In and out of Florence; a new introduction to a well-known city . rizon. The village seems tonestle in a shallow pass in the hill-crest, andalways had for us someway an alluring invitationto visit it. And the day came when we respondedto this call. It is a day we shall not forget for itscountry scenes and simple, cheerful people, singing intheir vineyards and along their fragrant lanes. By tram to Tavernuzze, which is beyond the Cer-tosa, and then by a little diligence, or on foot, up along, winding way among the hill-slope , women, and children were gathering the lastof the grape
In and out of Florence; a new introduction to a well-known city . rizon. The village seems tonestle in a shallow pass in the hill-crest, andalways had for us someway an alluring invitationto visit it. And the day came when we respondedto this call. It is a day we shall not forget for itscountry scenes and simple, cheerful people, singing intheir vineyards and along their fragrant lanes. By tram to Tavernuzze, which is beyond the Cer-tosa, and then by a little diligence, or on foot, up along, winding way among the hill-slope , women, and children were gathering the lastof the grapes, and slow, white oxen were haulingthe bigonie and casks to the wine-sheds. A frag-mentary chapel on a nearby dominating hilltop waspointed out as the last remnant of a once powerfulstronghold of the robber-baron Buondelmonte fam-ily. Perched above the valley road leading from San Miniato, Certosa, Signa 227 Rome and Siena, these gentlemen highwaymen leviedtoll on all passersby, and only gave up their lucra-tive profession on the insistent request of a Floren-. Slow, white oxen were hauling the bigonie and casks to thewine-sheds. tine army. By the terms of their capitulation withhonor, they were to remove to Florence and liveunder the regardful eye of authority, although with 228 Outside the Walls full freedom and princely standing. They sooncame to be one of the most powerful families ofthe Florentine self-knighted nobility. It was themurder of a light-worded Buondelmonte at the footof the Mars statue at one end of Ponte Vecchio thatset all the Florentines at work fighting each other,as Guelphs and Ghibellines. In Impruneta village itself, a village dating fromEtruscan and Roman times, and that has become,because of its wonder-working Madonna image, afamous pilgrim center, the chief objective point isthe old church, large for the little town, but not forthe great open square on which it faces. Thechurch, which boasts an eleventh century founda-tion, was built about as it stan
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidinoutofflore, bookyear1910
