Chapter IX

274

The Duomo—Its interior—Michael Angelo’s farewell—Vasari—Congress
of artists convoked—A dome of pumice stone—Brunelleschi turned
out as a madman—The egg—His colleague Ghiberti—His feigned
illness—The difficulties divided—Height of the dome—Giotto—The
Campanile—Pietro Farnese—His gilded mule—Dante—Condemned to be
burned at the stake—Peter of Toledo-Conrad the traitor—The
sacristy—The Pazzi—Julian murdered—Salviati hanged in his
cardinal’s robes—Seventy executions—The artist nicknamed Andrea
of the Hanged—The baptistery—The withered elm restored—The story
of Joseph—John the Twenty-third from pirate become pope—Palazzo
Riccardi—Gardens of Lorenzo—Michael Angelo—The Strada del
Traditore—Lorenzino—The duke Alessandro—Made unpopular through
his vices—The plot—Anecdote told by Benvenuto Cellini—The
rendezvous—The murder—Lorenzino assassinated in turn—The
Galleria—The Palazzo Pitti—Cosmo—His sons’ quarrel—The eldest
killed by his brother—The father’s revenge—His wife
poisoned—Duke Francesco and Bianca Capello—Her story and death