TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been placed at the end of the chapter. Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book. FLORENTINE VILLAS _This Edition is limited to 200 copies for England and 100 copies for America_ _All rights reserved_ [Illustration: (CAST OF THE FACE OF LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT, TAKEN AFTER DEATH)] FLORENTINE VILLAS BY JANET ROSS WITH REPRODUCTIONS IN PHOTOGRAVURE FROM ZOCCHI’S ETCHINGS AND MANY LINE DRAWINGS OF THE VILLAS BY NELLY ERICHSEN [Illustration: (Colophon)] LONDON: J. M. DENT & CO. NEW YORK: DUTTON & CO. MDCCCCI To MARGARET COUNTESS OF CRAWFORD AND BALCARRES THE OWNER OF ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL OF THE FLORENTINE VILLAS THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED IN MEMORY OF OLD FAMILY TIES AND FRIENDSHIPS BY HER COUSIN JANET ROSS PREFACE Visitors to Florence are more or less intimately acquainted with the history of her churches, galleries and palaces, but there are few books dealing with the villas which crown the hills surrounding the lovely city. For years friends have asked me to write some account of them and the first beginning was made in an article in the _National Review_ (May 1894) called “A stroll in Boccaccio’s country,” dealing chiefly with the two villas described by him in the _Decameron_ in language of matchless grace and charm. Becoming interested in the subject I collected what information I could about the Florentine Villas and the families to whom they had belonged, and coming across Guiseppe Zocchi’s rare work _Vedute delle Ville e d’altri luoghi della Toscana_ published in 1744, it was thought that reproductions of his beautiful etchings would enhance the interest of my book. Zocchi, about whom but little is known, was born near Florence in 1711 and died in 1767. Frescoes were executed by him in the Serristori and Rinuccini palaces and he was commissioned by the people of Siena to decorate their city with painted tapestries and hangings for a visit of Leopoldo, Grand Duke of Tuscany. This he probably owed to his patron the Marquis Gerini to whom the volume of engravings of the Villas was dedicated.