selves in belonging to the noble brotherhood of scientific men which is doing such good service to the commonwealth.
A TUSCAN VILLA.
Every one who catches the first view of Florence from the Bologna or Roman road, or from the Leghorn railroad, must be struck with the numberless villas which dot the smiling plain of the Arno, or which cluster together on the heights that look down upon Florence.
The Tuscans, in olden times, were rarely travellers from pleasure, and usually limited their journeys to a drive of a few hours outside the walls, if they were compelled to change the air; but, from the highest to the lowest, their dearest ambition was, and still is, to possess a few acres of land with a house, in the neighbourhood of the city. The nobles had their strong fortress-looking towers; the church, its monasteries and convents; the humbler classes, their little white villas, with the olive-trees and vines growing in the cornfields about the house, and up to its very walls; but all within sight, if possible, of their beloved Duomo and Campanile. It is not exaggeration to say that it would be difficult to find a respectable lawyer, physician, or tradesman in Florence who does not possess, outside one or other of the gates, a tiny domain, the produce of which he shares with the contadini who cultivate it, and a few rooms into which he can crowd his family during September and October.
The true Florentine rarely visits his country-house during the summer. He leaves that folly, he will tell you, to foreigners. What is the use of going into the country during those months, when from ten till five, the green shutters must be closed, and the view shut out, and when all but dogs and Englishmen willingly remain in the cool darkness of a sheltered room? The time to enjoy oneself in the country in Tuscany is during the autumn. The sun is not too hot to prevent one sitting out or walking out all day; there is the vintage to occupy you, and you can judge of the olive crop, and combine pleasure and business in a very agreeable manner. This arrangement is satisfactory to all parties; for if, during the rest of the year, any benighted foreigner likes to pay rent for the deserted villa, he is quite welcome to do so, and the property thus becomes doubly profitable.
From the division of property caused by the laws of inheritance, the large villas have often changed hands, and some of those most celebrated in history have become the property of foreigners. Careggi, Alessandri, Mozzi, Albizzi, have been purchased by strangers; and a great many others, such as Capponi, Nicolini, Montauto, &c., are hired yearly by foreign families, who live in Florence during the winter.
It is now quite a speculation for a Florentine to buy a villa, at some fabulously cheap price, and, after furnishing the house in some faint degree to suit the love of comfort which is peculiar to the Anglo-Saxon race, to let it for a year, or term of years, to one of them.
To a person who is a good walker, or has the means of hiring a carriage, it seems to me that it is far pleasanter to live outside than inside the walls. From the peculiar position of Florence, almost surrounded as it is by heights, half an hour’s ascent up any of the excellent roads which radiate from the city, gives one the advantage of purer air, and a view almost unparalleled from its beauty and interesting associations. From every side, Fiesole, San Miniato, Montuy, Bellosguardo, from each and all, one can look down upon that fair city of which Charles V. said: “It is too pleasant for week-day life; it must be reserved for holydays and festivals.”
My villa is on the declivity of the hill of Bellosguardo. Outside the Porta Romana are four roads. The one to the left, close under the walls, leads in the direction of San Miniato, and branches off in steep footpaths to a cluster of villas, under and beside Fort Belvedere. Near this road is the entrance to that noble avenue of cypresses and ilexes called the Poggio Imperiale. The avenue, by a long and gradual ascent, conducts you to a royal palace. This palace is now almost deserted. The offices have been converted into barracks. Its chief interest to the casual passer-by, besides the exquisite view which it commands, is, that it possesses duplicates of Lely’s pictures at Hampton Court. The bare snowy bosoms and profuse fair ringlets of those famous court ladies are displayed in these noble rooms, and under this Italian sky, in fine contrast to the dark-browed, olive-cheeked Florentines who come to gaze upon them. On each side of this stately avenue are paths to sunny little villas dropped like nests amid the cornfields. Beyond the palace is the ascent to the Piano di Giullari, and from thence to Arcetri, St. Margarita, &c.
Both these roads are to the left of the gate; just opposite to it is the old high road to Siena and Rome. The Strada Regia, however, is no longer the great outlet for travellers bound to Rome. The railroad to Siena has changed the character and purpose of the old royal road. It is now only used by the owners of the neighbouring villas, and by the peasants and farmers going to the Florence market to sell and buy. On each side are houses, shops, warehouses, and quite a crowded suburb seems to be stretching out of Florence on that side: but as the great thoroughfare to the south, its day is over.
If you skirt the wall to the right of the Porta Romana, you will come to the foot of the winding ascent which leads you up to the hill of Bellosguardo.
Bellosguardo has been celebrated by Foscolo and by Landor. Galileo lived for a short time in the old tower which crowns the highest spur of the hill. It is well worthy of having been celebrated by the Italian and by the Englishman, and of having been for a brief period the residence of him “of the starry fame.”
The road winds upwards by a very gradual ascent. At first there are poor-looking houses on each side. Some are detached; between these you obtain glimpses of Florence, starting up with its spires and domes, above the walls. At about a third of the height is a chapel dedicated to San Francesco. A statue of the saint, with an