gly romantic
character. It is said to have been raised to commemorate a victory of
"that sanguinary fanatic Saint Peter Martyr" over the Paterini. "The
Croce al Trebbio," says Leader Scott, "of the year 1244, is a work of the
Pisan school, but whether it is by Niccolo or Giovanni Pisani, who were
in Florence about that epoch, there is nothing to show. There was {31} a
curious Latin inscription in Gothic letters, which began: _Sanctus
Ambrosius cum Sancto Zenobio propter grande mysterium hanc crucem_--and
went on to say that it was _reconstructed_ by the bishops of Florence and
of Aquileia in August 1308. It is evident that the connection of the
cross with Saint Peter Martyr is mere conjecture, the Italian authorities
say _che si crede_, '_believed_' to be erected on the spot where a
victory was gained over the Paterini. If this were so, where is the
mystery referred to in the inscription?"

The legend, which was after long inquiry recovered by my collector,
distinctly describes the _reconstruction_ of the cross, and as certainly
sets forth a _mysterium magnum_ with an apparition of the Virgin on this
very spot, which would have assuredly caused a pillar, if not a church,
to be erected in the thirteenth century. The story of this mystery is as
follows:

LA CROCE AL TREBEIO.

"Where the _Croce al Trebbio_ now stands, was in very old times a great
palace occupied by one of the most ancient families of Florence. And
when it died out, there came into the house three families, but none
could remain there, being so terrified with fearful sounds and an
apparition.

"It was the custom in those days in Florence to ring a bell at ten
o'clock at night, which was a signal for every citizen to go home at
once; therefore, after that hour no one was seen in the streets except
police guards, military patrols, and riotous young men, whom the former
aimed at arresting. It often happened that such irregular folk took
refuge in the old palazzo, but if they remained there one night, they had
enough of it, and never returned, so great was the horror which they were
sure to feel.

"The first occurrence which gave the place a bad name was as follows:
Some time after the death of the last of the old line of Signori who had
occupied the palace, and the three families spoken of had come into it,
on the first night at midnight they heard some one put a key in the
house-door, open the same with great noise, a