網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

SECTION II.

CENTRAL ITALY.

Florence to Rome.

TUSCANY-UMBRIA-THE MARCHES-THE ABRUZZIAND FORMER PONTIFICAL STATES.

PISA-LUCCA-LEGHORN-ELBA-FLORENCE AND ITS

ENVIRONS-SIENA-PERUGIA-ANCONA-FOGGIAROME AND ITS ENVIRONS.

SECTION II-CENTRAL ITALY.

ROUTE 23.

Pisa to Empoli and Florence.
PISA (Stat.)

Population, 37,704.

Hotels: Grande Bretagne; Vittoria; Grand Hotel; Hotel de Londres; Minerva; Lungarno. Post Office.-Near Ponte di Mezzo.

English Church, near the Hotel Grande Bretagne. During the seven winter months service is performed each Sunday. There is an excellent library of general English literature at the English Church. English Warehouse.-J. Cordon,

Routes.-To Leghorn, by rail, half an hour; to Florence, by rail via Lucca, Pistoja, &c., in 4 hours; or via Empoli, along the Arno, 24 hours; to Volterra, by rail and coach; to Siena, by rail; to Cecina, Grosseto, Civita Vecchia, and Rome, by rail.

*Chief Objects of Notice.- Duomo, Baptistery, Leaning Tower, Campo Santo, Santa Maria della Spina, University.

Forsyth, who lived here some time. says, the rain "generally falls in large round drops direct to the ground. It never breaks into mist, nor dims the air, nor penetrates the houses, nor rusts the metals, nor racks the bones, with the searching activity of an English shower. The spring is short; in summer the mornings are very hot, at noon the sea-breeze springs up, the nights are damp and close. The climate, in winter, is considered-next to Rome-the mildest and most equable in Italy." Average winter temperature, 47°.

The thick, gray water of the Arno is not good for drinking, but excellent water is supplied by an aqueduct, 4 miles long, from Monte Asciano; built 1601-13, by Cosmo II. On 11th and 12th December, 1869, the yellow river rose to the first and second storeys of the houses in the Lung' Arno. The canal to Leghorn was cut by Frederic II.

Three bridges cross the river (one of them of marble), besides the viaduct, or lowest one. The one next to it, Ponte al Mare or Solferino, at the west end between Porta al Mare and the Citadel, is the oldest, built 1351, on five arches, restored by Brunelleschi, and lately rebuilt. Close to it is the old Torre Guelfa or Prison. The Citadella is below.

Ponte Vecchio, or the Old Bridge, so called, is in thoroughfare leading to Lucca Gate and railway the middle, in a line with Via del Borgo, the chief station. It is close to the Dogana and Post Office, and replaces a former bridge of one arch. Two centuries back, the fine manly game of the Battaglie del Ponte used to take place here, when the youth of the town either unarmed, or clothed in mail and armed with clubs, met for a mock fight and wrestling match, till a paternal government stopped it on the pretext of danger. At the south end is the Loggie de Banchi, an open arcade, built 1605, by Buontalenti, now a Corn Market. Near this is the Palazzo del Comune, with the Archives.

PISA, the Roman Pisa, on the Pisanus, now called the Arno, is supposed to be of Greek origin, and is one of the most ancient towns and ports in Italy; about 5 miles from the Mediterranean by the river, and 12 miles by rail from Leghorn. It is the seat of a province, university, and archbishop; and occupies both sides of the river, the banks of which are lined with well-built quays and tall houses. It is nearly 6 miles round by the walls, but at least two-thirds of the space within is garden ground. Though not in ruin, yet it has a look of faded grandeur and want of life, which has brought upon it the designation of "Pisa morta." It has never recovered the destruction of its port by the Genoese in 1290, and its final subjection to Florence, 1445. The harbour chains taken by the Genoese were restored 1860. Its population is only a fifth or sixth of what it was; and grass grows in the streets. Like Padua, and some other old towns which have seen their prime, it is now in a stage of venerable decay; one sign of which is the The walk along the quays, or Lung' Arno, is a number of beggars to be seen. As a residence, it favourite promenade. Here you may still see the is mild in winter, being sheltered by the surround-rusty iron rings on the walls of the Palaces, to ing hills, and is, therefore, suitable for persons with weak lungs; but the rainy days are estimated at one in three, and the annual inches at forty-seven. -(Bradshaw's Companion to the Continent, by Dr. LEE.)

