Mastino della sala for forty thousand Duckets And in the yeare 1471. they wan by force Volterra one of the 12. first Citties of Tuscany and honoured with the birth of the Poet Persius They got also Pysa the whole State thereof of whose reuolt and recouery what parts taking there was what time was spent and how many Millions it cost them to be repossessed thereof Guicciardine very fully discourseth and were here too tedious to be particularly related The gouerment of a Gonfalonier was altered by Gualteri Francese Duke of Athens who at the Citties request requiring aide was sent thither by Robert king of Sicilie and at his first comming deposed the Gonfalonier and Priory vsurped himselfe but he was quickly expulsed and the former officer reinuested till the time of Pope Alexander the sixt whose sonne Casar Borgia duke Valentinois sought to bring in the three banished Medici Piero Giouanni and Guiliano wherevpon the Florentines made Piero Sederini their Gonfalonier perpetuall as Buonacorsi an approued Italian writer Guicciardine in his fist booke doth testifie These alterations haue been since the restauration of the city by Charles which notwithstanding Guicciardine lib. 1. car 17. saith was openions inneterata benche falsa che Carlo l'hauesse reidificatâ— an old but false coniecture that Charles did reedifie it besides those also which it suffered afterwards which shall more fitly be remembred hereafter From Florence I must passe to the Cittie Pistoia seated at the other end of this valley 20. miles off But the Castle of Pratu being in the way and commanding the passage I dare not but salute it the rather for that I spent foure moneths in that Towne There are in Italy among I know not how many thousands foure principall Castles aboue the rest reputed as Leander Alberts in his view of Italy discourseth Barletta in Puglia in the kingdome of Naples Fabriana in Marca Anconitana vnder the state of the Church Crema in Lombardia vnder the Venetians and Prato in Tuscana vnder the great Duke It is heere to be obserued that these are called Castles not that they be onely Fortresses and places of strength but that they be large townes fortified with wall and Bulwarke and haue their Territories they onely want Bishops Seas wherein they differ from Citties It standeth in the middest of this Valley vpon the riuer Bisentio it is in forme sex-angular at each corner a Bulwarke alla Moderna very defensible the walles in circuite two miles with an olde peece at the East built they say by Frederico Barbarossa The Contado the Territory of this Towne is in length eight miles in bredth foure in circuite foure and twentie within which compasse with those within the Towne are fiftie nine Churches eight and thirtie Monasteries and other religious houses and of all sorts of people sixteene thousand whereof two thousand are religious Here is they say the Girdle of our Lady brought thither by a Marchant from the Indies whether it was first carried by S. Thomas the Apostle a Relicke which they hold in high esteeme keepe with very great care come to see with great deuotion and is shewed to the people with great reuerence once in a yeare that is on our Ladies day in September in the time of their Faire and when is most concourse of strangers There came that day in deuotion to see me not the Girdle two English Gentlemen my friends we obserued if it be not impertinent here to remember that there were in view vpon the Market place of people at the shewing of this Relicke about eighteene or twenty thousand whereof we iudged one halfe to haue Hattes of Strawe and one fourth part to be bare legged that we know all is not gold in Italy though many Trauellers gazing onely on the beautie of their Citties and the painted surface of their houses thinke it the onely Paradize of Europe But if they would with me fordida rura Atque humiles intrare casas visere gentem they would surely graunt that pouertie and famine had not a greater kingdome in those countries where Crassus starued his Armie then they haue heere But no maruaile though Prato be poore being so vnlustly and cruelly sacked in the yeare 1512. by the Spaniards vnder the conduct of Raymondo Cardona for want of pay which the Florentines ought him and his Souldiers who most vilely gaue the sacking of this pretty and then rich towne to the barbarous insolencie of the proud Spaniard and came themselues with bagges of Crownes to purchase the lands of the poore harmlesse Pratesi wherewith they were forced to redeeme their liberty after the rauishing of their wiues killing of their children robbing their shops and houses and other such insolent out-rages whereof Guicciardine lib. 11. complaineth that from their auarice lust and cruelty nothing was safe And Buonacorsi saith that they spared neither virgin infant nor church Paulus Ionius affirmeth that the Spanish cruelty in this sack of Prato did farre exceed that of the Dutch and French at the sack of Brescia so much detested Hence is it that at this day the name of Spaniard is there most odious