FLORENCE.
84
a fine fresco by Giovanni di S. Giovanni, of the multiplication
of loaves by S. Francis.
In this part of the Convent, the Inquisition held its
tribunals from 1284 to 1782. It was in the Convent of S.
Croce that Sixtus V., as a monk, went stooping as if in
decrepitude, “looking for the keys of St. Peter.
The Via de Malcontenti (so called because criminals were
led along it to execution), on the north of S. Croce, contains
the Pia Casa di Lavoro, or Workhouse, erected on the site
of two convents, the Monte Domini and the Monticelli.
It was in the old convent of Monticelli that Piccarda Donati, the
sister of Corso Donati, and a cousin of Gemma Donati, the wife of
Dante Alighieri, took the veil, as Sister Costanza. Piccarda became a
nun to avoid a marriage with Messer Rossellino della Tosa ; but her
father Simone Donati and her brother Corso carried her forcibly from
her refuge, and insisted on her union with Della Tosa. No sooner had
the marriage ceremony ended, than Piccarda threw herself on her knees
before the crucifix, entreating for protection, when she suddenly became
so ill that her father was constrained to yield to her request, and to send
her back to her convent, where she died in eight days. Dante has
placed Piccarda in Paradise in the moon, or lowest heaven, reserved for
those who have involuntarily broken their vows.—Horner.
The next street which runs parallel to the “Malcontenti
is the Via Ghibellina, named, in 1261, after the Ghibelline
victory at Monte-Aperto. Here was the convent of the
Murate, whither the famous Caterina Sforza, Duchess of
Forli, retired after a most adventurous life, in 1498, being
then only in her 39th year, and where she continued to
reside till her death in 1509. She was buried in the con¬
vent chapel, but her tomb was wilfully broken up, and her
remains thrown away (!) on the recent conversion of the
building into a State Prison. Here, in 1529, Catherine
de’ Medici was placed under the protection of the nuns,
being then only seven years old.
In the Via Allegri, which crosses the Ghibellina, was the
studio of Cimabue (1240-1300), who, says Vasari, gave
the first light to the art of painting.' His most important
works remain in his native city.