Above this is Ponte alla Fortezza, near the Porta alle Piagge and a small fort close to the Leghorn railway terminus.

which the galleys of their owners were moored. At the triennial festival of the patron saint, 17th June, the quays and bridges are lighted up.

Of the twelve or fifteen open Piazzi, the most striking are Piazza di Santa Caterina, with Pam

paloni's statue of Leopold I. Piazza de' Cavalieri, surrounded by S. Stefano and other fine buildings, and having a fountain with Francavilla's statue of Cosmo I. Near the Orologio is a white house, with green shutters, the site of the famous Torre del Fame, celebrated by Dante, and in Reynolds's picture, in which Ugolino della Gheradesca was starved to death, in the thirteenth century. Being appointed Captain-General, and having ruled tyrannically, he was seized in an insurrection headed by the archbishop and confined here, with his two sons and two grandsons. The archbishop threw the key into the river and left them to die of hunger.

Piazza di S. Silvestro and Piazza di S. Niccolò face those churches.

The Piazza del Duomo, at the north-west corner of the city, near Porta Nuova, contains its four chief attractions-the Cathedral, Baptistery, Campo Santo (or Churchyard), and the Belfry or Leaning Tower, all here concentrated together; "all built of the same marble, all varieties of the same architecture, all venerable with years, and fortunate both in their society and their solitude."-Forsyth.

*Leaning Tower, or detached Belfry of the Cathedral, is a round building 52 feet diameter up to the top storey, which is reduced to 40 feet, and was added about 1450. It is 187 feet high, and declines 14 feet from the perpendicular. It was begun 1174 by William of Innsbruck and Bonano de Pisa, of marble and granite, in eight storeys of pillared arches or open galleries (207 pillars in all), divided by cornices; and is a graceful and firm structure, showing no signs of decay The lower though upwards of 650 years old. storey is 35 feet; the rest about 20 feet. It shows signs of having begun to settle about the third storey. Some suppose (as they suppose of the Bologna towers) that it was designed to lean over; but this opinion is disproved by the fact that the lowest row of pillars is sunk in the earth on one side, and the mouldings and stairs are all inclined. Besides this, among the carvings of St. Ranieri, in the Campo Santo, done 100 years later, there is a picture of the tower standing upright. In fact, the soil is so soft and yielding that water is found at the depth of a few feet; and the Observatory in the next street, and a neighbouring belfry both incline as well as the tower. The ascent (fee, 50 c.) is by 294 steps. In the upper storey are seven bells, the heaviest (six tons) being placed on the off side to balance the inclination the other way. The view takes in Leghorn and the Mediterranean. This tower is memorable for the use which Galileo made of it in his experiments on falling bodies.

The venerable *Cathedral is a five-aisled cross, 310 feet long, with a nave 106 feet wide, having a flat, wooden roof, while the aisles are vaulted, resting on insulated columns, which by their variety and colour produce a fine effect. It was built 1063-1118, by Bruschetto, or Brusketus, but many arts have settled, so that the lines are uneven.

In front it looks like a small temple placed on a larger, with three doors and five rows of false arches and pilasters (fifty-eight in all), one over the other, which are carried down the sides, so that the total number of small columns is 450. Every part of the exterior is covered with striped marble, ornamented and coloured in an elegant style.

con

"It is certainly one of the finest and most complete churches in Italy, and the typical example of a style that arose here out of the classical during the dark ages. It shows a siderable tendency towards the Gothic, especially in the extension of the transepts and apse." Fergusson. But it hardly differs internally from Roman examples, "except in the introduction of bold and well-defined triforium galleries over the pier arches." The arches are carried all round, and rest on columns of the Greek order, on some of which are figures of lions, dogs, boars, and men. The bronze doors are carved with subjects from the Life of Christ and the Virgin, by Giovanni da Bologna (1602), and replace others burnt 1596, except an ancient one in the transept (1184). This interesting front has been restored.

