[2] tenendo dozzina, by taking roomers.
[3] campanile di Giotto. The bell tower of the cathedral at Florence was designed and begun by Giotto (1276-1336), who has been called the father of modern Italian art.
[4] Pio IX. Pius IX. was pope from 1846 to 1878.
[5] ha conciato per le feste, he held up to censure.
[6] Cascine, the park of Florence, so called from having been part of a former dairy-farm (cascina, a dairy or pasture ground).
[7] piazza della Signoria, the central square of Florence.—tanto di Biancone (biancone, a person extremely pale or white) probably alludes to a huge statue of Neptune in the square.
[8] quanto ci corre da, how much inferior is.