Its natural beauties are impaired by a gigantic statue of Polyphemus, bigger than any other statue in Florence.
The new Rucellai palace does not compare with the old, which is, I think, the most beautiful of all the private houses of the great day, and is more easily seen too, for there is a little piazza in front of it.

The palace, with its lovely design and its pilastered windows, is now a rookery, while various industries thrive beneath it.

Part of the right side has been knocked away; but even still the proportions are noble.

This is a bad quarter for vandalism; for in the piazza opposite is a most exquisite little loggia, built in 1468, the three lovely arches of which have been filled in and now form the windows of an English establishment known as "The Artistic White House".

An absurd name, for if it were really artistic it would open up the arches again.
The Rucellai chapel, behind the palace, is in the Via della Spada, and the key must be asked for in the palace stables.