N. 3. - Inscription placed at the outlet of BORGO DEI GRECI near Piazza Signoria:
Reading edition
Nel picciol cerchio s’entrava per porta Che si nomava da quei della Pera. DANTE, Paradiso, XVI, 125–126. One entered the small circuit by a gate Which from the Della Pera took its name. Longfellow’s translation.
Picciol Cerchio (= Antica Cerchia see N. 2).
The circuit of the city walls differed at various epochs. To belong to a family, whose houses were within the first or innermost and therefore smallest circle was a title of highest nobility, indicating descent from the original inhabitants of the city, whose blood was unmixed with that of new-comers from the neighbouring castles and villages. Cacciaguida says: “I tell a thing incredible but true: one entered the small circuit by a gate, which from the Della Pera took its name.”
The thing incredible being, that there should have been so little jealousy among the citizens of Florence in those days, as to suffer one of the city-gates, Porta Peruzza to be named after one particular family.
The Peruzzi—probably descendents from the Della Pera—still show the pear in their arms, varying from one to six. It is to be supposed however, that at Dante’s time, they showed but one pear, as indicated in the name: Della Pera.
GALIGAI