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 either 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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