All children born in Florence are still baptized here, and I watched one afternoon an old priest at the task, a tiny Florentine being brought in to receive the name of Tosca, which she did with less distaste than most, considering how thorough was his sprinkling.

The Baptistery is rich in colour both without and within.

The floor alone is a marvel of intricate inlaying, including the signs of the zodiac and a gnomic sentence which reads the same backwards and forwards--"En gire torte sol ciclos et roterigne".

On this very pavement Dante, who called the church his "beautiful San Giovanni," has walked.

Over the altar is a gigantic and primitive Christ in mosaic, more splendid than spiritual.