The Piazzi Sopramuro is one of the oldest parts of the town. In this vicinity is the ornate, massive Church of San Domenico, with a magnificent window, and the Decorated monument of Benedict XI.
Passing through the Porta San Pietro, we approach the Church of San Pietro, considered to be the oldest sacred building in the town. It has a splendidly ornamented choir, and in the sacristy are some remarkable works of Perugino. The belfry of this church is of very graceful design.
About three miles from Perugia, towards Assisi, are some Etruscan tombs, with buried chambers, a vestibule, and several statues. This monument is of deep interest. It is a family cemetery of great antiquity, and the carvings are of exquisite art.
_Firenze la bella_, the pride of its natives, the dream of poet and painter and the delight of a multitude of travellers, lies amid graceful hills, clothed with olive gardens and dotted with white villas. In the clear distance are the splendid Apennines. Climb to the terrace of San Miniato, and you will gain a wide general view of this great and beautiful city of culture and the arts. The wonderful campanile of Giotto rises above the surrounding buildings, rivalling the height of the cathedral; the sunlight glows on dome and tower, and the valleys and glens lie in deep shadow, stretching away to the slopes of the mountains.
Very lovely, too, is the prospect from the Boboli Gardens, and finer still the outlook from Fiesole, whence the eye surveys the Cathedral, the Baptistery, the Campanile, the noble churches of Bruneschi, the Pitti Palace, and many fair buildings of the Middle Ages.
Gazing over Florence from one of the elevations of the environs, a vast pageant of history seems revealed, and men of illustrious name pass in long procession in the vision of the mind. How numerous are the great thinkers and artists associated with the city from Savonarola to the Brownings! We recall Dante, Giotto, Boccaccio, Michael Angelo--the roll seems inexhaustible. Almost all the famous men of Italy are connected with the culture-history and the political annals of Florence. The city inspires and holds us with a spell; we are impelled to wander day after day in the narrow streets, to linger in the fragrant gardens, to roam in the luxuriant valleys of the surrounding country, and to climb the hill of classic Fiesole.