Florence — Past and Present

Radio Record, Volume VI, Issue 22, 9 December 1932, Page 6

Florence — Past and Present

_A Talk about one of the Oldest and Most Historic of European cities, delivered from 3YA

Bv

Dr.

WINIFRED

HAWARD

LORENCE is one ‘of those places where F it is impossible to separate past and pregent. Most places where the sense of the past is strong fill one with Fhe kind ‘of romantic awe associated with "far-off, unhappy ‘things. fin fact, the further off they are in time, the deeper ones vague emotions go. One feels it strongly in some old village church in France or England; most of ail, perhaps, among the mysterious standing stones and prehistoric cromlechs at Carnac in Britanny, where even the least romantically-minded person will sometimes cease frorit frying to clip off.a bit of stone as a souvenir to confess that it. gives you quite a funny feeling to be among all those old things. That’s not the way Florence wears her past. It 1s closely fused awith her present-700 years and more of vigorous, bustling life. And enough you may conscientiously "do the rounds," guide-book in hand, and see Dante’s housc, and the Palazzo Vecchio, and the Baptistery, and as many more churches and picture galleries as your enthusiasm will stand, the fact remains that although Florence is almost as full of historical monuments as Christchurch of strect corners, 1t 1s not a city of ruins. Everyday ‘life still ebbs and flows through and round many of "tne ancient buildings. The crowd gathers in the great square to listen to the latest in Fascist oratory, as it once listened to magistrates of the people, or speaking from the same windows of the great fortress which has seen so much history, and which is now used partly, I believe, as municipal offices. A few remaining noble families live in the enormous palaces which were -built long ago for Florentine princes-palaces built’ round a central courtyard whose outer walls, bare and forbidding, with windows high and heavily barred, no less than the iron rings in the walls to which guests once tethered their horses, and the wrought-iron lanterns and sockets for torches, tell of a time when the life of the inhabitants avas carried on under very different conditions. Time has changed, but not taken away the dangers of existence. Tf. you step back thoughtlessly to meditate on advantages of the present, you may be run over by one of the city tramcars, which run through streets uarrow enough to hold hack the rush of a mob, but not wide enough to contain unforeseen developments such as trams. You buy silver ware and trinkets ‘in the shops built over the old. bridge, that was the new bridge, when Dante used to cross it, 600 years ago. The Duomo, or Cathedral, is the most remarkable of these old-new buildings, Built about GOO years ago, enriched about a century later with. windows as brilliant as iewels. and with the monument to the

famous ,Itnglish captain who made a _ fortune and glory’ by fighting for the Florentines for pay instead of with the ‘Black Prince for love, as he probably should; the black: and white marble facade that is almost the whole of the western front, was added in the nineteenth century and seems in no way incongruous. The Duomo has indeed "‘seen life." . Yo can reconstruct almost step for step the scene that, took place in 1478, when an attempt was made to murder the two Medici brothers, who in fact, though not in name, had become masters of the city. The signal was given one Sunday during Mass. The younger brother, Guiliano, stand- VA ing beside the eastern-most pillar of the nave, was taken unawares and struck down. ‘The elder, Lorenzo, who was on the opposite ‘side of the aisle, saw the blow, just before it fell, and with two of his friends, made a wild dash to the sacristy. They bolted the heavy bronze doors --the doors which had been cast shortly béfore by the artist Luca della Robbia, and which are there to this day-and kept ‘the enemy at bay while their supporters rode through the streets rousing the people, and

C last torced their Way into the Duomo, seized the conspirators, and rescued them. Fifteen years later the building rang to the voice of Savonarola, the great reforming friar, with his warnings of the impending downfall of the city ; a prophecy which seemed to be fulfilled when the King of France swept into Italy with A.

great invading army, ana entering Florence as a conqueror, rode through the streets in the Duomo with a magnificent retinue of French horsemen and Scottish archers, though, when he descended from his horse and mounted the steps, it fs reported that the people noticed that he was short and ugly and _- stupidlooking, and fitted ill the pageantry. of the occasion. And, in those days, mediaeval and modern seem closely linked by the Easter Eve ceremony, when, in commemoration of one of the early heroes who, in crusading days, brought back fire from Jerusalera (Continued on page 24.)

Florence-Past and Present (Continued from page 6.) to FMrence, an _ artificial dove bearing Are is released from above the High Altar, is swung across the church on a wire, and lights, or is supposed to light, a car loaded with fireworks standing outside the western door. According to whether the pile takes fire easily or not, the augury for the fortunes of the city during the following year is considered good'or bad. — ‘ Florence, like other Italian cities, rose to prominence in a way which seems strange to English traditions of town life. In Roman times there was a settlement on the site of the city.

but it had to be refounded later on. There has always been a strong feeling for city life among the social Italjans, An Englishman would probably spend his leisure by digging.in his garden or wandering round the golf links, when an Italian would sally forth to discover animated company. ~ Anyhow, at an early date, the ‘nobles of Italy gave up living in stately isolation on their country estates, and migrated to such centres of population as they could find. They surmounted these towns with walls, as a protection again attack, but within the walls they, and their retainers, lived in towers fortified as strongly as the eastles on their country estates, and they continued to carry on vigorous feuds against their particular enemies. Because of the multitude of its castles, Pavia was known as the "City of a

