ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 



But although her great days ended with the fall 

 of the Exarchs and the Lombard conquest, Ravenna 

 once more enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity 

 under the rule of the House of Polenta in the thir- 

 teenth and fourteeth centuries, and the once imperial 

 city still retains many memorials of mediaeval times. 

 The palace where Guido da Polenta received Dante 

 during his exile has vanished, but the church of S. 

 Francesco, which was the favourite sanctuary and 

 burial-place of his family, is still standing. Here 

 Dante himself was laid to rest, by his last prayer, 

 clad in the habit of the Franciscan Order ; and here, 

 close under the walls of this ancient Christian basilica, 

 stands the monument raised to his memory by the 

 Venetian governor Bembo, and the " little cupola, 

 more neat than solemn," which now protects his 

 tomb. Beyond the gates of the city is the Pineta 

 where the poet loved to wander, that vast forest, so 

 full of memories, which still stretches its vivid green 

 between the blue of sky and sea. We can see the 

 spectre-huntsman of Boccaccio's time, that " Nastagio 

 degli Onesti," whose tragic tale was painted by 

 Botticelli, and sung by Dryden and Byron in turn, 

 driving his hell-hounds through the long avenues. 

 We think of the hapless Francesca riding along these 

 grassy glades in the May morning, by her " bel 

 Paolo's " side, on the way to Rimini. And we repeat 

 the familiar lines in which Dante likens the murmurs 



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