"The bell in the Bargello called the Montanara obtained the name of
the _Campana delle Arme_ because it was the signal for citizens to
lay aside their weapons and retire home."--_Hare's_ "_Cities of
Central Italy_."
"Where towers are crushed, and temples fair unfold
A new magnificence that vies with old,
Firm in its pristine majesty hath stood
A votive column."--_Wordsworth_, "_Pillar of Trajan_."
Very near to the Church of Santa Maria Novella is the small piazza or
open place of the _Croce al Trebbio_. This is a column with a crucifix,
the whole being of beautiful proportions and of a strikingly romantic
character. It is said to have been raised to commemorate a victory of
"that sanguinary fanatic Saint Peter Martyr" over the Paterini. "The
Croce al Trebbio," says Leader Scott, "of the year 1244, is a work of the
Pisan school, but whether it is by Niccolo or Giovanni Pisani, who were
in Florence about that epoch, there is nothing to show. There was {31} a
curious Latin inscription in Gothic letters, which began: _Sanctus
Ambrosius cum Sancto Zenobio propter grande mysterium hanc crucem_--and
went on to say that it was _reconstructed_ by the bishops of Florence and
of Aquileia in August 1308. It is evident that the connection of the
cross with Saint Peter Martyr is mere conjecture, the Italian authorities
say _che si crede_, '_believed_' to be erected on the spot where a
victory was gained over the Paterini. If this were so, where is the
mystery referred to in the inscription?"
The legend, which was after long inquiry recovered by my collector,
distinctly describes the _reconstruction_ of the cross, and as certainly
sets forth a _mysterium magnum_ with an apparition of the Virgin on this
very spot, which would have assuredly caused a pillar, if not a church,
to be erected in the thirteenth century. The story of this mystery is as
follows: