| Show OF FLOEENCE NATURE AND ART COMBINE IN SPLENDID BEAUTY italian city teems W th masterpieces of arch sects sculptors and paint ers genius of michael angelo more than any other man Is in evi dence special correspondence the charms ot florence in the eyes of the stranger and of those of the sojourner in italy are without end A repent writer trying to describe what rendered florence supreme in the line of beauty as compared other places says it is that in it you can entwine our thoughts with art in gal old well and monks ceries rathel than with nature in the fields and what renders it so worthy of pral e is that nature and art god s works and man s the past and the present are here together all within sight nay within touch such are the motives that lead one who knowing florence well admires it above other cities in the very midst of the busiest street in the city which Is I 1 suppose the via Calza loll the stocking makers street where the crowds press both ways from the cuomo duomo to the signoria and from the signoria to the cuomo duomo you have but to look beyond the end of the street toward the cuomo duomo to see the high and distant white and shining against the vines and trees that clothe the hill lo 10 the very summit nature in all its charm and rich sug gest lons of exquisite landscape and rare views over fertile plains and rich and vintages now that the golden wine month witnesses the bringing in of the grapes lies before the eye of the spectator at his side robbed up against by the people corn ing and going is one of the grandest combinations of the architectural and sculptural arts to be met with in this land of art the quaint formed church of san michele here also at the corner of this street and the cathedral square one of the prettiest and tiniest bits of early florentine architecture the loggia del bigalli gladdens the eyes andrea the architect and painter was the builder of it and here it stands over against the bap and opposite giotto s tower and the marble wonder of the cuomo duomo and still it is not out of place rather its exquisite charm Is rendered more conspicuous by their vicinity turning to the other side of the city the eye rests with pleasure on the hill of san with its cypresses around it suggestive of the graves within its walls looking south from lung arno the eye Is gratified by the noble marble facade of the church of san with its windows of flaming alabaster the tor building beside it takes the mind back to a troublous time in the story of florence when this height was considered a point of vantage and where michael angelo designed and labored at the fortifications raised upon it and which were deemed nee essary tor the protection of the city on this side you come across the memory of this man of four souls as he has been described the fact that he was painter poet architect and tor in several parts of the city ant cathedral tower nowhere are you brought into such close relationship or such near and touching association as in his house in the via above the arched entrance the sign of the master is seen a bronze bust of him inserted in a circular niche A tiny courtyard within contains frag ments of sculpture arranged around its walls and in front of you as you enter a large eagle with outspread wings carved in cletra serena that grayish brown stone so common in florence is seen on the wall and above it the glorious and proud lines from dante who above the others like an eagle soars it is in one of the fra vincenzo mar chese s works that the statement Is made that the church of santa maria novella as also used as a place in which dante s divena commedia was expounded in the agag called dark dante like michael angelo Is all over the place this church of he badia shares with the baptistery and san the dis lon of being the only florentine churches mentioned by dante on the ground near the gates of para dise ot the baptistery a marble slab has recently been inserted bearing dante s simple descriptive phrase con berning this church II 11 mio bel san glovanni Glov annl on the facade ot the badia the marble slab bearing the versee in which he refers to it Is in dertod when you turn away from the me mortals of dante that meet you so frequently bour wandering eyes can scarcely help resting on some doely work of painting or sculpture or that glazed terra cotta associated with the names of the delia hobbles above one of the entrances to the hospital or refuge of the foundling children innocents they kindly term them here Is a particularly tul annunciation the work of andrea della robbia nd many such works are to be met with in florence every visitor to this city has the medallions that form so conspicuous a feature in the each with its little white swaddled baby on a blue background looking out so wistfully at you as it inviting your compassion and charity everywhere you wander in and about this city of great names and noble art something grand appeals to you in the cemetery of non catho lies an space high above the surrounding roads names that have left profound memory in the minds of english speaking people speak to you from the monuments of the dead per haps the most renowned of all Is that expressed by the initials on a great renaissance sarcophagus blip ported on six squat corinthian pillars the letters mentioned and the date 1861 tell the present that here lie the remains of the greatest poetess of the nineteenth century elizabeth barrett browning and the memory of another notably intellectual woman employing the english language as her vehicle of expression comes to QU as you look from the arches on the old bridge of florence down to the river below and to the banks on the left side this Is george eliot whose tale ot romola with its scenes laid in flor ence and its immediate vicinity ha almost assumed in the mind of read ers the dignity of history and the places mentioned in it are visited those who have campanile read it before or after coming here as it they had been made memorable by the deeds ot real living beings here at the left of the bridge with its quaint house a survival with that of the rialto at venice of this old habit of inhabited bridges Is the spot where the body of the halt dead tito belema was cast up and where his abandoned father found him |
