Baldassare Castiglione Author:Julia Mary Cartwright Ady Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER I 1478-1490 Castiglione d' Olona—Roman traditions of the place—The family of Castiglione—Cardinal Branda—His church and palace—The jurist Franchino... more » Castiglione—His descendants in the service of the Sforza princes—.Baldassare Castiglione serves under Lodovico Gonzaga and settles at Mantua—Marriage of his son Cristoforo to Luigia Gonzaga—Birth of the author of ' II Cortegiano'—His early years and training. On the heights above the gorge of the Olona, about ten miles from the Lake of Varese and twenty or more from the city of Como, stands the ruined castle of the ancient Castiglione family. It is a wild and romantic spot, with the rushing waters of the mountain torrent in the ravine below, and the steep streets and stone walls of the old town straggling among the chestnut and acacia woods along its banks. The road winds through gardens of vine and maize, of fig and olive, and between the overhanging boughs of the trees we look back at the distant range of Alps and the snows of Monte Rosa. According to one historian — Bonaventura Castiglione, who was himself a member of the house— the name of the place in Roman times was Castrum Stiliconis, and owed its origin to the Vandal general Stilicho, who fixed his camp here in the days of Theodoric. Afterwards it became a flourishing town, but was destroyed by Attila and restored by Arch- vou i. 1 rebuilt c, ,j favour of the the fo years. Then an illustrious , Mho ' witJi the lotty c tha are .sti - obtained onthe old site. of the sa,ne hill, this church CASTIGLIONE D' OLONA 3 Legate to this distant land. Here we may recognize the keen face and white hair of the aged Cardinal, as Masolino painted him when he was past eighty, kneeling with the shepherds at the manger of Bethlehem, or seated at...« less