TUSCANY A selection of travel literature, published between 1881 and 1925, in the Harold Acton Library

from Francesca Alexander: Tuscan Songs, 1897

Library and Cultural Centre Lungarno Guicciardini 9 Firenze 50125 Tel: +39 055 2677 8270 Fax: +39 055 2677 8252

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This guide to a selection of books from our collection was put together by Michele Amedei, intern from the Università degli Studi di Firenze. It is one of a series of three: , Tuscany and Beyond, Villas and Gardens.

FRANCESCA ALEXANDER Tuscan Songs ISABELLE M. ANDERTON Tuscan Folk-Lore and Sketches MONTGOMERY CARMICHAEL In Tuscany: Tuscan Towns, Tuscan Types and the Tuscan Tongue ADA M. HARRISON Some Tuscan Cities MAURICE HEWLETT Earthwork out of Tuscany MAURICE HEWLETT The Road in Tuscany: a Commentary KATHERINE HOOKER Byways in Southern Tuscany WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS Tuscan Cities EDWARD HUTTON A Wayfarer in Unknown Tuscany DOROTHY NEVILE LEES Tuscan Feasts and Tuscan Friends MARY FRANCES ROBINSON Memories of Prato JANET ROSS Italian Sketches WILLIAM WETMORE STORY Vallombrosa BLANCHE STRAHAN LEMON A biography

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Francesca Alexander, Tuscan Songs: collected, translated and illustrated by Francesca Alexander , Cambridge (Riverside Press), 1897 [AR 782.42 ALE] Francesca (her original name was Frances) Alexander was born in in 1837 and died aged eighty in in 1917. She was the daughter of an American portraitist and a wealthy heiress. In 1855 she moved to Florence. Francesca spent the summer in Abetone (near ) where she met Beatrice di Pian degli Ontani, a young peasant woman whom Francesca described as ‘one of the most wonderful women whom I ever knew’ (p. v). Beatrice helped Francesca to collect typical Tuscan songs that were eventually published as: Tuscan Songs . Francesca writes about the songs and hymns, saying: ‘Already the old songs are fast being forgotten; many of them it would be impossible now to find, and others are sung only by a few aged people who will soon be gone, or in some remote corners of the mountains; and in a few years they will probably be heard no more. They have served their time, and many people laugh at them now, and some have told me that I should have done better to spend my time and work on something valuable […]. Labouring people have sung them at their work, and have felt their burdens lightened; they have brightened the long winter evenings of the poor women in lonely houses high among the mountains, when they have been sitting over their fires of fir branches, with their children about them, shut in by the snow outside, and with their men all away in the ’ (p. vi). The songs were described by Francesca in the original Tuscan and translated into English; each song is accompanied by Francesca’s fine drawings. These drawings represent different kinds of country flowers, drawn with great ability and naturalistic attention, small Tuscan landscapes and peasant scenes.

Isabella M. Anderton, Tuscan Folk-Lore and Sketches: Together with Some Other Papers , London (Arnold Fairbairns) 1905 [C. 914.55 AND] Isabella Mary Anderton (d. 1904) lived for many years in Florence and married Rodolfo Barbieri. She is buried in the Allori cemetery. The cover of the book has a typical Art Nouveau style: on a white

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field the title of the book is decorated with olive branches and leaves. This book is a collection of six stories ‘told me' – writes the author – ‘by various peasants during a summer stay amid the Tuscan Apenninies above Pistoia’(p. 9). Many of these stories are linked to Clementina an old peasant woman: ‘I fell ill, and, there being no nurses and no doctors, was tended by an old peasant woman, who, living alone [...], was only too glad to spend the warmth of her heart in ‘keeping me company and tending me to the best of her ability’ (p. 9). In the second part of the book Isabella Anderton writes about the cultural traditions of Tuscany, as in the chapter dedicated to the ‘florentine calcio’ in which she describes the players and their games. But she was also interested in the island of Elba. The final chapters are devoted to modern Italian poets such as Giosué Carducci and Giovanni Pascoli.

