PALAZZO VECCHIO.
223
loftier building.
This, however, obliged him to place the
Campanile on one side of the building; it rises to the height
of 160 braccie, upwards of 330 feet, over the city. The great
bell within preserved the name of “ La Vacca,’ and its sound was
popularly compared to the lowing of the cow—“ la vacca mug.
ghia,' “the cow lows.' The Via Vaccareccia, which connects
the piazza with the Via Por San Maria, derives its name from
the same source.
At one time there appear to have been several bells, though
they were not all suspended within the tower, for some were
hung on a level with the battlements of the main building. In
1344, one of these, which was always rung to summon the
people to the Piazza, was transferred from the battlements to
the tower, that it might be heard by the inhabitants of Oltr
Arno (that part of Florence which lies south of the river). The
principal bell, called “La Campana del Leone, the “Lion’s
Bell,’ was placed here in 1350. It weighed 17,000 lbs., and
was cast in the best metal, producing a very harmonious sound.
This bell was rung unceasingly on the announcement of a
victory, as well as on the celebration of marriages and when¬
ever a young male Lion was born to the Republic. It was
heard for the last time in August, 1530, when it summoned a
parliament composed of the Palleschi, or Medicean faction, for
which misdemeanour, or treasonable act against the Republic,
it was hurled into the piazza, where it broke into a thousand
fragments.
The visitor to Florence is well repaid for ascending to the
summit of the lofty battlemented tower, surmounted by the
standard bearing the favourite badge of the lion. Beneath the
shadow of the rugged old Palazzo the vines, olives, and
cypresses form in springtime an agreeable contrast to the
brilliant green of the young corn. The prospect is bounded
on the north by the heath-clad shoulder of Monte Morello and
the more distant Apennines ; to the east by the chestnut woods
See preceding chapter, p. 198.