376 THE FIESCHI. 



what reall}- induced me to undertake this excnrsion 

 was interest in the founders of the church, whose 

 names Schiller has made familiar to us from our A'outh 

 up b^' his tracred\' of the "Fieschi". The^' called them- 

 selves Counts of Lavao-na. In the year 1244 Sinebaldo 

 Fiescho, who as Pope bore the name of Innocent W, 

 laid the foundation of the Basilica. The fresco over the 

 entrance represents him kneeling at the mount of Calvar^'. 

 The large Rose window in the otherwise extremeh- plain 

 facade is a highh' artistic piece of work and well pre- 

 served, [t is otherwise with the neig'hbQuring' Castle of the 

 Fieschi. The alternate bands of light and dark stone, and 

 tlie arches of its windows, show that the building was of 

 the same date as the Hasilica; but the architectural effect 

 is destro\'ed, for the windows are walled up and the interior 

 has been adapted to the needs of poor country people. 



The nephew of Innocent l\\ Ottobuoni Fiesco, whom 

 the former raised to the rank of Cardinal-deacon under 

 the title ot St. Hadrian and who afterwards became Pope 

 Madrian \", is represented in Dante's Purgatorio as speaking. 

 He makes him praise, in the words quoted above, the 

 river of his native district, - the Lavagna, now called 

 Entella. "Between Chiavari and Sestri a fair river rushes 

 down, from whose name my family derives its honour- 

 able title". As to the avarice with which Dante charges 

 Ottobuoni, the royal translator and commejitator of the 

 "Divina Commedia", Philalethes, could not fmd an\ 

 historical conlirmation of it. 



The power of the Fieschi began to decline about 

 the year 1000. They had become dependant upon (lenoa 