Hundred Towers." But in course of time merehants ‘and manufacturers came to ply their business within the shelter of the city walls-Florence became famous for the manufacture of cloth o’ silk-and the merchant classes strove, and in the end succeeded, in taking the government out of the hands of the nobles. They tried to put an end to aristoeratic feuds by ordering that the towers of the nobles should be razed to the level of the surrounding roofs. A few of these grim, square buildings remain, reminders of the fierce fighting that once took place in the narrow streets. The merchants also succeeded in excluding the nobles from the city government, and a sentence of

compulsory ennoblement was often imposed on offenders as a dignified form of punishment, preventing them from taking a further part in politics. The triumph of the bourgeoisie did not put an end to the fights and feuds. There were struggles between rival factions, such as that in which Dante was driven into exile. There were struggles even more bitter between the rich and poor, the merchants and the poorer craftsmen, in the course of which, for one amazing year, the poor got the upper hand. And alli the time the merchants and the manufacturers and the bankers of the city were steadily extending their business, These men, who sometimes went for fear of their lives in their own turbulent city, were looked on as international. figures of fabulous wealth by their clients in other countries. And through riots and revolutions, artists and sculptors, such as Giotto and Donabello, went on steadily with their work, making Florence the greatest artistic centre in the western world: but of the artists, except incidentally, I do not intend to speak. It is difficult enough to chose a few aspects only of the city’s rich and vigorous history. The furious struggles ended, as Aristotle, the great sage, over 2000 years ago warned his contemporaries would happen, and as we might gather from the events of the last dozen years of the world’s history, in the rule of a single man, or rather of a single family -a despotism almost unique in its origins and nature, for they were able practically to buy up the State. ' The Florentines had long specialised in financial transactions. Their trade brought them into contact with all the countries 6f Europe. They were the first to develop a banking system. They acted as agents for the collection of Papal dues, and they probably devised the bill of exchange as a means of forwarding money to the Papal treasury at Rome and subsequently at Avignon. The Florentine gold piece was a recognised medium of exchange throughout Europe, and in the East they were the financiers of kings and governments to the tune of tens,of thousands of pounds-more like millions to-day-not excluding the chronically impecunious kings of England. The big firms had branches in all the important cities of Hurope, The Medici, originally an obscure family of merchants, slowly outstrip-

ped their rivals and made themselvesf particularly unpopular among the orhey prominent Florentine families by rather ostentatious patronage of demoeratic movements... They were always ready to advance money to the smaller traders and built up a devoted clientele of supporters, : , At last the wealthy families decided to get rid of them, and they drove Cosimo de Medici, the head of the family, into exile. At the end of a year he came back in triumph, and for 60 years he and his son’and grandson, although in name they were no more than private citizens of the Republic, ruled over the city as sovereign princes, The highest offices in the Republic were filled by lot; a method that was supposed to be a safeguard against corrupt influences, and every few months fresh names were drawn out of certain bags containing the names of all well-to-do citizens. Cosimo did ‘not attempt to alarm the people by interfering with this cherished custom, but he instituted: an inspection of the names placed in the bags in order that no "unworthix’ person might hold office-and his irMrpretation of "unworthy" was vious. Moreover, the Florentines, being exceedingly shrewd, had already discovered the merits of an income tax, and were accustomed to check evasion by revising the assessment rolls each year. The Medici paid their opponents the compliment of crediting them with majestic incomes, and were taxed accordingly, until some of them were driven into exile, whilst their supporters were enthusiastic in living in a city where taxation was so delightfully low. 7 The Medici had also a private inter national position as bankers. By givirig or withholding money they could keep a hand on the politics of neighbouring princes. They acted as bankers to the King of France, and supplied money for dowries and war supplies to half the princes of Europe. Their agents really acted as ambassadors of the Florentine people. No less remarkable than their financial genius was their capacity to attract to their service the great figures in Renaissance art and learning, though luck was also with them, for quite three-quarters of the most famous artists of that brilliant period were born in Florence-a city of some 100,000 people. It would be a proud boast if any city to-day could claim that one in every thousand of her inhabitants were men of genius whose names would be known for all time. Perhaps one in one hundred thousand would be a more normal proportion in the world to-day. By far the most spectacular fs a patron of culture was Lorenzo, who just escaped with his life from the attack in the Duomo. Himself poet and philosopher, and art critic, he gathered round him by far the most brilliant court in Europe. But his less gifted grandfather was the wiser of the two, for Lorenzo was too much absorbed by the arts of life to bother much about the banking business. At his death the Medici fortune had vanished, and the business was on the verge of hank- ’ ruptcy. His successors found that "they, . eould no longer control the city. and they had to fall back on high-sounding titles to preserve the shadow of that authority that their ancestors had won by the purse. [Owing to pressure on space, we have been compelled. to withhold the remainder of this article until next week. -Ed.}