fleeting smile, which was interrupted l)y 
 
 a tear, and that tear must have gone straight to the 
 
 lieart of the youth, who took courage to ask the cause of 
 her grief. 
 
 " A very sad cause, Messere,"" she replied. 
 
 " This is the first time I have the honor of speaking 
 with you, it is true, but if you would tell me your trou])le, 
 and I could do anything to relieve it I should indeed be 
 happy." 
 
 " Impossible, my father is too fixed in his resolve to 
 let himself be persuaded, — even I have not succeeded, so 
 I shall be obliged to remain alone with my poor sick mother 
 in this deserted place, without ever seeing a soul." 
 
 The young man with troubled gesture interrupted : 
 
 " I understand.... but it is wrong of your father to leave 
 those lovely eyes full of tears, and to shut your heart from 
 a sweet affection...." 
 
 " Messere,'" put in Bianca, " you mistake, it is not I who 
 would abandon my father, but he who wants to leave me 
 — he is going to join the militia." 
 
 " Ah ! " added the youth, breathing more freely, " I left 
 the army two days ago," and he pointed to the arm which 
 hung useless against his breast. 
 
 Bianca bent her head, and giving her hand to the young 
 man turned towards the Castle. Taking her hand he raised 
 it gently to his lips and then said : " Adieu, gentle maiden, 
 we shall meet again if you will not forget me." 
 
 The girl's glance was more eloquent than a promise, 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 293 
 
 and he walked away towards Castel di Poggio with a joyful 
 smile on his lips. 
 
 From that moment Bianca was less sad, she let her 
 father talk of the enemy's forces, and the enterprise of the 
 militia, and then defying the rigours of the season went 
 for a walk, — this time contrary to former custom, choosing 
 the ramparts of the outer wall on the side that looked 
 towards the church. Without knowing the reason the girl 
 felt something new, within her, so unusual and so sweet, 
 that it partly compensated for the grief she suffered. The 
 scene in the church, the looks and words of the young 
 soldier, all came crowding into her mind, and the thoughts 
 were not all unpleasing to her. The young man was hand- 
 some, he had spoken so kindly, and had so beseechingly 
 prayed her not to forget him, that he remained refulgent 
 in her heart like a brilliant star in a dark and tempestuous 
 atmosphere. While she was thus occupied in thought, she 
 heard voices in the guard-room of one of the turrets. Two 
 men who were at the same time her father's servants, and 
 the soldiers who formed the guard of the Castle, were holding 
 the following colloquy : 
 
 " Times are getting worse and work is increasing, eh ! 
 Cece ? " said one. 
 
 '^ How V " asked the other. 
 
 " Because Messer Giovanni has ordered a strong watch, 
 night and day." 
 
 " What is the master afraid of V " 
 
 " First of all there are the soldiers of that devilish Ca- 
 stracane, who play all kinds of pranks and rove our country 
 
2t>4 VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 just as if they were in the plains of Lucca, and who — 
 Dotueniddio save us! — might have a fancy to pay us a 
 visit. Then there are those signori up there, from whom 
 one may always expect some attack." 
 
 " The Del Manzecca V " 
 
 " Precisely, you know there are some turbulent ones 
 among them, who hate Messer Giovanni to the death, 
 especially since he refused the hand of Donna Bianca to 
 that villain of a Simone. Add to this that the younger 
 brother has also returned from the camp, and you will 
 understand that perils increase." 
 
 " There is less fear from the younger one, for they say 
 he is a very different character from the rest of them." 
 
 " Eh ! it may be so, but ' he who lives with the lame 
 learns to limp,' and I who carry a good many Calendimaggio 
 (May-day's) on my back have never seen anything but 
 wolves come out of that old lair at Castel di Poggio." 
 
 " You are too superstitious, my venerable Ludovico." 
 
 "" And you, my boy, are too simple. Meanwhile the young 
 wolf was prowling about the Castle not long ago, and you 
 may be sure he did not come here for nothing." 
 
 The dialogue finished here, but it served to jplace a new 
 doubt in the mind of poor Bianca, who had listened atten- 
 tively to it. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Although the next day was not a festa, Bianca found 
 an excuse for ^oing again to the church. She was ac- 
 companied by the faithful Berta, but it was the same thing 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 295 
 
 as being alone, for Bianca had no secrets which the maid 
 did not share. In the church she knelt before the usual 
 image and prayed, but with wandering thoughts, for every 
 minute she would raise her head to see if the young soldier 
 had felt the same inspiration as herself, and had returned 
 to the church at the same hour as the preceding day. 
 
 Bianca who — simple and innocent as she was — had 
 until now known no affection but that of her parents, her 
 brother and Berta, now entered into a new region of ideas, 
 and began to feel that the company of her mother and her 
 maid were not enough for her ; she found her affections 
 needed something beyond, and the thoughts of her heart 
 turned to the youth who had so impressed her at their 
 first meeting. She felt that she must see him again, and 
 speak to him, because she liked him and his speech was 
 kind. In fact it was love in the bud, which promised to 
 become a sturdy blossom. That day her prayers were even 
 longer than usual, but during all the time no foot crossed 
 the threshold of the church ; and even outside it, though 
 the girl cast many glances on the winding lane up which 
 she had seen the young warrior disappear, she never saw 
 a living soul. The following day however events fell out 
 differently. Bianca saw and spoke to him, found that he 
 was named Uberto, and was son of a feudal Lord of the 
 Mugello, but that his father now lived a solitary and retired 
 life in an old house near Castel di Poggio. 
 
 Love, as we know, may begin in divers ways, and under 
 divers circumstances, but once begun its progress is always 
 the same. 
 
29<i VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 Bianca and Uberto had no need of vain words to tell 
 each other that they loved. Their looks expressed it clearly 
 enough, and when once their affection was revealed they 
 had no other thought but to meet as often as possible, and 
 talk of a future which to youthful lovers is always tinged 
 with rose colour. 
 
 They arranged their trysts, and method of correspond- 
 ing without being discovered by the inhabitants of the Castle, 
 and then took thought as to the means of attaining the 
 object of their desires. 
 
 The love of the two young people could not long be 
 concealed, however — one day Messer Giovanni himself 
 surprised Bianca as she talked with Uberto from an open 
 window in the boundary wall. 
 
 To glance on the scene, to frown angrily, and drag his 
 daughter into the Castle by the arm was the work of a 
 moment to old Usimbardi. 
 
 When they reached the inner hallmm or quadrangle, 
 Messer Giovanni entered the guard-room which was near, 
 and seating himself on a wooden " settle " demanded of his 
 daughter: "Bianca, I must know the whole truth, because 
 this concerns your well-being for life and, as your father, I 
 have a right to ask. Tell me, is this the first time you have 
 seen that young man with whom you were speaking V " 
 
 " No," replied Bianca hesitatingly. 
 
 " Then you have known him some time ? " 
 
 " About a month." 
 
 "And.... what object has he in talking with you?" 
 
 Bianca was silent. 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 297 
 
 " Perhaps.... you love him ? " insisted the old man. 
 
 The girl bowed her head blushing, but spoke no word. 
 
 The old man's face contracted, it seemed as though he 
 were thinking for a minute what to say, then he added : 
 
 " Bianca, do you love your father ? " 
 
 She only replied with tears, placing both hands on her 
 parent's shoulder. 
 
 " Well, if you love me, promise you will never again 
 speak to that man." 
 
 " Father ! " 
 
 " But.... are you aware who he is ? " 
 
 " He is the son of a Lord of the Mugello." 
 
 " He has deceived you. That is Uberto del Manzecca, 
 son of the Lord of Castel di Poggio, one of the bitterest 
 enemies of the house of Usimbardi, and especially of your 
 father, nay, more, he is the brother of that Simone Avho 
 but lately asked your hand." 
 
 " But perhaps, — he does not hold the opinions of his 
 brothers." 
 
 " My child, you are too credulous ! for the rest you 
 might know that you could never enter a family one of 
 whom tried to assassinate your father." 
 
 " Assassinate you ! " cried the girl in terror. 
 
