18 
led «. Il Biancone » — It is the work of Bartolom¬ 
meo Ammannali and was executed in 1571; its height 
is 6 metres; and though it is a fine work, the horses 
of the car are exceedingly, spirited; yet Michelangelo 
exclaimed on seeing it 
Ammannato, Ammannato, 
Che bel blocco che hai sciupato ! 
However this cannot be applied to the great basin 
having eight faces, of which four are longer and four 
shorter. The latter are adorned with boys in bronze, 
cornucopiae, and four statues in metal, representing, 
Thetis, Doris, and two sea gods. At the angles are 
seen eight bronze satyrs. (1) On the site of this foun- 
tain stood the Ringhiera, or tribune, from whence the 
orators of the Republic harangued the assembled peo- 
ple; and the nañe of Marzocco was formerly given to a 
stone lion placed just here on the rostrum of the Palace; 
but in 1809, when this Ringhiera was demolished, in- 
stead of the ancient Marzocco a small marble lion 
by Donatello, was placed on the staircase, and it still 
remains there. (2) 
Ercole and Cacco. — A colossal group of Hercules 
1) One of these satyrs, (the one facing the angle of Palazzo 
Vecchio) was stolen some 50 or 60 years ago, and carried away 
in a sedan chair ; it was howeter replaced in 1831 by the one 
actually existing, modelled by the florentine sculptor F. Pozzi, 
and cast in Milan. — It was on the site now occupied by this 
fountain that Fra Girolamo Savonarola and two of his disciples 
were burnt in the year 1498. 
(2 The Marzocco, or Lion of Florence, is not by any means 
so popular a character as the winged Lion of St Mark at Venice. 
It is to be met with, however, in many places in the city.