for among all other names of infamy and reproach when they haue called one Poltrone Furfante Manigoldo Traditore and all that naught is they end alwayes in this Spagnaolo intending it should seeme that there is not a worse name vnder the sunne But leauing them expostulating this iniurie of the Florentines and bewailing their owne miseries I will proceed to the Cittie of Pistoia It is seated at the West end of the Valley in circuite two miles and a halfe the walles old and weake built by Desiderius king of the Lombards Howbeit the Bulwarkos are very moderne and strong with a Cittadell built by Duke Francesco and manned with a sufficient garrison to keepe the towne in awe This Towne is called of Cato and Pliny Pistorium and of Ptolomey Pistoria quasi Pestoria saith one of the pestilence that there raigned among the souldiers which remained of Catelines Campe after he was ouerthrowne who they say was the first builder thereof Others will haue it called of â—isis and ópos that is the faithfull Territorie Others because it is the doore of the Mountaines which the word also signifietlâ— for from hence is away to passe through the â—pennines into Frame â— by which the French forces passed into Tuscany and so to Naples in the time of Charles the eight as by the historie appeareth All which are either false coniectures and carry no correspondencie of trueth with history or at least are idle suppositions and carry with them no matter of import For what reason is there that the Grecians should giue names to townes in Tuscany who neuer came ouer the Riuer Tener or that they should christen this and no other or that a Romaine should be the Father and a Greeks the Godfather but were it so it little importeth and therefore I haue purposely
State which is somewayes fiftie miles in length is euery way enuironed whose greatnesse is nothing pleasing to the Lucchesi neither can they well digest that his title di Toscana and therfore the Signoria of this State sending letters of congratulation they say but it is more probable about some other their affaires to Cosmo Medici presently after his creation of great Duke they stiled their letters thus All' Ilsmo e Ecâ—smo principi Cosmo Medici gran Duca m Tuscana To which garbro of theirs the Italia â—rime also alludeth which saith thus S' il Duca hauesse Lucca è Serezzana Saretbe il gran Duca di Tuscana Implying that it is no reason he should be intitled great Duke of the whole hauing no more but the one halfe But how sooner this towne stand prouista as it braggeth and are able to keepe him out of themselues two or three yeares together more then probable it is that the feare of the Spanish King to whose protection it is recommended doth curbe his desire in attempting the action watching ouer this prety State with an ambitious and couetous eye come Lo sparuicre alla quaglia as the Hauke ouer the Quaile hoping one day for an oppertunitie I am now by order-leauing Lucca to looke to her selfe to passe the Monte Saint Iulian and arriue at Pisa a Cittie in former times very populous as any in Tuscany now so dispeopled as there are not iudged aboue fourteteene thousand persons though in circuite it be little lesse then Florence the Walles for the most part are of Bricke but in some places of square Stone the Ramparts conuenient the Bulwarkes not many nor correspondent the peece of cheefest import is the Castle vpon the South-west of the towne wherein is a garrison of fiftie with munition and other necessaries for the vse as is abouesaid of keeping the Citty in awe The scite hereof is in a Plaine vpon the Riuer Arno which passeth through the middest therof with one bridge onely and falleth into the Sea some sixe miles belowe whereby it appeareth that the land hath lately gotten much vpon the Sea on this coast as we finde in diuers places vpon our coast in England for that in the time of Strabo he reporteth it was but twenty furlongs off which is two miles and a halfe distant from the Sea Out of this Riuer is cut a Ditch from this Towne to Linorno fifteene miles long for the more conuenient carriage of such wares as arriue in that Roade and are thence conueyed by water from Pisa vp to Florence and so by land into other places of Tuscany Romagna Lombardia and Rome also The Boates wherein these wares are carried are but small in number betweene six and seauen hundred which our English Marchants Burlando gibing call the great Dukes fleete The nature of this plaine is for the most part marish though in times past it was fit either for pasture or tillage as by the commoditie thereout reaped for the maintenance of the cittie appeareth by Guicciard But since that the Cittie being conquered by the Florentines and most of the auncient Pisani departed some into Sicilia other into Sardegna Corsica and other places preferring a voluntary bannishment before a forced subiection the Towne hath beene so desolate as there haue not beene people sufficient to maintaine this plaine against the fury of Arno whereby it hath beene much wasted as hath partly