Ghibellines drank out of smooth, and Guelfs out of chased, goblets.

Ghibellines wore white, and Guelfs red, roses.

Yawning, passing in the street, throwing dice, gestures in speaking or swearing, were used as pretexts for distinguishing the one half of Italy from the other.

So late as the middle of the fifteenth century, the Ghibellines of Milan tore Christ from the high-altar of the Cathedral at Crema and burned him because he turned his face to the Guelf shoulder.

Every great city has a tale of love and death that carries the contention of its adverse families into the region of romance and legend.