Although partly rebuilt and modernized traces of ancient splendour can still be seen in the pretty courtyard of this palace. Piero de’ Monaldi, in his manuscript history, tells us “the Vecchietti came originally from Arezzo, they were a powerful family within the first circuit of the walls of Florence and owned towers, streets and a piazza, whereon they built the church of S. Donato. Two Gonfaloniers of Justice and twenty-four Priors did they give to the city. Vecchietto, Consul of Florence in 1128, was of their race, as was also Marsilio, knight of the Golden Spur, who was then Captain of Arezzo in 1288. Dante makes honourable mention of them in his _Paradiso_.” The corner of the Palazzo Vecchietti is called the Canto de’ Diavoli from the tradition that when St. Peter Martyr preached here one of his violent sermons against the heretics, a great black horse suddenly appeared and the crowd fled in dismay before his kicking and rearing, some even declared that fire came from his nostrils. People were convinced that it was the devil and hence the name of the street corner. On the angle of the old palace was the satyr (now in the Bargello) made by Gian Bologna for Bernardo de’ Vecchietti, who was his patron and friend. The house now belongs to the family of Del Corona, and a copy of Donatello’s satyr has been placed where the original once was. PALAZZO VECCHIO “On the 24th February, 1299, the foundations of the Palazzo de’ Priori, for the Commune and the People of Florence, were laid,” writes Giovanni Villani, “the Priors not feeling themselves in safety where they had hitherto lived, that is to say in the house of the Cerchi behind the church of San Procolo.” Arnolfo Cambio was the architect chosen to build the palace, and he took as his model the one built at Poppi by his father Lapo. Vasari’s story that he could not make it square and straight as he desired, because the people would not allow him to build where the houses of those hated Ghibellines the Uberti once stood, is not borne out by history, for Villani states, and various documents dating from 1299 to 1311 confirm his words, that the site occupied by the houses of the Uberti was made into a square, so that it might never again be built upon. Houses of other citizens, such as the Foraboschi and the Della Vacca, were bought, and where they stood was erected the palace. The tower of the Priors still retains the name of the latter family, one of whom, Falcone Della Vacca, was an Elder of the city in 1260, and from it the street opposite is called Vacchereccia. When in those “good old times” Guelphs and Ghibellines, Whites and Blacks, flew at each other’s throats, and the great bell rang to call the people to arms, the saying was _la vacca mugghia_ (the cow is lowing). [Illustration: COURTYARD OF PALAZZO VECCHIO.]