Italy : handbook for travellers. First part, Northern Italy and Corsica / by K. Baedeker.

  • Karl Baedeker
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Italy : handbook for travellers. First part, Northern Italy and Corsica / by K. Baedeker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    453/494 (page 327)
    Nicola Acciaioli, from a design by Orcagna. Tbe po.ter (J—2 pers. 1 fr.; visitors are usually admitted without difliculty, although special permission from the minister of the interior is nominally required], shows the church or rather the series of chapels of which it consists. The most valuable pictures are a St. Francis, by Cigoli, and Trinity by Giotto; in the lower chapel are the tombstones of the Acciaioli, among tliem one by Donatello. Some of the empty cells, which enclose the building like pinnacles, command picturesque views, especially through the valley of the Ema towards Prato and the Apennines. The rooms occupied for several months by Pius VI, , when banished from Rome by the French, are also shown. d. Bello Sguardo, to the S. of Florence, easily recognised by its small pavilion with a red roof, is celebrated for the delightful prospect it commands. The traveller should on no account fail to visit it. The route cannot be mistaken. From Porta Romana the town-wall must be followed to the r. and the second road to the 1. taken. This first leads to an open space with the small church of S. Francesco di PaoLa, which contains the monument of Benozzo Federighi, bishop of Fiesole, by Luca della Bobbin. The carriage - road fflacre there and back see p. 284), is then followed in a straight direction, and on the height, where i1 divides, the road to the 1. is taken (a few paces beyond this point the road to the Monte Oliveto diverges to the r., see below). At the next bifurcation a side-path to the 1. is followed, which in a few minutes leads to the **Bello Sguardo (visi.ors ring at the small gate on the r. near the corner, fee 2—3 soldi on leaving) The view embraces Florence, with the Pitti Palace, S. Croce the Palazzo Vecchio, Or S. Michele, the cathedral, S Lorenzo S. Mana Novella, etc.; r. on the height S. Miniato, opposite the spectator lies Fiesole, 1. the populous valley of the Arno, over which tower the distant Apennines. The view is seen to the best advantage towards sunset. - In the vicinity is the Villa degli Albizzi, with a bust of Galileo and an inscription to the memory of that illustrious astronomer, who frequently resided here and cultivated the garden with his own hands. The first road to the r. beyond the Bello Sguardo leads r. to Monte Oliveto. Those, who wish to visit the Bello Sguardo from the Porta S. Frediano follow the city-wall to the 1. and take tlie first road to the r., leading to the above-mentioned church of o. I'rancesco. e. Monte Oliveto. About 1/3 M. beyond the Porta S Fre- diano (PI. A 3) the 'Via di Monte Oliveto diverges to the 1 from the Leghorn road, and reaches the entrance to the garden 01 the monastery after M. (a gate marked No. 5- key to obtain arces.s to the point of view, next door. No. 6, 2-3 soldi ) A slight eminence here planted with cypresses .■ommands an ad-