beene said There are besides the commodity of the seat lying betweene Florence and Lyuorno three other causes that this Cittie is frequented otherwise it would be very desolate The first is the especially fauour of the Prince himselfe who because he was here borne beareth an extraordinary affection to the place as by his often comming and long tarrying appeareth Another is for that it is the place where properly the order of S. Stephen is resident where the Knights of this order haue their Pallace Officers and other dependances The last for that there is a studie as they call it in Italy a Vniuersity erected by Cosmo and is reasonably frequented In this Towne among many other Churches and Monasteries is that excellent Fabrick of the Battisterio built they say in fourteene dayes It standeth hard at the West-end of the Duomo which for the beauty thereof might haue compared with that of Siena so much commended had it not by mishap beene burned in the yeare 1595. in October it is now in the repairing at the great Dukes charges Howbeit in liew hereof he hath raised the price of his Salt fiue Quatrini in the pound throughout this State for the space of ten yeares and it is to be thought by examples too many of like nature in other places that being once grauted it shall not then be ended On the North of this Church is the Campo Santu as they call it their Golgetha or place of buriall the earth whereof was brought in ships from the Terrasanta as their Histories record as they affirme the dead consume there in foure and twenty houâ—es Not farre from this place is an old ruinous Tower called by them Torre di fame in memory of the mercylesse crueltie of Ruggiero the Archbishop who vpon suspition of treason immured therein Conte Hugolino a Noble Pisano and his foure children causing them to be starued of whom Dante the Poet in his 33. chapter dell'inferno very elegantly discourseth faining that there for a torment due to such a fact the Conte liâ—eth vpon the Bishops-head with a neuer satisfied greedinesse Here is also an Arsenall wherein the Duke hath two or three of his Galleys in mendâ—ng but no new in the making neither Artillerie or any thing els worth the remembrance Heere the great Duke hath a Pallace but so ill contriued and so vnworthy the presence of so great a Prince as it is said the deuiser thereof looking for great praise at the Dukes hands for his rare plotte and finding after that it disliked his Highnesse in a melancholie discontent threw himselfe into the Arno he hath also another lesser house lately built wherein are many small Statues of Marble and Mettall many Medalles and Pictures some painted others of Feathers very exquisitely artificiall Besides peeces of Vre vntried both of golde siluer Corall vnpollished whereof yee shall see some growe vpon the Sculles of dead-men with infinite such like more delightfull to be seene then needfull to be related of Vnto this building is adioyning a Garden of Simples not much inferiour to that of Padoa But the thing of best vse and greatest cost and therefore vnfittest to be forgotten is a Conduict of water vpon Arches into the Towne from Valdeculci fiue mile off where with the better part of the Cittie is serued Other buildings I remember not worth the remembring except the Campanile which Architecture hath this varietie that the top thereof by a line perpendicularly downe-falling to the ground and sheweth that it is prominent or hanging ouer the Basis ten or twelue foote
and King of Aragon to enter into a confederation with the Florentines and to re-inuest them of Pisa inferring that by this meanes the French forces might be diuerted which otherwise with the helpe of this state being seated in the middest of Italy might effect matters of preiudiciall consequent to all three so fitly stands it either to dispeople the enimies forces or to reinforce their owne And therefore Guiccardine very iudicially determineth that it was a powerfull estate rather per l'opportunità del cito che per la grandezza del Dominio by the fitnesse of the scituation then by the greatnesse of the Dominion But if we define the middest of Italy in an Arithmeticall proportion that is the center equally distant from both extreams it will appeare to be true which Pliny and Varro report confirmed also by Leander Albertâ— concerning Lago di pâ—e del luco which Taciâ—us in his first booke calleth Lacus Velnius in Sabina which they hold to be the middest of Italy Concerning the Riuers of worth there be few of name many for the Italian hath a name for euery ditch whereof if we allow them not Tiber Arno is their chiefe This Riuer was so named by Hercule Lybicus whose surnames were Libarno that is the Lyon of Lybia and Musarno that is the learned and valiant for Ar in the Arabian tongue signifies a Lyon He was the sonne of Osyris and Isis called Iupiter and Iuno by the Greekes and grand-childe of Ianus called by the Greekes Ogyger and by the Chaldeans and Hebrews Noah wherevpon stand the Citties of Florence and Pisa Serchio which runneth by