The Italian Twins
Publisher Description
Near the banks of the river Arno, in an upper room of the beautiful old
palace of the Grifoni family, Beppina, the twelve-year-old daughter of
the Marchese, lay peacefully sleeping. In his own room across the hall
from hers, Beppo, her twin brother, slept also, though it was already
early dawn of Easter Saturday in the city of Florence, and both children
had meant to be up before the sun, that no hour of the precious holiday
should be lost in sleep.
It was the jingle of donkey bells and the sound of laughing voices in
the street below her windows that at last roused Beppina. Though it was
not yet light, the peasants were already pouring into the city from
outlying villages and farms, bringing their families in donkey-carts or
wagons drawn by sleek oxen, to enjoy the wonderful events which were to
take place in the city on that holy day.