Chapter LXIII says: “... I will that in the Hall of the Palace of

Camerata an inscription shall be put up to my memory in such fashion and in such a position as shall be judged proper by the most excellent Signore Piero Angeli, whom I beg to do me the favour of visiting the said Palace, and my heirs shall receive him with the honour due to his most rare merits.”

Either “the most excellent Signore Piero Angeli” never went to Font’ all’ Erta or the heirs neglected to carry out the orders of Niccolò, for inscription there is none. It is said that in the carnival season faint sounds of old-fashioned dance music are heard there in the dead of night, and the rustling of silk robes and silvery laughter. But all attempts to see the ghostly dancers from the balcony running round the top of the lofty hall have failed.

In 1770 the villa was bought by Marchese Ponticelli of Parma who sold it to Niccolò Gondi, and in the drawing-room still hangs a portrait of the fascinating Paule Françoise Marguerite de Gondi who married the Duc de Crequy, de Bonne, de Lesdiguieres, &c., &c. She is pretty in a _piquante_ French style, and wears coquettishly a blue robe trimmed with ermine. Round the top of the room are frescoes by Maso da San Friano (Tommaso di Antonio Manzuoli). The Loggia which gives access to the villa is magnificent; it looks due south, over Florence and the valley of the Arno. Two fine old date-palms growing against it have withstood many a hard winter and give grace and beauty even to Ammannati’s splendid building. Count Pasolini who bought the villa in 1850 put up a fine Venetian lantern out of an old Contarini galley under a Della Robbia Madonna in the Loggia.

The villa stands high, about a mile from Florence, and a winding carriage road shaded by elms leads up from the plain ending in an avenue of tall cypresses. Thence the view of the hill of Fiesole is enchanting. Beautiful Doccia with its long line of arches lies bathed in sunshine, and just below is the villa where St Louis Gonzaga stayed with Pier Francesco del Turco to learn the Tuscan tongue. Landor’s old villa, now belonging to Professor Willard Fiske, faces us, with the valley of the Ladies below its garden wall, and the Affrico murmuring through its grounds. Visions of the fair Fiametta and her companions arise as one remembers how on the sixth day, after Elisa had crowned Dioneo king and laughingly told him it was time he should find out what a charge it was to rule over and guide women, the three youths sat down to play at draughts while she led the Ladies to an unknown valley. Leaving the “sumptuous palace” they walked about a mile, and “entering by a narrow path on a side where a crystal clear streamlet ran, they saw it to be as beautiful and delightful, especially at that season when the heat was so great, as can be imagined. And according to what some of them told me afterwards the level part of the valley was as circular as though drawn with compasses, yet it was an artifice of nature and not made by human labour. Little more than half a mile in circumference it was surrounded by six hills of no great height, and on the summit of each one was a palace built much in the shape of a small castle. The sides of the hills sloped towards the plain, as we see the seats in theatres from the top row descend in successive flights, always restricting their circles. And these hillsides, at least all those facing south, were clothed with vines, olive, almond, cherry and other fruit trees, and not a palm of ground was lost. Those looking to the north had copses of oak saplings, ash and other trees, green and straight as they could be. There was no other approach to the level plain than the one by which the Ladies had come; it was full of fir-trees, cypresses, bays and a few pines, so well placed and so well ordered as though planted by the greatest of artists. Little or no sun entered there, even when high in the Heavens it only just touched the earth clothed with sward of finest grass and rich in purple and other flowers. Besides this a rivulet, which was not a less delight, came from a valley dividing two of those small hills; it trickled down steep rocks of sandstone, and made in its fall a sound most delightful to hear, while the spray, from afar, seemed to be live silver broken into the lightest of showers. On reaching the level the rivulet gathered into a pleasant channel, rushed rapidly to the centre of the plain and there formed a lakelet, such as now and again townsfolk, who have the art, make in their gardens for fish-ponds. The depth of the lakelet was not more than up to the breast of a man, and so clear that not only the gravel bottom could be seen, but many fishes darting about here and there.... When the Ladies had observed everything they commended the place exceedingly and the heat being great, seeing the lake before them and having no fear of being seen, they decided to bathe ... and all seven disrobed and went down into the water, which hid their lovely white bodies no more than a thin glass would hide a crimson rose. Without causing the water to become turbid, they went hither and thither after the fish, which had scant hiding-places, trying to catch them with their hands. Having with great joy taken some, they remained some time in the water and then came forth and dressed.”

Returning to the Palace the Ladies described the valley and its lake in such glowing terms that next morning another expedition was agreed upon: “the sun’s rays had hardly begun to show when they started; never had the nightingales and other birds seemed to sing so gaily as on that morning. Accompanied by the song of birds they went as far as the Valley of the Ladies where they were greeted by many more, who appeared to them to rejoice at their coming. Walking about the valley and examining it more minutely it seemed to them so much the more beautiful than on the day before as the hour of the day was the more suitable to its loveliness. And when they had broken their fast with good wine and sweetmeats, in order not to be behind the birds they began to sing, and the valley sang with them always repeating the same songs they uttered, to which all the birds, as though loth to be vanquished, added sweet and novel notes. But the hour for eating having arrived and tables, according to the King’s pleasure, being set under the tall and spreading trees near to the lovely lakelet, they seated themselves; and whilst eating watched the fish swimming in the lake in great shoals.”[67]

Font’ all’ Erta is intimately connected with the making of the kingdom of Italy. Count Giuseppe Pasolini, who began public life in 1848 as minister of Commerce, Agriculture and the Fine Arts to Pius IX, a post he only occupied for a few months, bought it as already mentioned in 1850, when he frankly joined the party of “Young Italy.” There Ricasoli, Minghetti, La Marmora, Peruzzi, and all the liberal men of Italy often met together, and English well-wishers of Italy were frequent guests. In 1860 Count Pasolini became Governor of Milan for the King of Italy, and two years later he entered the Farini ministry for a short time as Minister for Foreign Affairs. Then he was named Prefect of Turin, a post he resigned after voting the transfer of the capital to Florence in 1864. His high character, undoubted ability and conciliatory manner caused him to be chosen for the difficult post of Commissary General of Venetia in 1866, and he entered Venice on the 20th October, two days before the plebiscite which was all but unanimous in favour of union with Italy—641,758 votes against 69. In 1867 Count Pasolini retired into private life, but in obedience to the King’s express request he accepted the Presidency of the Senate in March 1876. In December the same year he died at his family place near Ravenna aged sixty-one, leaving Font’ all’ Erta to his daughter Angelica, Countess Rasponi della Testa.

FOOTNOTES:

[64] _Ninfale Fiesolano._ Giov. Boccaccio. Firenze, 1834. Vol. XVII. p. 9. Translated by R. C. Trevelyan.

[65] _La villegiatura di Majano._ M.S. Roberto Gherardi, 1740.

[66] The mother of Niccolò Gaddi was Lucrezia, daughter of the Senator Matteo Strozzi, and his second wife was Maria Strozzi.

[67] _Il Decamerone._ Gio. Boccaccio. Firenze, 1827. Giornata Sesta, Novella X. p. 172, _et seq._

VILLA DI GAMBERAIA

Nothing definite is known of the history of this charming villa which stands among giant cypresses and gnarled ilexes on a terrace high above Settignano and overlooks the Val d’ Arno. From the name Gamberaia some have attempted to connect it with the great sculptor Antonio Rossellino, who with his brother Bernardo, the architect, was born in Settignano and whose family name was Gamberelli. But Antonio who, writes Varchi, “was so refined and delicate in his works, their beauty and smoothness being so perfect that his manner can in truth be called natural and absolutely modern...” died about 1479, whereas Gamberaia cannot have been built much before 1600. Not far off a small house is still standing which has always been pointed out as the one inhabited by the two artist brothers. It is unlikely that any of their descendants should have made a fortune large enough to build such a villa as Gamberaia or to lay out such a garden, without some record being left. Popular tradition, which is all we have to depend on, declares that several rills and springs of water formed a small lake or pond near by where the country folk used to catch crayfish (Gamberi), hence the name Gamberaia, the abode of crayfish. It is true that over one of the doors is a coat of arms bearing three crayfish on the right side and two half moons on the left, but I am informed by a competent authority that it is a fancy shield of late times and that the arms of the Gamberelli have six crayfish and a badge with three fleur de lis, as may be seen in Vasari’s life of Rossellino. Over a door in the large entrance hall is the inscription _Zenobius Lapius Fundavit MDCX_, and by the courtesy of the present owner of Gamberaia I have been lent a legal document about water rights, which has been a disputed question for nearly three hundred years. In digging the foundation of an out-house this winter (1900), a broken shield with the Lapi arms has been discovered. From this fact it would appear to be most probable that the builder of the villa was Zanobi Lapi; the pity is that the name of his architect is not forthcoming. In the centre of the villa is a small courtyard with elegant columns sustaining an arcade out of which open vaulted rooms, and on the north and south side of the villa project very original flying balconies supported on three arches. A small spiral staircase, hidden in the square column furthest from the house on one side, leads down from the first floor into the terrace garden. Zanobi Lapi died in 1619, nine years after he had built his villa, and left it to his nephews Jacopo di Andrea Lapi, and Andrea di Cosimo Lapi, but failing heirs male he directed that his property was to be divided between the families of Capponi and Cerretani. Jacopo and Andrea evidently inherited their uncles’ love for Gamberaia, as they at once began to buy up rights to the water from neighbouring proprietors, and to make conduits and large reservoirs to conduct it to various fountains and grottoes. In 1623 they bought a house and a podere, or farm, called La Doccia, which was especially rich in springs. Jacopo died the following year leaving a young son; the lands and the houses in Florence were divided between the cousins, but the villa of Gamberaia remained in their joint possession. “The most illustrious Signore Cosimo Lapi, a noble Florentine” then began to lay out one of the most characteristic seventeenth century gardens in the neighbourhood of Florence, with grottoes inlaid with shells of different kinds and various coloured marbles, statues, vases, fountains and _jeux d’eaux_ of every description. In the archives of Florence are several contracts made by him, between 1624 and 1635, with his neighbours for the purchase of springs and rills of water belonging to them, and the right to make conduits through their lands for the conveyance of the water to Gamberaia. In 1636 he had a lawsuit with a certain Signora Aurelia, a widow, who complained that he had deprived her of necessary water by the deep trenches and reservoirs dug near the confines of her property. The result of this inordinate love of fountains and curious _jeux d’eaux_ was, that when “the most illustrious Florentine Andrea Lapi” died in 1688, his son was obliged to heavily mortgage the estate to pay off his father’s debts. Jacopo’s son Giovan Francesco died in 1717 without heirs male, and the Lapi property was divided between the Capponi and the Cerretani; the latter taking three _podere_, or farms, and some small houses in Florence, the Capponi the villa of Gamberaia and two _podere_.

Remains of conduits, tanks and reservoirs in several properties near Gamberaia still remain to attest the considerable works made by Andrea Lapi for supplying water to his beloved villa. He no doubt planted the noble cypresses that tower like dark green steeples on either side of the long bowling alley that runs for some four hundred feet behind the house, ending to the north in one of those elaborate half grottoes, half fountains, inlaid with shells and decorated with stone figures of impossible animals and queer people in high relief of which Francesco de’Medici set the fashion at Pratolino and at Castello. To the south the long green walk ends in a delightful old stone balustrade with solemn grey stone figures, from whence the view over the fruitful, gently rolling hills crowned with villas or peasant houses is beautiful.

The terrace garden looks down on Settignano, a little village that can boast of more famous children than most large towns. Desiderio da Settignano, whose every work shows, as Vasari says, “that grace and simplicity that pleases everywhere and is recognised by everyone,” was the son of a stone-cutter of Settignano. He was so popular that for months after his death sonnets and epigrams were laid on his tomb by admirers.

Excellent architects were Meo Del Caprina and his brother Luca; the former worked at Ferrara and Rome, and designed the cathedral of Turin; the latter fortified Librafratta and other Pisan towns. Simone Mosca da Settignano was said to have been equal to Greek and Roman sculptors, he worked with Antonio da San Gallo in Sta. Maria della Pace at Rome and in the Farnese palace; also at Arezzo, Loreto, and at Orvieto, where he was induced to settle with his family and devote himself to the service of the cathedral. His son Francesco, called Moschino, “being born almost with the mallet in his hand,” sculptured some figures in the dome of Orvieto “to the wonder and astonishment of all beholders.” Simone Gioli, pupil of Andrea Sansovino, was another admirable sculptor, and his son Valerio carried on the family tradition. Antonio di Gino Lorenzi was also from Settignano, he helped his master Triboli to make the famous fountain at Castello and executed the monument of Matteo Corte in the Campo Santo of Pisa. Moreni, in his _Dintorni di Firenze_, gives a list of architects, sculptors and painters, too long to insert here, who were born in the little hill village. But all pale before the tremendous personality of Michelangelo Buonarroti, “the deathless artist,” as John Addington Symonds calls him. Brought to Settignano when but a few weeks old, his foster-mother was the wife as well as the daughter of a stone-cutter. “I drew the chisel and the mallet with which I carve statues in together with my nurse’s milk,” he told Vasari. His father’s small grey house with a loggia and a tower[68] lies below the terrace of Gamberaia, and forms a fitting foreground to the view of Florence backed by the chain of the Apennines.

After various vicissitudes Gamberaia was bought a few years ago by Princess Ghyka, who is restoring the beautiful old-fashioned garden to its pristine splendour with infinite patience and taste.

FOOTNOTES:

[68] It now belongs to Signor Chiesa.

