PERETOLA TO SAN DONNINO.
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corn, and maple trees over which the vine is trained. To the
right at some little distance is the Torre degli Agli, belonging
to the Panciatichi family; Monte Morello rises beyond, with
villas and farmhouses scattered in all directions at its foot.
The high towers, so frequently seen on the plain, are supposed
to be the remains of the castles or country residences of
Florentine families, and to have supplied the place of the
modern telegraph, enabling their possessors to communicate
with their allies in the city. Flags were raised on them in
the day and fires kindled at night.
The history of the populous village of Peretola is lost in
obscurity until the year 1325, when Castruccio Castracani
defeated the Florentines in the battle of Altopascio, and made
Peretola his head-quarters. The family of Amerigo Vespucci,
one of the discoverers of the New World, came from this
village, but they afterwards migrated into Florence, and had
their dwellings near the Monastery of Ogni Santi. The
Church of San Clemente in Peretola has a fine marble
ciborium in the choir behind the high-altar, probably a work
of Desiderio da Settignano, or of one of his school. The doors
which closed the receptacles for the bread and wine have been
removed to a place of safety, as, being of bronze gilt, they once
tempted the cupidity of a thief, and were stolen, though after-
wards recovered. The rest of the ciborium is of marble :
angels stand on either side of the receptacle for the cup,
and pilasters, ornamented with delicate sculpture, support the
architrave. A Deposition with the Virgin and St. John or
Nicodemus are within an arch, and above is a representation of
the Eternal. Amidst the decorations are seen the nails of the
Crucifixion, which were the arms of the Hospital of Santa Maria
Nuova, to which the church belonged. Beyond Peretola is
Quarrachi, a village dating from A.D. 866, and now consisting
of a series of new-built tidy houses with gardens. The next
village is Petriolo, and at the end of a lane to the left is the
old Church of San Biagio. Beneath the portico, supported by
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