The Baptistery adjoining the cathedral is octagonal, with two arcades in the interior, one above the other. In the cupola are fine mosaics of the fifth century, representing the " Baptism of Christ;" they are the most ancient in Ravenna. Church of S. Vitalis erected on the spot where St Vitalis suffered martyrdom. It is said to have served for a model to Charlemagne for his cathedral at Aix-la-Chapelle. It contains many interesting mosaics. The Church of S. Maria-in-Cosmedin has an octagonal dome adorned with mosaics of the sixth century. S. Nazarioe-Celso, the mausoleum of Galla Placidia, daughter of Theodosius the Great, was founded by that empress in 440. The interior is adorned with beautiful mosaics of the fifth century. The altar is made of transparent, oriental alabaster, and is intended to be illuminated by lights placed within it. Behind it is the marble sarcophagus of Galla Placidia, in which the empress was interred in 450 in a sitting posture. On the right is the marble sarcophagus of the Emperor Honorius, her brother, and on the left, that of Constantius III., her second husband. Several of the other churches have interesting mosaics and monuments.

Adjoining the Church of S. Francesco is the tomb of Dante, who died at Ravenna, and was interred in the adjoining church. The tomb was erected in 1482 by Bernardo Bembo, and was restored in 1692 and 1780. It is in a square form with a dome; opposite the entrance is a half-length relief of Dante, and below it, the marble urn to which the poet's remains have been transferred from the wooden coffin in which they were originally placed.

EAVING Florence, we pass through a very beautiful country to SIGNA (10 miles). It is connected, by a bridge over the Arno, with the village of Lustra, and these two places are among the principal seats of the manufacture of straw hats and straw plaiting, for which this part of Italy is celebrated. We now proceed through the narrow gorge of Gonfolina, cross the Arno, and pass Monte Lupo with its Rocca, or castle, and the ancient fortress of Capraja on the opposite side of the river. We next cross the Pesa, and pass, on the right, l'Ambrogiana, a castellated villa, built by Ferdinand I. We next reach EMPOLI (20 miles), (Hotel: Locanda del Sole). It is situated in a very fertile region in the lower valley of the Arno. Its streets are narrow, and the upper storeys of its quaint old houses overhang the lower. The Collegiate Church, built in 1093, was restored in 1738. It contains many fine paintings. The Baptistery adjoining it has some paintings near the altar representing the martyrdom of St Andrew. The Church of San Stefano has some good frescoes. In the principal square stands a fine fountain, erected in 1830.

[A line branches off to Siena and the south.]

Soon after leaving Empoli, we see, on the hills to the right, the lofty tower in the town of San Miniato dei Tedeschi the birth-place of Francesco Sforza. PONTEDERA (36 miles), situated in the lower valley of the Arno, near the confluence of the river of that name with the Era. We pass through a beautiful and richly-cultivated tract of country

to

PISA (49 miles) (Hotels: see "HOTEL LIST").

CABS.-One horse from station, 1 fr., baggage extra; course in town, 80 c.; by time, first hour, 1 fr.; each additional hour, 70 c.; two horses, onethird more.

(Two hours are sufficient for a visit to the Cathedral, Baptistery, Leaning Tower, and Campo Santo. Guide useless. Cab from the station to the Piazza del Duomo, 1 fr.) Pisa stands in a fertile plain, bounded by the Apennines on the north, and on the south open to the sea.

The city covers an enclosure of near seven miles in circumference; the river intersects and divides it into two parts nearly equal; the quays on both sides are wide, lined with edifices in general stately and handsome, and united by three bridges, one of which (that in the middle) is of marble. As the stream bends a little in its course, it gives a slight curve to the streets that border it, and adds so much to the beauty and effect of the perspective, that some travellers prefer the Lung' Arno at Pisa to that at Florence. The streets are wide, particularly well paved, with raised flags for foot passengers, and the houses are lofty and good looking. There are several palaces, not deficient either in style or magnificence. The finest group of buildings, perhaps, in the world, is that which Pisa presents to the con