The inside is gorgeous with gilding, sculpture, and paintings, and a hundred rich glass windows of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Columns of red granite, with antique bases and capitals, run down the aisles, supporting rows of arches for the triforium. Its lofty painted cupola is lined with gilding and mosaic, by Riminaldi (1630). At the east end is a large mosaic (by Gaddi) of Christ, the Virgin, and St. John. The inlaid work of the stalls

in the choir deserves notice. There are twelve beautiful altars, designed by M. Angelo, or by Staggi. The Sacrament Chapel has a silver altar, the gift of Cosmo I. It is covered with bas-reliefs, and cost 36,000 crowns.

The high altar is splendid with inlaid marble and two porphyry columns, one of which holds the bones of S. Ranieri, the patron saint. Here are A. del Sarto's St. Catherine and St. Agnes, also his Virgin and Saints; Ghirlandajo's Angels; and Beccafumi's Moses and Aaron.

In S. Ranieri's Chapel is a mosaic by Gaddi. A statue of Mars, found near this, has been baptized and turned into a San Piso, or Potitus. An ancient Greek Madonna is shown for a fee. There are monuments of Archbishops Rinuccini and G. de' Medici. The pulpit has some work by Giovanni da Pisa; and in the sacristy are bas-reliefs by his pupil, Agnelli. The bronze lamp in the nave is said to have suggested to Galileo the theory of the pendulum. Facing the cathedral is the ancient

"The

*Baptistery, where all the baptisms take place; begun 1153, by Dioti Salvi; a rich and complete structure in a mixed Romanesque and Gothic style, cased with marble. Fee, 50 c. It is circular, and 130 feet in diameter inside. central part, 50 feet wide, is a circular colonnade, with four polygonal piers and pairs of pillars between them. This supports a lofty cone, 175 feet high, the lower part of which is now covered externally with a dome, which from the ornaments

isevidently of the fourteenth century, and certainly not a part of the original design." There is a fine musical echo underneath the dome. Externally the beauty of its details and exuberance of its ornaments, render it a most captivating building." -Fergusson. It has a mosaic floor; a large brocatella and marble font, big enough for immersion, and ornamented with rosettes and mosaics; an altar equally ornamented; and a hexagon Pulpit, covered with bas-reliefs, on nine rich marble pillars, standing on animals designed by Niccolò Pisano, 1260, a native sculptor. He was the father of Giovanni, the architect of the venerable

*Campo Santo or Holy Field, on the north side of the cathedral, the old burial-place, surrounded with a cloister, built 1278-83, and so called because laid down with fifty ship loads of soil brought from Palestine by Archbishop Ubaldo, 1228, when the Pisans, with other crusaders, were driven out by Saladin. It is now a beautiful green sward. The marble cloister, or corridor, is an oblong on sixtytwo arches, of which five are at each end, and twenty-six on each side; but, curiously enough, it is not a perfect rectangle, their lengths being 430 and 415 fect, apparently by an oversight. The breadth is about 136 feet. There are four cypresses in the grassy quadrangle. It is open daily (fee, 50c.). The view here is described by Wordsworth, when he paced

"In Pisa's Campo Santo, the smooth floor

Of its arcades, paved with sepulchral slabs,

And through each window's open fret-work looked
O'er the blank area of sacred earth,
Fetched from Mount Calvary.