VILLA DI MONTE GUFFONE

Monte Guffone was built at a time when castles and watch-towers were needed on the Tuscan hills, and the Acciajuoli, rivals of the Peruzzi and Bardi, determined to have a fortress-villa that should be a visible sign of their power and magnificence. The site chosen for it was the hilly country near San Casciano, between the river Pesa and the streamlet Virginio, a little off the high road to Volterra, commanding a varied landscape of vast woods of pine and oak, farms surrounded by olive-groves and vineyards, and hill-set villages with winding roads overhung with rosemary bushes. The first glimpse of Monte Guffone seen across the misty waves of olives is of a grand and shapely massed group of building, resting like a citadel on the shoulder of the hills. From its midst rises a tall tower closely resembling that of Palazzo Vecchio—with the difference that it starts straight from the ground. Upon nearing the villa there is a delightful sense of variety, as successive generations of the Acciajuoli have given it a different character until finally it has become a beautiful but somewhat baroque seventeenth century villa. Still, when walking on the broad balcony which probably covers the ancient bastions, there is the feeling of a great house built for defence, and the tower has been left untouched in a courtyard into which look large Michelangelesque windows framed with dark stone and set at regular intervals one from another, forming a perfect piece of work of its kind, and contrasting pleasantly with the mediæval watch-tower. On the northern side of the villa a façade has been added giving it almost an ecclesiastical appearance, enhanced by the group of sedate and sombre cypresses and ilexes growing at one corner of this otherwise joyous looking building. To the same period belongs the grand stone staircase on the garden side, leading down to a grotto encrusted with shells and ornamented with statues of the seasons, which even in their present shattered condition recall the past almost Medicean splendour of the place. The wall slopes out with spreading bastions forming an entrance to the grotto as though the architect had remembered the gateway of some Etruscan city, and above the arch is set a shield, supported by cupids, with the lions of the Acciajuoli house.

This once magnificent villa, now let out in tenements to poor people, was built, or at all events enlarged, early in the fourteenth century by the Grand Seneschal Acciajuoli, whose family first appears in Florentine history in the thirteenth century as merchants, rivalling, if they did not surpass, the Bardi and the Peruzzi in wealth. One of them, Niccola, stands gibbeted to all time by Dante. He and Baldo d’Aguglione, aided by the Podestà, tore out a sheet of the public records of the city in order to destroy the proof of certain frauds committed. Ironically Dante refers to the “well-guided city,” praising the old days—

“... when still The registry and label rested safe.”

Unlike the present Florentines, who are never happy away from the shadow of their Duomo, the Acciajuoli thought nothing of going to far distant lands or of taking service with foreign princes. Thus Dardano, son of Lotteringo, passed most of his youth at Tunis as treasurer to the Bey. In 1305 he was back in Florence leading his fellow-citizens against Pistoja, and soon afterwards went as ambassador to Naples to offer the Lordship of Florence to the King, Robert of Anjou; two years later he returned there to beg assistance against Uguccione della Faggiuola who threatened to make himself master of the city. A cousin of his, Niccola Acciajuoli, left Florence for Naples at the age of twenty-one to negotiate a loan, and by his extraordinary personal beauty, grace and intelligence, won the heart of Catherine, titular Empress of Constantinople, widow of the Prince of Taranto; her brother-in-law the King, who recognised his capacity and diplomatic talents, appointed him the guardian of her three children. In 1338 Niccola accompanied Louis, the eldest of his wards, to Achaia in Greece, and for three years conducted the war against the Turks with great ability; but the death of King Robert, who left the kingdom of Naples to his niece Joan, proved the stepping-stone to his fortune. Married against her will to Andrew of Hungary, a coarse, uneducated man entirely under the dominion of his rude Hungarian followers, Joan had fallen passionately in love with her cousin Louis, Prince of Taranto; and when Andrew was strangled whilst asleep popular rumour connected Acciajuoli with the murder; the Queen married her cousin Louis, and Niccola became the trusted minister of the crown. The King of Hungary soon appeared on the scene to avenge the death of his brother, and finding he was too powerful to be opposed Acciajuoli persuaded Queen Joan and her young husband to take refuge in his splendid villa Monte Guffone near Florence. After passing some weeks with him they went to Avignon to implore the aid of Pope Clement VI, but the plague, which broke out in Naples soon afterwards, proved a more efficient ally; the King of Hungary fled from the stricken city and Niccola conducted Louis and Joan back to Naples where they were received with great demonstrations of delight. He was created Grand Seneschal of the Kingdom, Count of Melfi, etc., etc., and placing himself at the head of the army drove the Hungarians back to their own country. Peace was finally made through the intervention of the Pope, and then Acciajuoli set himself to free Sicily of the Spaniards; but during his absence the King was turned against him by the Neapolitan courtiers, and in dudgeon he threw up all his appointments and retired into private life. When, however, the Pope laid the kingdom under an interdict on account of unpaid taxes, he at once offered himself as mediator. Innocent VI, received him with extraordinary honours; raised the interdict at his request, gave him the Golden Rose (the first time a private person had been thus distinguished), named him a Senator of Rome, Count of the Campagna and Rector of the ecclesiastical Patrimony, and then sent him to Milan as envoy to Bernabo Visconti to obtain the restitution of Bologna. Finding diplomacy of no avail, Niccola put himself with the Papal Legate at the head of the papal troops and soon entered Bologna in triumph. Returning to Naples he lived in almost royal state until his death at the early age of fifty-six.

Besides Monte Guffone, Niccola Acciajuoli built the magnificent Certosa near Florence after the design of Orcagna, and the first of the family to be buried there was his handsome, brilliant son Lorenzo, “a Knight and a great Baron” Matteo Villani calls him in his description of the funeral. The body was sent from Naples and on the 7th April 1354 was taken “on a knightly hearse, one great charger being in front and one behind covered with silken housings emblazoned with the Acciajuoli arms, while the hearse was covered with rich hangings and a baldaquin of silk and gold, and over the coffin was fine crimson velvet; the horses were ridden by squires dressed in black, and preceding the hearse were seven squires on great chargers, their draperies trailing on the ground, with the aforesaid arms on their breasts in beaten silver. The two first squires bore plumed helmets, the third carried a standard and the other four had each a large banner with the Acciajuoli arms.” In 1366 Niccola also was buried at the Certosa near his son with great pomp.

Donato, a cousin of Niccola, had been sent to Corinth as governor, and in 1392 his brother Neri was created Duke of Athens, Lord of Megara, Platæa, Thebes and Corinth. Neri’s illegitimate son Antonio inherited only the Lordship of Bœotia and Thebes, while Athens returned to the crown of Naples. The Venetians immediately seized it, but Antonio, worthy scion of a splendid race, soon drove them out and held the place for himself. He was succeeded by his cousin Neri who, dethroned by his brother Antonio, only got back his estates after the death of the latter. Neri’s son was a child when his father died and Sultan Mahomet II, refusing to acknowledge his title to the throne, named Francesco, Antonio’s son, in his stead. His tyranny was so intolerable that the Sultan ordered him to be strangled and thus, after seventy years of sovereignty ended the Acciajuoli rulers of Greece. Demostene Tiribilli-Giuliani, from whose work _Le Famiglie Celebre Toscane_ I have gathered the above facts remarks, with a fine disregard of history, “no one mentions Athens after this, indeed its existence was hardly known until our day, when it became the capital of Greece.”

The Acciajuoli constantly figure in the history of Florence as Gonfaloniers, Vicars, Ambassadors, Envoys, Cardinals and Bishops; and one of the saddest and most romantic stories of the eighteenth century has an Acciajuoli as its hero. Roberto, eldest son of Donato Acciajuoli, handsome, clever, brave and fascinating, had long admired Elisabetta Mormorai, wife of Captain Giulio Berardi. On the death of her husband he declared his love and the beautiful widow accepted him. But he reckoned without his uncle Cardinal Acciajuoli, who had made up his mind that his handsome nephew should make an alliance in Rome which might help him in his designs on the papal chair. Prayers, admonitions and threats being of no avail, the Cardinal induced the Grand Duke Cosimo III, to imprison Elisabetta in a convent; upon which Roberto contracted a canonical marriage with her by letter and fled to Milan where he published it, demanding at the same time justice from the Grand Duke, the Archbishop, the Cardinal and his own father. In Lombardy the validity of the marriage was upheld, while in Florence it was declared to be a mere engagement. The lady was removed from her convent to a fortress, upon which Roberto, while the papal chair was vacant in 1691, wrote a circular to all the cardinals, imploring justice from them and from the future pope. All Italy was interested in the unhappy lovers and blamed the high-handed Cardinal and his slavish abettor Cosimo III. In vain Cardinal Acciajuoli tried to excuse himself by throwing all the blame on his relations, his conduct lost him the chance of being made pope, while the Grand Duke was accused of arbitrary and unjust conduct and of truckling to the private spite of a cardinal. Cosimo determined to revenge himself, but for the moment he set the fair prisoner free who immediately joined her husband in Venice, where everyone pitied them and blamed the Grand Duke, by whom formal application was made to the Republic to deliver up the lovers, accusing them of want of respect to their sovereign. They fled, but their steps were dogged, and at Trent they were arrested disguised as friars and taken back to Tuscany, where Roberto Acciajuoli was condemned to perpetual imprisonment in the fortress of Volterra and the loss of his patrimony, while Elisabetta was given the choice of repudiating her marriage or being immured in the same prison. In the hope of mitigating his sentence she chose the former and ended her days in tears and misery, while Roberto died in the most terrible prison of Tuscany, as anyone who has visited the _Mastio_ of Volterra will know.

This is but one of the many instances of Cosimo’s tyranny. An insensate bigot, he was entirely under the dominion of priests and monks who ruined the country and destroyed its morality. Few princes have been more hated by their subjects and their own family, or with better reason.

In the lovely Val di Pesa near Monte Guffone occurred the pretty scene so charmingly described in a long letter by that witty Tuscan, Ser Matteo Franco, chaplain to the Medici, who bandied sonnets and “strambotti” with Luigi Pulci. The austere, rather disagreeable Clarice, wife of Lorenzo the Magnificent, who had not been fitted by her education in the stately Orsini palace at Rome for the brilliant pleasure-loving life at Florence, was returning from some baths near Volterra when, as Matteo Franco writes, “... we met paradise full of festive and joyous angels, that is to say Messer Giovanni, Piero, Giuliano and Julio on pillions with their attendants. And when they saw their mother they threw themselves off their horses, some by themselves, some with the help of others; and all ran forward and were lifted into the arms of Madonna Clarice with such joy and kisses and delight that I could not describe in a hundred letters. Even I could not refrain from dismounting; and before they got on their horses again, I embraced them all and kissed them twice; once for myself and once for Lorenzo. Darling little Giulianino said with a long O, o, o, ‘where is Lorenzo?’ We answered, ‘he has gone on before to Poggio to see you.’ Then he: ‘Oh no never,’ almost in tears. You never beheld so touching a sight. He and Piero, who has become a beautiful boy, the finest thing, by God, you ever saw, with such a profile he is like an angel, and rather long hair which stands out a little and is pretty to see. And Giuliano red and fresh as a rose, smooth, clean and bright as a mirror, joyous yet contemplative with those large eyes. Messer Giovanni also looks well, his colour is not so high but clear and natural; and Julio has a brown and healthy skin. All, in short, are happiness itself. And thus with great content a joyous party we went by Via Maggio, Ponte a Santa Trinita, San Michele Berteldi, Santa Maria Maggiore, Canto alla Paglia and Via de’ Martegli; and entered into the house _per infinita asecola asecolorum_ eselibera nos a malo amen.”[69]

FOOTNOTES:

[69] See _Florentia_. Isidoro Del Lungo. Firenze, 1897. P. 424.

VILLA DI CASTEL-PULCI

About six miles from Florence on the high road to Pisa stands the fine villa of Castel-Pulci, now a lunatic asylum. In ancient times the Pulci owned large possessions in the Val d’Arno, but the first notice I have found of them is in 1278 when Jacopo di Rinaldo Pulci was denounced to the captain of the Guelph party in Florence for failing to keep a weir in the Arno near Ponte a Signa in proper repair. His son Mainetto sold this weir to the monks of the great Badia[70] a Settimo, who in 1313 also bought an island in the river from Giovanni and Ponzardo, sons of Mainetto. Like so many of the great Florentine houses the Pulci failed in 1321 and villa and lands were seized by the cardinal Napoleone Orsini, one of the creditors. His heirs sold the estate to the Marquis Rinnucini who enlarged and beautified Castel-Pulci, which was bought by the government some fifty years ago.

Luigi Pulci, born on the 3rd of December 1431, was the author of the _Morgante Maggiore_, the first burlesque romance in European literature and the prototype of that form of poetry which Ariosto brought to perfection. His two elder brothers were also poets; Luca wrote the _Ciriffo Calvaneo_ and the _Driadeo d’Amore_, and was considered by Varchi superior to Luigi, while Giovio calls him _poeta nobile_. Bernardo, the eldest, was among the first to write pastoral poetry in the vulgar tongue; he also made a good translation of the Eclogues of Virgil, and wrote a poem on the passion of Christ and many plays. His wife Antonia was a poetess of no mean fame in the same style. Verino celebrates the three brothers thus:

“Carminibus patriis notissima Pulcia proles. Qui non hanc urbem Musarem dicat amicam, Si tres prodicat frates domus una poetas?”

Luigi Pulci was an intimate friend of the Medici and formed one of the brilliant company surrounding Lorenzo il Magnifico, who mentions him in his poem on hawking:

“Luigi Pulci ov’è, che non si sente? Egli se n’andò dianzi in quel boschetto, Che qualche fantasia ha per la mente, Vorrà fantasticar forse un sonetto;”

Many were the jokes made by Lorenzo’s witty chaplain, Ser Matteo di Franco, a canon of the cathedral of Florence, and a favourite of Pope Innocent VIII, on the name of his friend Pulci (Pulex, a flea). He used to say of Luigi, who was very thin, “famine is as naturally depicted on his countenance as though it were a work by Giotto.” They wrote facetious sonnets to each other which were published in the fifteenth century and immediately placed on the Index, but a reprint of this rare volume was made by Marchese De Rossi in 1759. Both were admirers and intimate friends of Angelo Poliziano (to whom, by the way, some have erroneously attributed the _Morgante Maggiore_).

