The Villa Danti 
A FACADE OF THE VILLA 
windows, the lower ones, heavily barred, as in 
almost all villas. The front door opens 
under the loggia. 
d'he interior is planned in large and lofty 
rooms, several of which are still rich in 
furniture, china and carvings of a good 
period. A large hall, lighted by glass doors 
opening in the loggias north and south, takes 
up the center of the house. On this most 
of the rooms on the ground floor open. 
One of these is of special interest, for every 
newly married pair of the Danti family, per¬ 
haps of the Guadagni family before them, 
has occupied that room. A magnificent 
cassone , one of those chests in which the 
gifts of the bridegroom were taken to the 
bride,and in which she kept \\zy corrects or trous¬ 
seau, stands in one corner. It is a genuine 
bit of thirteenth century work, but the mis¬ 
taken zeal of an ancestor of the lady who 
owns the house has, alas, restored it to a 
painful pitch of brand-newness, all bright 
gold and brilliant color! The hangings of 
the bed, a huge four-poster, look as fresh 
as the day the red brocade was woven. 
There is a fine crucifix, some beautiful china, 
and one or two interesting pictures in the 
room. Such things can be seen elsewhere, 
but the contents of a little cupboard in the 
wall near the bed are so singular as to de¬ 
serve special mention. In this little cup¬ 
board, for many a generation, it has been a 
custom in the family that every bride 
who sleeps in that room should, next 
morning, leave her slippers, and 
there they are, these strange little 
marriage witnesses : slippers of vel¬ 
vet and slippers of leather, some em¬ 
broidered, some plain, these poised 
on heels two inches high, those with 
toes turned up to a sharp point; 
others less extravagant in design but 
all dainty and pretty. One tiny little 
pair, of blue velvet embroidered with 
silver, had belonged to the lady of 
the house, who, faithful to the tradi¬ 
tions of her family, had left them in 
the cupboard the day after her wed¬ 
ding. 
The garden around the house is 
not very large, but picturesque, from 
being on different levels of ground 
and shaded by many fine trees. To 
the right you look through iron gates down 
the cross avenue of cypresses. From here 
the obelisk on the top of the opposite hill 
is visible, ending the perfectly straight line 
between the double row of trees. Besides, 
the shade of trees the garden has the charm 
of water. It is heard rippling in the foun¬ 
tains on both sides of the house. An avenue 
of horse-chestnuts and limes leads from the 
LOOKING TOWARD THE OBELISK ON THE HILL 
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