THE CERTOSA OF VAL D'EMA, 

 FLORENCE 



"Great are the pleasures of the monks who dwell there, greater still 

 are the pleasures of those who having seen all can go away." Pius II. 



ON the Siena road, three miles from the Porta 

 Romana, stands the ancient Certosa of Florence. 

 Less famous than her sister of Pavia, the Tuscan 

 monastery is rich in historical interest and treasures 

 of art. She has her paintings, her tombs, and 

 sculptures ; round her walls cluster the traditions of 

 many ages ; illustrious dead rest within her churches. 

 Inferior to her rival in architectural splendour, the 

 beauty of her situation far surpasses that of the Pavian 

 Certosa. Placed on the summit of a picturesque hill 

 in an angle formed by the junction of the torrents of 

 Ema and Greve, the imposing range of her build- 

 ings, with towers, battlements, and Gothic windows, 

 strikes the eye of the traveller, and appears to him 

 some grand mediaeval fortress crowning the heights. 

 Olive and cypress groves grow along the hillside ; 

 at its feet nestles the little village of Galluzzo, which 

 Dante sung of long ago ; and on cither side of the 

 torrent fair Val d'Ema spreads her gardens of rose, 

 and vine, and corn. From their cloisters the monks 

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