Transcribed from the 1895 David Nutt edition ,

Legends of Florence
Collected from the People

And Re-told
by
Charles Godfrey Leland
(Hans Breitmann)

First Series

LONDON: DAVID NUTT
270–71 STRAND
1895

p. ivPrintedby Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.
At the Ballantyne Press

p.vPREFACE

This book consists almost entirely of legends or traditions ofa varied character, referring to places and buildings inFlorence, such as the Cathedral and Campanile, the Signoria, theBargello, the different city gates, ancient towers and bridges,palaces, crosses, and fountains, noted corners, odd by-ways, andmany churches.  To all of these there are tales, or at leastanecdotes attached, which will be found as entertaining to thegeneral reader as they will be interesting, not to say valuable,to the folklorist and the student of social history; but here Imust leave the work to speak for itself.

I originally intended that this should be entirely acollection of relics of ancient mythology, with superstitions andsorceries, witchcraft and incantations, or what may be calledoccult folk-lore, of which my work on “Etruscan-RomanRemains in Popular Tradition” consists, and of which I haveenough additional material to make a large volume.  Buthaving resolved to add to it local legends, and give them thepreference, I found that the latter so abounded, and were soeasily collected by an expert, that I was obliged to cast out myoccult folk-lore, piece by piece, if I ever hoped to get into theport of publication, according to terms with the underwriters,following the principle laid down by the illustrious Poggio, p.vithat in a storm the heaviest things must go overboardfirst, he illustrating the idea with the story of the Florentine,who, having heard this from the captain when at sea in a tempest,at once threw his wife into the raging billows—perchenon haveva cosa più grave di lei—because therewas nought on earth which weighed on him so heavily.

There are several very excellent and pleasant works on OldFlorence, such as that portion devoted to it in the “Citiesof Central Italy,” by A. J. C. Hare; the “Walks aboutFlorence,” by the Sisters Horner; “FlorentineLife,” by Scaife; and the more recent and admirable book byLeader Scott, which are all—I say itadvisedly—indispensable for those who would really knowsomething about a place which is unusually opulent in ancient,adventurous, or artistic associations.  My book is, however,entirely different from these, and all which areexclusively taken from authentic records and books.  Mytales are, with a few exceptions, derived directly or indirectlyfrom the people themselves—having been recorded in thelocal dialect—the exceptions being a few anecdotes racy ofthe soil, taken from antique jest-books and such bygone halfpennyliterature as belonged to the multitude, and had its origin amongthem.  These I could not, indeed, well omit, as they everyone refer to some peculiar place in Florence.  To these Imust add several which remained obscurely in my memory, but whichI did not record at the time of hearing or reading, not havingthen the intention of publishing such a book.

It has been well observed by Wordsworth that minor locallegends sink more deeply into the soul than greater ...