 " Yes me, — do you remember that evening when hearing 
 my cry resound so alarmingly in the narrow street under 
 our palasso you ran down the stairs and found your 
 father in the street wounded and bathed in blood ? Neither 
 that evening nor at any other time have I cared to reveal 
 to you the mystery of that event, but now I must no longer 
 
298 VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 conceal it. The assassin who wounded nie was Simone del 
 Manzecca, the brother of the man to whom you would give 
 your love." 
 
 This revelation was so astounding that Bianca suddenly 
 growing white as marble, swayed, and straightway fainted 
 in the arms of the old man. 
 
 When she recovered consciousness she was in her own 
 bed burning with fever, and weak as though she had suffered 
 a severe illness. 
 
 There amidst the delirium of the fever which kept its 
 hold on her for many days, her thoughts brooded on her 
 short and unhappy love. She remembered the day in which 
 IJberto's words first touched her fresh young heart, his vows 
 of affection, the talks she had enjoyed with him when she 
 went out of the Castle, or at the little window where her 
 father had surprised her. At that spot she had passed 
 many happy hours, there she had come during the evening 
 gloom defying the cold, to see and speak with him and hear 
 again those protestations of his love which he had so often 
 made before. Yet through all this he had deceived her, in 
 making her believe him the son of a feudal Lord in the Mu- 
 gello, while he was one of the Del Manzecca, — the enemies 
 of her father and his house. Probably he did not hold 
 the ideas of his kinsmen, but how could that help her ? 
 He was still the brother of Messer Giovanni's would-be 
 murderer, and Bianca loved her father too well to grieve 
 him by showing kindness to Uberto. Therefore one bright 
 morning, she, with a resolute heart, seated herself at her 
 table and wrote these lines on a piece of parchment: 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 299 
 
 " Messere, 
 
 " You spoke to me with such seeming frankness, making 
 your confidences with such appearance of truth that I be- 
 lieved you. It is only now that I learn you are Uberto del 
 Manzecca. A Del Manzecca and an Usimbardi can never 
 be united. Say to your brother Simone that I pray God 
 may send him his grace, but that he can never be anything 
 but the bitter enemy of my father. Messere, I love my 
 house and my poor father too well not to tell you that all 
 inust be at an end between us. 
 
 " BiANCA Usimbardi.'' 
 
 This letter cost her a tremendous effort and when she 
 lifted her head, her beautiful eyes were full of tears. As 
 she contemplated that parchment, how often did the impulse 
 seize her to destroy it, or throw it into the fire which 
 crackled so briskly in the sculptured chimney-piece! But 
 she had strength to resist temptation, so that at length 
 with resolute gesture she folded the parchment and opening 
 the drawer of a cabinet, drew from it a pale blue ribbon 
 with which she tied the packet. 
 
 When evening came she went down to the outer court 
 and opening a small window in the eastern wall she placed 
 her letter in a crevice of the masonry. She was sure that 
 when Del Manzecca came as usual beneath the window, 
 w^here he was accustomed to see Bianca, he would look in 
 the old crevice, perceive the letter and.... the rest would 
 follow by itself. 
 
800 VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCEKTO LEGEND. 
 
 VII. 
 
 The reader must pardon us if for a short space we leave 
 Vincigliata and the actors in our story to give a general 
 glance at the very important and serious events which oc- 
 cupied the Florentine Republic at that time. 
 
 It is true that one does not generally approve of interrupt- 
 ing the thread of a narrative to insert a bit of history, but 
 in this case the reader must not frown, for the history is 
 necessary to the story. 
 
 Castruccio Castracane degli Antelminelli having since 1316 
 made himself Lord of Lucca — his native city — began to 
 cherish in his heart the idea of becoming head of the Ghibel- 
 line party in Tuscany, — a party which after a long struggle 
 had to bend beneath the power of the Guelph faction, which 
 at that epoch was emboldened by the entry into Italy of 
 Count Philip of Valois, called hither by Pope John XXII, 
 and King Robert of Naples. 
 
 The ambitious Castruccio, availing himself of the moment 
 when the Florentines had sent contingents to help Valois 
 in his war against the Visconti of Milan, armed as many 
 men as he could gather, and without any formal declaration 
 of war invaded the Florentine territory. He took the for- 
 tresses of Cappiano, Montefalcone, and Santa Maria in Mon- 
 te; attempted, but in vain, to storm Fucecchio, reached 
 Vinci and Cerreto Guidi, and returned to Lucca glorious 
 and triumphant, boasting of having set fire and flame to 
 all the country he passed through. Not content with this 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 301 
 
 he united with the Genoese exiles and went to besiege Genoa, 
 he was however obliged to desist, because the Florentines, 
 placed there under arms, had already pushed on to the Val 
 di Nievole. 
 
 For that year (1321) the aijproaching winter put a stop 
 to further hostilities and a short truce ensued. But in 
 1323 Castruccio again took up arms against Florence ; he 
 threatened Prato, but the Florentines were prompt in driving 
 him back ; an assault of Pistoia was equally fruitless, so he 
 constructed a strong fort at Serravalle, and from thence he 
 again attempted to take Pistoia in 1324. The city resisted, 
 and obtained a truce, but at that time, a certain Pistoiese, 
 Filippo Tedici, let himself be tempted by Antelminelli's 
 gold, and traitorously sold his country for 10,000 florins, 
 and Castruccio's army entered it on the 5**^ of May 1325. 
 
 All these events succeeded each other with such dazzling 
 rapidity, that Florence, confused by such bold measures, 
 had scarcely time to organise a defence against the powerful 
 • invader. In 1325 however she armed 20,000 foot and 4000 
 horse, and sent them against Castruccio under the command 
 of Raimondo Cardona, a Spaniard, who had acquired, no one 
 knows how, the fame of being a brave and able condottiero. 
 
 Having dislodged the Lucchesi from Pistoia and besieged 
 several forts, Cardona, instead of following up his triumphal 
 march to Lucca after the taking of Altopascio, halted without 
 reason near the marshes of Bientina and Fucecchio, leaving his 
 unemployed men to fall victims to the malaria which made 
 those places uninhabitable. The Spanish condottiero had 
 preferred gold to glory, and sacrificed his name as an able 
 
802 VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 general to accept that of traitor, for he did indeed betray 
 tlie Republic wliicli reposed entire trust in him, by delaying 
 their army until the Lucchesi had put together fresh forces 
 to oppose to Florence. He had however no reason to be 
 proud of his work. On the 24^'' of September the two armies 
 came to action in the plains round the lake of Bientina in 
 Val di Nievole, and the Lucchesi reinforced by 800 horse 
 under Azzo Visconti, and assisted by the perfidy of the 
 Florentine comlottiero, obtained a signal victory. 
 
 The number of Florentine prisoners which fell into the 
 hands of the victors was immense, and numerous were the 
 warriors who fell on those desolated fields. 
 
 Even the carroccio — the " palladium " of the Florentine 
 Republic — was captured by the enemy who dragged through 
 the mire the glorious standard that had so often majesti- 
 cally waved in victory. 
 
 Among the prisoners was Cardona himself who though 
 he had aided the success of Castracane was treated by him 
 precisely like his companions in misfortune, the other cap- 
 tains of militia. It is easy to imagine that the news of 
 this defeat brought sorrow and amazement on the Republic. 
 The powerful army they had assembled at such cost and 
 in which they placed all their hopes was utterly destroyed, 
 and at the moment it was impossible to gather together 
 enough men to arrest the triumphant march of the foe. 
 Nevertheless they did not lose courage, and preparing for a 
 desperate defence fortified the walls, gates, and bastions, 
 which were just then newly finished. 
 
 There was indeed a good need of them, for the Lucchesi, 
 
VmCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 303 
 
 having besieged the fortresses on the lower Val d'Arno and 
 recaptured Altopascio, burned the country up to Signa, and 
 fortifying themselves there, pushed on to the very walls, where 
 they insulted the Florentines by running races in derision. 
 
