he brought to Florence and presented to the Republic.  They were placed in S. Reparata, which stood where the Duomo now is, and, as it is said, the “new fire” was struck from them every Holy Saturday, and the clergy, in procession, brought that sacred flame to the other churches of the city.  And the Pazzi, because of their gift, gave the guard of honour in this procession:  and this they celebrated with much pomp among themselves; till at last they obtained permission to build a carro, which should be lighted at the door of S. Reparata by some machine of their invention, and drawn by four white oxen to their houses.  And even to this day you may see this thing, and to this day the car is borne to their canto.  But above all I see before that “unfinished” 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.