Have you ever seen an enchanted castle, one where beautiful princesses and brave warriors live, a castle bewitched by tremendous spells, with a tower that has a bell that rings every time something terrible is about to happen? I have! And if you want, I can take you there too! It’s in the center of Florence.
From the outside, it looks funny because the tower with the bell, the one I told you about earlier, is in front of another tower, a pointed one, which is the tower of a church called Badia Fiorentina. They are two towers looking at each other. If they had noses, their two noses would surely touch! Can you imagine that? Two towers with two noses bumping into each other. Do you think I’m saying silly things? No, huh! Once a man named Clet really put a nose on a tower in Florence. Then they took it off… but that’s another story! I’ll tell you another time.
Back to our castle! Come on, let’s go in! Here we are. See… there’s a nice courtyard with a well in the middle, which, I remind you, you’re not supposed to lean over, even though all the children who come here always do.
There’s a staircase! How beautiful! Let’s go up… here we are in the Verone, an open loggia from which you can see the battlements of the castle!
Battlements are those raised parts you see up there on the top part of the castle wall! They were used, if there was a need for defense, to shield oneself from the enemy’s arrows by hiding behind them. And then, if there was a need to shoot an arrow, move to where the two battlements leave a space.
Yet here, there are also birds. Right here, in the Verone!
Look at this… all the birds known at the time or almost! There are two owls, the royal one and the common one; there’s the turkey, the falcon, the peacock, the rooster, the hawk, and the pheasant.
All these birds, once upon a time, were in a cave in a garden of a Medici family villa. Along with the birds were all the animals in the world plus one! Can you guess who this “plus one” is? I’ll give you a hint… it starts with U… U like… Unicorn!
Oh yes… the Medicis were very rich and powerful, and when they did things, they did them properly!
But let’s go on… look at this… here’s a man named Jason who defeated a terrible dragon that was guarding the Golden Fleece, the fleece, that is, the fur of a ram, completely made of gold that could heal anyone from all illnesses.
Then, there’s a lion, named Marzocco. A little boy who once defeated a terrible giant named Goliath. A warrior who saved Princess Selene from another fierce dragon that would have eaten him to satisfy its hunger…
I could go on for a long time, but maybe it’s better if we continue the visit in person!!! I’ll be waiting for you…