 If Florence itself was not besieged by the bold condot- 
 tiero, it was certainly due to a woman, one of the Fresco- 
 baldi, mother of Guido Tarlati, bishop of Arezzo, and one 
 of the leaders of the Ghibelline party, wdiich to the undoing 
 of Florence had joined Castracane. The Arezzo troops led 
 by this warlike bishop marched towards Florence and were 
 about to unite with the Lucchesi, when the Donna Fresco- 
 baldi went to meet her son and prayed him with such 
 earnest supplications for the good of her country, that 
 Tarlati, much moved, desisted from the emprise, and so 
 Florence was saved. 
 
 Castruccio after a short stay at Signa struck his tents 
 when the bad season approached, and still putting every 
 town and castle on his way to fire and the sword, made 
 a triumphal entry into Lucca on November ll^'^ dragging 
 behind his gilded car the Florentine prisoners, among whom 
 was Cardona, who, in spite of the services he had rendered 
 to the victor, had the mortification of finding himself despised, 
 and trampled beneath the feet of the ambitious Lucchese. 
 
 Even in the winter the Lucchesi did not desist from 
 molesting the Florentine territory, sending small detach- 
 ments to besiege and set fire to the undefended places, and 
 sustaining skirmishes of some importance and various suc- 
 cess with the Florentine militia, which endeavoured to put 
 an end to such incursions. 
 
804 VINCIOLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 We will now return to our story. 
 
 Messer Giovanni had hardly recovered from his wound, 
 when — having said adieu to his wife and Bianca, whom he 
 rf commended to the care of his brother Barnaba and old 
 Ludovico, whom he charged to guard the Castle — he took 
 the arms he had often wielded so valiantly, and, with his 
 faithful squire Cioni, galloped towards Florence. 
 
 On arriving there, he found that squadrons were being 
 organised to oppose the enemy, who was continually molest- 
 ing the less fortified places. Old Usimbardi went at once 
 to the Signoria to offer his services, and being known as 
 a brave and valiant warrior, he was given the command 
 of a squadron of men at arms, — both foot . and horse, — 
 with orders to march to the lower Val d' Arno where Ca- 
 stracane's troops were molesting Fucecchio and the neigh- 
 bouring forts. 
 
 The squadrons commanded by Usimbardi were marching 
 out of the city at dusk one evening, when they heard a 
 frightful noise in a little house near the Porta al Prato. 
 Men and women vociferating wildly, sounds of glass and 
 earthen-ware being broken, discordant music and noisy songs 
 — a sad contrast ! Here were brave men going to fight, 
 perhaps, to die for their country, while others were feasting 
 and junketing as if peace and tranquillity were still reigning 
 in Florence. Usimbardi made a gesture of disdain, bent his 
 head and pursued his way. But at that moment some cries 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 305 
 
 attracted his attention: "Help help! " screeched a female 
 voice: "For pity's sake haste, and may God reward you." 
 
 " I suppose those villains are ill-using some poor woman 
 Avho has had the ill-luck to pass by this infamous place," 
 muttered the old captain to himself and without further 
 ado he lowered his visor and, spurring his horse, dashed 
 across the field to the place from which the cries issued. 
 He was aware that another cavalier followed behind him, 
 but believing it to be his squire he took no notice. 
 
 After a short ride they reached an open space, but instead 
 of an unhappy victim found only a woman of ill-fame and 
 a young man, who were laughing excessively at having 
 given the two warriors a useless ride. Usimbardi with an 
 impetuous motion was just going to raise his visor, but he 
 desisted, and said : 
 
 " I might have expected to find Simone del Manzecca 
 in the haunt of idle cowards who waste themselves in riot- 
 ing when the country has need of their arms ! But I warn 
 you have a care, — or you will be called to render an ac- 
 count of a certain attempt at assassination one evening in 
 September under the arch of San Romeo." 
 
 The smile quickly vanished from the lips of the young 
 man who had received the two cavaliers so ill, and after 
 a sudden gesture of astonishment, he put his hand to his 
 side and drew out a long sword which he plunged beneath 
 Usimbardi's horse. 
 
 Del Manzecca was very strong and a good fencer, so 
 that holding the reins of the horse he began to make cuts 
 and thrusts with his weapon trying to penetrate the aper- 
 
 20 
 
 ^i^ 
 
306 VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 tures in tlic visor of the old captain's lielmet. Suddenly 
 however he felt his shoulder seized by two hands of iron, 
 and he was soon rolling on the earth. Before he had time 
 to think, the knight who accompanied Usimhardi had dis- 
 mounted and was upon him, showing himself a powerful 
 opponent. In a moment Del Manzecca's sword was in the 
 hands of the unknown warrior, who broke the blade across 
 his knee and then threw it in his face exclaiming : "" For 
 shame, you cowardly wretch ! " 
 
 The clash of arms and the cries of the woman who had 
 rushed into the house, brought out a number of armed men, 
 but before they got involved in a skirmish the two knights 
 set spurs to their horses and rejoined the squadron, which 
 was still marching across the deserted and marshy plain, 
 which extended a long way beyond San DoncUo in Polverosa. 
 
 " I owe my life to you," said Usimbardi turning to his 
 companion in arms, while with one hand he raised his visor ; 
 " may I crave the name of my preserver, for although you 
 are under my command I know not who you may be." 
 
 " Do not trouble to enquire, Messere. My name can 
 interest you but little, being as yet unknown. It is enough 
 that I am Florentine, and if birth could give nobility, then 
 I should be noble." 
 
 These words were uttered in a tone so despondent that 
 the old man regretted having given pain to the poor knight 
 by his question. He was silent but examined him from 
 head to foot to see if he could find a sign which would 
 reveal his personality. But his cuirass bore no device, neither 
 crest nor plume surmounted his helmet, no ornament was 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 307 
 
 seen on the trappings of his horse, and he did not even 
 wear a badge across the chest, or at the hilt of his sword, 
 the only thing noticeable was a little bow of blue ribbon 
 fastened to one of the buckles of his breastplate. 
 
 IJsimbardi was obliged to give up his investigations, 
 and resigning himself to await a propitious moment to solve 
 the mystery, returned to his post at the head of the column, 
 which gaily advanced favoured by lovely weather, though 
 it was only the end of February. 
 
 Meanwhile we will leave Usimbardi's squadron to proceed 
 tranquilly on its way, and return for a time to Vincigliata. 
 
 The evening her father left the Castle to place himself 
 at the command of the Signoria, Bianca, after having wept 
 some bitter tears together with her mother, went out in the 
 halUuniy and ascended the steps that led to the outer ramparts 
 where, leaning on the parapet of the walls, she gazed long 
 and earnestly towards Florence. The purity of the air, the 
 silence reigning around, the vivid rays of moonlight, the 
 far off gurgle of the Mensola, rippling over its stony bed, 
 and the mild temperature more like spring than winter, 
 were enough to cheer anyone. But the beauty of the even- 
 ing only added to the sorrow of the poor girl who was re- 
 viewing her unhappy position. She was disturbed in her 
 sad thoughts by the call of a sentinel who gave the alarm 
 from the height of the Castle. Bianca remained as if 
 petrified, and had no strength to move, she feared an 
 ambush, and was only reassured when she saw Ludovico 
 come out in the quadrangle with tAvo soldiers, one of whom 
 carried a torch. 
 
808 VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 " Here, here, Messer Ludovico," said the sentinel who 
 liad just come down from his outlook. 
 
 " But what are you speaking of V " 
 
 " I speak of nothing less than an escalade." 
 
 " You are dreaming, Gue^'cio."* 
 
 " Oho ! so I am dreaming am I ! why, I was up at 
 the top with all the big lanterns open, and I plainly saw 
 a man scaling the wall, below the little turret, — I could 
 even distinguish that he had a rope ladder." 
 
 " But did you not see where he went ? " 
 
 " No, I could not, for down there between the trees and 
 the tower that shades the light, there is an infernal dark- 
 ness, and I saw him disappear without knowing where he 
 hid himself." 
 
 " Eh ! we '11 find him soon enough." 
 
