inished" palace the
ruined hopes of those who plotted to murder Lorenzo de' Medici with his
brother at the Easter Mass in the Duomo. Even now, amid the noise of the
street, I seem to hear the shouting of the people, _Vive le Palle, Morte
ai Pazzi_.

So I shall come into the Proconsolo beside the Bargello, where so many
great and splendid people are remembered, and she, too, who is so
beautiful that for her sake we forget everything else, Vanna degli
Albizzi, who married Lorenzo de' Tornabuoni, whom Verrocchio carved and
Ghirlandajo painted. Then I shall follow the Via del Corso past S.
Margherita, close to Dante's mythical home, into Via Calzaioli, the
busiest street of the city, and I shall think of the strange difference
between these three great ways, Via del Proconsolo, Via Calzaioli, and
Via Tornabuoni, which mark and divide the most ancient city. I shall
turn toward Or San Michele, where on St. John's Day the banners of the
guilds are displayed above the statues, and for a little time I shall
look again on Verrocchio's Christ and St. Thomas. Then in this
pilgrimage of remembrance I shall pass up Via Calzaioli, past the gay
cool caffe of Gilli, into the Piazza del Duomo. And again, I shall fear
lest the tower may fall like a lopped lily, and I shall wish that Giotto
had made it ever so little bigger at the base. Then I shall pass to the
right past the Misericordia, where for sure I shall meet some of the
_confraternita_, past the great gazing statue of Brunellesco, till, at
the top of Via del Proconsolo, I shall turn to look at the Duomo, which,
seen from there, seems like a great Greek cross under a dome, that might
cover the world. And so I shall pass round the apse of the Cathedral
till I come to the door of the Cintola, where Nanni di Banco has
marvellously carved Madonna in an almond-shaped glory: and this is one
of the fairest things in Florence. And I shall go on my way, past the
Gate of Paradise to the open door of the Baptistery, and returning find
the tomb of Baldassare Cossa, soldier and antipope, carved by Donatello:
and here, in the most ancient church of Florence, I shall thank St. John
for my return.

Out in the Piazza once more, I shall turn into Borgo S. Lorenzo, and
follow it till I come to Piazza di S. Lorenzo, with its bookstalls where
Browning found that book, "small quarto size, part print, part
manuscript," which told him the story of "The Ring and the Book." There
I shall look once more on