It was on a lovely day in early June when Caterina reached the Lido, and landed under a gold and crimson {236} awning, whence she was conducted to San Niccolo to await the ceremonies of the next day. The Doge, with a train of noble ladies, came to conduct her in state to the then Palazzo Ferrara (later Fondaco dei Turchi, and now Municipal Museum), a residence which the city had prepared for its daughter. As the Bucentaur, bearing his Serenity and the ladies, neared the Lido, a great wind became so alarming that the queen's embarking was delayed. At length, the sea having subsided, Caterina was brought on board in the costume which Bellini painted in "The Miracle of the Cross," where she kneels, dressed in black velvet, with a veil and jewels in the fashion of Cyprus. The Bucentaur, with a procession of boats following, moved up the Grand Canal. When opposite the Cornaro Palace, the Doge knighted Giorgio Cornaro, in recognition of his services in persuading Caterina to resign her crown. The three days following were devoted to banquets and ceremonials in the Palazzo Ferrara, when all possible honor was showered on Caterina, and her pride and vanity satisfied to the full. But one more sacrifice was needed to content her tender parent, Venice. In San Marco, before the same altar where nineteen years earlier she had been made the child of the Republic, she was obliged to go through a long and solemn office of abdication. She was then given the castle of Asolo for life; and until it could be made ready to receive her she was lodged in the palace on the Grand Canal, which was afterwards called the Palazzo Corner del la Regina, in her honor. It is now the Montè di Pietà. It was at the most favored season when Caterina made the journey to Asolo. She was met by olive-crowned peasants, who came to welcome their lady, bearing garlands and flowers in their hands. They held a gorgeous canopy above her, as they led her to the Piazza, where an orator showered compliments, apostrophies, and hyperbole upon her in this fashion:-- {237} "Oh, happy land of Asolo! and oh, most happy flock that now hast found so just and sweet a shepherdess! Oh, ship thrice fortunate, whose tiller lies in such a skilful hand! Ye then, ye laurel boughs, the victor's meed, endure the sharp tooth of our knife that carves on you the name of Caterina. Sing, birds, unwonted strains to grace the name, the glorious name, Cornelia!"