 And the four men began to patrol the whole Castle to 
 discover the bold fellow who had dared to scale their walls. 
 
 Meanwhile Bianca, who had listened attentively to the 
 dialogue, felt slightly timorous, and bade a soldier accompany 
 her to the door of the inner quadrangle. She walked off 
 as fast as possible without looking behind her, when she 
 heard her name spoken, and saw a human figure emerge 
 from the shadow of one of the pillars. She was on the 
 point of calling out or fleeing away.... then she stopped 
 suddenly. She had recognised the man who appeared in 
 such a strange manner. 
 
 " Messer Uberto, are you not ashamed of such an action ? 
 Do you not know that in thus invading the house of another 
 man you run the risk of losing your life V You will find 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 309 
 
 it not SO easy to pass — the soldiers are already seeking, 
 and must soon discover you." And Bianca drawing aside 
 signed to him to fly. But Del Manzecca catching at her 
 robe held her back, and throwing himself at her feet said 
 in beseeching tones : 
 
 " For pity's sake, hear me, Bianca — I must speak to you." 
 
 " It is impossible, Mcssere, — let me go." 
 
 " Bianca, one single word." 
 
 " No, no, never ! " 
 
 " It is perhaps the last time that I may see or speak 
 to you and therefore you might hear me this once only." 
 
 " But.... the soldiers are already near, they will come in 
 a moment and...." 
 
 " Will arrest me, but first I must tell you that you have 
 ruined my existence, and driven me mad, I must die because 
 life is nothing to me without you. I confess I deceived you, 
 Bianca ; yes, I showed myself to you in a character not my 
 own — but such a fault might be pardoned, — and you ? 
 you have driven me from you and made my life eternally 
 miserable." 
 
 " Messcre, I pray you to leave me, because...." 
 
 " Bianca, Bianca ! I dare not implore your pardon — 
 parhaps I am not worthy of it, and will resign myself to 
 atone for it with my life. I go — you will see me no more 
 — but I could not leave without hearing from your own 
 lips that you bear me no hate." 
 
 " Messer Uberto, I repeat...." 
 
 " Have pity, Bianca." 
 
 During this time the soldiers, after having searched every 
 
310 VINCKJLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 corner of* spaco l)ctween the walls and the Castle, turned 
 towards the cloister where Bianca had entered. 
 
 '' Softly, softly," said one of the soldiers, " I think I 
 hear voices — let us search the cloister." 
 
 The four soldiers opened the little door in the gate, and 
 the flare of the torch had already cast a vivid ray under 
 the silent arches. 
 
 llberto rose, glanced towards the door and turned pale, 
 then turning towards Bianca murmured beseechingly : 
 
 " Save me ! " 
 
 Bianca was undecided for one moment, then taking the 
 young man's arm to guide him, she entered a very dark 
 room, traversed two or three others nearly destitute of furni- 
 ture, and then she ascended a small secret staircase. When 
 they reached a room illumined by a small lamp hanging 
 before an image of the Madonna, Bianca stopped to listen. 
 It seemed that the soldiers had heard them, for they were 
 following the same route. What could she doV She dared 
 not show herself at that hour alone with a stranger. There 
 was only one way to save him, and though she knew it to 
 be perilous to herself she did not delay in taking it. Follow- 
 ing up her course they reached a door, opened it, and making 
 Del Manzecca enter she locked the door. 
 
 It was her own chamber. 
 
 The two young people remained in forced silence for a 
 while, then Uberto taking courage drew near Bianca mur- 
 muring : 
 
 '^ Bianca, do you remember the day when we spoke of 
 our future life and happiness together V Who could have 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 311 
 
 foreseen that all those sweet dreams would have so soon 
 melted away ? " 
 
 The girl was silent. 
 
 " Happiness, love, family joy, all vanished, all dead, and 
 why? Because I am named Del Manzecca and have the 
 misfortune to possess brothers who dishonour my father's 
 house, and are enemies to all those who love the peace and 
 well-being of our country. Bianca, I swear to you I am not 
 one of those traitors, I am but an unhappy man worthy 
 of pity." 
 
 The poor girl was truly softened by Uberto's tears. " He 
 certainly is not to blame," she said to herself, "therefore 
 why not pardon him, and let him take courage once more. 
 But my father, poor "father, who hates all the Del Manzecca 
 family, because they tried to kill him ! Yet Uberto need 
 not necessarily be like his brother." 
 
 While thinking thus she had draAvn near the young man 
 and rested her hand on his shoulder. It was like a flash 
 of light to poor Uberto. He rose up, took Bianca's two 
 hands, and placing them on his heart pressed a kiss on her 
 innocent lips, which was not repulsed. Peace was made. 
 
 Meanwhile the soldiers continued to seek about every 
 corner of the Castle guided also by Messer Barnaba, who 
 suddenly awaked from sleep had sprung out of bed and 
 joined old Ludovico in his search. Even Madonna Tessa, 
 invalid as she was, still retained the courage of a Floren- 
 tine matron, and issuing from her room with a damascus 
 poignard at her belt, ready for any occasion, descended the 
 stairs. 
 
312 VINCIOLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 •* It seonis to me we might go on hunting till to-morrow 
 without finding anything," said Messer Barnaba. " Guercio 
 must have been bewildered." 
 
 " The Lord save us from cross-eyed soldiers," muttered 
 Ludovico. And having sent back all the men he closed the 
 door, while poor Guercio, not persuaded that he had been 
 mistaken, turned his eyes in every direction to look for 
 the terrible enemy. 
 
 A moment later Bianca accompanied her lover to a 
 postern door in the walls, opened it and let him pass out. 
 
 " Adieu, Bianca," he said. 
 
 " Till we meet again, Uberto — and when will that be V " 
 
 " When I shall be worthy of you and of your family." 
 
 The postern gate crejiking on its hinges closed, and all 
 was silence in the Castle of Vincigliata. 
 
 IX. 
 
 The bell of a tiny country church rang out the hour of 
 noon as Messer Usimbardi's squadron ascended a hill sur- 
 mounted by an ancient castle overlooking the lower Val 
 d' Arno, and not far from San Miniato. 
 
 The little band, composed of barely a score of knights 
 and a hundred men between archers and cross-bowmen — 
 weary from a harassing march under fire of the Lucchesi, 
 who were then overrunning the country, came to seek refuge 
 in a fortress which was garrisoned by the Florentine soldiers. 
 
 A fierce tramontana mercilessly shook the trees of a 
 wide forest which clothed the sides of the hill, and rendered 
 
VlNCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 313 
 
 the wintry air still more icy, so much so that the poor 
 soldiers, frozen with the cold, were longing for the shelter 
 of the Castle walls, and a good fire to warm themselves. 
 
 They were within a few yards of the Castle gates when 
 from the heights of the tower, instead of the oriflamme 
 with the cross and lily of Florence, the standard of Lucca 
 with its panther was suddenly set up, and at the same 
 moment the drawbridge being lowered, a party of cavaliei's 
 rode forth to meet them, lance in rest. 
 
 The charge w^as so precipitous that the Florentines had 
 barely time to take in the meaning of it, without thinking 
 of defence. The cavaliers were followed by some foot 
 soldiers who fiercely assailed our squadron, which, although 
 discomposed by the violence of the attack, had now placed 
 themselves rapidly on the defence. 
 
 While the skirmish between the Florentines and Lucchesi 
 is raging we will see how the latter had been able to in- 
 troduce themselves into the fortress. 
 
 Usimbardi while yet at some distance had sent forward a 
 knight to inform the castellan of the approach of his troops. 
 
 Cece Buondelmonte who commanded the little garrison 
 of about thirty men, in charge of the fort, received a mes- 
 senger who said the squadron would arrive within a few 
 minutes. 
 
 And in fact a squadron did arrive, and was received 
 with all due deference by the soldiers within, until they sud- 
 denly found themselves assailed, captured, and shut up, 
 together with Buondelmonte in a large vault, where daylight 
 scarcely penetrated through a small iron-barred window. 
 