Lucca Ombrone by Pistoia Bisentio by Prato Chiana which passeth by the vale of Arezzo and falleth into the Arno Mognâ—ne which runneth neere Ciuita vecchia into the Sea Fiero which deuideth the great Dukes state and the Popes towards the Tuscan sea Paglia which deuides those two states towards the Appenninâ—â— ouer which we passe by a bridge built by Gregory the 13. in our iourney from Florence to Rome betweene Rodicofany and Aquapendente that belonging to the great Duke this to the Pope True it is that Guicciardini in the 4. booke of his History and namely in that part of the booke which by order of th'inquisition is left out of all alowed copies because in this place though himselfe were the Popes creature and had great charge vnder him yet he fully learnedly and truly sheweth how by little and little and by bad meanes the Church grew to her greatnesse how she came not onely to quit her obedience to the empire but to haue also a power and stroke in the election of the Emperour himselfe not onely to make the Pope gouernour of Rome but to incroach also vpon the Territories and Citties of Romagna the Marquisate of Ancina the Dutchie of Spoletum and Beneuentum the superiority ouer the kingdome of Naples and the possession of that part of Tuscany now called the Patrimony of S. Peter he I say diuideth the Popes state in this Country from the rest of Tuscany thus Eterminata dal torrente di Pescia dal Castello di San Luirico nel Conâ—ado di Siena da vna banda dall altra dal Mare di sotto dal fuime di Teuere that is it is limited on the one side with the Riuer Pescia and the Castell Saint Luirick in the territories of Siena and on the other with the Riuer Tyber and the Tyrrhene Sea But I rather tie my selfe to the former limits for that the Paglia is farre beyond Saint Luirick whether the great Dukes state now reacheth There is also Câ—cina which riseth a little aboue the Cittie of Massa and so passing along the Countrey of Volterra fulleth into the Sea with many such other which in England we rather call Brookes or Riuerets for of all these there are few sit either for burthen or Boate in Summer except the Arno yet heere often times scarce water for a Mill as by their deuises at Florence to penne it vp appeareth The reasons that the waters of this State are so small be two the former is the violence of their downefall from the hilles the better is because their heads are so neare to the Sea as they cannot haue space to be enlarged by the receipt of other lesser Brookes by which meanes onely all Riuers grow great as namely the Rheine and Danowe whereof this last hath from his head which is in the Forrest Nera to the Mare Maggiore where he payeth his tribute aboue two thousand miles and receaueth into his bed by the way three score nauigable Riuers The Lakes in this State are neither many nor great nothing so faire or fruitfull as those of Lombardy namely Lago di Garda Lago d Iseâ— Lago d Como and Lago Maggiore the chiefe in Tuscany are these Lago di Trasimenâ— vnder the Pope who letteth it out to diuers Farmers for ten thousand Duckets the yeare which haue the fishing whereof it is very fruitfull and yeeldeth them also no little gaine The profit which the Duke of Ferrara raised by the Lake of Comacchiâ— who they say in Venice made thereof yearely foure-score thousand Duckets makes this more probable But this Lake of Trasimene now called Lago di Perugia is much more renowned for the notable ouerthrow giuen there by Hanniball to the Romaines neare wherevnto is that faire plaine called Ossaia of the bones of the dead there flaine by the rashnesse of C. Flaminius the Consul as Polibius in his third booke Liny in his two and twentith and Plutarcke in the life of Haniball auowe The other memorable blow giuen them if it be not here impertinent to remember was that at Canne in Puglia called by Liuâ—e in his twentie and one booke Caâ—nusium where was slaine P. Emilius the Consul L Acilius and L Furuis Bibaâ—ulus the Quaestors one and twentie Tribunes of Souldiers fourescore Senators fortie thousand foote two thousand and seauen hundred horse all Romaines and as many Anuiliaries as Plutarch in the liues of Hanniball and Scipio and Solinus Italicus in his ninth booke confesse There are diuers Lakes betweene Pisa and Liuorne but small and of no name There are more not farre from the Cittie Colle Laego di Bolsena called by ancient writers Lacus Vulsiniensium Lâ—go di Bassanello anciently called Lacus Vadeâ—onius where the Romaines vtterly subdued the Tuscans Lago di Bracciane called formerly Lacus Sabbatinus Lago di Vicco called by Virgill in his seauenth Aenead and Siluius Italicus in his eight booke Lâ—cus Cimini of the Mountaine so called standing betweene this Lake and the Cittie of Viterbo Lago di Montâ— Rosa not large but deepe neere Rome with few others The Plaines are also few for they before are allowed but one fourth part the chiefe are these That of Florence wherein liue aboue two hundred thousand persons that neere Arezzo called Vald ' Arno because the Riuer passeth by it the most fruitfull that of Pisa the most lowe and