Luigi Pulci’s poem, which Lord Byron admired sufficiently to translate, tells of the hatred borne by the perfidious Ganellone to the chaste and generous Orlando and the other Christian Paladins. Charlemagne, deceived by Ganellone, whose envy, dissimulation, feigned humility and capacity for lying is admirably portrayed, sends him to Spain to treat for the cession of a kingdom for Orlando with King Marsilio. Instead of this he plots with the Spaniards for the destruction of Orlando, who is killed at Roncesvalle. Morgante the giant, after being baptised by Orlando becomes his faithful squire; the other giant Maggutte is a jovial pagan, laughing at everybody and everything, who ends his life in peals of loud laughter. The poem was composed for the amusement of Lucrezia Tornabuoni, the accomplished mother of Lorenzo de’ Medici, herself a poetess. “Luigi Pulci,” writes Symonds, “assumed the tone of a street-singer, opening each canto with the customary invocation to the Madonna or a paraphrase of some church collect, and dismissing his audience at the close with grateful thanks or brief good wishes.

“But Pulci was no mere _Canta-storie_. The popular style served but as a cloak to cover his subtle-witted satire and his mocking levity. Tuscan humour keeps up an _obbligato_ accompaniment throughout the poem. Sometimes this humour is in harmony with the plebeian spirit of the old Italian romances; sometimes it turns aside and treats it as a theme of ridicule. In reading the _Morgante_ we must bear in mind that it was written canto by canto to be recited in the palace of the Via Larga, at the table where Poliziano and Ficino gathered with Michelangelo Buonarroti and Cristoforo Landino. Whatever topics may from time to time have occupied that brilliant circle, were reflected in its stanzas; and this alone suffices to account for its tender episodes and its burlesque extravagances, for the satiric picture of Margutte and the serious discourses of the devil Astarotte. The external looseness of construction and the intellectual unity of the poem, are both attributable to these circumstances. Passing by rapid transitions from grave to gay, from pathos to cynicism, from theological speculations to ribaldry, it is at one and the same time a mirror of the popular taste which suggested the form, and also of the courtly wits who listened to it laughing. The _Morgante_ is no _naïve_ production of a simple age, but the artistic plaything of a cultivated and critical society, entertaining its leisure with old-world stories, accepting some for their beauty’s sake in seriousness, and turning others into nonsense for pure mirth.”[71]

Close to Castel-Pulci, on the spur of a hill overlooking the Valle Morta (a name probably alluding to a battle fought there in 1113) on one side and the valley of the Arno on the other, is Monte Cascioli, now a farm-house, once the strong castle of the powerful Lords of Fucecchio. Here Count Lottario and his mother Countess Gemma held court in 1006 and gave large donations to the Badia a Settimo. Their descendant Ugo joined Ruberto Tedesco, Vicario of Tuscany under Henry III, against the Florentines, who marched out and fought a pitched battle in which Ruberto was killed and Monte Cascioli was stormed and destroyed.

From the terrace of Castel-Pulci one looks down upon the broad and fertile plain of the Arno, whose course is marked by lines of shimmering poplars, and the fine mass of Mount Morello rises in the distance. Close to the river bank the beautiful campanile, attributed by Vasari to Niccolò Pisano, of the ancient Badia a Settimo stands out against the green background. The Pulci once owned a strong castle near by of which no vestige remains, but the Badia had been a dependency of the great Lords of Fucecchio since 940, and was inhabited by Cluniacense monks, whose behaviour became so scandalous that in 1063 Count Gugliemo Bulgaro appealed to his friend St Giovan Gualberto for aid, and the saintly abbot of Vallombrosa introduced his own rule. Soon afterwards, by his order, St Peter Igneus went through the ordeal by fire at Settimo in the presence of a large concourse of people. The following inscriptions may still be read bearing witness to the fact:—

IGNEUS HIC PETRUS MEDIOS PERTRANSIIT IGNES, FLAMMARUM VICTOR, SED MAGIS HAERESEOS. HOC IN LOCO, MIRACULO S. JOHANNIS GUALBERTO, QUIDAM FUERE CONFUTATI HAERETICI, MLXX.

In 1236 Gregory IX, took the abbey and monastery under the immediate protection of the Holy See and gave it to the Cistercians, whose conduct was so exemplary that the Signoria of Florence entrusted them with the administration of the taxes, the maintenance of the city walls and bridges and finally gave the great seal into their keeping. The monks were made exempt from taxes and their revenue must have been large, as every abbot paid a thousand golden florins to the Pope on his investiture. The tall gatetower, once connected with the strong walls built round the monastery by the Republic of Florence, is very fine and a large and curious _alto-relievo_ built up of brick and mortar, of Our Lord and two saints, is above the closed-up door. Under the feet of the Christ is a slab with the lily of Florence and an illegible inscription. Below that again is written—

“Anno Domini MCCXXXVI, S.S. Dmn. N. Gregorius IX dedit hoc Monasterium de Septimo Ordin. Cirterc. cum esset liberum et exemptum ab omni regio patronatu, quod in plena libertate a dicto Ordine pacifice possidetur.”

Badia a Settimo must have been magnificent with its moat and three other towers, each of which had a drawbridge. Now much of the ancient structure lies under fifteen feet of mud deposited by the perpetual inundations of the Arno, the monks’ refectory has been divided into cellars, the fine old abbey-church with its solemn, almost Egyptian-looking, columns is a _tinaia_ where wine is made and the original height can only be seen by an excavation which has been dug round one of the columns. The monastery is a private villa, and the lovely cloister with its slender pillars, beautifully carved capitals and expanse of grass serves as a playground for the children. The present church was built in the thirteenth century at right angles to the ancient abbey-church and nearer to the campanile, on artificially raised ground. The steps which led up to the door are already deep under the earth and the bases of the columns supporting the loggia in front of the church are more than half buried. The high altar is a fine piece of _pietra dura_ work, and round the top of the choir is a pretty frieze by one of the Della Robbia, of four-winged heads of angels alternating with a kneeling lamb holding a banner, emblem of the guild of wool manufacturers. In the left hand chapel is a small ambrey, or receptacle for the holy oil, by Desiderio da Settignano, of most exquisite design and workmanship; the walls of the chapel are frescoed by Giovanni di San Giovanni, and above the altar is kept a silver casket containing the bones of St Quentin. The saint was beheaded at Paris a thousand or more years ago and transported his bones by some miracle to a church on the opposite side of the river; not liking his quarters he moved in 1187 to the high altar of the ancient abbey-church, but still dissatisfied he placed the silver casket every morning in this chapel, which was the greatest miracle of all as the chapel was only built late in the thirteenth century. “And here he still is,” said the sacristan, “but without his head, which he could not find when he left Paris.” A short corridor behind the high altar leads into the old chapel of Lapi des Spinis, built according to an inscription in 1315. Dim traces of frescoes by some follower of Giotto are still to be seen, but the chapel is so silted up with mud that the present floor very nearly touches the level of the spring of the groined arches of the roof.

FOOTNOTES:

[70] Abbey.

[71] J. A. Symonds, _Renaissance in Italy._ _Italian Literature._ Part I. p. 440.

VILLA DI POGGIO GHERARDO

Nearly two miles due east of Florence, above the Settignano road, stands the old castellated villa of Poggio Gherardo on an eminence which overlooks the valley of the Arno. In 1321 Meglino di Jacopo di Magaldo Magaldi died, leaving by will part of this ancient possession of his family, _i.e._ “the podere of Poggio and the buildings above the said podere where now are, and have been in times gone by, the Loggia, the Tower, the Well, the Water-channels, the Courtyard and all the Garden and Orchard, with the Fields and Pergole which are enclosed and surrounded in part with walls, &c.”, to the Congregation of the Visitation; with the obligation to build an oratorio or chapel in the said house in honour of St Zebedeus, and to support a resident priest to say mass every day for the repose of his soul. Also the priest on each anniversary of the death of Magaldo was to invite all the members of the house of Magaldi to dinner. They, however, brought a lawsuit against the Congregation of the Visitation, who appealed to the Cardinal Legate of Pope John XXII, (who was at Avignon) setting forth that by the time they had paid the expenses of the lawsuit with borrowed money nothing would be left, and asking permission to sell the estate which many would like to buy, _cum sit in loco carisimo situatum_. Thus they would be able to pay everything and to carry out the wishes of the pious Magaldo as far as the daily mass was concerned. So the villa and land was sold to Messer Bivigliano del già Manetto de’ Baroncelli and his brother Messer Silvestro for 3100 golden florins on the 14th January 1331. The Baroncelli did not long enjoy their purchase. They, with the Buonaccorsi, were interested in the great banking house of Acciajuoli which was declared insolvent in 1345. Poggio must have belonged to the Albizzi for a few years, as Andrea di Sennino Baldesi bought the villa and one podere from them in 1354, his brother Baldese having already purchased other parts of the estate from the Baroncelli five years before. In 1400 the Zati became lords of Poggio and in 1433 they sold it to Gherardo di Bartolomeo Gherardi. He changed the name from Palagio del Poggio to Poggio Gherardi, or Gherardo (it is called both in the archives), and his descendants held the place for 455 years. Mr Henry James Ross bought it in 1888 and has made its name known as the home of a fine collection of orchids.

Many illustrious men did the Gherardi give to the service of Florence. Gherardo was three times Gonfalonier of the city; his son Francesco was a brave soldier and led the troops of the Republic against the Siennese in 1495 when he stormed Montepulciano and took Giovanni Savelli, their Roman captain prisoner, whom he brought, with many nobles and captains of Siena, in triumph to Florence. His brother Bernardo Gherardi, Gonfalonier in 1434, was a strong partisan of the Medici, and his influence caused the exile of Cosimo de’ Medici to be cancelled. The Republic sent him as ambassador to Venice, Ferrara and Rome, and when he died in 1459 he was buried at the public expense. Seven different Gherardi were Gonfaloniers of Justice, and the name occurs frequently in the old history of Florence.[72]

Tradition says the old castle stood many a siege and that Sir John Hawkwood was guilty of destroying the eastern wing, only partially rebuilt some two or three hundred years ago. It probably was one of the frontier castles which in ancient times defended Florence from the people of Arezzo and of the Casentino. The line of castles, with their towers, can still be traced, from Castel di Poggio perched high on the hill above past Vincigliata and Poggio Gherardo, across the valley and up the opposite bank of the Arno.

Poggio Gherardo stands about 300 feet above the plain. From the gate, with its marble busts of the four seasons, a winding road flanked by roses on either side—a glory to behold in springtime—leads up through olive-groves and vineyards to the spinny which crowns the hill and protects the villa from the north wind. Over the door are the arms of the Gherardi and the entrance hall is the “Loggia” mentioned in the _Decameron_, the arches of which were built up two or three hundred years ago. In the courtyard the well, eighty feet deep, “of coldest water” still exists; but alas, the “jocund paintings” in the rooms have disappeared.

From the southern terrace garden the view is wonderful, especially if you see a purple, orange and blood-red sunset away to the west, behind the mountains of Modena and the cloud-like white masses of Carrara. Florence lies mapped out at one’s feet, with Galileo’s tower, San Miniato, Monte Uliveto and Bellosguardo keeping watch over her. When the air is clear the point of Monte Nero above Leghorn can be seen in the far west, while to the east Vallombrosa forms a background for Settignano and the house of Michelangelo—ninety-three miles as the crow flies. The course of the Arno in the valley below is marked by rows of tall poplars, and hundreds of villas, shining brightly in the sun, are dotted about in the plain and on the hillsides, while line after line of opalesque hills fade away towards the fertile vale of the Chianti. Eastwards are Monte Pilli and the Incontro, so-called because St Francis and St Dominic are supposed to have met there, and beyond them again, as already said, is Vallombrosa.

From the eastern terrace one looks down on the small streamlet Mensola, celebrated in Boccaccio’s Ninfale Fiesolane, rushing down to meet her lover Affrico, who comes from the Fiesole hills on the west to join his tears with hers. Near the banks of the Mensola stands one of the oldest churches in Tuscany, San Martino a Mensola. The _body_ of the Irish Saint Andrew, who founded a monastery here in the seventh century, lies under the high altar clothed in old brocaded robes, while his _ashes_ are supposed to be under a side altar in an exquisitely painted wooden box; through the small iron grating one can see, by the light of a taper, beautiful slim youths with curled hair walking in a garden of orange trees laden with big fruit. In the church are some fine pictures, one attributed to Orcagna was given by the Zati, once lords of Poggio Gherardo. The old, square, machicolated castle has always been identified by students with the first “palagio” in which the joyous company of seven ladies and three youths took refuge when they fled from the plague in Florence in 1348.

“Wandering in idleness, but not in folly, Sate down in the high grass and in the shade Of many a tree sun-proof—day after day, When all was still and nothing to be heard But the cicala’s voice among the olives, Relating in a ring, to banish care, Their hundred tales. Round the green hill they went, Round underneath—first to a splendid house, Gherardi, as an old tradition runs, That on the left, just rising from the vale; A place for luxury—the painted rooms, The open galleries and middle court Not unprepared, fragrant and gay with flowers.”[73]

In 1740 Roberto Gherardi wrote a long-winded but curious account of his own villa and of many others on the Fiesolean hills called _La Villeggiatura di Majano_. It has never been printed, but if for nothing else his MS. is valuable as suggesting that Giovanni Boccaccio was born near the banks of the Mensola. He writes, “... our celebrated master of Tuscan eloquence, Messer Giovanni di Boccaccio di Chellino da Certaldo, who in his earliest days, and afterwards in the flower of his youth passed much time in a small villa with a podere belonging to his father but a few paces below the hamlet of Corbignano, which podere on account of the rill dividing it which runs into the Mensola, and of the specified frontiers, and the two parishes San Martino a Mensola and Santa Maria a Settignano, in whose jurisdiction it lies, can only be, when you study it well, the villa of Signor Berti at Corbignano at present in the possession of Signor Ottavio Ruggeri, as can be verified by the contract of sale existing in the archives of Florence of the 18th May 1336 when our Boccaccio was twenty-three years old. I believe that under the guise of Ameto, Boccaccio tells us he was born among the neighbouring hills of Majano. In this forest Ameto, a wandering youth, used to visit the Fauns and Dryads who inhabited there; he, remembering that perhaps he was born in the neighbouring hills, was constrained thereto by a certain carnal love, and honoured them sometimes with pious offerings.” Villa Boccaccio was let out in small apartments to poor people for years; it now belongs to Mr Kenworthy Browne, and traces of ancient frescoes were found in some of the rooms when he restored it.

