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CHAPTER XXXIII.
SIGNA—LA VERNIA—CAMALDOLI—VALLOMBROSA.
BOUT two hours’ drive from Florence, on the way to
APisa, is Signa, situated where the hills almost meet, on
either side of the Arno, and near where the river was at one
time choked by an enormous mass of rock, called the Golfolina,
which occasioned inundations of the Arno, Ombrone, and
Bisenzio, over the whole country. The legend accounts for its
disappearance by a thirteenth labour of Hercules ; but Villani,
in his history, relates that, in early days, ordinary mortals were
employed to break it up.
Leaving Florence by the Pisan highway from the Porta
San Frediano, the first village is Legnaia, with its old hexagonal
church of San Quirico. The tall Italian reed grows plentifully
behind the walls which line the road, and the villages are, as
usual, in long streets, or rows of houses on either side. The
Ponte a Greve—a picturesque bridge constructed in early
times by Pisan prisoners—crosses the River Greve ; on it is a
large tabernacle, containing a fresco of much beauty, and
apparently belonging to the fourteenth century. The Ma¬
donna, in a crimson dress with a dark mantle, has the Child
on her knee, who is clothed in red and white, with a green
sash—the colours of Faith, Hope, and Charity; he raises
his hand to bless ; St. Lawrence, a beautiful youth, and St.
John the Baptist, who turns towards him, are on one side ;
on the other, St. Peter with his keys, and another saint.
On the slope of the hills to the left is Scandicci in Alto,
where is the Villa of the Altoviti Sangaletti, now belonging to