. Florence and her treasures. oets birthday. The colossal statue in white marble,19 ft. in height, stands on a tall base supported by four lionsbearing the shields of the four principal cities of Italy. Onthe southern side of the piazza stands the former palace of theAntellesi, or dell Antella, with a long front supported onbrackets and covered with fresco decoration of the seventeenthcentury still in a fair state of preservation. The piazza itselfin the olden days of the Republic and of the Medici wasfrequently the scene of pageants, tournaments, and games ofthe once popular Calcio. From the
. Florence and her treasures. oets birthday. The colossal statue in white marble,19 ft. in height, stands on a tall base supported by four lionsbearing the shields of the four principal cities of Italy. Onthe southern side of the piazza stands the former palace of theAntellesi, or dell Antella, with a long front supported onbrackets and covered with fresco decoration of the seventeenthcentury still in a fair state of preservation. The piazza itselfin the olden days of the Republic and of the Medici wasfrequently the scene of pageants, tournaments, and games ofthe once popular Calcio. From the steps of the church atthe eastern end of the piazza a fine view can be obtained ofthe towers of the Palazzo Vecchio, the Badia, and the Bar-gello. The great Church and Convent of Santa Croce, of whichthe foundation-stone was laid on Holy Cross Day, 15 May,1297, were built for the Franciscans, of which Order theyformed the head-quarters in Florence. Arnolfo di Cambiowas the first architect, being succeeded in 1334 by Giotto as. THE VISION OF S. BERNARDF?0??t the painting by Filippino Lippi in the Badia CHURCH OF S. CROCE 55 master of the works. The church is an immense T-shapedstructure 390 ft. in length, with nave, aisles, and transepts,but with a very small eastern apse. The miserable facadeof white marble was erected largely at the expense of Sloane, an English resident in Florence, during thelast years of the reign of the last Grand-Duke, Leopold modern bas-relief over the central door is a good speci-men of Dupres work. On the north side of the long naveruns a graceful loggia with square pillars and arches of-black and white, whence a lateral door, near the Gothic tombof Francesco Pazzi, leads into the church itself. The tower,erected about 1840, is a conspicuous object in all distantviews of Florence. The interior, in spite of many unfortunate alterationsunder the direction of Vasari in the sixteenth century, ismost imposing and spacious owing to the grea
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublishernew, booksubjectart