As before said Poggio Gherardo is generally identified as the place Boccaccio had in his mind when he describes how on a Wednesday morning “as the day was breaking, the ladies with various of their serving-maids, and the three youths with three of their followers, left the town and went on their way; they had not gone more than two short miles from the city when they arrived at the place they had already decided on.[74] This said place was on a small height, removed a little distance from our roads on every side, full of various trees and shrubs in full greenery and most pleasant to behold. On the brow of the hill was a palace with a fine and spacious courtyard in the middle, and with loggie and halls and rooms, all, and each one in itself beautiful, and ornamented tastefully with jocund paintings; surrounded with grass plots and marvellous gardens, and with wells of coldest water, and cellars of rare wines; a thing more suited to curious topers than to sober and virtuous women.”

Here Pampinea was crowned queen with “an honourable and beautiful garland of bays,” and here she commanded Panfilo to begin the series of immortal tales known all the world over as the _Decameron_. At the end of the first day Pampinea ceded the garland, emblem of royalty, to “the discreet maiden Filomena” and the joyous company went slowly down to a stream (the Mensola) of clear water, “which descended from a hill and flowed through a valley shaded by many trees, amidst live rocks and green grass. Here bare-footed and with bare arms they went down into the water and disported themselves, then the hour of supper being at hand they returned to the palace and supped with great contentment.” Music, singing and dancing whiled away the hours until the queen was pleased to command the torches to be lit and that everyone should seek repose.

The second day passed in like manner, and when the tenth and last tale came to an end, Filomena took the garland from off her own head and crowned Neifile queen, who said: “As you know to-morrow is Friday and the next day Saturday, days apt to be tedious to most people on account of the viands ordered to be eaten; besides Friday was the day on which He who died for our life suffered His passion, and it is therefore worthy of reverence. For this I consider it to be a proper and virtuous thing that we should rather say prayers to the honour of God than invent tales. And on Saturday it is the custom for women to wash their heads and remove any dust or dirt that may have settled there during the labours of the week; also they used to fast out of reverence for the Virgin Mother of God and then in honour of the coming Sunday rest from any and every work. Being therefore unable on that day to fully carry out our established order of life I think it would be well done to refrain from reciting tales also on that day. And as we shall then have been here four days, if we are desirous to avoid being joined by others, I conceive that it would be more opportune to quit this place and go elsewhere and I have already thought of a place and arranged everything.”

All commended the words and the project of the queen, and so it was established, but they looked forward with longing to Sunday. On that morning “with slow steps the queen, accompanied and followed by her ladies and by the three youths, and led by the song of maybe twenty nightingales and other birds, took her way towards the west by an unfrequented lane full of green herbs and flowers just beginning to open to the rising sun. Gossiping, joking and laughing with her company, she led them, after proceeding some two thousand paces, to a beautiful and splendid palace before the half of the third hour had passed.” (One and a half hours after sunrise.)

The “unfrequented lane” may yet be followed from Majano across the Affrico towards San Domenico. Here and there an old oak tree recalls the forest that once existed, and nearly every villa and village within sight is connected with some illustrious name. The joyous company probably passed—

“Where the hewn rocks of Fiesole impend O’er Doccia’s dell, and fig and olive blend. There the twin streams of Affrico unite,[75] One dimly seen, the other out of sight, But ever playing in his smoothen’d bed Of polisht stone, and willing to be led Where clustering vines protect him from the sun. Here, by the lake, Boccaccio’s fair brigade Beguiled the hours, and tale for tale repaid.”

Thus sang Walter Savage Landor, whose villa “Il Frusino,” now belonging to Professor Willard Fiske, stands just above the small plain where once was the lake of the “Valle delle Donne,” already silted up in the sixteenth century.

About that same time the remains of the strong castle of Majano were destroyed; the birthplace of the poet Dante da Majano whose poems in praise of his Nina (one of the first Italian poetesses) are well-known. She was a Sicilian, and although they never met she always called herself “la Nina di Dante.” He exchanged poems with Dante Alighieri, Chiari Davanzati, Guido Orlandi and others. Another poet, Meo di Majano, was born in the tiny hamlet, and “the not less prudent than virtuous sculptor,” Benedetto [da Majano] “the greatest master who ever held a chisel,” as Vasari calls him, and his brother the architect Giuliano. Macchiavelli had a house near by, and the Valori owned much property near Majano. The Villa Marmigliano is still standing, where the great platonist Marsilio Ficino was for so long the guest of Niccolò and Filippo Valori and where he finished his translation of Plato. Pico della Mirandola and Poliziano often came from the Medici Villa at Fiesole to visit their friends, and in one of his letters Ficino describes a walk on these hills with “our Pico” and their talk about a salubrious villa. The latter pointed out one as fulfilling all his desires and Ficino tells him “it is said to have been built by that wise man Leonardo Aretino, and just beyond was the abode of Giovanni Boccaccio.” Only divided by a small valley from the Valori lived the brothers Benivieni. Roberto Gherardo describes their villa, now belonging to Sir Willoughby Wade, as “the most ancient Villa della Querce, since 1272 in the possession of the Signori Baldovini Riccomanni, who bought it from Ciencio di Seminetto de’ Visdomini and sold it in 1483 to Michele Benivieni.” “Happy house of Benivieni,” exclaims Poliziano, “beloved of Apollo, favoured with all the celestial gifts. Of four brothers, you, Maestro Antonio, are a second Esculapius or Chiron; the second diligently studies the virtues of plants and herbs; the third, Girolamo, is a tender and learned poet; and Domenico, still a lad, gives himself with a gravity beyond his years, to poetry and the study of Aristotle.”

Lower down, on the other side of the little valley is the Salviatino, once belonging to the Dukes Salviati, whose good wine is immortalized in that jocund poem _Bacco in Toscana_.

“Lovely Majano, lord of dells, Where my gentle Salviati dwells. Many a time and oft doth he Crown me with bumpers full fervently, And I, in return, preserve him still From every crude and importunate ill. I keep by my side, For my joy and pride, That gallant in chief of his royal cellar Val di Marina, the blithe care-killer; But with the wine yclept Val di Botte Day and night I could flout me the gouty.”[76]

FOOTNOTES:

[72] _Familie Celebre Toscane._ D. Tiribilli-Giuliani, riveduto dal Cav. R. Passerini. Firenze, 1862.

[73] Samuel Rogers. _Italy._ P. 136.

[74] Pampinea in the Introduction to the _Decameron_, after describing the horrors of the plague and the licentious life of the few inhabitants left in the town, suggests going to “our estates in the country, of which we all have a great many.” She was probably a Baroncelli—if one may attempt to identify personages or places in the _Decameron_.

[75] The Affrico and the Affricuzzo.

[76] _Opus cit._ See note page 70.

VILLA DELLE SELVE

The stately Villa delle Selve, built by Buontalenti, stands high on the crest of a hill overlooking the Arno below Signa about nine miles from Florence. The first mention of it is in the archives of the monastery of San Pier Maggiore where it is stated that the Commune of Florence, in the interest of the creditors of the Acciajuoli bank, sold “a podere with a hut, a brick kiln, etc., at a place called Le Selve in the parish of San Martino a Gangalandi for 270 golden florins.” It afterwards came into the possession of the Strozzi. And when Filippo Strozzi and his wife Clarice left Rome by stealth and sailed to Pisa, a messenger met them with letters from the Cardinal of Cortona and from Niccolò Capponi urging them to come to Florence, so Filippo, a prudent Florentine “decided,” writes old Varchi, “after much meditation not to be the one who, as the saying is, picks the chestnuts out of the fire, but determined to send Madonna Clarice on to feel the way; she being a woman and a Medici would, he conceived, not run the same risk as himself.... Clarice, as courageous as she was proud, accepted the commission without waiting to be entreated, and leaving Piero and Vincenzio her sons, in Empoli under the charge of their tutor Ser Francesco Zeffi, she went accompanied by only Antonio da Barberino and Maestro Marcantonio da San Gemignano to dine at Le Selve near Signa, a most favourite villa of Filippo’s and from thence the same evening proceeded to Florence.”

Marchese Filippo di Averardo Salviati bought the villa from the Strozzi and in 1611 lent it to his friend Galileo Galilei, who unfortunately for himself had resigned his professorship at Padua to accept the appointment of court mathematician in Florence. It is a curious fact that two of the greatest of Italians, Giovanni Boccaccio and Galileo Galilei, had a common ancestor in Bonajuto, Lord of Pogna in the Val d’Elsa. Bonajuto’s son Chellino was grandfather to Boccaccio; another son, Giovanni, was the father of a celebrated doctor Maestro Galileo from whom descended Vincenzio Galilei, a musician of some repute and author of a dialogue on music printed in Florence in 1581, he married Giulia Ammanati, and their son—the famous Galileo—was born in Pisa in 1564. A descendant of a third son of old Maestro Galileo was governor of Pisa in 1837 and most bitterly resented any allusion to his relationship with a man who had been in the prisons of the Inquisition. The arms of the two families are identical, save that the red ladder of the Galilei is placed vertically on a gold ground while that of the Chellini is diagonal.[77]

The room occupied by Galileo at the Selve communicates by a winding staircase with an upper terrace where he used to spend the nights in watching the stars. Here he discovered the spots on the sun and its revolution upon its axis, the ring of Saturn, the phases of Venus and Mars and their rotation round the sun, and here he wrote his treatise on the planets, the history of the sun-spots and other works. He loved the country and country pursuits, and his favourite recreation was working in the garden; very proud was he of his skill in pruning vines and fruit trees and he used to declare there was no better preservative of health than living in the open air. A wall at the back of the villa with a peculiar curve is said to have been built under his supervision. If two people whisper in a low voice at the ends each can hear the other distinctly.

In 1614 Filippo Strozzi died at Barcelona and Galileo left the villa he loved so well. About the same time a Dominican friar, Tommaso Caccini, preached a sermon in Santa Maria Novella denouncing Galileo and all professors of mathematics. “Mathematics are of the devil,” he exclaimed, “and mathematicians as the authors of all heresies should be driven out of every state.” Monks and theologians denied the existence of the Medicean planets, some even insisted that the moon shone by her own unaided light.[78]

From the broad terrace of the villa the view is magnificent, “you see half the world” the peasants say. Below is the glinting river fringed with tall poplars and on the summit of the hill on the opposite bank stands the huge Medicean Villa Artimino surrounded by ilexes. To the right is the picturesque old bridge across the Arno connecting Ponte a Signa with Beata Signa; further away still the grey machicolated walls and towers of Lastra a Signa stand out against the fruitful green plain. In the far distance Poggio a Cajano rises like a giant above the village clustering round it, and the trees look like shrubs beside the villa where Francesco I, and his second wife, “the infamous Bianca” as her brother-in-law called her, died on the 19th and 20th October 1587.

Lastra a Signa owes its walls, built in 1377, to the English condottiere Sir John Hawkwood; he advised the Republic of Florence to erect them as a defence against the Pisans who some years before, aided by English auxiliaries, had taken and burnt the strong castle of Gangalandi near by. Twenty years later Alberigo, a captain in the pay of Galeazzo Visconti Lord of Milan who was at deadly feud with the Republic of Florence, besieged and took Lastra a Signa. The walls were restored again in time to keep part of the army of the Prince of Orange at bay for some time in 1529. Francesco Ferrucci, whose head-quarters were at Empoli five miles lower down the river, had garrisoned the place with some of his best troops, and as long as their ammunition lasted they beat off the Spaniards. Whilst treating for the surrender, five hundred more Spanish Lances arrived with scaling ladders and battering-rams, made a breach in the walls (which still exists) and cut the defenders to pieces.

Beata Signa on the opposite bank of the river, owes its name of Beata (Blessed) to a shepherdess. Giovanna was a good and holy maiden who tended her flock of sheep on the banks of the Arno and worked miracles in days long past. Her mummified body still lies under an altar in the picturesque church, and on Easter Monday the pretty old-world _Festa degli Angeli_ is held in her honour. The confraternities of neighbouring parishes bring offerings of oil, for the lamp kept always burning before her tomb, in small barrels slung pannier fashion on a donkey. On a little platform above the barrels stands the Angel, the prettiest small child of the parish, supported by an iron upright ending in a hoop. Crowned with roses and carnations, decked with the pearl necklaces of the peasant women and often with a pair of white wings fastened to its shoulders, the Angel on the donkey form the centre of many processions which wind along the country lanes with banners flying and generally a band playing. As each procession arrives in the little townlet of Beata Signa it files into the old church, the Angel and the barrels of oil are lifted off the donkey in front of the altar of the Blessed Giovanna, the band plays its loudest and sometimes the donkey brays, which causes great amusement.

Near by the Villa delle Selve, nestling amid elms and cypresses on a spur of the same hill, is the church of Le Selve adjoining a monastery of Carmelite friars suppressed, like so many others, by Napoleon I. The abbot’s rooms are now inhabited by the village priest and the monk’s garden, with a fine old well in the centre and surrounded by two-storied cloisters, has been turned into a nursery for olive trees. The church, said to have been restored by Buontalenti, possesses a nave of considerable height and beauty terminating in an apse and under the high altar is a small crypt where St Andrea Corsini celebrated his first mass. The young priest fled from the grand preparations made in Florence, and took refuge with the monks at Le Selve; when at daybreak trembling with religious fervour he raised the chalice to his lips a vision of Our Lady appeared to him; smiling graciously she bent her head and said _Tu est servus meus_.

