We passed through Pietra Santa, a fortified town in the territory of the Duke of Florence, with houses in plenty but great lack of people, the report being that most of them either die or fall into ill-health on account of the badness of the air. After riding twenty-two miles, we reached Massa di Carrara, a place belonging to the Prince of Massa, of the family of Cibo, in time for supper. Here is a fine castle on the top of a little mountain, and half-way up the ascent, around the castle and below it, are the streets and the houses of the town, surrounded by fine walls. On still lower ground, outside the walls aforesaid, a large town is built on a level site and protected by walls recently erected. The situation, the streets, and the houses are all very seemly, the walls being adorned with paintings. I was forced here to drink new wine, as no other is to be had in these parts. By storing it in casks made of a certain wood, and by treating it with the white of eggs, they clarify it so that it looks like old wine, but it has a taste which is not natural. On Sunday, October 22nd, we set out over a very level road, with the Tyrrhenian Sea about a crossbow-shot distant on the left hand. Along this road, between us and the sea, we saw a few scattered ruins, which, according to the report of the country-folk, marked the spot where once stood the great city of Luna.[114] We came next to Sarrezana,[115] a town under the sway of Genoa, where we marked the Genoese device, Saint George on horseback, and the garrison of Swiss soldiers. The place formerly belonged to the Duke of Florence, and if the principality of Massa did not intervene between the two States it is well-nigh certain that the frontier towns, Pietra Santa--Florentine--and Sarrezana--Genoese--would constantly be at blows. We left Sarrezana, where we were forced to pay four giuli for each horse for a single post, and where there was a great firing of cannon by reason of the arrival of Don Giovanni dei Medici, the natural brother of the Duke of Florence, who was returning from Genoa, whither he had gone, on behalf of his brother, to pay a visit to the Empress.[116] Many of the other Italian princes had gone there also, and every one was talking of the pomp displayed by the Duke of Ferrara on this occasion. He came to meet the Empress with four hundred carriages. He had asked leave of the Venetian Signory to pass through their territory with six hundred horses, and their answer was that he might cross their boundaries, but with fewer horses; whereupon he bestowed his followers in coaches, and was thus able to take all he desired with a smaller number of horses. I met Prince Giovanni on the road, a handsome young man, with a train of twenty well-equipped followers riding on hired horses, a practice which is no derogation from dignity in Italy, even for princes themselves.