Fiesole
Giosuè Carducci
Where Fiesole saw from her citadel
The livid Arno once stagnate, the place
Where flowers Sulla's city, now slow of pace
Franciscans climb, recalled by clanging bell.
Among the Etruscan ruins lizards dwell,
Their fixed eyes watch through every crannied space;
While Hesper shines in solitary grace,
From cypress groves wind-wearied meanings swell.
The joyous belfry dominates the plain
From moon-shaped curve, as when Italians rose
In the dread year their glories to restore.
O Mino, thou in marble dost attain
To Nature, in thy curl-crowned boys she glows,
Maiden and mother smiling evermore.
In Etruscan times the site of Florence was still a marshy plain. Roman colonists were first sent to Fiesole and Florence by Sulla.
Mino is the sculptor Mino da Fiesole. Sculptor (died 1484).
