The statue of Girolamo Savonarola

The statue of Girolamo Savonarola

The brooding statue of Girolamo Savonarola, the fire and brimstone monk burned at the stake for heresy in front of Palazzo Vecchio on May 23, 1498, stands in the piazza named after him not far from piazza Libert?. Looking at it, it is easy to see why American author and

bookmark
Thu 02 Feb 2012 1:00 AM

The brooding
statue of Girolamo Savonarola, the fire and brimstone monk burned at the stake
for heresy in front of Palazzo Vecchio on May 23, 1498, stands in the piazza
named after him not far from piazza Libert?. Looking at it, it is easy to see
why American author and literary critic William Dean Howells (1837-1920) once
remarked that he would far rather have spent an evening with Lorenzo de’
Medici, statesman and ruler of the Florentine Republic, than with that
intransigent prelate.

 

 

Sculpted in
1872 by Enrico Pazzi, the same artist who made the statue of Dante in piazza
Santa Croce, Savonarola’s statue was first housed, until 1921, in the Salone
dei Cinquecento at Palazzo Vecchio. In full monastic habit, with the lion
symbolising Florence at his feet and a gold cross held high above his head,
Savonarola looks admonishingly down on passersby.

 

Savonarola
was born into a well-off family in Ferrara on September 21, 1452, and his religious
vocation and reformist zeal manifested themselves early in the poems he wrote,
one in 1472 entitled De Ruina Mundi (?On the Downfall of the World’) and
another, De Ruina Ecclesiae (?On the Downfall of the Church’), written three
years later. That same year, his calling led him to abandon his studies in
medicine and enter the Dominican monastic order in Bologna without his parents’
knowledge. In 1482, he was sent to teach at the convent of San Marco in
Florence, but it was during his time in San Gimignano, between 1485 and 1486,
that he began prophesying through his sermons and calling for reforms within
the church. In 1490, impressed by his prophetic preaching, Pico della
Mirandola, convinced Lorenzo Il Magnifico to bring him back to the city, not realising
he was opening the door to an implacable foe of Medici tyranny.

 

Returning as
prior of San Marco (where you can visit his cell), Savonarola was inspired by
the idea of the Apocalypse and the words of the biblical prophets and by the
growing delirium of his supporters, called the piagnoni (?snivellers’), who
came to listen to him in the churches of San Marco and the Duomo. By now,
Savonarola openly railed against the depravity and corruption of the clergy,
especially members of the Roman Curia, including the pope, and of Lorenzo’s
government as well as his encouragement of ?frivolous’ conduct, ?pagan’ art and
?licentious’ literature.

 

Elevated to
the post of vicar-general of the independent Congregation of San Marco in
Tuscany, which he had established with papal approval, Savonarola used his
powerful voice to call for making Florence a ?new Jerusalem,’ a city of God,
and for restoring a true Florentine Republic. He was helped in this by the
death of Lorenzo in 1492 and by the invasion and victory of the French king,
Charles VIII in 1494, which he had predicted. This forced Lorenzo’s hated son
and heir, Piero de’ Medici, known as Piero the Unfortunate, to flee into exile.

 

With the
Medicis gone, Savonarola’s authority appeared absolute. But he had made
powerful enemies. The Arrabbiati, the party that opposed him within the city,
joined forces with Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, and Rodrigo Borgia, who
became Pope Alexander VI in 1492, both allies in the Holy League against the
king of France. After Savonarola refused to appear before the pope and turned
down a cardinal’s hat, on November 7, 1496, the pope effectively stripped him
of his authority by incorporating his congregation into another one.
Unsuccessful steps were also taken to silence him. Despite this, he still
managed to stage the ?burning of the vanities’ ceremony just before Lent in
1497, in which things he deemed to be immoral, such as cosmetics, costumes,
masks, wigs, musical instruments, lewd pictures and artworks, playing cards and
gaming tables were burned on a bonfire in piazza Signoria.

 

But the tide
had turned against this obstinate friar. The pope finally excommunicated him on
May 12, 1497 for his continued defiance whilst plague had broken out in the
city. Then when an ordeal by fire proposed by an adversary Franciscan monk to
show whether his prophesies were false failed to take place, the rabble, robbed
of their entertainment and led by the Arrabbiati, attacked the San Marco
monastery. Savonarola and two other monks, Domenico Buonvicini and Silvestro
Maruffi, were arrested. Subjected to horrible torture and three trials, whose
outcome had already been decreed by Rome, they were condemned to death ?on
account of the enormous crimes of which they had been convicted’.

 

On May 23,
1498, the three men were unfrocked and handed over to the civil authorities to
be bound in chains and hanged from a single cross placed on a pyre on exactly
the same spot in piazza Signoria where the ?bonfire of the vanities’ had taken
place the year before. To the jubilation of spectators, their remains were then
burned and their ashes thrown into the Arno.

 

Today, the
cult of Savonarola lives on. Many of his questions about church-state relations
and about the dichotomy of individual freedoms and religious faith continue to
be debated.

 

Every May 23, in commemoration of the deaths
of Savonarola and his two Dominican brothers, a mass is held in the Cappella
dei Priori in Palazzo Vecchio. This is followed by the Fiorita in piazza
Signoria: flowers and rose petals are laid on the round granite plaque marking
the exact spot where the three men were martyred. The origins of the ceremony
date back to the morning after their deaths, when locals had spontaneously
covered the place where they died with flowers. Today, the ceremony ends with a
procession to Ponte Vecchio, where more flowers and rose petals are strewn into
the Arno.

 

A little doorway on via Cavour, just around
the corner from the main entrance of San Marco, leads to the still-functioning
monastery. If the outer door is open, the public is welcome to step in. Ask to
see the frescoes by Pietro Annigoni (1910-1988) and you will be shown to a tiny
chapel decorated with a powerful set of frescoes, one of which includes an
image of Savonarola. There is no admission, but a thoughtful donation left with
the attendant will be greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

Related articles

ART + CULTURE

Returns: From Modigliani to Morandi at Museo Novecento

The exhibition reunites items from the Alberto Della Ragione Collection with Modigliani's masterpiece on show until September 15.

ART + CULTURE

The Enchantment of Orpheus at Palazzo Medici Riccardi

HIghlights include Dutch master Gerard van Honthorst’s Orpheus and Eva Marisaldi’s musical drum installation.

ART + CULTURE

Newly discovered Plautilla Nelli painting to be restored

Artemisia Gold and Istituto Lorenzo de’ Medici will revive the small panel painting.

LIGHT MODE
DARK MODE