noon
They saw the traditional house of Petrarch , and that of Dante , in front of which stands a large mediæval sarcophagus reported to contain the bones of King Antenor , who , according to the poet Virgil , founded the city . They admired the churches , from several of which clusters of Byzantine domes rise grandly against the sky , noted the order , the quiet , that now reigns throughout the streets , and talked of the fierce , horrible warfare that had centuries ago raged there . The next morning they spent among Giotto 's frescoes , over thirty of which literally cover the walls of the Arena Chapel . The return to the work of the early fourteenth century , after months spent in study of the High Renaissance , was like an exchange of blazing noon sunshine for the first soft , sweet light that heralds the coming dawn . They were surprised at the freshness and purity of color and at the truth and force of expression . They had forgotten that old Giotto could paint so well . They found it easy now to understand in the artist that which at first had been difficult .