Montgomery Carmichael, In Tuscany: Tuscan Towns, Tuscan Types and the Tuscan Tongue , London (John Murray), 1901 [C 914.55 CAR] As in many books relating to Italian journeys and published at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Carmichael seems to break with the tradition of the Grand Tour. In Tuscan Towns, Tuscan Types and the Tuscan Tongue Carmichael tries to open up to a new and unusual pilgrimage in Tuscany (a similar example is the book of Dorothy Nevile Lees, Tuscan Feasts and Tuscan Friends , London [Chatto and Windus], 1907). In the first chapters Carmichael studies, something like an amateur anthropologist, some of the different types of the Tuscan people, and in the third collection of chapters, In Tuscan Towns (pp. 121-218), he attempts to explain the ways and habits of Tuscan cities. In this book there is an interesting series of photographs: some of them – maybe the most interesting – are taken by Pietro Rossini and include ‘Leghorn types’, ‘A Lavantine Trader’, ‘Water from the Public Founts’ representing two women at the entrance to a building, ‘The Policemen’ and ‘Coral Girls’. Carmichael also describes the island of Elba and its ‘Portoferraio’ (pp. 199-218) of which he traces the history. The two final sections are dedicated to ‘A Tuscan Sanctuary: Mount La Verna’ and the history of a typical Tuscan

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sport, ‘Pallone’ (pp. 317-331), which is not like European football but is a sport similar to modern American baseball (as a document of this sport, there is also an interesting photograph by Zaccaria).

from: Montgomery Carmichael In Tuscany 1901

Ada M. Harrison, Some Tuscan Cities , London (A.&C. Black Ltd.), 1924 [914.55 HAR] This book is devoted to pilgrimage in ten smaller cities in Tuscany. Ada Harrison’s itinerary moves from the north-western Tuscan cities (, Carrara, Lucca, Pistoia and Prato) to the south-eastern cities (Arezzo, Cortona, San Gimignano, Volterra and Siena). For each city she describes the story of the people she meets and the physical characteristics of the place. The author tries to trace the typical characteristics that differentiate one town from another: in Pisa, for example, she describes the characteristics of the ancient buildings. Ada Harrison often gives information about the history 5

of churches and their major artistic works but this is not strictly a guide book. The book is illustrated with a series of drawings by Robert S. Austin who often tries to portray the cities from an unusual point of view.

Maurice Hewlett, Earthwork out of Tuscany being Impressions and of Maurice Hewlett (1895), London (Macmillan and Co.) 1901 [914.55 HEW] Maurice Hewlett (1861-1923) was an English historical novelist. He wrote this series of brilliant short pieces dedicated to the Italian landscape and Italian places. As he writes in the preface of the second edition, ‘the book has been read as a collection of essays and stories and dialogues only pulled by the binder’s tapes’ (pp. x-xi). These essays considers some aspects of Tuscan territory. Hewlett interpreted Tuscan works of art in his own way: that is, he looked at them not only from the perspective of a simple image but from their history, their links with the place – genii locorum –, and the historical culture that produced them over the centuries: ‘In it is still impossible to separate the soul and body of the soil’, he wrote (p. 5). This book, more than the others presented here, cannot be considered a travel guide, but it is useful to those who visit certain places in Tuscany attempting to locate and stimulate mutual connections between landscapes, places, the works found there and contemporary life. ‘In Italy’ – writes the author – ‘the inner secret of Italian life can be read, not in painting alone, nor poem alone, but in the swift sun, in the streets and shrouded lanes, in the golden pastures, in the plains and blue mountains; in flowery cloisters and carved church porches’ (p. 6). This special way of reading and observing Tuscany is part of a critical moment of the late nineteenth century in England and Hewlett shares this with some of the great English and American writers of his time such as, for example, and .

Maurice Hewlett, The Road in Tuscany: a Commentary , London (Macmillan and Co., Limited) 1904 [914.55 HEW] The Road in Tuscany is divided into two volumes. The first covers the territory to the north of Tuscany including Florence, Mugello,

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Garfagnana and a series of a small cities. In this first volume the writer dedicates an interesting chapter to ‘the theory that the world is a garden’ (pp. 245-267) in which he proposed some theories of aesthetics based on Italian medieval thought (Saint Francis, Boccaccio and Petrarch). The second volume relates to the territory from Pisa to the smaller towns of Tuscany (Volterra, San Casciano, Poggibonsi and Siena) and that from to Arezzo and the Casentino. For each place Maurice Hewlett traces a brief history of the art and monuments that the traveller might encounter on his pilgrimage. Each volume has by Joseph Pennell (1860- 1926) who was an engraver, a book and review illustrator and also a writer.