A miraculous crucifix is in the church, and every fifty years the _Festa_ of the Crucifix of Providence is celebrated in the month of April. Just before sunset the crucifix is borne out of the church followed by a long line of priests, little acolytes in snow-white robes and stalwart peasants dressed in their best carrying banners and canopies. The steep hill down to Ponte a Signa is all strewn with rose leaves, irises and sweet herbs, and the long procession winds down to the river and returns with flaring torches like a huge fiery serpent, creeping up the hill beneath the olives and cypresses when the stars come out. The peasants put candles in their windows and the stately villa, now the property of the Contessa Cappelli, becomes a blaze of light.

FOOTNOTES:

[77] See _Marietta de’ Ricci_. A. Ademollo. 2a Edizione con aggiunte di L. Passerini. Firenze, 1845. Vol. III. p. 816, and Vol. IV. p. 1216.

[78] _Vita di Galileo Galilei._ G. B. Clemente de’ Nelli. Losanna, 1793.

VILLA I COLLAZZI

On a ridge of the hills which rise above the fortress-convent built by Niccolò Acciajuoli for the monks of the Certosa, once stood a castle of the Buondelmonti; but all trace of it has long since disappeared and on the site stands the famous Florentine Villa I Collazzi, now belonging to Signor Bombicci-Pomi. When Messer Agostino Dini commissioned his architect to build him a house, the time for strongholds and mediæval castles had passed away, and the villa which rose upon the Tuscan hillside was characteristic of the century of Michelangelo. Such is the grandeur and beauty of I Collazzi, with its imposing double flight of steps leading from a broad terrace up to the courtyard, with its two wells crowned by fine old iron work, its lofty arcade and the large vaulted rooms wherein one feels a race of giants ought to live, that many have attributed its building to Michelangelo. But there are a few blemishes in the finish and detail of the decoration which, though by no means detracting from the general beauty of the whole structure, are easily recognised by a student of the Master, and lead him to suppose it to be rather a work of one of his scholars. The Dini papers have been lost, used to light the fires a century ago some say, and the only clue we have to the architect is from Baldinucci who tells us that Santi di Tito, scholar of Bronzino in painting and of Vasari in architecture, “worked for Agostino Dini at Giogoli ... for this same Agostino he also painted one of his finest altar pictures,” which is still in the chapel of I Collazzi. But those who support the theory that Michelangelo built the villa, say that Santi di Tito only completed the work begun by his great forerunner. The building raised upon the lonely Tuscan hill within a few miles of Florence, yet not within sight of her towers, is the finest villa of its kind to be found in all the countryside. There is nothing to spoil the impression of grandeur and beauty; the unfinished wing on the left of the courtyard only seems to give variety of line and grouping as one approaches between a long avenue of cypresses so closely planted together as to form a sombre green wall shutting out all else but the villa in front. Across the broad terrace, raised on high bastioned walls above the vineyards, the villa faces the valley of the Arno where villas are strewn like diamonds on the sunlit hills, and higher up towards the north the mountains behind Pistoja with their thick covering of snow show palely against the sky. The view opening out wider as the eye travels towards Prato seems even sunnier and more brilliantly coloured, for the country round here is subdued in tints, losing the sunlight early, and the shadows lie almost black on the ilex and pine woods near by. So striking is the monotonous scene of rounded pine-covered hills that the name I Collazzi (small hillocks) suggested itself to the Dini family for the fine villa they built in lieu of the modest abode which satisfied all their desires in those early days when great Florentine families lived simply and frugally, and the lady passed her time in looking after her household and teaching her daughters to sew and say their prayers. If the girl’s daily task was not done in time, “cuffs would fly, or even a cane would cleanse her skirts of dust,” says an old writer. Conversation with men, even with near relations, was not permitted; in some houses the girls were not allowed to play with their brothers and at table they never spoke save in answer to their parents. If an entertainment was given they were shut up in their own room, and looking out of the window was severely prohibited as it might lead to loss of reputation.

But things changed in the sixteenth century when Messer Agostino Dini built for himself this villa suited to a noble Florentine, and like many another spent too much money on bricks and mortar. No doubt the Dini were among the people blamed by Senator Vincenzio di Giovanni di Niccolò Giraldi who, writing to a friend in 1598, deplores the gradual extinction of simple old Florentine customs in favour of Spanish grandeur and magnificence. “Now,” he writes, “little girls wear dresses of fine cloth, not only in Florence but in the country, more suitable to brides than to children, and expect to be waited on by men and maid-servants. Going afoot is out of fashion, and that they may not accustom themselves to so rustic a custom they take the air in a carriage.... There are not more grains of sand in the bed of the Arno after a flood, than there are ornaments and flimsy vanities on their heads in order to augment the natural love of dress inherent in woman. And when of marriageable age they no longer rise with the sun to go to early mass, but lie abed so as not to lose their sleep or spoil their complexions. As to work, I am told the girls sometimes fashion pretty and delicate things but coarse sewing, such as our wives did, they will not look at, for such work and the making of their beds of a-morning is not noble, so is left to the maids.... When the blessed and much desired husband arrives none can describe the grandeur and comforts that are indulged in. Dresses of cloth of gold and of thick silk trimmed with gold lace of diverse kinds are bought for the bride, without reflecting whether they are suited to her own or her husband’s condition. She must be on a par with others, for there is no longer any difference between one person and another, or between high and low rank. People say such a one spends of his own and so may do as others do; it would be a small evil if he only spent what was his, but often now-a-days it becomes apparent that he spends what belongs to others. Then a carriage and fine horses are a necessity, for whoso takes a wife and does not set up a carriage would be flouted by the women and pointed at as ill-bred and miserly. So they pay their visits in Florence in noble fashion with great comfort, scornfully pitying the poor women of bygone times who trotted round on their own feet wearing coarse and heavy gowns only fit, as they consider, for peasants. The house must correspond and be furnished according to modern ideas. The walls are hung from floor to ceiling with damask, and fine pictures are needful; above all the chairs, when not covered with velvet, must at least be covered with silk so that the ladies may sit softly. Whoso takes a wife must also keep a good table, not served with homely dishes, which are plebeian, for the ladies of the present day insist on delicate food, not for gluttony—oh no—but because it keeps them healthy and of good heart, and consequently enables them to have fine and well-made children. If linen has to be sewn for the husband or babes the work is commonly sent to the convents, and then the husband is told there is so much to pay for such work and so much for the other and he has to loose his purse-strings or confront a pouting face.

“With what majesty do the ladies now drive in their carriage, a peacock when he rustles and spreads his tail is not so proud and puffed up. A new custom too has been introduced in order to have more frequent occasion for going about the town. Visits are paid to brides, even by those who are not relations, and thus the women can spy out other folk’s business, which is always attractive. If the house be not nobly furnished they jeer at the master thereof and call him a miser; but if it be better found than their own they return home discontented and begin to grumble, saying: ‘I have been to see such a one and her house is beautiful; she has this and the other and all is in good taste; but we live worse than artisans, so that I no longer dare invite anyone as I will not have it said that I, who am as good as many of them, and had a marriage portion large eno’ to enjoy what they have—but as it must be so, _pazienza_.’ And the poor wretch of a husband has to swallow it all, and either be constantly tormented, or content his wife and do what he dislikes or perchance cannot afford; for at length the perpetual clapper of the bell at night would break even the head of a ram, which is proverbially hard.

“The ladies now all carry fans attached to golden chains when they leave the house, and not only in the streets do they flutter them but in the churches, as an aid to devotion while hearing mass. I have been told by a lady of honour and veracity, not in fun but in sober earnest, that she has seen women’s smocks trimmed round with lace exactly like Monsignori’s surplices. When they leave town for their villas, if the carriages are too large and heavy to go the whole distance, a lettiga[79] is necessary because mounting a horse savours of rusticity, though I have seen my mother-in-law, wife of Messer Luigi Capponi, and the wife of his brother Alessandro, who were not exactly plebeians or beggars, going to their villa in Val d’ Elsa some twenty miles from Florence on the horses of their factor or peasants.

“Intending to write only about women I will but just mention that the young men of the present day imitate them in many things. They are lovers of ease, of amusements and of show; carriages are even more used by them than by the women and certainly more than is warranted by their youth. They emulate the maidens in dress, love comfort and anoint themselves with perfumes, in short they enjoy life and stint themselves in nothing, without thinking about increasing or preserving their estates. If they cannot live like princes, at least they try as far as they can to show how noble they are; their desires are those of emperors, their purses are those of beggars. Yet I do not imagine that our city will be less rich, for I know that land cannot run away nor money take wings; but I conceive that they may change masters. Soon our fine villas, if this style of life be persevered in, will be in the possession of shopkeepers, apothecaries, grocers and the like. The nobles will either live obscurely in Florence or retire to some small villa still left to them, to quarrel with their peasants over the division of the harvest, or pass the day in trying to shoot a hare or a few small birds to diminish the butcher’s bill; in short with a little smoke and no substance they will eke out their wretched life to the undoing and ultimate disappearance of their caste....”[80]

FOOTNOTES:

[79] A sedan chair borne between two mules.

[80] _Di Certe Usanze delle Gentildonne Fiorentine, nella seconda Meta del secola XVI. Lettera di Vincenzio Giraldi._ Nozze Gori-Moro. Edizione integra di LXXX esemplari. Firenze, Carnesecchi e Figli.

VILLA FERDINANDA A ARTIMINO

Long ere the Medici thought of building yet another princely villa on the Florentine hillside, or Cosimo I came to hunt in the woods above Signa, Artimino was a famous portion of the Arno valley and is continually mentioned in the oldest of the Tuscan chronicles. Its name may have come from the narrow defile (arctus minor) where the Arno forces its way through the barrier of hills at the Gonfolina and Artimino juts out into the valley like the prow of a ship, its foot bathed by the Ombrone and the Arno. It is really a spur of the great Mount Albano and so far back as the days of Cicero it had achieved a certain importance, for we find in his nineteenth epistle to Attico the mention that Silla had proclaimed Artimino, together with the territory of Volterra, public property in order to divide it amongst his soldiers. The hill of Artimino attracted not only the leaders of passing armies but numerous Roman families, who found the groves of ilex and oak upon its summit delightful sites for villas when they left the towns during the summer months. The valley of the Arno in those days may have suggested the same thoughts to a Roman poet as later to Ariosto, when he looked down from some Medicean terraced garden upon the “gay Arno,” and the palaces strewn so thickly over the hillsides. It is believed that the group of villas then standing on Artimino’s hill made quite a little community, and a certain record of life there has been preserved to us in a quantity of bronze idols, cinerary urns, necklaces and coins, mosaics and leaden tubes for conducting water of what may have been public baths found in the grottoes of the hillside. Scanty as is the history of the place in Roman times it begins to emerge in the tenth century, when Otto III, gave over Artimino and its church San Leonardo to the Pistojan bishop Antonino; and from this time we may date the building of its castle which was to serve as a protection to the frontiers of Pistoja against the ever encroaching raids of the Florentines. Now the Fattoria or agent’s house, a few peasants’ houses, part of a tower and an old wall, probably part of the ramparts whence the soldiers watched the valley far below for the approach of an enemy, are all that remain to recall the ancient village of Artimino. A stretch of country lane between the vineyards and an avenue of cypresses growing in a half circle behind the village now symbolise an age of securer peace, and between the straight, bare stems we see the little parish church of San Leonardo a little lower down on the hillside, with its loggia of rounded arches under which the peasants linger when they meet for mass on a Sunday morning. Its square campanile, so strongly built and tall, might easily have served as a watch-tower in the time of trouble.

The strong position of the old castle above the Arno valley caused it to be connected with several Florentine events during the prosperous but troubled times of the Commonwealth. Up to the year 1204 the people of Artimino enjoyed a certain amount of political independence, but when the struggle began between Pistoja and Florence the latter envied the rival Tuscan city the possession of so strong a fortress, situated on the summit of a steep and precipitous mountain and commanding the narrow defile. When the Florentines invaded the lands of Artimino it appeared, says the chronicler, as though a mighty tempest had swept over the land, leaving vines, olives and fruit trees bowed beneath its passage. A little later the people of Artimino began to prey upon the neighbouring Carmignano, which continued for some time to be a deadly foe; swooping down like falcons from their eyrie, hardly a day passed without bloodshed, and at last things came to such a pass that Pistoja had to send mediators to conciliate these war-like dwellers of the hill and their truculent neighbours. “But finding it impossible to obtain anything by persuasion, the mediators were obliged to have recourse to threats in order to induce them to keep the peace, which under pain of severe penalties and fines was at last arranged on the 28th June 1224, when the mediators returned to Pistoja where those of Carmignano swore fealty to the Consuls.”

During the war between Florence and Castruccio Castracane, the powerful tyrant of Lucca and Pistoja, Artimino had even more to suffer. Her castle being the key to the valley, the Florentines were not slow to assail it, and after a sharp fight it fell into their hands. Not content with taking two hundred prisoners, they threw down part of the castle walls and carried home in triumph the bell of the Commune which was “of great size and of most exquisite metal,” as the Florentine chronicler recounts with a certain amount of satisfaction. The evening on which Artimino fell a long streak of lurid smoke was seen above Florence, and on the previous night a great earthquake shook the city—thus did nature and war combine to cast terror in the minds of the mediæval Italians. After the battle of Altopascio Castracane gained back his castle, but no sooner did he leave it for some other military enterprise than the Florentines returned with renewed ardour to the attack. For three days the people of Artimino fought against their assailants, “but on the third,” says Villani, “the Florentines delivered the most terrible assault that ever castle sustained and the most renowned knights of the army were engaged; it lasted from midday until the first hour of the night and the pallisades and gates of the castle were set on fire. For which reason great fear fell upon the besieged and those who were badly wounded with darts, and they begged for mercy and offered to surrender if their lives were spared; and thus it was done. And on the morning of the 27th August they left and delivered up the castle. But in despite of all promises, when the knights who escorted them departed, many were killed.”

