November 8 Sunday – The New York Times, p.7 ran a short note of the Clemenses arrival in Florence:
Mark Twain’s Villa Near Florence.
FLORENCE, Nov. 8.—Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) and his family, accompanied by George Gregory Smith, have arrived here and taken possession of the Villa Quarto, three miles and a half from the city. The villa was formerly the property of a Russian Grand Duchesse and was afterward occupied by the King of Wurtemberg. It is now owned by Count Reybaudi Massiglia, Italian Minister to Persia, who was formerly Consul at Philadelphia, where he married Miss Paxton. [They did not take possession until Nov. 9.]
Sam wrote on Villa di Quarto stationery to Edward B. Caulfield, asking the reporter not to repeat some scandalous remarks he’d made about Mary Baker Eddy.