SITUATION AND TOPOGRAPHY. From its beau tiful situation at the foot of the Apennines, in a valley bordered with gently sloping hills, cov ered with olive groves, orchards, and vineyards, and crowned with pines, it has derived the title Firenze la Bella (Florence the Beautiful). The surrounding country, dotted up to the mountain tops with white villages, pleasant villas. and beautiful suburbs, is the fairest imaginable. The title "Beautiful" is even more richly deserved by reason of its clean streets, well preserved ancient buildings, and art treasures, represent ing the most perfect development of the Re naissance. lore than any other city, Florence was the cradle of Italian, and consequently of modern, culture. She was the first to produce a native literature. which made her vernacular the written language of Italy: the first to take up the study of the ancient languages, art, and science, and to achieve an artistic development rivaled only by that of Athens. The number of her great men is legion.—no city since antiquity ran show such a roster: to mention only a few: Dante, Giotto, Masaecio. Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo. Galileo. and Alfieri. In Florence, too, perhaps more than in any other Italian city, a glorious past is united with an attractive present.
The Arno divides the city into two unequal parts, the chief of which stands upon the north ern hank. Here lay the Roman city, the rect angular shape and straight streets of which may be traced in the heart. of mediaeval Florence. By the eleventh century new walls were necessary, and in 1285 arose the third and finest circuit. strengthened by 150 towers. "encircling the city like a garland." Although these walls were removed to make room for new driveways, some of the grand old city gates still remain. The Arno is spanned by four ancient stone and two modern iron bridges. Of the former the most interesting is the Ponte Vecehio (1355), which replaced an ancient structure of 1177, affording, with its rows of goldsmiths' shops. an interesting example of the mediaeval custom of using bridges for trade. The most beautiful bridge is the Trinin. built in 1567 -70, a fter Am ma na t i's design.
SounuEs AND lioNUMENTS. The general ap pearanee of old Florence is one of republican seriousness and simplicity,—the abode of a pros perous and industrious but warlike merchant and artisan class. The well-paved, cleanly streets
are narrow, the houses are high, and the very palaces are fortress-like in character. But all . s is leavened by an ever-present sense of the fitting and the beautiful. The principal squares, with famous historical or artistic associations. are named some contiguous eleirch or promi nent building.
The Piazza della Signo•ia, flanked by the grim Palazzo Veechio, and the beautiful open Loggia dei Lanzi, was the centre of the civic life of Florence. There the great state ceremonies were performed, and the many political eN of Florence were adjudged by the tribunal of popu lar revolution. Until 1873 it contained Michel angelo's "David," typical of Florentine liberty, and it still possesses liandinelli's "I lercules and Cavils," Ammanati's "Fountain of Neptune," and Giovanni Bologna's st:itne of ('onside I. The centre of Florentine religious life was the Piazza dot Duomo, in which stand the Cathedral, the Campanile, and the venerable Baptistery where every true Florentine was baptised. The Florentines traded in the Mercato Vecchio, now Piazza Vittorio Emmanuel°, which contailP4 a statue of the first monarch of that name. Other famous aneient squares are that of the Antrim ziata, with its arcades and the fountains of Teca, and the statue of Ferdinand 1. by Gio vanni Bologna; Santa r la Novella, where public games were celebrated; and Santa Croce, with the monument to Dante.
The new quarters of Florence extend beyond the ancient. city walls, the site of which has been converted into fine driveways, the viali. The most beautiful of these is the Viale dui Celli, passing over the hills on the southern border and offering fine views of the city. Among the most important modern squares are the Piazza d'Azeglio and the Piazza dell' Indipen denza. The Piazzale di Michelangelo, near San Miniato, with its bronze cast of Michelangelo's "David," affords a marvelous panorama of Flor ence and the vicinity. The principal public gar dens are the Giardino di Boboli, beautifully laid out and containing numerous works of art, and the Cascine, where on Sundays and holidays the corso takes place. As regards both heat in slim mer and cold in winter, the climate of Florence is extreme and, for Italy, subject to sudden changes.