After this the Florentines took firm possession of Artimino, rebuilt its walls and kept infantry and cavalry there, as they found it a good place from whence to harass the territory of Pistoja. For some time after Castruccio’s death it was a subject of perpetual skirmishes and many were the changes of master. How eagerly the two cities desired Artimino is shown by the clause in the agreement of the Pistojese who consented to acknowledge the suzerainty of Gualtieri for three years on condition that, together with other places, Artimino was to be added once more to their territory.

Artimino fell finally to the dominion of Florence, and to the arms of her people—a sea-horse—was added the Lily of Florence as a seal to her submission to the mistress and tyrant of Tuscany.

The time of war passed away and with the coming of peaceful years we read no more of Artimino’s villages and of her walled castle. Another building rose upon the hill whose story brings us at once to the Medicean Grand Dukes of Tuscany. It is related by that pleasant gossip Baldinucci that “His Majesty Ferdinando I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, being one day a-hunting on the hill of Artimino (on the side towards Florence where one looks upon a lovely and most extensive tract of country), seated himself on a chair and calling Buontalenti to his side said: Bernardo, just on this spot where thou seest me, I desire to have a palace sufficient to contain me and all my court; think about it and be quick.” And the work was immediately begun according to his patron’s desire, with the result that a royal villa soon rose upon the hill which had withstood so many sieges, “containing abundantly,” continues Baldinucci, “all those delights which a Grandee can desire in his country residence.”

The Medici loved the beautiful villa which was called Ferdinanda after its builder, and much money was spent in buying more land and enclosing the property with a high wall, which divided the farms from the woods preserved for the Grand Ducal hunts. Pictures were brought in numbers to fill the vast halls and in the inventory we read of priceless objects, such as “a portrait of Lorenzo d’ Urbino de’ Medici by Raphael, a Madonna and Child by Cristofano Bronzino, and a picture by Titian.”

When in 1782 Pietro Leopoldo I, (the Austrian Grand Duke) sold Artimino to Lorenzo Bartolommei, Marchese di Montegiove, the estate consisted, as it does to-day, of about two thousand acres. Later the fine old place passed by inheritance to the noble family of the Passerini of Cortona and the villa is now owned by Conte Silvio Passerini.

The wine of Artimino was famous all over Tuscany even in the days when Redi, court physician to the Grand Duke Cosimo III, drank deeply of its vintage and sang enthusiastically of its perfections in his _Bacco in Toscana_:—

“Gods my life, what glorious claret! Blessed be the ground that bare it! ’Tis Avignon. Don’t say a flask of it, Into my soul I pour a cask of it. Artimino’s finer still, Under a tun there’s no having one’s fill:”[81]

The Villa Ferdinanda is less famous than it should be, for although some visit it and return to spread among their friends a description of its grandeur and beauty, few are tempted to climb the steep and winding road to the summit of the hill. Again—the house, although seen from a great distance, stands so high above the sea level (260 metres) that it gives only the impression of being very large and almost overbalanced by an enormous projecting roof, and but little idea is obtained of its architectural beauty. The lower part of the hill is scarred by quarries of _pietra serena_ and the landscape is a little bare and arid; but as we climb the narrow winding road we soon get into a delightfully cool and remote corner of the Arno valley, where the slopes are overgrown with thick masses of broom while ilexes and a few cypresses rise above the shimmering green of the young oaks. In parts stunted oaks form a hedge, broken in parts where rocks jut out covered with trailing ivy. Every step leads us to a fairer and more extensive view. A deep azure blue of sky and plain with paler blue of the Pistojan mountains rising to the west, seen across the Artimino fields of crimson clover as we stand within the light shade of a wood where no dark shadows lie, hold the very essence of a Tuscan morning in early May. This a place from which we can best see the limitless stretch of the valley from Florence down towards the sea, the windings of the calm river and the deepening glow of colour on the hills and about the white townlets of Sesto and Prato; and as the distant murmur of the workers in the valley rise up to us, behind in the trees “The nightingale with feathers new she sings.”

Nearing the summit we see some picturesque peasant houses resembling Lombard farms, with long finely built arcades and a smaller row of arches above. A sudden turn in the road brings us in sight of the great Villa Ferdinanda. It would be difficult either in words, or by drawings, to give an adequate idea of the sense of size together with perfect proportion, of beauty with almost severe simplicity, which we receive on approaching; and it is with astonishment that we remember our first impression when looking up at it from the plain. Buontalenti would seem to have endeavoured to build a very characteristic Medicean villa; it has a beautiful staircase going up to the entrance in the manner of a suspended arch, there are the inevitable lions, and going into the great hall we pass through a charming arched recess. Yet the architect, by placing the villa above a wide grass slope and causing the walls to project at the base, and building the corners to resemble towers (two of which are only carried half-way up, forming terraces) recalled the feudal villa-castle of much earlier date. Unlike the usual Tuscan building, humble or pretentious, Artimino’s villa has no courtyard, but is built with long vaulted rooms running through at right angles which bear curious mediæval names. There is the saloon of “the Bodyguard,” that of “the Lion,” with three grated windows looking out over Poggio a Cajano, another of “the Bear,” with views over Montelupo and the Ambrogiana, while the entrance hall goes by the title of “the Wars.” The enormous size of the villa is perhaps its most striking feature—the rooms upstairs are all large and finely built with groined roofs and huge chimneypieces, some having no doors but only a round arch to separate them. Nothing mean is to be found in any part of the place—the banqueting halls and the servants’ rooms are equally fine and built on the same magnificent and simple scale. The architect had dreamed of a noble race of men who were to inhabit so sumptuous a palace.[82]

FOOTNOTES:

[81] _Op. cit._ See note p. 70.

[82] Most of the facts are taken from a pamphlet, _Artiminius_, G. L. Passerini, printed (for private circulation only) in 1888, and from Repetti’s admirable _Dizionario Geografico Fisico Storico della Toscana_. Firenze, 1835.

INDEX

A

Acciajuoli, Cardinal, induces Cosimo III, to imprison his nephew, 123.

—— Dardano, 121.

—— Donato, Governor of Corinth, 123.

—— Francesco, strangled by order of the Sultan, 123.

—— Neri, Duke of Athens, &c., 123.

—— Niccola, gibbeted by Dante, 121.

—— —— Grand Seneschal, builds Monte Guffone, 121; wins the heart of Catherine, widow of the Prince of Taranto, 121; fights the Turks in Greece, 121; trusted minister of Queen Joan of Naples, 122; Papal envoy to Milan, 122; death of, 122; builds the Certosa near Florence, 122; burial of, at the Certosa, 123, 143.

—— Roberto, sad love story of, 123, 124.

Alberti, Leo Battista, 27.

AMBROGIANA, VILLA dell’, 88–90.

—— built by Ferdinando I, 88; marriage of Eleonora Orsini at, 88; Don Antonio de’ Medici at, 89; Maria de’ Medici at, 89; decorated by Cosimo III, 89; Ferdinando III, meets his bride at, 89; now a prison, 89, 152.

Ammirato, Scipione, defence of Petraja described by, 54–55; 57, 109, 110.

Anjou, Robert of, 121.

Arcetri, Galileo at, 62, 63.

Arragona d’, Tullia, poetess and courtezan, 56–57.

Ariosto, Lodovico, lines on Florence by, 53; 62, 63, 126, 148.

ARTIMINO, VILLA FERDINANDA a, 148–152.

—— 141; hill of Artimino mentioned by Cicero, 148; given by Otto III, to the Bishop of Pistoja, 149; old castle of Artimino taken and retaken by Florentines and Pistojesi, 150; built by Ferdinando I, 150; pictures in, 151; sold by Pietro Leopoldo I, 151; present owner of, 151; description of, 151–152; wine of, praised by Redi, 151; 152.

Austria, Joan of, see Medici.

—— Margaret of, 20.

—— Maria Maddalena of, see Medici.

B

_Bacco in Toscana_, by Dr Francesco Redi, 70, 138, 151.

Baccini, G., quoted, 4.

Baldinucci, Filippo, quoted, 91, 150, 151.

Bandini, Giovanni, duel of, 42–44.

Baroncelli, Family of, 41.

—— Tommaso, favourite of Cosimo I, 41; death of, 42.

—— The, buy Poggio, 132.

Bavaria, Violante of, see Medici.

Bella, Stefano Della, engravings of Pratolino by, 91.

BELLOSGUARDO, VILLA DI, 59–64.

—— owned by the Cavalcanti, 59; sold to Tommaso Capponi, 61; ruin of, 61; confiscation of, by Cosimo I, 61; bought by Girolamo Michelozzi, 61; immortalised by Mrs Browning, 61; view from, 61–62.

Benedict XIII, Pope, 78, 83.

Benivieni, The brothers, Villa of, 138; praise of, by Poliziano, 138.

Berenson B., quoted, 9.

Boccaccio, Giovanni, life of, by Baldelli, 6; description of Villa Palmieri by, 6–7; 57; description of “limpid Fount” by, 108; description of “Valley of the Ladies” by, 113; 114; 133; youth of, described by Roberto Gherardi, 134; description of youths and ladies leaving Florence by, 134; description of the “Joyous Company” at Poggio Gherardo, 136; 137; 138.

Bologna, Giovanni da, statue of Apennines at Pratolino by, 92.

Bombicci-Pomi, Signor, present owner of I Collazzi, 143.

Bonajuto, Lord of Pogna, common ancestor of Boccaccio and Galileo, 140.

Bonaparte, Elise, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, 40.

—— Napoleon, 64; 142.

Borghese, Princess, Cafaggiuolo bought by, 17.

—— Prince, wife of, inherits Villa Salviati, 106.

Botticelli, Sandro, picture painted for Matteo Palmieri by, described by Vasari, 3.

Botticini, Francesco, pictures by, note, 4.

Bracciolini, Poggio, 29.

Brocchi, Dr G., description of Cafaggiuolo by, 17.

Bronzino, A., portrait of Bianca Cappello by, 23.

Browne, Kenworthy, Mr, present owner of house of Boccaccio’s father, 134.

Browning, Mrs Barrett, quoted, 59, 61.

Brunnelleschi, Filippo, 28; enlarges Rusciano for Luca Pitti, 37; note, 57.

Brunnelleschi, family of, defence of Petraja by, 54–55.

Buonarroti, Michelangelo, 27; 95; 118; 143.

Buontalenti, Bernardo, architect of Pratolino, 91; storage of ice invented by, 93; architect of Villa Delle Selve, 139; architect of Villa Ferdinanda a Artimino, 150, 152.

Byron, Lord, 127.

C

CAFAGGIUOLO, VILLA di, 16–25.

—— designed by Michelozzi for Cosimo de’ Medici, 17; description of, by Vasari, 17; description of, by Dr G. Brocchi, 17; letter from, by Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici, 18; letter from, by factor, 18; Donatello, a landed proprietor at, 19; Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici at, 19; letter from, by A. Poliziano, 19–20; Margaret of Austria at, 20; Lorenzino de’ Medici flies to, 21; murder of Donna Eleonora de’ Medici by her husband at, 22; murder of Donna Eleonora de’ Medici at, described by Francesco I, 22; Francesco I, and Bianca Cappello at, 23; Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici at, 23–24; majolica of, 25.

Canaccj, Caterina, tragic love story of, 103–106.

—— Bartolomeo, 104, 105; beheaded for the murder of his step-mother, 106.

—— Francesco, 104, 105, 106.

—— Giustino, 103, 104, 105, 106.

Candia, Duke of, see Mario.

Capraja, original name, and first mention of, 90.

Caprina, Meo Del, and his brother Luca, 118.

Carlo Alberto, Prince of Carignano, 40.

Cappello, Bianca, see Medici.

CAREGGI, VILLA di, 26–36.

—— built by Cosimo de’ Medici, 26; origin of name of, 26; Michelozzi architect of, 27; Cosimo de’ Medici at, 28; Platonic Academy at, 28; death of Cosimo de’ Medici at, described by his son, 29–30; Piero de’ Medici meets Lucrezia Tornabuoni at, 30; Piero de’ Medici dies at, 30; death of Lorenzo de’ Medici at, described by A. Poliziano, 32–34; Savonarola at, 34; Piero de’ Medici accused of drowning Pier Leoni at, 35; burning of, 36; various sales of, 36.

Cascioli, Monte, 128.

CASTELLO, VILLA di, 65–70.

—— description of, 65; fountain of, 66; grotto of, 66; origin of name of, 67; Caterina Sforza lives at, 68; reception of Duke of Urbino at, 68–69; death of Maria Salviati at, 69; Cosimo I, retires to, after his marriage with Camilla Martelli, 69; vineyards of, praised by Redi, 70; gardens of, beautified by Pietro Leopoldo I, 70.

CASTEL-PULCI, VILLA di, 126–130.

CASTEL-PULCI, VILLA di, seized by Cardinal N. Orsini for debt, 126; sold to Marchese Rinnucini, 126; sold to Government for a lunatic asylum, 126; view from, 128.

Castracane, Castruccio, 149, 150.

Catherine, titular Empress of Constantinople, 121.

Cavalcanti, Guido, mention of, by Dino Compagni, 59; a friend of Dante, 59; banishment and death of, 60; description of, by Lorenzo de’ Medici, 60; praise of, by Dante, 60; sonnets by, 60.

—— Masino, beheaded, 60.

—— Paffiero, murder of Pazzino de’ Pazzi by, 61.

—— The, 60, 61.

Charles III, King of Spain, 79.

Charles VIII, King of France, 77.

Charles Emanuel IV, 46.

Clemente VI, Pope, 122.

—— VII, Pope, 99, 109, 110.

—— VIII, Pope, 100.

—— XII, Pope, 78, 79.

COLLAZZI, VILLA I, 143–147.

—— Signor Bombicci-Pomi present owner of, 143; built by Messer Agostino Dini, 143; attributed to Michelangelo, 143; Santi di Tito probable architect of, 144; picture by Santi di Tito at, 144; description of, 144.

—— Compagni, Dino, quoted, 59.