814 VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 lisimbardi's messenger had been stopped in the wood, 
 obliged to dismount, and confess the object of his errand. 
 One of the aggressors then took his horse, rode to the 
 Castle and acted as the Florentine herald. A moment later 
 the squadron arrived as we have seen, but 'with the diffe- 
 rence that they were not Florentines, but soldiers of the 
 powerful Castracane, who after having well eaten and drunk 
 were enabled to surprise the Florentine troops. 
 
 The skirmish on the road continued with varied results. 
 In one place the enemy's cavalry were attacking the poor 
 Florentine infantry, who, being ill able to support the furious 
 onslaught, retreated towards the forest. In another part 
 the cavalry of the two republics were fighting man to man, 
 using halberds, maces, and broad swords which glancing 
 from the cuirasses sent forth vigorous sparks. But the 
 Lucchesi were more numerous, less weary, and had more 
 advantageous ground, so that after ten minutes engage- 
 ment, the P'lorentines were feeling it likely that they would 
 have to retreat in disorder, leaving several men on the 
 field. At that moment a cavalier detached himself from 
 the group of combatants, spurred his charger and galloped 
 up to the Castle. The drawbridge was still down, and the 
 knight crossed quickly, and by some well aimed blows sent 
 flying two soldiers who were left on guard, and passed into the 
 hallium. In less time than it takes us to tell, he had sprung 
 from his horse, and with his sword still in hand turned 
 about as if to find his bearings. He looked into a corridor 
 and shouted : " Messer Cece Buondelmonte ! " No answer. 
 He turned back, saw a narrow stair leading to the subter- 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 315 
 
 ranean vaults, descended a few steps and repeated his call. 
 This time he heard as it were a murmur of many voices 
 afar off; Avithout hesitation he ran down the stairs and 
 found himself in a very dark passage ; shouted again for 
 Buondelmonte, and this time heard plainly a voice reply- 
 ing: " I am here," which seemed to come from Avithin a closed 
 door, and assured him that it was here the prisoners were 
 confined. 
 
 " Messer Cece," he said drawing near the door, "" how 
 can we open this door ? " 
 
 " By the same means that it was shut, I presume." 
 
 "^ I am a Florentine, Messer Buondelmonte, and am trying 
 to set you free. There is fierce fighting going on between us 
 and the Lucchesi, and your help would be our salvation." 
 
 "" Malediction! but how can we get out of this dun- 
 geon? " 
 
 Our cavalier began attempting to break the lock with 
 his sword and at the same time he found they were trying 
 to knock the door down from within. 
 
 It was very strong and at first resisted all their efforts, 
 but at length they were able to lift it off the hinges and 
 throw it down. 
 
 The thirty soldiers who were inside precipitated them- 
 selves into the passage, and followed the unknown warrior 
 who only stopped when he reached the quadrangle. 
 
 There the Lucchese soldiers of the guai-d had already 
 confiscated his horse, and as soon as he issued first from 
 the door threw themselves upon him. But they had scarcely 
 raised their hands before the garrison soldiers had disarmed 
 
310 VINCKJLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 them, and imprisoned them in their turn in a small room 
 which had been used as a cell. 
 
 " Make haste, my sons ! " cried our cavalier, " take your 
 arms and let us go ! every moment is precious." 
 
 Quickly said and quickly done ! in a moment the men 
 had seized their arms which were in tlte guard-room on tlie 
 first floor, and put themselves in order. P^ven Buondel- 
 nionte, grasping a broad-sword, stood in line with the others, 
 thus placing himself under the command of the unknown 
 knight who had not even raised his visor. 
 
 The Florentines, after fighting for half an hour, were 
 now losing ground and many of their number were lying 
 wounded by the enemy's weapons. 
 
 Usirabardi seemed to forget the weight of years and 
 was here, there, and everywhere, holding off the enemy 
 with his sword. At length, however, he was overpowered 
 by four knights who attacked him simultaneously on all 
 sides. The old man's arm, stiff' with long action, refused 
 to sustain any longer the weight of his sword. His eyes 
 became dim with supreme fatigue, and he would have fallen 
 pierced and trodden under the feet of his assailants — when 
 the cry of " Viva Firenze ! " resounded through the air, and 
 at the same moment the soldiers of the garrison charged 
 swiftly out of the fortress and in a flash the fate of battle 
 was changed. 
 
 Meanwhile the cavalier who commanded the sortie, see- 
 ing Usimbardi in peril, rushed to his side and with a vigorous 
 use of his sword drove off the Lucchese knights. Usimbardi 
 still fighting gazed keenly at him, and recognized the un- 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 317 
 
 known knight of the blue bow Avho had thus once more 
 saved him from death. 
 
 The Lucchesi, seeing that the result of the skirmish was 
 changing, began to beat a retreat, though not without a 
 parting thrust. One of the cavaliers who had fought hand 
 to hand with Usimbardi, before leaving, raised his sword in 
 the air and brought it down with a crash on the head of 
 the knight of the blue bow, and then fled, wildly spurring 
 his horse. 
 
 But the stroke took effect, the brave warrior swerved 
 and fell in the dust, his helmet loosened in the fall, opened, 
 and revealed the face of the young man. 
 
 Usimbardi was soon off his horse, and kneeling by the 
 side of his preserver gazed at him, and exclaimed in asto- 
 nishment : 
 
 " Uberto del Manzecca — you ! " 
 
 The young man raised both his arms, lifted his bleeding 
 head and murmured : 
 
 " You will forgive me ? " 
 
 A warm embrace was the old captain's reply as with 
 tearful eyes he kneeled motionless beside the brave young 
 knight. 
 
 A quarter of an hour later the victorious Florentines 
 
 re-entered the Castle carrying their wounded soldiers, and 
 
 the corpses of five or six brave fellows who had met death 
 in the meUe. 
 
318 VINCKJLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 X. 
 
 Suininer was at its heiglit, and the suffocating heat was 
 scarcely tempered by a light breeze which coming down 
 from Monte Ceceri swayed the leaves of the trees that threw 
 a welcome shade on the plateau of the Castle of Vincigliata. 
 
 One morning — a morning worthy of Paradise — Bianca 
 was seated in her chamber, turning over the leaves of an 
 old book of family records, and Berta, her faithful maiden, 
 or rather friend, was at the window smiling at the soft 
 breeze which ruffled her raven locks. 
 
 Her eyes were dwelling on the stupendous panorama 
 before her. Florence was dimly shadowed out on the darker 
 background of the hills of Marignolle, Bellosguardo, Arcetri 
 and Montughi. The vast plain dotted with suburbs and 
 villages, the Arno winding through it like a silver ribbon, 
 the circlet of hills more or less near, and more or less 
 elevated, made altogether the most lovely scene one could 
 imagine. Add to these natural beauties the various aspects 
 given by the battlemented towers and walls of the different 
 castles which covered the Florentine hills. There were the 
 towers of Sofliano, and Bellosguardo, the Torre de' Galli/ 
 the church of Santa Margherita a Montici, which was at 
 the time a fortress ; and nearer, indeed nearly under her 
 eye, shewed the Rocca Tedalda on Montalbano ; Poggio 
 Gherardo, and the Castle of Maiano.* 
 
 * Afterwards Galileo's tower. 
 
 - Now belonging to J. Temple-Leader, Esq. See page 218. 
 
VINCIULIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 319 
 
 It was indeed a most lovely view ! 
 
 " Bianca, Bianca ! " cried Berta interrupting her contem- 
 plations. " Look ! do you not seem to see armed cavaliers 
 coming up to Vincigliata from the direction of San Mar- 
 tino V " Bianca bounded from her seat, and running to the 
 window, placed her hand like an arch over her eyes to 
 shade the glare, and looked towards the plain which was 
 spread like a flower-strewn carpet beneath the Castle. 
 
 '' It does look so — yes," she said after a little time. 
 " I see a gleam like armour, but the horses raise such a 
 cloud of dust that one can distinguish nothing. We must 
 wait till they came nearer." 
 
 Meanwhile the cavaliers continued to ascend the moun- 
 tainous path leading to the Castle, the inhabitants of which 
 were at length able to distinguish that there were three 
 riders. 
 
