Full text: Volume (1)

VIA DEGLI ALBIZZI. 
261 
artificial dove, symbolical of the Holy Spirit, by some me¬ 
chanical contrivance is made to light a lamp before the sacred 
image at this corner, and on the high altar of the Cathedral. 
The story appears to have some reference to a ceremony per- 
formed by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who on that same day 
of the Christian year lights a candle at the sacred fire ; and he 
who has the good fortune to light his own at that of the 
Patriarch’s is supposed to be secure from harm throughout the 
remainder of the year. The analogy was still closer, when, 
formerly, on that same Saturday, a Pazzi carried the torch 
kindled at San Biagio, and presented it to his fellow-citizens to 
light theirs. 
The Pazzi Palace in course of time passed into other hands ; 
and one of its owners, a lady of the family of Cibo di Massa, 
called ’the Marchesana,’ first introduced carriages into Florence. 
Still later it was inhabited by the Quaratesi, an old and dis¬ 
tinguished family still in existence. The revenue derived from 
this palace is now, by the will of its last owner—a German- 
administered for a charity in the town of Como. 
In the Via degli Albizzi, on the opposite side of the way, is 
the Palazzo Montalvo. The Montalvi are of Spanish descent ; 
the founder of the Florentine branch was appointed to an office 
in the government by the Grand Duke Cosimo I., and his 
palace was built after a design by Cosimo’s architect, Barto- 
lommeo Ammanati (1511-1592). In the court is a beautiful 
bronze Mercury by Giovanni da Bologna (1524-1608), a copy, 
with slight variations, of an antique marble in the Uffizi. 
Next the Montalvo Palace once stood the ancient palace of 
the Pazzi, extending from the Via degli Albizzi to the Via 
Orivolo ; it has been demolished for the National Bank, one of 
the finest modern buildings of Florence. 
Nearly opposite is another splendid palace, which belonged 
to the Conti Galli, a Prato family. A beautiful staircase leads 
to a suite of rooms, some of which are painted in fresco by 
Giovanni di San Giovanni (1590-1636) ; the beams and rafters
	        
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