VILLA PALMIERI, FLORENCE 



PLATES 36, 37 



ROUND the Villa Palmieri is centred a great literary interest ; for it is said to 

 be the villa to which Boccaccio's gay company of seven 'discrete, nobly 

 descended, and perfectly accomplished' ladies betook themselves in retreat, 

 when the great plague had so devastated Florence that no less than one 

 hundred thousand lives were lost between the months of March and July. 

 The description which Boccaccio gives of the delightful garden has been 

 , already quoted.^ One would wish that more effort had been made in later 



years to bring such an historical spot more into harmony with its eadier form ; for, beautiful 



though it still is, there is a lack of the 



quaintness of which Boccaccio tells. In the 



fifteenth century the villa was sold to Matteo 



Palmieri, and was rebuilt in 1670 by a 



descendant of his and called by its present 



name. A history of the villa is given in 



Mrs. Janet Ross's interesting work on Flo- 

 rentine villas. It is now the property of 



the Countess of Crawford. 



The principal feature of interest in 



the villa is the superb approach on the south 



side, now no longer used as the main en- 



trance, since the high road was diverted 

 some thirty years ago. Two high gate-piers 

 guard the entrance to an oval courtyard, 

 whence a double-inclined ramp ascends to 



r 



the wide bricked terrace above, with balustrade and delightful series of figures, looking out 

 over the city of Florence. The Cathedral, with its marble campanile, and the domes and spires 

 of Florence, are set out in a superb panorama, with the valley of the Arno before us. The villa 

 was on two occasions visited by Queen Victoria. 





'Quoted at length on page 22, above (* Historical Introduction'). 



( 75 ) . 



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