 Two rode in front, side by side, and the third, keeping 
 at a respectful distance behind, shewed that he was a squire. 
 At a certain point the squire rode forward and approaching 
 the Castle at a swift trot, stopped before the gate. A mo- 
 ment later the drawbridge creaking on its rusty hinges was 
 lowered to admit the little band. 
 
 " My father ! " exclaimed Bianca as soon as the ca- 
 valiers were near enough to be recognized, " but who is tlie 
 other ? " 
 
 " He wears his visor closed, and I do not know him," 
 said Berta. 
 
 Bianca who had already thrown a white wimple over 
 her head, tying it negligently under her chin, ran out of the 
 
320 VINCIOLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 room to tell lior mother, and aid her to go down the stairs, 
 and they reached the quadrangle just as the servants were 
 assisting the tliree horsemen to dismount. 
 
 Husband and w^ife, father and daughter were united in 
 loving embraces, touching to see. They had not met for 
 six months, and the jjoor women had lived in the greatest 
 anxiety for the life of the old man, whom they knew to be 
 in the perils of a destructive and forced w^ar, in which the 
 Florentines had not enough troops to oppose the Lucchesi. 
 
 When Bianca raised her eyes, she threw a questioning 
 glance on the other warrior who stood apart with his helmet 
 still closed. What strange w'him caused him to conceal his 
 face in that manner ? And Bianca after inspecting him from 
 head to foot turned to her father for an explanation, but 
 just then the unknown lifted his arm and raising his visor, 
 displayed his face, which was young and handsome, but 
 pale from fatigue and pain. 
 
 '^ Uberto ! " gasped Bianca under her breath. 
 
 " Yes, Uberto," said Messer Giovanni gaily, " embrace 
 him, — it w411 do you both good. Bianca," he added to his 
 daughter, " he truly is worthy of you. If it were not for 
 his valour w^hicli has twice defended my life from the sword 
 of the enemy, I should not have been able to embrace you 
 now, and you would be orphaned and alone in the w^orld." 
 
 " But after that, you in turn saved me from death by 
 the unselfish care and nursing given me on a bed of pain, 
 and so we are quits," returned the young man. 
 
 Bianca who had first become pallid from surprise, now 
 flushed rosy red and threw her arms round the neck of her 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 321 
 
 beloved Uberto, whose image had, during these six months, 
 lived always in her heart next to that of her father. 
 
 How often in those long winter days, in sleepless nights, 
 in day-dreamy hours had she thought of him and of his 
 promise to return when he was worthy of her! He ha'd 
 now maintained his word and had returned never again to 
 leave her. 
 
 It may be imagined how this scene delighted Monna 
 Tessa to whom her daughter had revealed the secret of 
 her heart. She too embracing the gentle knight saluted 
 him, and gained his assurance that he would never forsake 
 Bianca. 
 
 The first emotions being passed, Uberto took the faded 
 blue bow from his breast and presented it to Bianca saying : 
 
 ' Do you remember the parchment which you sent one 
 day to beg me to forget you ? It was tied with a blue 
 ribbon. I destroyed the letter, for it made me too despair- 
 ing, but as I had no other memorial of you, I kept the 
 ribbon and have worn it on my breast during all this long 
 time. I restore it to you as a remembrance of how I gained 
 your heart ; and now as you are my own, I need no more 
 outward favours to recall your image." 
 
 Bianca took the ribbon and pressed it to her lips, then 
 put it in the bosom of her dress. 
 
 The sun was just rising on a bright day near the end 
 of summer, and it seemed that nature was adding festivity 
 to an event which was to render two human beings happy. 
 The bells of the church of Vincigliata rang gaily, inviting 
 
 21 
 
822 VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 the people of the village and neighbourhood to partake in 
 a fete which was very unusual to them. The black and 
 white standard of the Usinibardi waved merrily in the wind 
 on the towers of the Castle ; and witliin it soldiers, servants, 
 and friends were all engaged in preparing bouquets of 
 flowers, adorning the rooms, and dressing for the fete. 
 
 The stout fortress of Castel del Poggio also presented 
 an astoi\ishing appearance adorned with flags and festoons, 
 wliile from the great door a superb awning of bright colours 
 was extended. 
 
 It was the day fixed for the marriage of Bianca and 
 Uberto, a marriage which reconciled the feuds of two 
 families, a thing the more easy as Simone del Manzecca, 
 Uberto's brother, was no longer an obstacle to peace, having 
 been exiled fi-om his father's house, for his misdoings and 
 disgraceful wildness. 
 
 At dawn of day Bianca Avas on the walls, gazing at her 
 future home Castel del Poggio, and Uberto impatient to 
 see his love again, mounted his faithful charger and witli 
 some slight excuse galloped towards Vincigliata. 
 
 Bianca who saw him coming down the steep road greeted 
 him by waving the veil she held in her hand, and waited 
 anxiously for his arrival. But suddenly the girl's face 
 clouded over. When Uberto arrived within a few paces of 
 the Castle, she saw three men dart out from behind some 
 bushes and place themselves across the path intercepting 
 his course. One of the three seized the reins of his horse, 
 another caught the young man by the waist and threw him 
 in the dust of the road, then the third who had held back, 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUxlTTKOCENTO LEGEND. 323 
 
 caine forward, took a weapon from his belt, and three times 
 raising his arm phmged it into Uberto's heart. 
 
 Bianca was so paralyzed by the sight that she had not 
 even the power to scream, but as soon asj she realized what 
 had happened she rushed down the steps leading to the 
 walls, out of the Castle and ran to the spot. One glance 
 was enough to show her that her betrothed was wounded and 
 dangerously. The three men had fled precipitously towards 
 the valley, but not so quickly but that the girl recognized 
 one and called after him : " Woe to you, Simone del Man- 
 zecca, fratricide, — may God punish you!" 
 
 Meanwhile the villagers and soldiers attracted by Bian- 
 ca's cries gathered around the wounded man, who with a 
 white face and weakened by the loss of blood was already 
 senseless. 
 
 The men carried him in their arms to Vincigliata and 
 laid him on a bed where he received every possible care. 
 
 An hour later Usimbardi, assisted by two servants, bore 
 out from that chamber the form of Bianca, delirious and 
 stained with her lover's blood. 
 
 The fratricidal hand of Simone del Manzecca had struck 
 its mark — IJberto was no more ! 
 
824 VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Ill 1327 when the Florentine army under Charles de 
 Valois was fighting against the Lucchesi beneath the walls 
 of the strong Castle of Santa Maria in Monte, two cavaliers, 
 one Lucchese and the other Florentine, detaching them- 
 selves a little from the midst of the melee, were fighting 
 with extraordinary asperity. Suddenly the Florentine, who 
 seemed to gather strength in fighting, let fall such a blow 
 on the head of his adversary that he broke the helmet 
 which fell in two parts leaving the head bare. The adversary 
 stood one moment immovable with his sword in the air, 
 then he exclaimed : " Simone del Manzecca ! assassin, fratri- 
 cide, traitor to your country — I will punish you as you 
 deserve." 
 
 And spurring his horse on him, he with another fierce 
 blow, which Manzecca had no time to parry, cut right 
 through his skull. 
 
 The brave knight was just rejoining his corps when with 
 a terrible crash one of the battlements of the walls, which 
 the besiegers had loosened, fell over and buried both horse 
 and rider. 
 
 Two soldiers, who were near, approached the fallen man 
 heedless of the peril and liberated him from the debris, 
 but they only found a mutilated corpse. 
 
 " Poor Messer Giovanni Usimbardi," said one of the 
 soldiers wiping away a tear, " he was a brave fellow ! " 
 
VINCIGLIATA CASTLE, A QUATTROCENTO LEGEND. 325 
 
 " Peace to his soul ! " added the other, " he has ended 
 his sufferings." 
 ' And Bianca ? 
 
 Bianca had been unable to resist the tremendous mis- 
 fortunes which had overwhelmed her, — she had lost her 
 reason. 
 
