The beautiful villa continued to be used occasionally as a royal residence by the family of Lorraine, and the iron bridge over the Ombrone, about half a mile from the high road, was the first suspension bridge built in Tuscany (1833) by Leopoldo II. [Illustration: (Decorative emblum)] FOOTNOTES: [4] Bernhard Berenson, _The Florentine Painters._ [5] _Carmina_, etc., p. 224. Translated by J. A. Symonds. [6] The supposititious child of Bianca. He was said to have been introduced into Palazzo Pitti in a lute, and the Grand Duke, persuaded he was his child, left him large property, and bought for him the estate and title of Prince of Capistrano in the Abruzzi. The real mother was murdered by order of Bianca. [7] Galuzzi. _Istoria del Granducato di Toscana._ Vol. IV. p. 54 _et seq._ [8] _Lettere Familiare e Critiche di Vincenzio Martinelli._ Londra. Presso G. Nourse, Libraio nello Strand. 1758. [Illustration: (Drawing of Cafaggiuolo)] CAFAGGIUOLO Strictly speaking Cafaggiuolo, situated some eighteen miles from Florence, can hardly be called a Florentine villa; but it is too intimately connected with the history of the Tuscan city and of the Medici not to be mentioned together with Careggi, Poggio a Cajano and other well-known villas.[9] [Illustration: CAFAGGIUOLO.] The carriage road to Bologna climbs boldly up the hills behind Fiesole, so swiftly that the hills which towered so high above us but a while ago, now, as we look back upon them, seem to mingle with the plain; and we plunge into the Mugello, where the olive is no longer seen. As San Pier a Sieve is neared, memories intermingle of Florentine painters and Florentine tyrants, and the land itself seems strangely divided between the sense of absolute peace and of preparations for defence against neighbouring foes. Vespignano, the birthplace of Giotto, lies at no great distance, and further again the small fortified village of Vicchio where Beato Angelico passed his earliest years. Above the Sieve, which flows so quietly and evenly through the valley towards the Arno, its pure green waters receiving a delicate shade from the tall poplar trees on its low banks, rise low rounded hills covered with oaks, while here and there a pine wood shows dark and unvaried through spring and winter months. The tower of Trebbio, rising on its hill like a castle keep, is seen in strong relief against the sky for many miles round, and tells of past centuries of insecurity and warfare. Opposite is the fortress of San Martino, now dismantled, built to guard the road to Florence through the Mugello, and far and near can be descried small watch-towers on the hill-tops; but vain seem these preparations made by nobles and princes against their foes when we look at the long line of the Apennines, scarred, rugged and woodless, stretched at right angles across the valley.