therefore subiect to the ouer-flowing of Arno whereof it hath tasted this present Winter to the Countries great losse That of Lucca enuironed with Hilles and the Citty in the middest like a center in a circle That of Carsigniana vnder the Dukedome of Ferrara And lastly the Plaines of Maremma in the State of Siena the most large and whither for the Wintering of their Cattle they are sent in October from the Mountaines It hath the name of Mare the Sea and therefore we â—ay well English it the Marshes of Siena it runneth along the Sea-coast almost seauentie miles in lenghth betweene the two Riuers Gornia and Pesua not much inhabited with people through the badnesse of the ayre The Portes are Ciuita Vecchia in the Popes State for Ottia is on the other side of Tyber Orbitello Port-ercole Telamone Castiglione in the Maremma howbeit vnder the King of Spaine as is also the Monte Argentaro and the Port of Piombine The onely Porte of worthe vnder the great Dukes State is that of Liuorne capable of any Fleete whatsoeuer It is rather to be called a Roade then a Harborough and to be obserued that this Sea neither ebbeth nor floweth Here his Highnesse daily buildeth meaning to make it a Cittie the walles and fortifications being almost finished It is in forme sixe square in circuite a mile three quarters the length of the Curtaine is two hundred and sixteene paces the face of the Bulwarke is one hundred thirtie and eight From the Spurre which is fifteene paces thick to the Flanker which is so many broade are eighteene paces The Diameter of the Piazza is foure hundred and fiftie This proportion no doubt swarueth from the strict rules of fortification neither can I warrant the relation true by the line I was forced to passe it in hast and sanquam aliud agens to auoide all ielousie whereof I thought fit to aduertise the curious Reader and to preuent the enuious detracter Here is bestowed great cost being indeed the onely Keye by which all commodities are transported and brought in not onely for the vse of Tuscany but euen for the most places of Italy so that it bringeth in a very great enrate to the great Dukes coaffers as I must more particularlie and more fitlie aduertise hereafter The Princes and States interessed in Tuscany are these The Pope who possesseth all from Tiber to Fiore and so right vp from the Sea to the ridge of the Appeninâ— which is some fourth part of the whole The Spanish King hath the coast of Maremma and the Portes thereof as is aboue said wherein he keepeth garrison besides Pontremoly and one other Forte or two on the side of Liguria The Dukedome of Ferrara hath the valley of Carsigniana The State of Genoa Serezzana The state of Lucca hath all her possessions herein The Dukes of Vâ—bâ—â— Parma and Brauianâ— haue also each of them a Peece howbeit most of this is in the church part which is called the Patrimony of Saint Peter There is also the Signior di Pcombiâ—e the Marquesse di Massa and other inferiour Princes interessed in this Country of an other fourth part So that there remaineth a Moitie vnder the great Dukes gouernment whereof I haue vndertaken to giue this superficiall suruey which followeth This State besides that it is enclosed with the Mountaines as with a wall on three-sides and with the Sea on the fourth and so consequently by scituation passing strong it hath also many Castles and Fortresses as Rodicofany Monte-falcon Pelegrine Charole Sansubastians Lusignano Monterisine Empoli Castrecaro Saffa and diuers others to the number of thirty wherein is garrison more or lesse But of others which stand rather to shew the manner of fortifications in elder ages and the force of time by which they are ruined then for any vse of the time present there are aboue three hundred By which number may very probably be coniectured their many and diuers States in this small circuite in former times for as it appeareth by Historie not onely Florence Siena and Pisa which of late yeares were reduced into one gouernment but also Pistoia Arezzo Volterra and almost all the Citties now vnder the great Duke had euery one their seuerall and distinct state Wherevpon it was necessary each State should haue her Castles and Fortes to affront those that confined vpon them As for those former wherein is garrison the most of them in the iudgment of men experienced haue their defect either in their forme and manner of fortification which is All' Antica or in their Piazzâ— which are very little and so thought vncapale of sufficient number to defend them But besides these he hath in each cittie a Cittadell and therein a garrison which are all very moderne and strong the vse of which Peeces are not so much for defence of the Townes where they be as to keepe in awfull termes the citties themselues as by the cittadell at Florence and Fortresse of Siene appeareth Of Citties there be sixteene the one halfe in the state of Florence the other in that of Siena of the fonner state these be the names Florence whereof