Dati enlarges on the magnificent and marvellous aspect of the Piazza della Signoria, “with one hundred towers, which shone like gold, some on waggons, some borne on the shoulders of men. These last, made of wood, pasteboard, and coloured wax figures, are called tapers (_ceri_). Inside the towers are men, who cause these figures to move and to turn round. They represented horsemen tilting, foot-soldiers with spears or waving banners, and girls dancing in a ring. Near and around the _ringhiera_ hung a hundred or more _palii_ or banners, their staves being stuck into the iron rings on the walls. First were those of the chief cities who send tribute to the Commune, as Pisa, Arezzo, Pistoja, Volterra, Cortona, Lucignano, and Castiglione Aretino, and of certain lords of Poppi and Piombino, who are under the protection of the Commune, made of thick velvet, lined with satin or with silk; the rest are of strips of thinner velvet, or of other cloth or silk; so that the sight is truly marvellous. The first offering in the morning is made by the Captains of the Guelph party, with all their knights and gentlemen, and ambassadors and foreign knights who accompany them, and a great number of the most honourable citizens of Florence; the great banner of the Guelph party being borne before them by one of their followers on a tall horse, caparisoned in white cloth embroidered with the device of the Guelph party. Then followed the afore-mentioned _palii_, or banners, each one carried by a man on horseback, and both man and horse are clothed in silk. One after another they go in the order in which they were called to offer the said _palii_ to the church of S. Giovanni, which are the tributes paid by the places conquered by the Florentines.