DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19776#0101
THE GARDENS OF ITALY.
near seventy and having several grown-up children,
took as his second wife, Caterina, the young
daughter of a dyer, who was popularly called " the
fair Cherubim," from her silken gold hair and
her exquisite colouring. Her husband being " the
ugliest, most tiresome, and the dirtiest man in
Florence," it was scarcely to be wondered at that
Caterina had first one lover and then another.
She finally made the acquaintance of the Duke,
who fell violently in love with her and used to
visit her frequently. He could not prevent his
infidelity reaching the ears of the Duchess, who
was bitterly jealous. She tried to poison Caterina,
but failing, she laid a plot to get rid of hex.
She contrived to get hold of Caterina's two
step-sons, Bartolommeo and Francesco, and by
bribes, promising to hold them harmless and to
make them an allowance, she prevailed on the
elder to introduce the instruments of her vengeance
into their father's house. She hired four assassins
from Massa, who on December 31st, 1638, effected
an entrance and brutally murdered the unfortunate
Caterina and her maid. They cut the bodies
to pieces and threw them down a well and
into the Arno, all except the head of poor
Caterina, which the Duchess had desired to have
sent to her.
" Now the Duchess," continues the narrative,
" was used to send to the Duke's room on Sundays
and other holidays a silver basin covered with a
fair cloth, containing collars, cuffs, and such-like
things, which the Duke was wont to change on
those days. But on this, the 1st of January .
the present sent was of a different nature. Taking
the head of poor Caterina, which, though bloodless
and cold, yet preserved the beauty which had
been the cause of her death, the Duchess placed it
in the basin, covered with the usual cloth, and
sent it by her waiting woman into the Duke's
room. When he rose and lifted the cloth to take
the clean linen, let his horror be pictured when he
saw such a pitiful sight. . . . Knowing full
well that his wife had done this deed, he would
have no more of her, and for many a long year
refused to be where she was." It was at Villa
Salviati that this dreadful offering was made, and
there is still a legend that in the dusk of the last
night of the year, a fair head rolls silently along
the haunted floor ol the Duke's chamber.
The last Salviati who owned the villa was a
Cardinal. He left it to his niece, Princess Borirhese.
Later it was sold to an Englishman and then to
Mario, the famous tenor, who as Duke of Candia
lived there with Grisi, and who there entertained
Garibaldi when he visited Florence. It now
belongs to Signor Turri.
( S9 )
near seventy and having several grown-up children,
took as his second wife, Caterina, the young
daughter of a dyer, who was popularly called " the
fair Cherubim," from her silken gold hair and
her exquisite colouring. Her husband being " the
ugliest, most tiresome, and the dirtiest man in
Florence," it was scarcely to be wondered at that
Caterina had first one lover and then another.
She finally made the acquaintance of the Duke,
who fell violently in love with her and used to
visit her frequently. He could not prevent his
infidelity reaching the ears of the Duchess, who
was bitterly jealous. She tried to poison Caterina,
but failing, she laid a plot to get rid of hex.
She contrived to get hold of Caterina's two
step-sons, Bartolommeo and Francesco, and by
bribes, promising to hold them harmless and to
make them an allowance, she prevailed on the
elder to introduce the instruments of her vengeance
into their father's house. She hired four assassins
from Massa, who on December 31st, 1638, effected
an entrance and brutally murdered the unfortunate
Caterina and her maid. They cut the bodies
to pieces and threw them down a well and
into the Arno, all except the head of poor
Caterina, which the Duchess had desired to have
sent to her.
" Now the Duchess," continues the narrative,
" was used to send to the Duke's room on Sundays
and other holidays a silver basin covered with a
fair cloth, containing collars, cuffs, and such-like
things, which the Duke was wont to change on
those days. But on this, the 1st of January .
the present sent was of a different nature. Taking
the head of poor Caterina, which, though bloodless
and cold, yet preserved the beauty which had
been the cause of her death, the Duchess placed it
in the basin, covered with the usual cloth, and
sent it by her waiting woman into the Duke's
room. When he rose and lifted the cloth to take
the clean linen, let his horror be pictured when he
saw such a pitiful sight. . . . Knowing full
well that his wife had done this deed, he would
have no more of her, and for many a long year
refused to be where she was." It was at Villa
Salviati that this dreadful offering was made, and
there is still a legend that in the dusk of the last
night of the year, a fair head rolls silently along
the haunted floor ol the Duke's chamber.
The last Salviati who owned the villa was a
Cardinal. He left it to his niece, Princess Borirhese.
Later it was sold to an Englishman and then to
Mario, the famous tenor, who as Duke of Candia
lived there with Grisi, and who there entertained
Garibaldi when he visited Florence. It now
belongs to Signor Turri.
( S9 )