is an Archbishoprick his name that now is Alexander Medici Pisa an Archbishoprick also his name Carolus Antonius â—uteus Pistoia Arezzo Volterra Certuâ—iâ— Burgo san Sepolchro and Monte Pulciano Of the other state are these Siena an Archbishoprick his name Ascanius Piceothuomineus Motalcino Grossetto Chiusi Soana Pienza Massa and Celle christened a cittie fiue yeares since Many of these I saw not and therefore presume not to speake of at large in the foure chiefest Florence Pisa Siena and Pistoia I spent some time and hold them worthy of some little remembrance in this discourse before I come to speake of the generall parts of this state Florence is seated at the head of a very faire valley and enuironed with high Mountaines especially towards Bologna it hath the streetes very long streight large and faire paued with a broad stone which they call Lastra so as no weather makes them foule it is beautified with many stately Pallaces which haue more del Reale then del Cittadinesco as that of the Signioria that of the Pitti where is alwayes the great Dukes court that of the Medici that of the Strozzi and many others it is graced with many large Piazzeâ— and in them many Statues some of Brasse as that of Cosme the first great Duke and others very many and very curious some of Marble some of Alabaster it is diuided with the Riuer Arno and vpon this foure faire Bridges of Stone to passe from one part of the cittie to the other It is adorned with many faire Monasteries and churches but aboue all with the most magnificent and admirable Fabrick of the Duome the workmaÌ„ship of that excellent Architeck Brunelleschi dedicated to Santa Maria del â—iore and is they say the true Modle of the church of Santa Sofia in Constantinople The body of this
church from the West to the Cupula is one hundred paces the bredth fortie sixe the Cupula is in circute three hundred paces with a guilt Ball of Brasse on the toppe wherein twenty men may stand vpright of the Church of San Lorenzo is a very faire and beautifull Librarie built and furnished with Bookes by the familie of Medici the roofe is of Cedar very curiously wrought with knots and flowers and right vnder each knot is the same wrought with no lesse Arte in the pauement In this Library I told three thousand nine hundred bookes very fairely bound in Leather after one sort all bound to their seates which were in number sixtie eight and which is the greatest grace and cost also very many of the bookes were written with the Authours owne hands There is also â—t the farther end of this Librarie one other of prohibited bookes which I could not see The great Seale of Florence is the Lyon and Hercules their Armes were in former times a Flower de Lise argent in a field gules but vpon the banishment of the Ghibelline faction they are altered to the contrary the Field to the colour of the flower and the flower to the colour of the field Within these hundred yeares haue beene of this Cittie three Popes Iohn and â—â—lius Medici Lâ—â— the tenth and Clement the seauenth and Hippolisus Aldebrandiui called Clement the eight that yet liueth Here haue also flourished many famous men in matter of learning as Francesco Guicciardini for a iudiciall Historiographer Nicolas Machianelli for a worldly Politician Michel Angelo for an excellent Painter Petrache and Dante for singular Poets and Boccace for his pleasant garbe and refining their language and many others Hauing gazed your fill vpon the beauties of this Towne if for varieties sake and your better recreation you will walke abroade into the Villa per spasso as the Italian saith you shall haue there in view so many and such goodly Pallaces for the space of six or seauen miles compasse as they say would make one other Florence But aboue all the great Dukes Pallace of Pratolino built by his brother Francesco is the most admirable not for the Pallace it selfe or manner of the building for there are many can match it if not excell it But for the exquisite and rare inuention of Water-workes wherein it is excellent and thought to exceede Tiuoli by Rome so much in this kinde commended The house it selfe is built in forme of a Romaine T the head of the letter which is the front of the house being in length seauenty paces the other part fifty foure the roomes for offices of Court and lodgings are seauenty whereof these are all of one bignesse forme and furniture with three goodly Halles richly furnished running along the middest of the Pallace from the one end to the other and the one opening into the other so as according to the winde or sunne he may giue his intertainement for the best ease of them he feasteth It is seated betweene two high Hilles vpon a third lower then they from which hilles yee descend some quarter of a mile by a way set with quick-set kept after our English fashion yee mount vp to the Terreno of the Front by twelue staires very faire of Stone directly wherevpon at the head of a Garden set round with Statues of the Muses in a ground sencibly ascending is seene a huge Giant cut out of the maine Rock with all his parts as armes hands legges and feete symmetricall to his head wherein may stand a dozen men In it are kept Pigeons the loouers whereat they come in and out are his eares the windowes which giue light to the roome are his eyes Out of his mouth falleth into a very fine poole all the water that serues the worke on the other side the Pallace among which are many sights yeelding very great content as Noes Arke with all kinds of beasts Hercules fighting with a Dragon Birds artificially singing Organs musically playing showers of Raine plentifully downe powring and infinite sort of such deuise more delightsome to be seene then pleasant to be discoursed of To conclude the deuise so good the workmanship so rare and the charge so great as it is said constantly that it cost Duke Francesco three hundred thousand Crownes The great Duke hath another Pallace two miles from Florence called Castello onely for pleasure but not so beautified nor full of water-workes as this of Pratolino an other distant 10. miles off called Il Poggio Imperiale more profitable then they both in forme quadrangular fifty six paces square Where besides the pleasure it yeelds of hunting it yeeldeth also summering and Haye for his Horses and keepeth the great Duches a dairie of three hundred Kine a commodity worth the remembring in this state where in three-score miles are not seene three-score head of Cattle nor so much good pasture ground that I saw in the whole countrey I am now before I proceede to the other chiefe Citties to remember in a word how and when the Florentines came impatronized of diuers other states of Tuscany and what forme of gouerment they had in former times vntill Leo and Clement for I must there needs begin when I shall come to speake of the great Dukes title This Cittie of Florence after many conflicts with the olde Citty of Fesulae whereof now almost remaineth no memory but the hilles whereon it stood getting the vpper hand and many of that olde towne following the fortune of the winner comming hither to dwell it grew to beare the name of a great and rich Cittie which till then euer since the time of Sylla by whom they say it was first founded and made a Collony of the Romaines bare rather the name of a Bourough then otherwise And after a combination of these two Citties into one Comminalty they quartered the Armes of Fesulae which were a Moone Azure in a field Argent with those of Florence being a Flower de Lise Argent in a field Gules It was afterward subiect to diuers sackings and subuersions by the Gothes Gaules and Lomgobards partaking with other Citties of Italy in those miseries which these Nations inflicted Insomuch as there was nothing remaining of their auncient glory but ruines and desolation what the barbarous crueltie of such an enemie could not tyranise vpon In these tearmes Charles the great found it who caused it to be reedified appointing for the gouerment thereof two Consuls and a Senate of an hundred After this they altered the gouerment conferring it vpon ten called Antiani Aldermen as I take it in the yeare 1254. Shortly after in the yeare 1287. they wan the Citty of Pistoia and about the same time they purchased their liberty of the Emperour Rodolphe for three-score thousand Duckets And againe changed their forme of gouerment to eight Priori and a Gonfalonier of Iustice who was to hold his place for 2. moneths only Presently after they bought Arezzo of
auoided these fruitlesse etimologies else could I haue said before that Florence was called either Fluentia because it stands betweene the two waters Mognone and Arno or Fiorentia of Fiore a flower because it is the flower and beauty of Italy or Firenze which Giambolare one of their writers deriues from a Caldey word and signifies he saith a valiant Souldier as who would say the Florentines were such which I haue not yet read and I am sure they of Siena will not confesse who will not let to bragge how often they haue beaten them in the field Indeede I well remember that writers giue them th' attribute of Ingenious and wise as namly Macciauelly in his Florentine history and Guicciardine in the very beginning of his booke Cart. 2. Howbeit I could easily condiscend to the opinion of Imbalt a French commaunder who vpon good experience Guicciardine lib. 5. cart 144. Non saptua doue consistesse lingegne tantu celebratu de Fiorentini could not finde where that great witte of theirs laye So likewise these word-founders will haue their Cittie Arezzo to be so old as that it was built when for want of a fit name they were faine to call it Earth for so in the Hebrew tongue it signifieth But seeing that Tully and Varro call it Aretium and not Arezium me thinkes they might better derine it from Mars which the word well beareth for I am well assured that historie makes the Arrettines and their neighbours the Perugians farre better Souldiers then the Florentines But I will not ouer-charge this short discourse with deriuations I had rather leaue them with the capriccious Antiquaries