tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">[1]144

• Window of Or San Michele191
• Tower of the Arte della Lana201
• House of Dante207
• Arms of the Sesto di San Piero213
• Bargello Courtyard and Staircase217
• Santa Croce233
• Old Houses on the Arno245
• The Baptistery251
• The Bigallo264
• Porta della Mandorla, Duomo267
• Statue of Boniface VIII270
• Arms of the Medici from the Badia at Fiesole283
• Tomb of Giovanni and Piero dei Medici[1]288
• The Well of S. Marco299
• The Cloister of the Innocenti331
• A Florentine Suburb337
• The Ponte Vecchio343
• The Tower of S. Zanobi347
• Arms of the Strozzi353
• In the Green Cloisters, S. Maria Novella357
• In the Boboli Gardens374
• The Fortifications of Michelangelo399
• Porta San Giorgio403
• Map of Florencefacing  422

The Story of Florence

CHAPTER I

The People and Commune of Florence

"La bellissima e famosissima figlia di Roma, Fiorenza."
–Dante.

BEFORE the imagination of a thirteenth century poet, one of the sweetest singers of the dolce stil novo, there rose a phantasy of a transfigured city, transformed into a capital of Fairyland, with his lady and himself as fairy queen and king:

"Amor, eo chero mea donna in domino,
l'Arno balsamo fino,
le mura di Fiorenza inargentate,
le rughe di cristallo lastricate,