ng of trying to obtain the
water of Valcenni, which is very abundant, in order to join it with
the rest, and then to conduct it from Castello by an aqueduct similar
to the one which he had made to the Piazza in front of his Palace in
Florence. And of a truth, if this work had been pressed forward by a
man with greater energy and more desire of glory, it would have been
carried at least well on; but since Tribolo, besides that he was much
occupied with various affairs of the Duke's, had not much energy,
nothing more was done. And in all the time that he worked at Castello,
he did not execute with his own hand anything save the two fountains,
with the two rivers, the Arno and the Mugnone, and the statue of
Fiesole; this arising from no other cause, so far as one can see, but
his being too much occupied, as has been related, with the many
affairs of the Duke.

Among other things, the Duke caused him to make a bridge over the
River Mugnone on the high road that goes to Bologna, without the Porta
a S. Gallo. This bridge, since the river crosses the road obliquely,
Tribolo caused to be built with an arch likewise oblique, in
accordance with its oblique line across the river, which was a new
thing, and much extolled, above all because he had the arch put
together of stones cut on the slant on every side in such a manner
that it proved to be very strong and very graceful; in short, this
bridge was a very beautiful work.

Not long before, the Duke had been seized with a desire to make a tomb
for Signor Giovanni de' Medici, his father, and Tribolo, being eager
to have the commission, made a very beautiful model for it, in
competition with one that had been executed by Raffaello da Montelupo,
who had the favour of Francesco di Sandro, the master of arms to his
Excellency. And then, the Duke having resolved that the one to be put
into execution should be Tribolo's, he went off to have the marble
quarried at Carrara, where he also caused to be quarried the two
basins for the loggie at Castello, a table, and many other blocks of
marble. Meanwhile, Messer Giovan Battista da Ricasoli, now Bishop of
Pistoia, being in Rome on business of the Lord Duke's, he was sought
out by Baccio Bandinelli, who had just finished the tombs of Pope Leo
X and Clement VII in the Minerva; and he was asked by Baccio to
recommend him to his Excellency. Whereupon Messer Giovan Battista
wrote to the Duke that Bandinelli desired to serve him, and his
Excelle