Katherine Hooker, Byways in Southern Tuscany , New York (Charles Scribner’s Sons), 1918. [914.55 HOO] This book covers an itinerary that considers the lesser-known cities and countryside of south Tuscany (on the first page of the book there is a map of the area). Southern Tuscany is ‘a little country, but with a great history; a region not so striking to the casual eye as more frequented ones, but with an absorbing fascination for those who try to penetrate its reticence’, writes the author (p. vii). The book is divided into sixteen chapters. Each chapter is accompanied by a number of interesting photographs of places Katherine Hooker writes about in the text. Some of these photographs reproduce unusual corners of Etruscan cities (such as Pitigliano to which Katherine devotes an interesting description) and evocative, charming places in the Tuscan countryside. Besides the photographs there is a series of drawings. For each place Katherine Hooker writes about the history of the principal monuments and works of art.

William Dean Howells, Tuscan Cities , Leipzig (Heinemann and Balestier) 1891 [C 914.55 HOW] The cover of this book is decorated with a floral frame running along two sides and bears, in the upper left, a red Florentine lily. The book is divided into five chapters: ‘Florentine mosaic’ which is the most weighty, ‘Panforte di Siena’, ‘Pitiless Pisa’, ‘Industrious

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Lucca’ and then ‘Pistoja, Prato and ’. The text is accompanied by a large number of photographs relating to the architecture, sculpture and stories mentioned in the text. Some photographs are particularly interesting because they reproduce a series of vanished places, such as that on page 114 showing a corner of the Mercato Vecchio of Florence which was demolished at the end of the nineteenth century (1888).

Edward Hutton, A Wayfarer in Unknown Tuscany , London (Methuen & Co. Ltd.) 1925 [914.55 HUT] Compared with the more traditional guides, Edward Hutton in A wayfarer in unknown Tuscany explores some places in Tuscany, in the district of Monte Amiata, that were much less well-known to foreigners. Hutton gives us the history of the former Cistercian monastery of San Salvatore, and of the smaller cities such as Radicofani, Campiglia d’Orcia, Pian Castagnaio and Santa Fiora. The writer tells us the history of places unknown to the average tourist passing through Tuscany, and the last, very interesting chapter, ‘A New Messiah’, is dedicated to the story of the preacher David Lazzaretti who was born in Arcidosso and who worked in the area of Monte Amiata. The Hutton Collection in the Archive of the British Institute of Florence contains Edward Hutton’s papers.

Dorothy Nevile Lees, Tuscan Feasts and Tuscan Friends , London (Chatto and Windus) 1907 [C 914.55 LEE] Dorothy Nevile Lees (1880-1966) was an English writer who was born in Wolverhampton in Staffordshire. She arrived in Florence in 1903 and lived here until her death. She was particularly interested in the Tuscan countryside and peasant life. This book is a collection of personal stories, bound to the landscape of Tuscany. One chapter is devoted to the ‘Villa Toscana’ in which the author describes the gardens, their physical characteristics, types of plants and gives the reader ideas of the beauty to be found in some local gardens. Lees also devotes a chapter to a child, Bianca Maria, and this gives her the opportunity to tell stories about the visits they made together into the countryside. The book seeks to go beyond a simple guide to travel and several chapters are devoted to life in the ‘Tuscan hills’ 8

or to ‘Tuscan trees’. Dorothy Nevile Lees is also interested in the cultural traditions of the region, as in Tuscan marriage or the ‘befana’, the old woman who, according to tradition, brings gifts to children at Epiphany ( befana in Italian) on 6 January.

Mary Frances Robinson, Memories of Prato , ‘The English Illustrated Magazine’, 1893-94, pp. 1238-1249 [CP 820.8 ENG] The article, which appeared in ‘The English Illustrated Magazine’, should be regarded as an historical essay. Mary Robinson, the English novelist and poet who was a close friend of Vernon Lee (Violet Paget), tells the history of that city (and its difficult relationship with nearby Florence) and its most important monuments. Mary Robinson focuses on works of art in Prato, such as the pulpit by Donatello (visible on the right side of the façade of Duomo) and the frescoes by Filippo Lippi, also in the Duomo.

