Leyte (CV 32) - Naval Cruise Book

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FLORENCE (FIRENZE) FLORENCE will always hold an outstanding place in world history as a center of culture and the cradle of the Renaissance. Florence is situated some fifty miles from the mouth of the Amo River. Many of us took the CIT Tours to this beautiful town. After a three-hour bus ride, with a brief stop at Pisa, we reached Firenze, which means flower in Italian. We spent two afternoons seeing the magnificent sights of Florence. Florence grew from an old Roman town of Fiesole at a bridge across the Arno. Between the 13th and 16th century Florence reached its zenith as a banking, trade and art center. During the Renaissance the city was covered with monuments, palaces, and marvelous churches. Great artists such as Michelangelo, Raphael, and Cellini; great writers such as Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio; and great scientists such as Galileo and Leonardo da Vinci spread her fame throughout Europe. We saw Florence ' s beautiful churches, her fort- ress-like palaces and marvelous art galleries. With regret we left this beautiful city at the end of two davs. Chapel of the Princes Cathedral of St. Mary of the Flower • ti ' . ±% Palazzo Veechio Ponte Veoehio with its shops

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THE MARBLE MARVELS OF PISA SOME seven miles north of Leghorn lies Pisa, a town made world-famous by its leaning tower. The Leaning Tower was built as a bell tower, adja- cent to Pisa ' s beautiful Cathedral, in 1174 and com- pleted in 1350. Poor foundations caused the edi- fice to lean before the builders had finished the third floor. Today this tower of white marble leans some fifteen feet out of the perpendicular. Many of us climbed the 293 steps to the top gallery. Looking down from here, we felt a sensation of falling over or the feeling that we had one too many. The oblique position of this tower enabled Galileo to make his famous experiments on the law of gravity here. i •••• ' if knew t •iHuutb N..t SHToppeo r 5i« C OCrHftC s The Cathedral, Baptistry, and Campo Santo, along with the famous tower, tell of the glorious past and departed splendor of Pisa. These four buildings were built about 1200 A.D. on what is now called the field of miracles. All four lean to some extent due to their poor foundations. Pisa was once a great seaport, although she is now several miles from the sea. Pisa lost her prosperity and power in wars with the rival cities of Florence and Genoa. Today, her ancient buildings remain a symbol of the profound religious feeling, the love of art, and the spirit of the Middle Ages. 1 I I Where Bambinos Get Their First Bath Jomc of u3 w f on fovrj tor Cuffvrc - Swn .

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PALERMO-DECEMBER 3-7 THE LEYTE steamed into Palermo on December 3rd, a week ' s operations with the entire task licet still warm and weary in OUT memories. Sicily ' s capital and largest city didn ' t prove a liberty hound ' s delight, hut the sunny disposition and atmosphere made it interesting. Fringed around the edge of a semicircular bav in the northern part of the island, Palermo is guarded by a towering, beautiful rock similar to Gibraltar. And. like the Hock, it boasts a history as up and down as a pendulum. Italy relieved English and Spanish elements of Sunny Sicily in 1860, and has been rewarded by such nice groups as the Mafia (Black Hand Society) and Giuliano and his merry men, a gang of bandits who presently have die police chiefs behind the well-known eight ball. Palermo is also the home town of Lucky Luciano. — £ Monte Pellegrino gazes down across . . . Palermo, the capital of all Sicily. ! ' ' The Cathedral of Palermo. Unchanged in a 1000 Years. Well in an old Moorish Mosque of the Sixth Century. St. John of the Hermit ' s Church