CATHEDRAL OF FIESOLE.
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Fiesole from Montereggi, an eminence about three miles east
of Fiesole, and that it was probably destroyed when Belisarius
besieged the city.
Adjoining the Museum of Fiesole in the Piazza is the
church of Santa Maria Primeriana, dating from the tenth
century. The Podestà and Gonfalonier of Fiesole were
installed into office beneath the portico of this little church,
where they recited an oration in praise of the city. It is still
the custom to transport the Bishops of Fiesole hither on the
day of the ceremonial. It contains two reliefs by Luca
della Robbia. One represents the Crucifixion ; the Virgin
Mary, the Magdalene, and St. John are very good. The other
relief represents St. Michael the Archangel, and is inferior.
The church also contains a very old wooden image of the
Virgin belonging to the thirteenth century : it was originally
called Santa Maria Intemerata, the church having been first dedi-
cated to the Virgin ; and on grave occasions, such as sieges or
some public calamity or pestilence, the Image was taken to
Florence.
The Duomo, or Cathedral of Fiesole, was founded by Bishop
Jacopo Bavaro about 1028, and dedicated to San Romolo, or
Romulus, when his relics were brought hither from the Badia at
San Domenico. St. Romulus, according to the legend, was a
Roman of noble birth, who had been converted by St. Peter,
and sent by that apostle to preach Christianity to the heathen
city of Fiesole. Accused of being a Christian, he was brought
before the authorities and thrown into a dungeon, from whence,
after submitting to many tortures, he was brought out and put
to the sword, with other believers, on the rock beneath the
citadel. This happened in the reign of the Emperor Nero.
The Duomo latterly has undergone thorough repair. The
outside of the building is perfectly simple, and the proportions
of the interior are extremely beautiful. The nave and aisles are
separated by a series of sixteen columns, composed of circular
blocks, laid one above the other, of sandstone extracted from the