Full text: Hare, Augustus J. C.: Florence

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.
	        
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