Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/344

 332 FLORENCE Florentines of all ranks belong to the society, and the members are equally bound to lend their services without remuneration when summoned, either to convey sick or wounded persons to the hospital, to nurse them in their homes, or to carry the dead to burial. Next in antiquity is the Bigallo for the reception of orphans or children abandoned by their parents, as well as the Innocent! or Foundling Hospital. The most admirably conducted modern charity is the work-house or Pia Casa di Lavoro of Monte Domini. The building comprises two former con vents ; the Pia Casa is self-supporting, and independent of the municipality. None are admitted who are able-bodied, or who have relations capable of supporting them. Au excellent education is provided for the boys, who are taught a trade by being bound apprentices to one of the workshops attached to the establishment. The girls are provided with dowries when they leave the Pia Casa. There are nine theatres, and several public parks or gardens. The Cascine, a large extent of ground surrounding a fancy farm formerly belonging to the grand dukes, and planted in long avenues of ilex and other trees, is the fashionable resort of the Florentine nobility. The Strada dei Colli, outside the Porta Romana, winds round the hills of Arcetri and San Miniato, affording a magnificent pros pect over Florence. The Boboli garden, behind the Pitti, and belonging to the royal palace, is open twice a week to the public, and, with its trim alleys, quaint terraces, statues, and fountains, is the delight of the Florentines. Galleries of Art and Libraries. Besides some excellent private collections, such as those of the Torrigiani, Corsini, and Strozzi, the Uffizi contains a very fine gallery of paint ings, especially of the Tuscan school, but including several of Raphael s and Titian s masterpieces. The greatest treas ures of the gallery are contained in one room called the Tri bune, where are also placed the most celebrated statues of antiquity. A suite of small rooms contains some admirable specimens of other schools of painting. In one of the larger rooms is the famous group of the Niobe ; two others are filled with portraits of artists, chiefly by their own hands ; and there are, besides, valuable collections of busts, coins, medals, gems, engravings, and drawings by the old masters. The Pitti collection of paintings is perhaps the finest in the world, not only from the chefs d oeuvre of the great masters, but from the small number of pictures which maybe considered of even mediocre merit. The Academy is assigned for the best examples of early art down to the time of Fra Angelico and Perugino; and connected with it are the cloisters of the former convent of the Scalzo or barefooted friars, where arc some of the finest works of Andrea del Sarto in chiaroscuro. The Egyptian museum in the Via Faonza is small, but contains several objects of interest, and the museum of Etruscan art under the same roof is peculiarly important from a life-size bronze statue, a marble Greek sarcophagus with a coloured representation of the battles between the Greeks and Amazons, and a terra-cotta statue of a lady in the costume of the third century before Christ. Here also is an interesting fresco of the Last Supper attributed to Raphael, whilst the Convent de Pazzi possesses the finest work of his master Perugino, a Crucifixion, now open to the public. There are three large and valuable libraries in the city. The National library, which unites the former library of the Pitti with the Magliabccchian, the two together contain ing 280,000 volumes : the Marucelliana, chiefly remarkable for important works on art ; and the Laurentian, founded by Lorenzo de Medici, and attached to the convent of San Lorenzo. Tin s last is rich in a collection of more than 9000 valuable manuscripts, as well as illuminated bibles and missals, and possesses about 20 ; 000 volumes of print. The pride of the collection is an original and perhaps unique copy of the Pandects of Justinian. University and Schools. The university of Florence, which is rather an institute for advanced studies, Istituti de Studi Superior! Pratici e di Perfezionamento, has its origin as far back as the year 1348. It was divided into six &quot;schoke,&quot; viz., theology, jurisprudence, medicine, belles lettres, Greek and Latin literature, and astrology or astronomy. To counteract the effects of the plague, -which in the year just mentioned had decimated Florence and caused the city to be avoided by strangers, it was decreed that no one living within the walls, or even in the territory of the republic, should be allowed to seek an education abroad, and that those youths who were already attending other lyceums should forthwith return to their native city. In 1421 there were already 42 professors, and although in 1472 the Medici desired to revive the splendour of the Pisan university, and transferred several of the chairs from the city to Pisa, Florence retained many distinguished professors. The university underwent various changes, both in organization and name, but continued to flourish under the Medicean grand dukes. It gave rise to several academies, the most ancient of which was the Platonic, founded by Marsilio Ficino, for the cultivation of Greek literature, the Florentine academy, and the Accademia del Cimento (discussion) which had its rise with Galileo and his scholars. The Accademia della Crusca named from crusca- (bran) to express sifting the language was founded in 1552, and the agricultural academy of the Georgofili in 1783. The taste for botany of Cosimo I. led to the for mation of a herbal garden (Giardino de Semplici) and ultimately to the botanic garden under the walls of the Boboli. Natural science first formed a branch of study under the patronage of the Medici, who invited foreigners of scientific distinction to Florence. A vast collection of objects of natural science and physics having accumulated, the celebrated professor Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti, in the 18th century, threw them open to the public. The observatory, once attached to the museum, has been removed to a height corresponding with that on which Galileo made his observations. The collection in the museum was enriched by the valuable waxen anatomical preparations of Giulio Zummo of Syracuse, and by a unique collection of physical instruments, most of which had belonged to the Accademia di Cimento. The university was reorganized in 1859, when Baron Ricasoli presided over Tuscany. Several new professorships were founded, in law, philosophy, and philology. In 1869 a chair of anthropology was added. The medical school of Sta Maria Nuova has also been attached to the university. At one time the students of law, medicine, and natural science were expected to pursue their studies, first in Pisa, and the last two years in Florence, where they received their degrees. This has again been modified, and students in Florence have now the option of receiving degrees in Florence, Siena, or Pisa. Natural science degrees are conferred at the Specula, or institute of natural science, in the Via Romana. The communal or municipal schools, where the pupils are admitted gratis, have increased enormously. From 4 schools under the last grand-duke, there are now, besides 32 elementary schools, 15 lyceums, of which three are for girls, and one of these a normal school for the training of teachers. The entire number of pupils in the schools averages 7900. The manufactures are few and of small importance, that of silk standing first. The cultivation of the silk-worm and straw plaiting are the usual occupations of the people. The porcelain manufacture of the Marchese Ginori at Doccia, a few miles from Florence, has greatly fallen oil in work as well as reputation; but a successful attempt to