 Many a night did she wander about the corridors of 
 .Vincigliata, dressed still in her bridal robes, and she passed 
 hours and hours before the window where she had so often 
 talked with Uberto. She looked like a ghost, with pale and 
 drawn features and fixed gaze, she who had been always 
 so lovely, bright and graceful. 
 
 One morning when her faithful Berta went down into 
 the quadrangle she found her stiff and cold before the 
 window which had been so dear to her. 
 
 Alas, Bianca ! 
 
 The peasants in the neighbourhood declared that nearly 
 every night from that time the spectre of the maiden might 
 be seen wandering beneath the subterranean arches of the 
 Castle. 
 
 I have never been in the subterraneous parts of Vinci- 
 gliata by night, but I know that the present inhabitants 
 have never seen that shadow which has formed the substance 
 of my story. 
 
 Leader Scott 
 
 (Translaior). 
 
A VINCIGLIATA. 
 
 Stretti, avviticchiati I'uno all'altra come I'ellera aH'olmo, 
 camminavano liingo il fianco del monte coperto d'abeti, e 
 lassu, in quella campagna profiimata dalla primavera, si sen- 
 tivano tanto felici, perche si amavano tanto. Di quando in 
 quando lei volgeva, fermandosi, il viso verso 1' iiomo che da 
 poclii giorni era diventato il compagno della sua vita e sor- 
 rideva come una beata del paradiso; poi lo guardava con 
 i suoi bellissimi occhi bruni, e quello sguardo diceva : come 
 sono contenta di essere tua moglie! 
 
 La coppia avventurata sentiva la vita al pari degli uc- 
 celli che cinguettavano sopra i rami degli alberi, e cantava 
 I'inno eterno dell'amore, le cui strofe belle, dolci, soavi si 
 rassomigliano tutte, perche sono tanti baci. 
 
 Facevano i due sposi quella passeggiata plena d' incanti 
 per visitare il castello di Vincigliata, un maniero che i mi- 
 lioni d' un nobile Inglese, sir G. Temple-Leader, hanno fatto 
 risorgere dai ruderi nella sua primitiva forma, quale appa- 
 riva nel XIV secolo, quando era abitato dagli Alessandri e 
 Visdomini, nobili e potenti famiglie fiorentine. Eccolo la il 
 
828 A VINCIGLIATA. 
 
 bello e turrito edifizio. Le pietre grigiastre, le mura mas- 
 sicce coronate di nierli, le piccole ogivali linestre con le 
 grosse inferriate, spiccano meravigliosamente sopra uno di 
 quei poggi che forraano le deliziose pendici fiesolane. 
 
 Innanzi a quel castello — che pare fatto sorgere li per li 
 dalla magica bacchetta d' una fata, come si legge in quei 
 racconti fantastici, pascolo gradito della nostra prima gio- 
 vinezza, tanto ci sorprende le sua perfetta conservazione — i 
 nostri due felici si fermarono, suonarono una campana, una 
 porticina ferrata cigol6 sopra i cardini, ed entrarono. AUora 
 incominciarono a percorrere quelle stanze tetre, scarsamente 
 illuminate per la luce colata che passava dalle finestre coi 
 pezzetti di vetro colorato legati insieme da strisce di pioml)o, 
 e ad ogni passo che facevano spariva dalla loro mente il 1882: 
 ritornavano indietro sei secoli. Presi da allucinazione, a lei 
 pareva di essere vestita di broccato e col corsetto tutto ri- 
 cami e perle come la bella Agnoletta di messer Bettino 
 Ricasoli, andata sposa nel 1381 a Nicholao Alessandri ; a lui 
 di aver elmo, celata e maglia, come Giovanni Aguto, che 
 saccheggia e distrugge il castello nel 1364, o con il lucco di 
 Alessandro Alessandri che lo riedifica nel 1368: fatti questi, 
 ricordati da certi affreschi, imitazione di scuola giottesca, che 
 si vedono sulle pareti del chiostro. Piu d'una volta, I'uomo 
 chiamo sua moglie madonna, ed ella il marito messere. 
 
 Questo ritorno al passato lo provano tutti i visitatori di 
 quel castello, che tutto, dalle mura di cinta alle serrature 
 delle porte ; dai mobili di legno di querela intagliato ai letti 
 di legno di cipresso coi pesanti baldacchini; dai vasellami 
 di antica maiolica alle casse dorate e istoriate, nelle quali 
 
A VINCIGLIATA. 329 
 
 le nobili donzelle fiorentine ponevano il loro corredo da sposa ; 
 dai cofanetti per le gioie ricchi d' intarsi ai calici- di cristallo 
 di rocca e ai candelabri di ferro battiito tutti arabeschi; 
 dagli affreschi del 300 alle terre di Luca della Robbia, tutto 
 ha I'impronta dei vecchi tempi. E per completare Timpres- 
 sione storica che fa provare questo edifizio, non manca nem- 
 meno una sala d'armi, dove in bella mostra, sono appese 
 alle pareti picche, spade, misericordie, targhe, balestre, co- 
 lubrine, corazze, armature complete, e alcuni strumenti di 
 tortura. E tutto questo fu acquistato dal proprietario del 
 castello, con quella intelligenza ed amore che alcuni stra- 
 nieri hanno per le arti. Certo in quelle mura c' e un vero 
 tesoro archeologico, dove lo studioso, 1' artista e il poeta tro- 
 veranno sempre da pensare e ispirazioni a fare. 
 
 La nostra coppia era arrivata in una sala con la volta 
 seminata di gigli d' oro. Nelle pareti spiccavano gli stemmi 
 gentiHzi degli antichi signori del castello sopra un parato 
 formato d'animali graziosamente disposti. 
 
 La donna, sorridendo, ando a sedersi in un bel seggio- 
 lone coperto di cuoio con grosse borchie dorate, e rivolta 
 a suo marito con sguardo civettuolo, le disse: 
 
 " lo sono Diana d'Alteno, voi il conte di Monsoprano. 
 E ora, attenti all' enigma, che se 1' indovinerete avrete la mia 
 mano, le mie terre, i miei vassalli, le mie castella." 
 
 Ed alzatasi, con posa declamatoria, comincio: 
 
 Mio bel cavaliero, sai dirmi qual sia, 
 
 Quel moto convulso che dura un istante, 
 Che I'anima ruba e il cor porta via? 
 Mio bel cavaliero, sai dirmi qual sia? 
 
SaO A VINCIGLIATA. 
 
 E lui pens6, ma non trov6 sul momento la spiegazione 
 di questo facilissinio indovinello. E lei sorrideva sempre, e 
 gioiva deir imbarazzo in cui aveva posto il inarito, che, col 
 goniito appoggiato alia finestra, pensava all' enigma, mentre 
 i suoi occhi erravano suUa sottoposta Firenze. 
 
 La donna si avvicino, gli poso un braccio sulla spalla 
 e disse: 
 
 '' Guarda ; come e bella Santa Maria del Fiore ! anche 
 il sole innamorato la hacia ! " e calco sopra quest' ultima 
 parola. 
 
 " Ah ! " egli esclamo, " ho vinto ! " 
 
 E poso le sue labbra sopra i neri capelli della sua sposa, 
 che in quel momento accarezzava un venticello leggero come 
 un sospiro. 
 
 (G. Bargilli, in the Giornale XKi Viaggiatori, 
 
 May 6*h, 1882.) 
 
LE CHATEAU DE VINCIGLIATA. 
 
 Un chateau cle fees avec donjon, tourelles et creneaux, 
 construit de toutes pieces, dominant la lolaine et les collines, 
 place en face d'un immense horizon, im chateau des legendes, 
 pared a ceux qui ornent le cours du Rhin, ou les highlands 
 de I'Ecosse, ou plutot pareil a ces chateaux d'architecture 
 arabe que les voyageurs anglais nous decrivent dans les 
 gorges du Thibet, ou se trouve un tel chateau? — Dans les 
 environs de Florence, a trois quarts d'heure de la ville. Son 
 donjon, ses creneaux, ses tourelles, son mur d'enceinte mo- 
 numental, sans la moindre breche, et fait de ces belles j)ier- 
 res non polies qui forment les solides assises des vieux palais 
 Horentins, I'enceinte du Bargello par exemple, apparaissent 
 au loin sur les hauteurs, dans ce pli des montagnes qui forme 
 I'amphitheatre depuis Fiesole jusqu'a Pontassieve. 
 