of Tuscany and returning to Pistoia say that though it be very little it is very rich as hauing a Contado full of oyle and wine insomuch as it is said they presse yearly one hundred thousand Barrels of Wine whereof they send the one halfe to Florence of which the great Duke hath gabell a custome one Guilio six-pence sterling for euery Barrell at the entery into euery Cittie gate besides the tenth leuied vpon it before and an imposition after vpon euery tauerne as shall more fitly in the discourse of his entrate be aduertised This Towne is famous or rather in famous for the two factions of the Bianchi and Nery which ruined themselues and troubled the peace of Florence also it began thus Two young Gentlemen of the towne falling out and so proceeding from words to blowes it chanced one of them receiued a light hurt The father of the other because he would kill all motions to a farther quarrell sends his Sonne to aske pardon of the Father and Parentage of the other whom he had hurt but he causing his seruants to lay hold on him commaunded his right hand to be cut off and sent him away with this answere Va dal tuo Padre digli che le ferite non si curano con parole ma colferro Goe to thy father and tell him hurts are not cured with words but with the sworde Herevpon grew that great and bloudy enmitie betweene those two houses which drew into it all the great families of Pistoia as also them of Florence where the Donati banded with the Neri and the Circhi with the Bianchi Since which faction there hath also another risen no lesse dangerous then the former betweene the Cancellieri and the Panzadici scarse yet so composed but that vpon euery small occasion it is ready to breake out This Towne pretendeth to be much priuiledged aboue all other Citties vnder the great Duke for at the time when they yeelded to the State of Florence it was among other Capitulacons concluded that in any Bando Proclamation whatsoeuer except the Cittie and Contado of Pistoia were expresly named it was to be vnderstood exempt freed from the same which indeed is still obserued howbeit a course is taken neuer to leaue that clause out so that I see small reason they haue to bragge so much thereof The people in and without the Citty are supposed sixtie foure thousand the Religious are much about the the rate of them in Prato an eight part I cannot passe the direct way from hence to Pisa whether the course of this discourse directs me vnlesse I passe vnder the walles of Lucca which being no part of this State I know not how I may speake of that haue vndertaken to write of nothing else and yet passing so neare I know not how to auoide some mention thereof that am likewise to aduertise of what I haue seene Wherefore betweene a doubt which is lesse fault to digresse in my narration or be diuerted out of my way I will speake so little as if it be a fault to digresse it may be excused because this little is nothing if it be a fault to write so little it may be answered I durst not digresse The Citty of Lucca was anciently called Fredia and afterwards being the first of the twelue old Citties of Tuscany that receiued the Christian faith light of the Gospell it changed the name of Lucca a Luce herewith accordeth Fuccio Vberti Ma perche alluminata della fede Fu pria ch altra Cittade di Tuscana Cangio il suo nome e Lucca le si diede It is seated as is before said like a Center in a Circumference in the middest of a faire and pleasant valley enuironed with wast and huge Mountaines The walles in circuite two miles are of Brick very new strengthned with a very thick Rampart and fortified alla moderna with very many and defensible Bulwarkes Insomuch as it is thought that when the Bulwarke that is now in the making at the North-west of the towne is finished with one other at the East which is already purposed and the Terra-pieno Rampart of this East side made answerable to the rest which is also intended it shall then haue in all eleuen Bulwarkes and will without exception be one of the best fortified townes in Italy They keepe in the towne a garrison continually of three hundred Souldiers and are able they say to drawe into their Cittie at two daies warning out of their owne territorie thirtie thousand able mē for seruice for which nūber they haue prouision of armes victuals and all things necessary vpon occasion I was in their Granaries where I saw as they credibly rated it of Wheate Rie Beanes and Chestnut Mealn the quantitie of six hundred thousand Staies which of our measure maketh about fifty thousand quarters besides so much more kept in diuers conuents and Monasteries of the towne which they call their Prouisione d' Abondanza store All which prouision is able in case of a Siege to maintaine the Citty for two yeares at the number of three-score thousand people allowing twelue Staies a man the yeare a proportion in those parts and such cases very large The reasons of these fortifications garrisons and prouisions which they make is the iealous feare they haue of the great Duke of whom all their