It

templation of the traveller in her CATHEDRAL, and its attendant edifices, the BAPTISTERY, the BELFRY, and the CEMETERY. These fabrics are totally detached; they occupy a very considerable space, and derive from their insulated site an additional magnificence. They are all of the same materials, that is, of marble; all nearly of the same era, and, excepting the cloister of the cemetery, in the same style of architecture. The CATHEDRAL is the grandest, as it is the most ancient. was begun in the middle, and finished before the end of the eleventh century. It stands on a platform raised five steps above the level of the ground, and formed of great flags of marble. The sides are divided into three stories, all adorned with marble half-pillars; the undermost support a row of arches; the second a cornice under the roof of the aisles; the third bear another row of arches and the roof of the nave. The front consists of five storeys, formed all of halfpillars supporting semi-circular arches; the cornices of the first, second, and fourth storeys unr all around the edifice: the third storey occupies the space which corresponds with the roof of the aisles, and the fifth is contained in the pediment. In the central point of section (for the church forms a Latin cross) rises the dome, supported by columns and arches, which are adorned with pediments and pillars surmounted with statues. The dome itself is low and elliptic. The interior consists of a nave and double aisles, with choir and transept. The aisles are formed by four rows of columns of oriental granite. The altar and the pulpit rest upon porphyry pillars; the gallery around the dome is in a very light and

airy style. The roof of the church is not arched, but of wood, divided into compartments, and gilt; a mode extremely ancient, and observable in many of the early churches. The doors are of bronze, finely sculptured.

Tradition states that the oscillations of the large bronze lamp suspended in the nave first suggested to Galileo the theory of the pendulum.

The BAPTISTERY, or church of St John, opposite the cathedral, an almost equally remarkable structure, was completed in 1162 by Diotisalvi. The main building, which is circular, and raised on several steps, supports a leaden-roofed dome, having a second dome above it, surmounted by a statue of St John. The beautifully-proportioned interior, noted for its wonderful echo, contains a pulpit, which ranks as the greatest masterpiece of Nicolo Pisani, various pieces of sculpture, and a large octagonal marble font.

The CAMPANILE, or belfry, which is the celebrated leaning tower of Pisa, stands at the end of the cathedral, opposite to the Baptistery, at about the same distance. It consists of eight storeys, formed of arches supported by pillars, and divided by cornices. The undermost is closed up, the six others are open galleries, and the uppermost is of less diameter, because it is a continuation of the inward wall, and surrounded by an iron balustrade only. The elevation of the whole is about 180 ft. The staircase winds through the inward wall. The form and proportion of this tower are graceful, and its materials, which are marble, add to its beauty; but its grand distinction, which alone gives it so much celebrity, is a defect which disparages the work, though it

may enhance the skill of the architect, and by its novelty arrest the attention.

As to the obliquity of this tower, some ascribe its cause to accident, others to design; the latter affirming, from the diminished inclination of the upper tiers, that the German architect contrived this declination, which his Italian successors endeavoured to rectify. As, however, a neighbouring belfry, and the observatory in the adjoining street, have been found to lean to the same side, there can be little doubt that the Campanile leans only from the same cause-the softness of the soil on which it stands. But, whatever be the cause of its obliquity, the tower seems to be in no danger of falling. Notwithstanding its threatening appearance, it has now stood more than 600 years without rent or decay.

Campo Santo.-This cloistered cemetery, constructed in the 13th century, is a vast rectangle 383 ft. in length by 127 ft. in width, surrounded by arcades of white marble. The arches, like those met with in Roman architecture, are round, and the pillars faced with pilasters; but each arcade, with the exception of only four, includes an intersection of small arches, rising from slender shafts like the mullions of a Gothic window. This, however, is supposed to be an addition, the arcades having, to all appearance, been open originally down to the pavement. In their present state they are not unlike so many Gothic windows stripped of their glass.

In this Campo Santo it was, that, at the dawn of modern painting, the more distinguished of the Tuscan artists were taught to emulate each other's powers. Here Giotto executed certain historical pieces from the life of