 C'est le nouveau chateau de Vincigliata, reconstruit depuis 
 dix ans, sur les ruines de I'ancien, par M. John Temple-Leader, 
 gentilhomme anglais, qui a consacre a cette oeuvre conside- 
 rable une sollicitude d'amateur, d'antiquaire tres eclaire. Le 
 chateau de Vincigliata est situe sur le territoire de Majano, 
 
332 LE CHATEAU DE VINCIGLIATA. 
 
 immetliatement au-dessous de Castel di Poggio, autre donjon 
 pose sur la cr^te de la montagne, vers le nord-est. On s'y 
 rend par San Gervasio, la Fonte all' Erta et line belle route 
 A, lacet qui gravit la hauteur k travers un bois de conif^res, 
 de cypres et pins plantes par M. Temple lui-meme. 
 
 On se trouve en presence d'une enceinte carree et cre- 
 nelle dans laquelle s'ouvrent deux portes: Tune regarde 
 I'ouest, vers le inont Ceceri ; I'autre le nord, vers Castel di 
 Poggio et le tr^s petit bourg ou hameau de Vincigliata, c'est 
 la principale. De ce cote, le rempart est precede d'un fosse, 
 I'entree, d'un pont en construction. La porte s'ouvre dans 
 une tourelle avec meurtrieres et guerites, voute, pieds-droits 
 et sarrasines. On est dans une vaste cour carree, on voit le 
 rempart a son revers; un chemin circule derriere les cre- 
 neaux, chemin en pierres de taille placees sur la magonnerie, 
 creneaux k sarrasine surplombant la muraille. 
 
 Aux deux tiers de I'aire de la cour, vers le sud, s'eleve 
 le donjon, la partie habitable, le chateau proprement dit. 
 Son entree se rencontre k peu pr^s en face de la porte oc- 
 cidentale. Cette porte n'est point ouverte encore; on voit 
 aupr^s, k gauche, une sorte de porche en magonnerie, sou- 
 tenu par des piliers octogones, k chapiteaux capricieux ; sous 
 le porche sont menagees des banquettes pour accueillir les 
 serviteurs, les gens qui ne seraient point admis immediate- 
 ment dans le chateau. 
 
 On gravit un escalier; une lourde porte garnie de fer, 
 avec appareil de fermeture tres ouvrage, donne acces dans 
 la cour noble : c'est une seconde apparition ; on croirait ar- 
 river chez un prince des contes de fees. A droite, loggia 
 
LE CHATEAU DE VINCIGLIATA. 333 
 
 florentine soutenue par des pilastres a chapiteaux-bizarres, 
 banquettes de noyer sculpte ; puits a Tangle vis-a-vis la porte, 
 la poulie est soutenue par une chimere en pierre grise, qui 
 tient I'anneau de fer dans sa gueule beante, la margelle est 
 sculptee. Dans le mur k pierres de taille grossierement ecar- 
 ries, avec les aretes fortement accusees, sont incrustees des 
 armoiries, celles du maitre actuel : d'argent ^ trois coquilles 
 de meme, plaquees sur rouelle de sinople, a la fasce aussi 
 de sinople chargee de deux hures de sanglier et d'un muffle 
 de lion d'or, celui-ci dans le milieu ; support et cimier — 
 Crest — un lion chape d'un heaume empanache, tenant dans 
 la senestre un laurier, dans la dextre un ciste avec la de- 
 vise me duce;~les amies des proprietaires anciens, le coq 
 de la famille Galli, de Rovezzano, le mouton a double tete 
 des Alessandri ; les armes des divers quartiers de Florence, 
 la fleur de lys et la croix de gueules, I'aigle et le dragon du 
 parti guelfe, le mot lihertas en bande de la republique. 
 Plus haut, on lit I'anatheme celebre du pape Gregoire XI : 
 In judicio non resurgat — damnatus male pereat — cum 
 Juda iniquo partem haheat — si qiiis Jiunc locum quovis modo 
 — sive ingenio violare presumpserit. 
 
 L'habitation, ce qu'on nomme le gros oeuvre, s'eleve a 
 gauche de la cour d'honneur. On y arrive par un escalier 
 a trois paliers; les fenetres et plusieurs portes de I'appar- 
 tement sont masquees par un balcon k parapet plein, sus- 
 pendu sur les deux cotes. La se voient une salle d'armes 
 pareille a un musee, des cabinets tendus de cuir de Cordoue, 
 des chambres pavoisees de damas; les fenetres sont garnies 
 de rondelles de verre a nombril, comme celles du Bargello. 
 

 :m LE CHATEAU DE VINCIGLIATA. 
 
 Vn niitre batiment en contre-bas est actuellement en 
 construction ; b\, seront des chanibres et des salles pour les 
 botes et les domestiques, peut-etre des ecuries. L'escalier 
 en pierre de taille, menage dans une tour carr^e, avec I'arete 
 exterieure en zig-zag, comme des carreaux de foudre, descend 
 dans des salles voiitees. On se trouve ^ la hauteur d'un cloi- 
 tre situe dans Tangle de I'enceinte, et dont le pave est au 
 niveau du renipart et du sol exterieur. 
 
 II ne faut pas qu'on s'imagine que le chateau de Vin- 
 cigliata est une de ces oeuvres capricieuses oil la solidite 
 est sacrifice a I'apparence. Au contraire, I'aspect noble et 
 artistique resulte de la masse, du choix des materiaux, de 
 la solidite de la construction, du bon gout et de la rigueur 
 architectonique de la mise en oeuvre. Ce caprice de grand 
 seigneur n'est rien moins qu'un monument dans la campagne, 
 sur les hauteurs, dans la localite qui lui convient precise- 
 ment, au milieu d'un paysage un pen solitaire et en vue 
 d'une plaine magnifique et riante, comme celle de I'Arno, 
 depuis Compiobbi jusqu'a Signa. 
 
 La reconstruction du chateau est due a un architecte de 
 talent, mort recemment, M. Giuseppe Fancelli. Les details 
 de sculpture sont executes, au jour le jour, par un de ces 
 tailleurs de pierre de la contree, David Giustini, de Setti- 
 gnano, qui rivalisent avec les sculpteurs, et continuent la 
 tradition des grands artistes sortis des carrieres seculaires 
 du Monte Ceceri. C'est de la, en effet, que sont venus a 
 Florence et dans le monde de I'art serieux, de Tart epique 
 Giuliano et Benedetto da Majano, Desiderio da Settignano, 
 celui-lfi nieme, dont Cicognara a ecrit « que par lui on pent 
 
LE CHATEAU DE VINCIGLIATA. 335 
 
 dire que I'art dii ciseaii a touche a sa perfection. » Personne 
 n'ignore, d'ailleurs, que c'est a Majano et a Settignano que 
 le grand Michel-Ange choisissait les maitres qu'il envoyait 
 a Serravezza et a Carrare administrer ses carrieres de marbre. 
 Tel qu'il est, le chateau de Vincigliata est tout-a-fait 
 digne de la contree et des traditions artistiques des alen- 
 tours. Sa visite est une des plus jolies excursions des envi- 
 rons de Florence. A le voir, sur la montagne un peu pelee, 
 se detacher sur les verdures pales, au bout de son chemin 
 en zig-zag, dans I'atmosphere lumineuse et doree de I'au- 
 tomne, on dirait un de ces chateaux fantastiques que les 
 maitres de la fresque et de la peinture a la detrenipe, les 
 maitres mystiques du XIV'"'' siecle, ont introduits dans leurs 
 tableaux pour representer la cite du paradis. 
 
 (Charles Escalle, in the Florentine newspaper L'ltalie, 
 . September W^\ 1868.) 
 
 THE END. 
 
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