Janet Ross, Italian Sketches , London (Kegan Paul, Trench and Co.) 1887 [AR 914.5 ROS] Janet Ross (1842-1927) was an English travel writer who lived outside Florence for most of her life and dedicated many books to the city and to the history of Tuscany such as Leaves from our Tuscan Kitchen, or, How to Cook Vegetables (1903), Old Florence and Modern Tuscany (1904) and The Story of Lucca (1912). Italian Sketches is divided into several chapters, some of which are particularly interesting. The British were particularly attracted to ‘Popular songs of Tuscany’ (pp. 53-86), as shown in the sheet music, Italian Popular Songs , published in 1898 by Janet Ross, and the well-known volume of Tuscan Songs copied, translated and illustrated by Francesca Alexander and published in Cambridge in 1897. Another chapter of Italian Sketches is dedicated to the ghetto of Florence (pp. 87-100) in which Janet Ross outlines a brief history of the Jews in that city and wanders through a ghetto emptied of people just before the buildings themselves were torn down. Final chapters are devoted to peasant life in the Tuscan countryside during the harvest, and others dedicated to ‘Oil-making in Tuscany’ (pp. 113- 123) and to the ‘Baths of Casciana in July’ (pp. 171-189), a place 9

particularly beloved by the English in the late nineteenth century. Janet’s Ross mother, Lucy Duff Gordon, spent many years in Egypt and wrote about her experiences there, and it is perhaps from her that Janet Ross learned to get in touch with the customs and habits of the people she met. This is one reason why she was struck by the countryside, the life of the fields, woods, farms, villas and churches in Tuscany. This interest opened a new way of approaching the Italian territory, as demonstrated by some traveller writers of the early twentieth century such as, in particular, the Englishwoman Dorothy Nevile Lees. But it must not be forgotten that Janet Ross’s interest was also a practical one; eventually she was to manage her own farm near Settignano. The Waterfield Collection in the Archive of the British Institute of Florence contains Janet Ross's papers.

William Wetmore Story, Vallombrosa , Edinburgh and London (William Blackwood & Sons), 1881 [914.551 STO] This book is the interesting story of a lovely experience in the heart of classical Tuscany, Vallombrosa. The author is William Wetmore Story (1819-1895) from Boston, a man of law who was a sculptor and was in love with Italy. Story first came to Italy to study ancient art in 1848, and decided to settle in Italy in 1850, where he died in 1895. The name ‘Vallombrosa’ indicates both a forest on the south slopes of Pratomagno and a place located within it. In the book, Story writes about the aesthetic charm of the valley and the beauty of its unspoilt countryside, he also recounts autumn walks and tells of the lives of the monks who lived in the famous abbey. The author dedicates a series of chapters to suggestions related to a ‘miraculous tree’ and to San Giovanni Gualberto, a native of the valley. Finally, parts of the book are devoted to providing information about some of the famous people who were born and lived in the valley.

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Blanche Strahan Lemon Blanche Strahan Lemon was an illustrator and artist, perhaps of French origin. We know that in 1881 she married an English painter, Arthur Lemon, and with him she lived in Florence between 10

the 1870s and 1880s. In this city she studied painting under the Italian Telemaco Signorini (their correspondence can be found in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale of Florence) and was a great friend of Vernon Lee (Violet Paget). Her husband, Arthur, was born in England and spent his childhood in Rome and in the . Around 1874 or 1875 Arthur studied in France at the atelier of the French painter Émile Carolus-Durand and then travelled to Tuscany where he became a close associate of the Post-Macchiaioli painters. Blanche Strahan illustrated many English books. Blanche made ten illustrations for Linda Villari’s On Tuscan Hills and Venetian Waters , published in 1885. Among these I suggest looking at The Villa Terrace (L. Villari, On Tuscan Hills and Venetian Waters , London [T. Fisher Unwin], 1885, p. 7) where she reproduces the terrace of the Villa Gamberaia near Florence, and An Episode of the Palio (ivi , p. 109) where Blanche portrays a ‘sbandieratore’ , a man who carries the flag that represents one of the senese ‘contrade’ (districts).

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