[42] The tower is commonly called _La Torre de’ Brunelleschi_ from the name of the former owners of Petraja, and not because it was built by the great architect Filippo Brunellesco as is often said. Filippo was of a different family. See _Notizie Storiche dei Palazzi e Villa appartente alla I.E.R. Corona di Toscana._ G. Anguillesi. Pisa, 1815. [43] See Moreni. _Contorni di Firenze._ Vol. I, p. 101. [Illustration: COSIMO II, By DUPRÈ. (_Villa di Poggio Imperiale_).] [Illustration: BIANCA CAPPELLO, By SELVI. (_Villa di Poggio a Caiano_).] [Illustration: MARIA MADDALENA D’AUSTRIA, By DUPRÈ. (_Villa di Poggio Imperiale_).] [Illustration: (Drawing of lawn in front of Villa)] VILLA DI BELLOSGUARDO “... Tuscan Bellosguardo, Where Galileo stood at night to take The vision of the stars....” Bellosguardo near Florence is mentioned as a favourable spot for erecting villas as early as 1427. But the great Villa Bellosguardo was in existence long before, as it belonged to the noble knight Messer Cavalcante Cavalcanti, father of the poet Guido, and lord of the castle of Le Stinche, of Montecalvo in Val di Pesa, of Luco, of Ostina in the Upper Val d’ Arno, and of other places. Some say his ancestors came from Cologne in 806 with the Emperor Charlemagne, others declare them to have come from Fiesole. Dino Compagni mentions Guido, who died about 1301, as “a gracious youth, courteous and brave, but of a quick and solitary temper and much given to study.” He was an intimate friend of Dante, and no doubt the two poets often stood on the terrace of the fine old villa gazing on the fair city below while discussing poetry and philosophy. Both were Guelphs; and Guido’s hatred of Messer Corso Donati, the head of the Ghibelline party, who had tried to assassinate him while on a pilgrimage, was so intense that he tried one day to kill him in the streets of Florence, and in consequence had to fly the country. Villani tells us that when the two rival factions were reconciled in 1267 a marriage was arranged between Guido Cavalcanti and a daughter of the staunch Ghibelline Farinata degli Uberti; but discord again broke out, the Priors of Florence exiled the chief leaders, and Dante was one of the Priori who voted in favour of the banishment of his friend. The Ghibellines were sent to Castello della Pieve; the Guelphs, Guido among them, to Sarzana. He was, however, almost immediately released as the bad air made him ill, and he died soon after reaching Florence.