1057 



FLORENCE. 



FLORENCE. 



art. 4. The church of 'San Lorenzo, built by Brunelleschi, the 

 numerous altars of which are adorned with the paintings of Florentine 

 masters. In the body of the church is the modest tomb of the elder 

 Cosmo, called Pater Patria; ; in the old sacristy is that of his father, 

 Giovanni, the princely merchant, the head of his family and the 

 founder of this church; and in the new sacristy are the celebrated monu- 

 ment of Giuliano de' Medici, and of Lorenzo, duke of Urbino, by Michel 

 Angelo. Behind the choir of the church is the sepulchral chapel of 

 the grand dukes of the house of Medici, rich in marble, jasper, agates, 

 lapis lazuli, and other valuable stones, on which account it has received 

 the name of ' Cappella delle Pietre dure.' Annexed to the church is 

 the building begun by Michael Angelo and finished by Vasari, con- 

 taining the valuable library of manuscripts called Laureutiana, 

 collected in great part by Cosmo, Lorenzo, and the other members of 

 the first house of Medici, but considerably increased since. 5. The 

 church of Santa C'roce is remarkable chiefly for the sepulchral monu- 

 ments of Machiavelli, Michel Angelo, Galileo, and Alfieri. 6. The 

 Pitti palace, the residence of the grand duke, begun by Brunelleschi 

 and finished by the Grand Duke Cosmo I., has a splendid gallery of 

 paintings, and a library of 70,000 printed volumes and 1500 manu- 

 scripts, chiefly Italian, among others the correspondence of Machiavelli 

 and that of Galileo. The adjoining gardens of Boboli are extensive, 

 and afford a pleasant promenade to the public, but they are laid out 

 and the trees are cut hi the old formal style; the fountains are 

 remarkably fine. 



Besides the above, which are the most remarkable edifices in 

 Florence, there are numerous other structures which would be con- 

 sidered . an ornament to any city, such as the Riccardi palace, with 

 its valuable library, now the property of the community ; the Strozzi 

 palace, one of the most remarkable specimens of the old massive and 

 stern Florentine architecture ; the modern palaces Corsini, Borghese, 

 and many others ; the churches of San Marco, Santa Maria Novella, 

 L'Annuuziata, Ognissanti, &c. ; the two principal theatres (there are 

 seven others); the academy of the fine arts; the hospitals; and 

 the public walks outside the gates. 



Florence contains many charitable and other useful institutions. 

 There are several elementary schools for boys and girls, besides the 

 schools kept by religious congregations ; the Institute della Santissima 

 Annunziata, in which 800 girls are boarded and instructed and 

 provided for when they leave the house; besides asylums for the 

 orphan, the blind, the deaf and dumb, and other unfortunate persons ; 

 and 'confraternit^,' or associations of charitable persons for attending 

 the infirm and burying the poor dead. The medical and surgical 

 college attached to the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova is one of the 

 best medical schools in Italy. The principal academies are that of 

 La Crusca, to which is united the University of Florence, founded 

 in 1438 ; that of the fine arts ; and the Academy dei Georgofili, which 

 encourages agriculture, and publishes a quarterly journal. Connected 

 with the astronomical observatory, which is a magnificent establish- 

 ment, are a museum of natural history, a botanic garden, &c. 



The people of Florence are civil, industrious, sober, steady, econo- 

 mical even to parsimony, loquacious and satirical, but docile and 

 quietly disposed. Among the wealthy and fashionable class great 

 outward decorum is maintained. Fortunes are moderate, and mostly 

 derived from landed property. Among the Tuscan nobility are 

 many individuals distinguished for their learning, and for the 

 liberality with which they exert themselves in promoting useful and 

 charitable institutions, such as schools, savings banks, and works of 

 public utility. 



Florence is upon the whole the most pleasant place of residence in 

 all Italy. Strangers have also the advantage of the best reading-rooms 

 in the whole peninsula, which are supplied with foreign journals and 

 literary novelties. 



The price of provisions is moderate, the country very fine, and the 

 climate generally healthy, though at times foggy in the autumn and 

 cold in the winter. The whole neighbourhood of Florence is studded 

 with villas, country-houses, and gardens, which made Ariosto say, 

 that if they could be all collected within the inclosure of a wall and 

 joined to the actual city, Florence would be more than equal to two 

 Homes. Florence is situated in 43 46' 41" N. lat., 11 15' 55" 

 E. long., 43 miles E. from Pisa, 51 miles S. by W. from Bologna, and 

 145 miles N.N.W. from Rome. It is joined by railways to Pisa, 

 Leghorn, and Siena. The population of the city in 1852 was 

 110,714. The manufactures comprise chiefly silks, carpets, straw- 

 hats, mosaics, porcelain, and jewellery. 



