Evening star., 1905-09-07
MEMORIES OF FLORENCE
ONE. OF THE TYPICAL CITIES OF
ITALY-ITs FAMOUS MEN.
Splendid Names Of Art Associated
With the Place-Towers, Spires,
Domes and Tombs.

USn RTl COUSINS were bpcHUIIlB "iutoS
in Florence. and they determined to start
what one of them called a ''Maggerzeen." +"
The youngest of them contributed. with q
certain amount of assistance, the follow
ing poem to the common stock:
town of towers and spires and dcmes.
OF garden parties and at homes
Where many weary traveller comes
Is Florence.
And he. athwart whose spirit steais
The magic Of Its hundred peaS
For every other city feels
Abborrenoe.
No loyeliet spots on earth are found.
Whose names most musically sound.
Val dArno.
And he whose mind they do not strike,
Though all men cannot think alike,
Should have his hand at OF Just like
Dalgarno.
But still know an English farm
Instinct with peculiar charm.
Where no mosquitoes ever harm
Or bother.
And II there's one would rather be
At home. and lovely Florence
At distant Jericho it's
And mother.
There is perhaps no city that calls more
loudly to the traveller than Florence. 1t is
the quintessence of Italy the birthplace
and burial place of many of her greatest
men. In its setting of dark green. purple
and red-Town hills. 1t lies as precious
50 beautiful that familiarity only increases
its charm.
The Keynote.
OF this matchless city. with which so
many of the splendid names Of art are as
ISOLATED. and within whose walls is stored
such a wealth Of painting. architecture and
statuary. 1t would obviously be impossible
to give perfect description in the space at
command.
But there is one aspect in which one
seems to see epltomzed the whole story
OF the city; and those towers and spires
and domes which struck our young poetess,
above quoted as the keynote of Its melody
are not only types of grace and ma jesty. but
support a weight of memory which Is In
separable from their existence. Seen from
each of the surrounding heights. they Com
bine in Il different order and present new
charm, while still remaining the very crown
and eXemplar of the beauty of Florence
Take first the central dome. although not
the most conspicuous-it is that of the
church of st. John. the old cathedral of
Florence now the Baptisry. Within its
walls every Florentine child is baptised.
and there Dante once broke the font to
save child from drowning. The church.
whose interior Is simple and unadorned. Is
consecrated by its gates one older and
purer in style. the other two by Ghiberti.
Ghiberti devoted his life to the making
of these gates-and they In return have
made him immortal. The panel which he
cast in competition with Bruneleschi Is
still to be seen (yOu may find casts of both
at South Kensington)-and the controversy
as to which is the better has not yet been
determined. Ghiberti carried sculpture to
q point where 1t Is hardly dstinguishable
from painting. If he did not overstep this
line, any one who initiates him must do so.
A Story Of Dante.
Close by the Baptistry Is the Cathedral.
tho work of Arnolfo di Lapo. brilliant with
the varied hues of colored marbles, COM
pieted with a modern facade which is not
unworthy OF the rest.
Dante watched the building of 1t. seated
on the stone, which still bears the inscrip-
ton: "Sasso di Dante" Here he rested
for long hours. and many stories are told
OF him. One day a man unknown to him
passed him and asked What Is the best
thing to eat2' Dante. without looking up,
man passed again. and asked, What
with?" Dante again answered. without
looking up, with salt
The Cathedral is now covered with a
mighty dome, more massive, but not so
graceful as the cupola of St. Peters. 1t
was the first OF its kind. a marvel OF con-
struction, destined, as Its author said, to
raise the vault of the Pantheon in the air.
The third member of the trio Is the bell
tower Of Giotto. a miracle of art. the head
stone of beauty. In gazing at 1t we know
not which to admire most the stability and
harmony of the structure. the roh coiors
of the marble, the tracery of the windows,
or the variety and excellence OF the sculp-
ture. 1t was to have been completed by a
golden coronet, crowning Florence. as Flor
ence, Italy.
The Republic and After.
OF the other towers. each instinct with It's
special Significance. and completing the
cluster both in outward impressveness and
inward association, ones eye Is first held by
the graceful yet massive and curiously grim
tower of the Palazzo Vecchio. which domi-
mates the square Of the Signoria and pre-
serves the memory of the republic. Here
in little cell half way up the edlfce
COsmc lie Medici was imprisoned and I'm
tfe open space below Savonarola was
Sgred.
Close by is the tower OF the Bargello the
Palace Of the POdssta This magistrate was
always a fore gner. for the Florentines were
afraid Or committing themselves to the di-
recJiOn OF \ townsman. and the staircase Is
decorated with their coats of arms. The
Bargello Is now one Of the most famous
museums Of Europe, but TO the dimmest
ina agination 1t Is the living sign of the dis
union OF republic. a. the Palazzo Vecchio
Is or republics majesty. Two towers re-
main, that Of the Badia. close by the birth
house OF Dante. famous for the picture by
Filtppo Lippl in which the Virgin appears
70 s.. Bernard, and that OF Santa Croce,
the Westminster Abbey OF Florence the
burial place of her great men.
A Second Athens.
In every stone. indeed story; in the
naming OF every street romance. And
truly. II you would read deeper between the
lines which these tremulous campanili and
swelling domes trace upon the cloudy skies
OF the Val dArno. no history book will
teach you more than the pages which Flor
ence herself spreads open to you In every
house and square and alley-as you drive
along the palaces OF the Arno to the gay
Cascine, upon the sister heights of Bellos-
guardo and Monte Oliveto. among the
magic gardens OF Boboli. and In the vii
lagos clustering round on the encircnns
hills. which II collected together would
make Florence as large two Romes.
Farther of is the height of San Miniato,
with It's fortified church. paned with win
dows OF flaming alabaster and farther still.
the Etruscan terrace OF Ffesole, the mother
city from which Florence was born. II Fie-
sole preserves the memory of the Infamous
Catiline and his crew OF parricldes, Flor
ence makes up for this by a nearly un-
broken record of intellectual enlightenment
and artistic creation. After Athens. Flor