opens, saluting us with respectful dignity, and, without questioning, draws the curtain from the Della Robbia over the altar; for well she knows that the _forestieri_ only come to see our "beautiful white San Lorenzo." The statue is small and perfect, like everything about this woodland _chiesetta_. The head is exquisitely modelled, all in white, with the finish and the ivory-tinted glaze which belongs to Andrea Della Robbia's best work, though the wise in such matters ascribe it to one of his pupils. [Illustration: _Alinari_ THE INTERIOR (11TH CENTURY), PARISH CHURCH OF S. MARIA E S. GIORGIO, BRANCOLI] [Illustration: _M. M. Newell_ HOLY-WATER STOUP, PARISH CHURCH OF S. MARIA E S. GIORGIO BRANCOLI] [Illustration: _Alinari_ HEXAGONAL BAPTISMAL FONT (13TH CENTURY), S. MARIA E S. GIORGIO BRANCOLI] [Illustration: _M. M. Newell_ DETAIL OF PULPIT, PARISH CHURCH OF S. MARIA E S. GIORGIO, BRANCOLI] Saying our _buon giorno_, and pressing a small fee into the reluctant hand of the handsome _contadina_, we now turn from the carriage road and begin a short but rather difficult climb up the steep hillside by a roughly paved path, which leads us through chestnut woods to the crest of the hill and the parish church of Santa Maria e San Giorgio, belonging to the eighth century. We have seen it all the way from the plain, perched on a commanding height, surrounded by its sombre guard of stately cypresses. The tower is especially fine in its proportions and built quite apart from the church, though only a foot or so from its walls. Unusually tall, it has four orders of arched windows, and is crowned with bifurcated, or "swallow-tail," battlements, indicative of Ghibelline influence. The exterior of the church, built of squared blocks of travertine, has a plain façade, broken only by shallow pilasters and a round-headed doorway, with a bit of rude carving on the cornice, perhaps representing the vine. The south side has two rows of irregular windows, with remains of ornament, and an arched doorway, over which is a singularly grotesque figure. Both doors are wide open, the noonday sun lighting up vaulted aisles and the ancient timber roof of the nave. We enter without let or hindrance and possess the church for a good hour, uninterrupted even by a footstep on the road hard by. The interior, which gives an impression of space and dignity, is divided into nave and aisles by columns and piers with interesting sculptured capitals. The choir is raised by four steps well above the nave, the high altar, still higher, fills the apse, and over all is a good timber roof, richly coloured by time. Near the west end in the south aisle is a quaint and seemingly very ancient holy-water stoup, carved with rude but expressive figures of men and animals attacked by serpents. On the crown surmounting the principal head is inscribed "_Raitus me fecit_," but having no date. Many of the capitals of the pillars bear sculptures of rude symbolic figures, indicating early