r. -nee owes its origin to a colony of Roman soldiers sent by 

 Octavianus after the victory of Perusia, to whom he allotted part of 

 the territory of the colony of Fsesulse, established about forty years 

 before by Sulla. In the reign of Tiberius we find the Florentines 

 mentioned by Tacitus (' Annal.' i. 79) as having sent a deputation to 

 Rome to deprecate the intended diversion of the course of the Clanis 

 into the Arno, by which their fields would have been exposed to 

 inundation. Little else is known' of Florence under the empire, and 

 hardly any remains exist of that period except some relics of an 

 amphitheatre and a few inscriptions. Christianity seems to have been 

 established at Florence in the 3rd century, and several martyrs are 

 recorded there under Decius. In the year 313 Felix, bishop of 

 Florence, attended a council at Home. About 405 the town was 



threatened by the Goths under Radagaisus, but was saved by Stili- 

 cho, who defeated the barbarians in its neighbourhood. In 542, 

 being again attacked by the Goths under Totila, it was successfully 

 defended by the garrison which Belisarius had left in it. The Longo- 

 bards occupied Florence apparently without violence, and Tuscany 

 became one of the duchies of their kingdom. Charlemagne having 

 conquered the Longobards, organised the various provinces of their 

 kingdom : he appointed at Florence a political chief called duke, and 

 afterwards count, under whom were various officers, who were io be 

 chosen by the count and the people together. Thus a municipal 

 government was early given to Florence. In the 12th century, when 

 Italy began to be involved in the long quarrel between the church and 

 the empire, Florence with the greater part of Tuscany was under the 

 jurisdiction of the Countess Matilda, who dying about 1115 left her 

 inheritance to the Roman see. From that time the towns of Tuscany 

 began to govern themselves as independent commonwealths, and the 

 popes favoured this state of things. Florence had then a very limited 

 territory, extending only a few miles round its walls ; but the industry 

 and speculative spirit of its citizens wonderfully enriched them. They 

 had commercial establishments in the Levant, in France, and in other 

 parts; they were money-changers, money-lenders, jewellers, and 

 goldsmiths. In 1078 they first enlarged the circuit of their town. 

 In 1113, while the Countess Matilda was still living, the citizens of 

 Florence took up arms to repel a new delegate sent by the emperor, 

 and accompanied by a troop of armed men. They met him at Monte 

 Cascioli, then an estate of the counts Cadolingi, about six miles west 

 of Florence : Robert the imperial vicar was killed in the conflict, and 

 his men were routed. This was the first military exploit of the 

 Florentine community, and from that time Florence was numbered 

 among the towns attached to the popes and opposed to the emperors, 

 or, as they were afterwards called in the following century, the Guelph 

 party, although many of the neighbouring feudatories were of the 

 opposite or imperial party ; and as several of them at various epochs 

 became citizens of Florence, or became connected by marriage or 

 otherwise with Florentine families, the seeds of internal discord were 

 thus sown within its walls. For above two centuries after the city 

 was torn with dissensions, first between the Guelph and Ghibeline 

 factious, and subsequently by the Neri and Bianchi, each of which as 

 it got the upper hand oppressed or exiled the leaders of the losing 

 faction. Nevertheless Florence went on increasing in territory and 

 wealth. 



In 1252, upon the death of the emperor Frederick II., the head of 

 the Ghibeliues as the Pope was of the Guelphs, the Guelphs, who had 

 gained the ascendancy in Florence, defeated the Pisans and subdued 

 the Ghibelines in the valley of Mugello and in the Valdarno ; so that 

 this year was thenceforth remembered by the Florentines as the ' year 

 of victories.' In 1254 they took Volterra; and it was then that they 

 first coined their golden florins, which were considered the tinest coins 

 in all Europe. 



The Ghibelines, supported by Manfred, king of Naples, and led on 

 by Farinata degli Uberti, surprised the Florentines and other Guelphs 

 of Tuscany at Monteaparto, on the banks of the Arbia, a few miles 

 from Siena, on the 4th of September, 1260, and completely defeated 

 them, with the loss of 10,000 killed and a number of prisoners. The 

 Ghibelines entered Florence in triumph, the principal Ouelphs who 

 survived fled to Lucca, their property was confiscated, their houses 

 were razed, and a new magistracy was formed from among the Ghibe- 

 liue party, who took the oath of allegiance to Manfred. At a general 

 diet of the Ghibeline cities, held soon after at Empoli, it was propose:! 

 to raze Florence to the ground, and distribute the inhabitants among 

 other towns, as the bulk of the population was too much Guelph to 

 be trusted ; but Fariuata indignantly resisted the proposal, saying he 

 would rather join the Guelphs than see his native town destroyed : 

 this threat had its effect, and Florence was saved. Dante has justly 

 praised Farinata for this patriotic act, in which the feelings of the 

 citizen rose above the passions of the partisan. 



In 126,5 the defeat and death of Manfred at Benevento turned the 

 scale against the Ghibelines. The Florentines in the following year 

 drove away the garrison left by Manfred, and offered their allegiance 

 for ten years to Charles of Anjou, king of Naples, who sent them 800 

 French horsemen under Gui de Montfort as his vicar. 



In 1268 the expedition of Conradin gave a momentary preponderance 

 to the Ghibelines, but they were soon expelled again from Florence. 

 In 1273, by the mediation of the Pope, peace was made between the 

 two parties, and the Ghibelines were recalled; but this harmony did 

 not last long. In 12SO Cardinal Latiui Orsiui, legate of Pope 

 Nicholas III., made a new peace : the more violent Ghibelines were 

 banished for a time, but their property was restored to them, and the 

 rest of their party were allowed to return, and to participate in the 

 offices of the state. But the Guelphs, being stronger, did not keep 

 their promises towards them. For the next thirty years internal 

 feuds prevailed, in which Dino Compagni, the chronicler of the time, 

 and the poet Dante acted a part ; and the names of Guelphs and 

 Ghibelines gave way, or rather were replaced, by those of Neri and 

 Bianchi. Blood was openly shed in the streets with impunity. 



After the feuds of the Bianchi and the Neri, and the banishment of 

 the former, the Florentines besieged and took Pistoja by famine in 

 the year 1306. In August 1315 Ugticcioue della Faggiuola, at the 