Corsini, Amerigo, Bishop, 77.

—— Andrea, Saint, 77; apparition of the Virgin to, 142.

—— Bartolomeo, 78.

—— Bartolomeo, created Prince of Sismano, &c., 79.

—— Bertholdo, beheaded in 1555, 78.

—— Filippo, 78.

—— Lorenzo, created Pope as Clement XII, 78; 79.

—— Luca, friend of Savonarola, 77.

—— Marietta, wife of Macchiavelli, 77.

—— Neri, Cardinal, 78, 79.

—— Neri, Don, Prime Minister of Tuscany, 80.

—— Tommaso di Duccio, jurist and statesman, 77.

—— Tommaso, Don, present Prince, 72, 80.

Corsini, Villa at Castello, 71–80.

—— first known as “La Lepre de’ Rinieri,” 71; various sales of, 71; description of, 71–72; inhabited by Sir Robert Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, 72.

Cortesi, Jacopo (il Borgognone), 70.

Cowper, Earl, inhabits Villa Palmieri, 4; created Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, 5.

Crawford, Earl of, buys Villa Palmieri, 1, 6.

Cybo, Veronica, daughter of Prince of Massa, 100; marriage of, described by G. Beggi, 100–102; imperious temper of, 102; murder of Caterina Canaccj by, 103–106.

D

Dante, Alighieri, quoted, 60; quoted, 81; 109; quoted, 121; 137.

Decameron, The, 6, 57, 133; note, 134, 136.

Demidoff, Prince, buys Pratolino, 96.

Dini, Agostino, builds I Collazzi, 143; Santi di Tito works for, 144; spends too much on building, 144.

Donatello. Landed proprietor at Cafaggiuolo, 19; 28.

Dudley, Sir Robert, 72; conquers Guiana and discovers Trinidad, 72; description of voyage by, 73–74; his marriages, 74; enters the service of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, 75; instrument for measuring tides invented by, 76; created Duke of Northumberland, 76; children of, 76.

Dupré, Prof. G., 51.

—— Signorina, present owner of Lappeggi, 51.

E

Eleonora of Toledo, see Medici.

Etruria, Kingdom of, 45, 46.

Evelyn, John, description of Pratolino by, 94.

Ewart, Dorothea, quoted, 56.

F

Fabriczy, Carl von, 37, 38.

Farhill, Miss, buys Villa Palmieri, 5.

Fagiuoli, Giovan Battista, facetious poem on Lappeggi by, 49; Cardinal Francesco Maria’s wit described by, 49; note, 52.

Ferdinando III, (of Lorraine), 24; lends Poggio Imperiale to King of Sardinia, 46; lends Poggio Imperiale to Carlo Alberto, Prince of Carignano, 47; 89; destroys villa at Pratolino, 96.

Ferri, Antonio, architect of Lappeggi, 49, 52; enlarges Villa Corsini, 71.

Ficino, Marsilio, 27; President of the Platonic Academy, 28, 52, 82, 86; translation of Plato finished at Villa Marmigliano, 137.

Fiesole, Description of, by B. Varchi, 81; traditions of, 81; mentioned by Dante, 81, 82, 83; poem by A. Poliziano on, 86.

Fiske, Prof. Willard, present owner of Villa Landor, 113, 137.

FONT’ ALL’ ERTA, VILLA di, 108–115.

—— description by Roberto Gherardi of, 108–109; bought by Taddeo Gaddi, 109; A. Bonsi, ambassador of Clemente VII, at, 109; inherited by Sinibaldo Gaddi, 110; Loggia of, built by Niccolò Gaddi, 110; bought by Niccolò Gondi, 112; bought by Count Pasolini, 113; meeting-place of the “Young Italy” party, 114; inherited by Countess Rasponi della Testa, 115.

Francavilla, Pietro, Pietà by, 61.

Franco, Ser Matteo, meeting of Clarice de’ Medici and her children, described by, 124–125; 127.

Frederick IV, King of Denmark, 50.

G

Gaddi, Angelo, 109.

—— Niccolò, builds Loggia at Fout’ all’ Erta, 110; character of, 110; will of, 112.

—— Sinibaldo, inherits Font’ all’ Erta, 110.

Gaddi, Taddeo (the elder), 109.

—— Taddeo (the younger), buys Font’ all’ Erta, 109.

Galilei, Galileo, lives at Bellosguardo, 62; lives at Arcetri, 62, 63; lives at Villa Delle Selve, 140.

Galluzzi, Riguccio, death of Francesco I, and of Bianca Cappello described by, 12–13; financial genius of Cosimo de’ Medici described by, 55.

GAMBERAIA, VILLA di, 116–119.

—— probable origin of name of, 116; description of, 117; garden of, laid out by Cosimo Lapi, 117; becomes the property of the Capponi, 118; cypresses and grotto of, 118; Princess Ghyka present owner of, 119.

Garibaldi, Giuseppe, visit to Mario of, 107.

Gherardi, Gherardo di Bartolomeo, buys Poggio and calls it by his name, 132.

—— Roberto, description of the Font’ all’ Erta by, 108–109; account of Boccaccio’s youth by, 134; description of Villa della Querce by, 138.

Ghyka, Princess, present owner of Gamberaia, 119.

Gioli, Simone, 118.

Giraldi, Senator Vincenzio di Giovanni di Niccolò, 144; letter deploring the extinction of simple old Florentine manners, 144–147.

Giuliani, D. Tiribilli-, 123, 132.

Gondi, Niccolò, buys Font’ all’ Erta, 112.

Gregory IX, Pope, 129.

—— XIII, Pope, 112.

H

Hawkwood, Sir John, note, 54; 132.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, _Transformation_ written by, at Villa Montauto, 63.

Henry VII, Emperor, siege of Florence by, 42.

I

Innocent III, Pope, 23.

—— VI, Pope, 122.

J

Joan, of Austria, see Medici.

—— Queen of Naples, 122.

John XXII, Pope, 131.

L

Landino, Cristofano, 27, 28, 82.

Landor, Walter Savage, Villa of, 113; description of the Affrico by, 137.

Lapi, Andrea, 117; remains of works at Gamberaia, 118.

—— Cosimo, garden at Gamberaia laid out by, 117.

—— Jacopo, 117.

—— Zanobi, Gamberaia probably built by, 117.

—— The, property of the, divided, 118.

Lapini, A., quoted, 14.

LAPPEGGI, VILLA di, 48–52.

—— sold by the Ricasoli to Francesco de’ Medici, 48; various owners of, 48; favourite residence of Cardinal Francesco Maria de’ Medici, 49; rebuilt by Ferri, 49; celebrated by the poet G. B. Fagiuoli, 49; Frederick IV, of Denmark at, 50, 51; Violante of Bavaria at, 51; present owner of, Signorina Dupré, 51; description of, 52.

Leicester, Earl of, 72.

Leo X, Pope, 8, 20, 99.

Leoni, Pier, fresco of murder of, by G. F. Watts, 27; 35.

Leopoldo II, 15; destruction of grottoes and statues at Pratolino by, 96.

Lodovico of Bourbon, created King of Etruria, 46.

Lorraine, Christine of, see Medici.

Lucrezia Tornabuoni, see Medici.

M

Macchiavelli, Niccolò, 77, 137.

Magaldi, Meglino di Jacopo di Magaldo, leaves Poggio to the Congregation of the Visitation, 131.

—— The, appeal to the Cardinal-Legate against will of Meglino and sell Poggio, 132.

Majano, Benedetto da, 137.

—— Dante da, 137.

—— Meo di, 137.

Mann, Sir Horace, on Lord Cowper, 5; on Lady Orford, 87.

Manetti, G., 29.

Manni, Domenico, description of Roman remains near Florence, 67.

Mario (Duke of Candia) owner of Villa Salviati, 106; visit of Garibaldi to, 107.

Martelli, Lodovico, duel of, 42–44.

Martinelli, V., quoted, 14.

Martino V, Pope, 77.

Martino, San, a Mensola, St Andrew buried in, 133; pictures in, 133; 134.

Mecati, Abbate G. M., attempted murder of Lorenzo de’ Medici, described by, 83–84.

Medici, Alessandro de’, 10, 36, 99, 100.

—— Antonio de, Don, supposititious child of Bianca Cappello, 12; note, 48; returns from wars in Hungary, 89.

—— Bianca de’ (Cappello) at Cafaggiuolo, 23; at Pratolino, 92; sonnets by Tasso to, 92, 93.

—— Caterina de’, 20.

—— —— (Sforza) description of, 67; education of her son Giovanni by, 68.

—— Christine de’ (of Lorraine), bride of Ferdinando I, 13, 24, 45, 57; death of, 70, 94, 106.

—— Clarice de’ at Cafaggiuolo, 19; 86; meeting with her children, described by Ser Matteo Franco, 124.

—— Claudia de’, 45.

—— Contessina de’, 18.

—— Cosimo de’ (Pater Patriae) builds Cafaggiuolo, 17; builds Careggi, 26; 27; founds Platonic Academy, 28; death of, 29–30; wise words of, 38; character of, by Galluzzi, 55; admiration of Pius II, for, 56; friends of, 56.

—— Cosimo I, de’, reception of Eleonora of Toledo by, 11; as a child at Trebbio, 21, 22, 24; created Grand Duke by Pius V, 41; gives Villa Baroncelli (afterwards Poggio Imperiale) to his daughter Isabella, 44; at Petraja, 56, 57; confiscation of Bellosguardo by, 61; retires to Castello after his marriage with Camilla Martelli, 69; letter from, about his marriage, 69, 99, 110, 148.

—— Cosimo II, de’, 45.

—— Cosimo III, de’, marriage of, to Marguerite Louise d’ Orleans, 13; quarrels with his wife, 14–15, 45, 51, 58, 70, 72, 89, 95; imprisons the wife of Roberto Acciajuoli, 123; condemns Roberto Acciajuoli to perpetual imprisonment, 124; 151.

—— Eleonora de’, (of Toledo), marries Cosimo I, 11; dislike of the Florentines to, 57.

—— Eleonora de’, Donna, (of Toledo), description of, 21; murder of, by her husband Don Pietro, 22; letter by Francesco I, about murder of, 22.

—— Ferdinando de’, Cardinal, goes to Poggio a Cajano, 11; becomes Grand Duke of Tuscany, 23; 57.

—— Ferdinando I, de’ (late Cardinal), 13; 24; grants Lappeggi to Don Antonio, 48; Buontalenti commissioned to enlarge Petraja by, 57; 70; Villa dell’ Ambrogiana built by, 88; death of, 89; 94; Villa Ferdinanda a Artimino built by, 150.

—— Ferdinando II, de’, attempt to resuscitate Platonic Academy by, 36; marries Vittoria della Rovere, 45; 70; takes Sir Robert Dudley into his service, 75; 78, 106.

—— Ferdinando de’, Prince, 45; love of music of, 95; letter from Scarlatti to, 95; death of, 95.

—— Francesco I, de’, 11; death of at Poggio a Cajano, described by Galluzzi, 12–13; letters of, about murder of Donna Eleonora at Cafaggiulo, 22–23; Lappeggi bought by, 48; Pratolino built by, 91; 92; 141.

—— Francesco Maria de’, Cardinal, rebuilds Lappeggi, 49; practical joke of, 49; entertains King of Denmark at Lappeggi, 50; marriage of, to Eleonora Gonzaga, 51; death of, 51; 52.

—— Giancarlo de’, dies at Castello, 70.

—— Giangastone de’ (or Gastone), last of the Medici, 45; 50.

—— Giuliano de’, letter of as a child, 18; 19, 29, 30; murder of, 84.

—— Giulio de’, see Clemente VII, Pope.

—— Giovanni de’, see Leo X, Pope.

—— ——, Villa at Fiesole built for, 82.

—— ——, husband of Maria Salviati, 68.

—— ——, (Delle Bande Nere) childhood of, 68.

—— Isabella de’, married to P. G. Orsini, Duke of Bracciano, 45; murder of, by her husband, 45.

—— Ippolito de’, 69.

—— Joan de’ (of Austria), 11.

—— Lorenzino de’, 21, 36.

—— Lorenzo de’ (the Magnificent), builds Poggio a Cajano, 8; _Ambra_, poem by, 9–10; letter of, as a child, 18; _Nencia da Barberino_, country idyll by, 19; 20; room of, at Careggi, 27; letter to, from his father, 29–30; character of, by J. A. Symonds, 30–31; death of, at Careggi, described by A. Poliziano, 32–34; letter of, about Guido Cavalcanti, 60; at Fiesole, 82; sonnet on the violet by, 82; dedication by Jacopo Poggio to, 83; attempted murder of, described by Mecatti, 83–84; gives hospitality to A. Poliziano at Fiesole, 86; praise of, in Poliziano’s poem _Rusticus_, 86; 124; Luigi Pulci mentioned by, 127.

—— Lorenzo de’, Duke of Urbino, 20.

—— Lucrezia de’, 18; letter to from A. Poliziano, 19; 30; 127.

—— Marguerite Louise de’ (of Orleans), 13; retires to Poggio a Cajano, 14.

—— Maria de’, leaves Florence as bride of Henry IV, of France, 89.

—— —— (Salviati) at Trebbio, 21; death of, 69; 99.

—— Maria Maddalena de’ (of Austria), buys Villa Baroncelli and changes its name to Poggio Imperiale, 45; 69.

—— Mattias de’, 48.

—— Pietro de’, Don, 21; murders his wife Donna Eleonora at Cafaggiuolo, 22; murder of Donna Eleonora by, described by Francesco I, 23; accused of poisoning his little son, 23.

—— Pier Francesco de’, Castello built by, 65.

—— Piero de’, letter from, to his sons on death of Cosimo de’ Medici, 29–30.

—— The, exiled from Florence, 35, 36.

—— Violante de’ (of Bavaria) 45; lives at Lappeggi, 51; 95.

—— Vittoria de’ (della Rovere), 15; buys Poggio Imperiale of her husband, 45; 78.

