[11] The Pulci owned a villa “Il Palagio” at Cavallina a few miles from Cafaggiuolo. [12] Mona or Monna is an abbreviation of Madonna, Mia Donna, and all well-born women were thus addressed. It corresponds to the French Madame. [13] J. A. Symonds. _Renaissance in Italy._ _Italian Literature_, p. 381. [14] Leo X deprived the adopted son of Guidobaldo di Montefeltro, Francesco Maria Della Rovere, of the Dukedom of Urbino in favour of his nephew Lorenzo de’ Medici in 1516. [15] _Diario di Firenze._ A. Lapini. [16] See Settimanni. Cronaca M.S. all’ anno 1608. [17] See _Le Ville Medicee in Mugello_. Guiseppe Baccini. Firenze, 1897. [18] _Opus cit._ [Illustration: (Drawing of Villa Di Careggi.)] VILLA DI CAREGGI The three great Medicean villas, Careggi, Cafaggiuolo and Poggio Cajano, have been so often sung by poets and celebrated by historians, that to all who love Italy their names are household words. Careggi lies about two miles north-west of Florence, on what old Varchi calls “the most delightful hill named Montughi, after the ancient and noble family of the Ughi, whereon are innumerable villas of splendid construction; and most splendid of them all, the new Careggi built by Cosimo the elder.”[19] The name Careggi is derived from the Latin _Campus Regis_, and Roman remains abound in the neighbourhood. Near by was the Via Cassia, leading from Rome to Pistoja and Lucca, and some of the inscriptions found relating to it have been placed in the courtyard of the church, San Stefano in Pane de Arcora.[20] [Illustration: VILLA DI CAREGGI.] On the 17th June 1417, Cosimo de’ Medici bought a country house at Careggi from Tommaso Lippi for 800 florins. “A palace with a courtyard, a loggia, a well, archways, dove-cotes, a tower, a walled kitchen-garden, two peasant houses and arable land, vineyards, olive-groves, and spinnies, in the parish of Careggi.” Thus runs the contract. Cosimo called in his friend and favourite architect, Michelozzo Michelozzi, to rebuild the villa, and no doubt remembering the place of his birth—the strong castle of Trebbio in the Mugello—he ordered that Careggi should become a castle with battlements, covered galleries round the upper part, a tower, a drawbridge, and high walls all round the pleasure grounds. The huge pile of Careggi lies embosomed among fine cedars, pines and firs; unfortunately the villa has been painted a dirty chocolate brown, which detracts considerably from its beauty. But the entrance hall is fine, and the great straight staircase leading from the open courtyard up to the first floor is most imposing.