And, high above that length of cloistered roofs,
Peering in air and backed by azure sky,
To kindred contemplation ministers
The Baptistery's Dome, and that which swells
From the Cathedral pile; and with the twain
Conjoined in prospect mutable or fixed,
(As hurry on in eagerness the feet,

Or pause), the summit of the Leaning Tower.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

The place unfolds, from pavement skinned with moss,
Or grass-grown spaces, where the heaviest foot
Provokes no echoes, but must softly tread;
Where solitude, with silence paired, stops short
Of Desolation, and to ruin's scythe
Decay submits not."

-Tour in Italy-Musings at Acquapendente. The corridors are 46 feet high and 34 wide, covered in and lit by Gothic windows, paved with gravestones of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and surrounded by about 300 monuments, consisting of ancient sarcophagi, mutilated statues, inscriptions, bas-reliefs, and altars, by G. di Pisa, &c., while the walls are lined with an interesting series of frescoes of subjects from the Bible, Dante, or Legends of the Saints, by Giotto, Memmi, Orcagno, S. Aretino, and other old masters; many of which are much decayed, or spoilt in attempts to restore them. The Campo Santo had greatly suffered from neglect till the Princess Elisa appointed Cav. Lasinio as conservator, by whom a special work was published, 1812, with engravings of all the subjects.

There are few modern tombs. Some of the latest are Algarotti; Pignotti, the best of Italian fable writers; and Cavour. Among the most remarkable monuments are--statues of Emperors Frederic I., Henry VII., and Henry VIII.; statue of Hercules; a bronze Griffon, with Oriental characters, which surmounted the cupola of the Duomo; tombs of B. della Gherardesca, and Countess Beatrice; Thorwaldsen's bas-relief of Vacci, the surgeon; and a tablet to the Pisans, who fell in the war of 1848 against the Austrians. One relic is the massive iron Chain of Pisa harbour, carried off centuries ago by the triumphant Florentines and Genoese, but restored in 1848 and 1860, as tokens of fraternal concord in united Italy.

The Frescoes on the walls are in two rows, one over the other. The style of costume, &c., of the subjects is curious and interesting.

Entering by the door opposite the Baptistry, and turning to the left, they run in the following order:

1. In the south-west corner-History of Job, in two pictures, by Giotto (1330). Four others by him are gone.

2. In the west corridor-History of Esther and Judith, by A. Ghirlandajo and P. Giudotti (seventeenth century).

3. In the long north corridor, near the cornerFour frescoes by Pietro da Orvietro or Buffalmacco (1330-90), viz.:-The Universe; Creation; Death of Abel; Deluge.

4. In the rest of the corridor, twenty-four frescoes by B. Gozzoli (1469-85), viz.:-Drunkenness of Noah, with a female Peeping Tom looking through her fingers; Ham Cursed; Tower of Babel, with portraits of the Medici family; Adoration of the Magi, above the Ammanati Chapel, which had frescoes by Giotto and Gaddi; Abraham refuses to Adore Belus; Abraham and Lot in Egypt; Deliverance of Lot, and Melchisedek's Sacrifice; Expulsion of Hagar; Destruction of Sodom; Sacrifice of Abraham; Isaac and Rebecca; Birth of Jacob and Esau; Marriage of Jacob and Rachel; Meeting of Esau and Jacob, and Dinah's Abduction; History of Joseph, in two frescoes, above the tomb of Gozzoli, the painter (1478); Moses in Egypt; Passage of the Red Sea; Mount Sinai; Brazen Serpent; Fall of Jericho; David and Goliath; Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

5. In the east corridor-Belshazzar's Feast, by Rondisoni; the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension, by Buffalmacco, or A. Vite; Capella Grande, with Giunta da Pisa's Christ on the Cross (1258).

6. In the south corridor, east corner-*Triumph of Death, by A. Orcagna, a remarkable picture, crowded with figures; *Last Judgment, by the same-one of the finest of all; Hell, by B. Orcagna, the brother of Andrea; Anchorites in the Desert Tempted, by P Lorenzetti; Assumption, by Memmi (above the door).

7. Between the doors, six frescoes of the History of S. Ranieri, by S. Memmi and A. Veneziano

« 上一頁繼續 »