MEDICI, VILLA, at Fiesole, 81–88.

MEDICI, VILLA, description by Vasari of, 82; Lorenzo the Magnificent at, 82; murder of Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici planned to take place at, 82; description by A. Poliziano of, 86; Countess of Orford at, 87; sales of, 87.

Mensola, The, celebrated in the _Ninfale Fiesolane_, 133.

—— San Martino a, one of the oldest churches in Tuscany, 133; 134.

Michelozzi, Michelozzo, architect of Cafaggiuolo, 17; architect of Careggi, 27; 28; architect of Medicean villa at Fiesole, 82; 97.

Mirandola, Pico della, description by A. Poliziano of, 31–32; 33, 34, 82, 86, 137.

Montaigne, M. de, description of Pratolino by, 93.

Montauto, Otto da, mission to Trebbio of, described by B. Varchi, 21.

—— Villa, tower of, described by N. Hawthorne in _Transformation_, 63.

Montefeltro, Federigo di, 38; Republic of Florence gives Rusciano to, 39.

MONTE GUFFONE, VILLA di, 120–125.

—— description of, 120–121; built by the Grand Seneschal Acciajuoli, 121; Queen Joan of Naples at, 122; meeting of Clarice de’ Medici and her children near, described by Ser Matteo Franco, 124–125.

Montelupo, Plates and jugs of, 90; 118.

Moreni, D., quoted, 26, 57.

Mozzi, Cavaliere, Medici Villa at Fiesole left by Lady Orford to, 87.

N

Napoleon I, 59, 142.

Nicholas II, Pope, 37.

O

Ombrellino, Villa dell’, Galileo Galilei lives at, 62.

Orford, Countess of, buys Medicean Villa at Fiesole, 86, 87.

Orleans, Marguerite Louise of, life of described by Martinelli, 14.

P

Paget, Lady, restoration of Villa di Bellosguardo by, 61.

Palagi, G., quoted, 52.

PALMIERI, VILLA, 1–7.

—— old names of, 1; bought by Matteo Palmieri, 1; transformed by Palmiero Palmieri, 1; bought by Earl of Crawford, 1; inhabited by Earl Cowper, 4; bought by Miss Farhill, 5; left to the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, 6; lent by Countess of Crawford to H. M. Queen Victoria, 6; identified with the second villa described in the _Decameron_, 6; described by Baldelli, 6; described by Boccaccio, 6; 98.

Pasolini, Count Giuseppe, buys Font’ all’ Erta, 113; joins the “Young Italy” party, 114; political life of, 115; death of, 115.

—— Count Pier Desiderio, quoted, 68.

Passerini, Count Silvio, present owner of Artimino, 151.

Pazzi, Jacopo de’, 83, 84.

—— Francesco de’, 83; hung out of the window of Palazzo della Signoria, 84.

Peter Igneus, St., goes through ordeal by fire at Badia a Settimo, 128.

PETRAJA, VILLA della, 53–58.

—— tree of Victor Emanuel at, 53; fountain at, described by Vasari, 54; defence by the Brunelleschi of, described by S. Ammirato, 54; owned by the Strozzi, 55; Cosimo I, lives at, 56; favourite villa of Ferdinando de’ Medici, 57; Scipione Ammirato lives at, 57; Victor Emanuel at, 58.

Petrucci, Cesare, Gonfalonier of Florence, orders the Archbishop of Pisa and others to be hung, 84.

Pietro Leopoldo I, 46, 54, 70, 151.

Pitti, Luca, builds Rusciano, 37; wise words of Cosimo de’ Medici to, 38; character of, 39.

Pius II, Pope, 56.

—— V, Pope, 41.

—— IX, Pope, 79, 114.

Poccetti, Bernardino, ceiling by, at Careggi, 27.

POGGIO A CAJANO, VILLA di, 8–15.

—— built by Lorenzo de’ Medici, 8; frescoes in, 8–9; gardens of, 9; mentioned by B. Varchi, 10; Cosimo I, and his bride at, 11; Francesco de’ Medici and Joan of Austria at, 11; Cardinal de’ Medici at, 11; death of Francesco I, and of Bianca Cappello at, 12–13; Christine of Lorraine received at, 13; Marguerite Louise of Orleans retires to, 14; 152.

POGGIO GHERARDO, VILLA di, 131–138.

—— owned by the Magaldi, 131; various owners of, 132; description of, 132–133; mentioned by S. Rogers, 134; identified with first villa mentioned in the Decameron, 134; description of, by Boccaccio, 136.

POGGIO IMPERIALE, VILLA di, 41–47.

—— first name of, 41; various owners of, 41; duel between L. Martelli and G. Bandini at, 42–44; given by Cosimo I, to his daughter Isabella, 44; bought by the Grand Duchess Maria Maddalena and named Poggio Imperiale, 45; bought by the Grand Duchess Vittoria, 45; Violante of Bavaria at, 45; Pietro Leopoldo enlarges, 46; Charles Emanuel IV, at, 46; Queen of Etruria builds Loggia at, 46; Elise Bonaparte at, 47; Carlo Alberto, Prince of Carignano, at, 47; Victor Emanuel narrowly escapes being burnt to death at, 47.

Poggio, Jacopo del, dedication to Lorenzo de’ Medici by, 83; hanging of, for murder of Giuliano de’ Medici, 84.

Poliziano, Angelo, letter from, on Lorenzo de’ Medici’s pet horse, 10; letter to Lucrezia de’ Medici from, 19; dismissal of, by Clarice de’ Medici, 20; 27; praise of Lorenzo de’ Medici by, 31; description of Pico della Mirandola by, 31; letter to Jacopo Antiquario on the death of Lorenzo de’ Medici by, 32–34; 35, 82; letter to Marsilio Ficino by, 86; praise of Lorenzo de’ Medici in _Rusticus_ by, 86; 137; praise of the brothers Benivieni by, 138.

Pontormo, Jacopo da, fresco by, 9.

PRATOLINO, VILLA di, 90–96.

—— built by Francesco I, 91; Bernardo Buontalenti, architect of, 91; engravings by Stefano Della Bella of, 91; description by Bernardo Sgrilli of, 92; statue of the Apennines at, 92; Bianca Cappello at, 92; sonnet by Tasso on, 92; described by Montaigne, 93; mentioned by Sir Henry Wotton, 94; ambassador of Prince of Transylvania goes to, 94; described by John Evelyn, 94; theatre built by Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici at, 95; destroyed by Ferdinando of Lorraine, 96; grottoes and statues of, destroyed by Leopoldo II, 96; bought by Prince Demidoff, 96.

Pulci, Antonia, a poetess, wife of Bernardo Pulci, 127.

—— Bernardo, a pastoral poet, 127.

—— Jacopo di Rinaldo, his son and grandsons, 126.

—— Luca, author of the _Ciriffo Calvaneo_, &c., 126.

—— Luigi, 27; author of the _Morgante Maggiore_, 126; mentioned by Lorenzo de’ Medici in his poem on hawking, 127; jokes on his name by Ser Matteo Franco, 127; poem by, translated by Lord Byron, 127; description of poem by, 127; J. A. Symonds on poem by, 127–128.

—— The three brothers, celebrated by Verino, 127.

Q

Quentin, St., silver casket containing bones of, 129.

R

Rasponi della Testa, Countess Angelica, present owner of Font’ all’ Erta, 115.

Redi, Dr Francesco, 50; praise of vineyards of Petraja and Castello by, 70; 89; praise of Salviati’s wine by, 138; praise of wine of Artimino by, 151.

Riario, Count Gugliemo, assists in planning murder of Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici, 83.

Ricca, G., quoted, 4.

Robbia, Della, frieze by one of the, 9; Madonna by, 113; frieze by one of the, 129.

Rogers, Samuel, on Florence, 40; on Galileo, 62–63; on Poggio Gherardo, 133–134.

Roscoe, W., quoted, 32.

Ross, Henry James, present owner of Poggio Gherardo, 132.

Rossellino, Antonio, 116, 117.

Rovere, Frederigo Ubaldo della, 45.

—— Vittoria della, see Medici.

RUSCIANO, VILLA di, 37–40.

—— first mention of, 37; built by Luca Pitti, 37; famous window at, 38; bought by Republic of Florence and presented to Federigo of Montefeltro, 39; various sales of, 39; view from, 40; garden of, 40.

S

SALVIATI, Alemanno, 97.

—— Averardo, Villa Delle Selve lent to Galileo by, 140.

—— Francesco, Archbishop of Pisa, murder of Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici approved by, 83; hanging of, 84.

—— Giuliano, insults Luisa Strozzi, 99.

—— Jacopo, brother of Archbishop, 83.

—— Jacopo, brother-in-law of Lorenzo de’ Medici, 99.

—— Jacopo, Duke of Giuliano, marriage of, to Veronica Cybo described by G. Beggi, 100–102; falls in love with Caterina Canaccj, 102; tragic love story of, 103–106.

—— Maria, see Medici.

SALVIATI, VILLA, 97–107.

—— description of, 97–98; left by Cardinal Gregorio Salviati to Princess Borghese, 106; bought by Mario (Duca di Candia), 106; Signor Turri, present owner of, 107.

Salviatino, Villa del, good wine of, praised by Redi, 138.

San Gallo, Giuliano da, architect of Poggio a Cajano, 8.

Santi di Tito, works for Agostino Dini at I Collazzi, 144.

Savonarola, Fra Girolamo, at deathbed of Lorenzo de’ Medici, 33–34.

Scarlatti, letter to Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici by, 95.

Segré, Comm., present owner of Careggi, 36.

Selve, Le, church of, 142; apparition of the Virgin to Sant’ Andrea Corsini in, 142; Feast of the Miraculous Crucifix at, 142.

SELVE, VILLA Delle, 139–142.

—— first mention of, 139; bought by the Strozzi, 139; bought by Averardo Salviati and lent to Galileo, 140; room of Galileo in, 140; view from, 140–141; Countess Capelli, present owner of, 142.

Settignano, Desiderio da, 38, 118; Ambrey by, 129.

—— Simone da, and his son Francesco, 118.

—— Village of, 116; famous men of, 118.

Settimanni, 23.

Settimo, Badia a, 126; campanile of, 128; St Peter Igneus goes through ordeal by fire at, 128; given to the Cistercians, 129; alto-relievo at, 129; description of, 129–130.

Sforza, Caterina, see Medici.

Sgrilli, B., quoted, 92.

Signa, Beata, Beata Giovanna of, 141; _Festa degli Angeli_ at, 141.

—— Lastra a, walls built by Sir John Hawkwood, 141.

—— Ponte a, 142.

Sixtus IV, Pope, murder of Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici planned by, 82–83.

Stegmann, Dr Carl von, on window at Rusciano, 38.

Stumm, Baron von, present owner of Rusciano, 39.

Strozzi, Alexandra, character of Luca Pitti by, 39.

—— Clarice (de’ Medici), 139.

—— Filippo, exiled by Cosimo de’ Medici, 55.

—— Filippo, 99; sends his wife Clarice de’ Medici to Florence, 139.

—— Lorenzo, 51.

—— Palla, 55.

Symonds, J. A., translation of Poliziano by, 9; quoted, 19; 29; character of Lorenzo de’ Medici by, 30–31; 32; 118; criticism on Pulci’s Morgante Maggiore by, 128.

T

Tasso, Torquato, 62; sonnets by, translated by R. C. Trevelyan, 92, 93.

Toledo, Eleonora of, see Medici.

Transylvania, Ambassador of Prince of, at Pratolino, 94.

Trebbio, Castle of, Otto da Montauto’s mission to, 21.

Trevelyan, R. C., Translation of Ariosto by, 53–54; translation of sonnet by Lorenzo de’ Medici by, 82; translation of A. Poliziano by, 86; translations of sonnets by Tasso by, 92, 93.

Tribolo, Fountain at Petraja by, 54; fountain at Castello attributed to, 66; statue of Apennines by, 66; 118.

Turri, Signor, present owner of Villa Salviati, 107.

U

Urban VIII, Pope, 63, 77, 78, 100.

Urbino, Guidobaldo, Duke of, sells Rusciano, 39.

V

“Valley of the Ladies,” seen from Font’ all’ Erta, 113; 114; situated under Prof. Fiske’s Villa, 137.

Valori, Villa of the, 137.

Varchi, Benedetto, departure of Cardinal, Ippolito and Alessandro de’ Medici for Poggio a Cajano described by, 10; mission of Otto da Montauto to Trebbio described by, 21; Montughi and Careggi mentioned by, 26; burning of Careggi and Castello described by, 36; duel between G. Bandini and L. Martelli described by, 42–44; love of, for Tullia d’Arragona, 56; reception of Duke of Urbino described by, 68–69; Fiesole described by, 81; scene between Filippo Strozzi and Jacopo Salviati described by, 99; 110, 126; Clarice Strozzi’s journey to Florence described by, 139.

Vasari, Giorgio, description of Palmieri’s picture by, 3; 8; note, 4; 10; Cafaggiuolo mentioned by, 17; Rusciano mentioned by, 37; description of fountain at Petraja by, 54; 65, 66; description of Medicean villa at Fiesole by, 82; 97, 116, 117, 118, 119, 128, 137, 144.

Verino, The three brothers Pulci mentioned by, 127.

Victor Emanuel, King of Italy, narrow escape of being burnt alive as a child, 47; tree at Petraja of, 53; Petraja favourite villa of, 58.

Villani, Matteo, 67; 108; funeral of Lorenzo Acciajuoli, described by, 122; siege of the castle of Artimino, described by, 150.

Villari, Pasquale, Prof., 34, 35.

W

Wade, Sir Willoughby, present owner of villa of the Benivieni, 138.

Walpole, Horace, criticism on Zoffany’s picture of the Tribune by, 5.

Watts, G. F., fresco by, at Careggi, 27.

Wotton, Sir Henry, letter from, 93.

Z

Zati, The, once Lords of Poggio, 132; picture given to the Church of San Martino a Mensola by, 133.

TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH

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