ich is attributed
to Orcagna, and its possessions, among which come first the relief
monuments of early Acciaioli in the floor of one of the chapels--the
founder's being perhaps also the work of Orcagna, while that of his son
Lorenzo, who died in 1353, is attributed by our cicerone to Donatello,
but by others to an unknown hand. It is certainly very beautiful. These
tombs are the very reverse of those which we saw in S. Croce; for
those bear the obliterating traces of centuries of footsteps, so that
some are nearly flat with the stones, whereas these have been railed
off for ever and have lost nothing. The other famous Certosa tomb is
that of Cardinal Angelo Acciaioli, which, once given to Donatello,
is now sometimes attributed to Giuliano di Sangallo and sometimes to
his son Francesco.

The Certosa has a few good pictures, but it is as a monastery that
it is most interesting: as one of the myriad lonely convents of
Italy, which one sees so constantly from the train, perched among
the Apennines, and did not expect ever to enter. The cloisters
which surround the garden, in the centre of which is a well, and
beneath which is the distillery, are very memorable, not only for
their beauty but for the sixty and more medallions of saints and
evangelists all round it by Giovanni della Robbia. Here the monks
have sunned themselves, and here been buried, these five and a half
centuries. One suite of rooms is shown, with its own little private
garden and no striking discomfort except the hole in the wall by
the bed, through which the sleeper is awakened. From its balcony one
sees the Etna far below and hears the roar of a weir, and away in the
distance is Florence with the Duomo and a third of Giotto's Campanile
visible above the intervening hills.

Having shown you all the sights the monk leads you again to the
entrance hall and bids you good-bye, with murmurs of surprise and
a hint of reproach on discovering a coin in his hand, for which,
however, none the less, he manages in the recesses of his robe to
find a place; and you are then directed to the room where the liqueur,
together with sweets and picture post-cards, is sold by another monk,
assisted by a lay attendant, and the visit to the Certosa is over.

The tram that passes the Certosa continues to S. Casciano in the
Chianti district (but much wine is called Chianti that never came
from here), where there is a point of interest in the house to which
Machiavelli retired