Ciao a Tutti!: The Loss of the Cross

Santa Croce
Notice the Facade and Sides of the Church,,, Very Different.
(The facade is a newer addition to the building)

We went to the basilica of Santa Croce on Thursday and were able to see beautiful art pieces from times long gone, a memorial to Dante (who wrote The Divine Comedy—he is buried in Ravenna but was Florentine), and Michelangelo’s and Galileo’s tombs. (There were others.) The church is part of a Franciscan monastery still in use today. (Sadly, I did not see any friar on the grounds.) Cosimo de’ Medici added to the construction during his “reign” as pater patriae of Florence mid-1400s.

Inner Court

Dante Alleghieri

Outside of the church stands a statue of Dante, whose masterpiece was written in the early 1300s (help me Gian Mauro!), the first work of literature in Italian (as compared to works written in latin at the time). The piece is divided into three parts, each composed of 33 cantos, which contain a certain number of lines x 3. Numerology, at the time, was certainly something this poet took into consideration.

I participated in a reading of a canto in French (last year on campus—an international reading with as many voices in so many languages as was possible to find at JMU) but I must admit not to have read the whole thing. (On the to-do list.)

Note: Florence has tried to repatriate Dante's body, but the city of Ravenna claims that his banishment out of Florence does not warrant their ownership of the same when he's been kicked out of the homeland.

Inside Santa Croce

Side View

The art history teacher, Luca, took us on the tour of the church and gave wonderful details of the different pieces we examined; information filled with Jeopardy factoids.

Being Patient with Our Ignorance

For example, the cross (built for the church that bears that exact name “holy cross” is a piece dating 1272 by Cimabue (Tchee-mah-boo-ay. I just love that name!)

While you can see a googled image of the cross on the left, the 1966 floods in Firenze led to the cross’s partial destruction (right). The water that covered the center of Florence (coming from the Arno river) was so high that it rose in certain places to more than 20 feet. The cross was carried away by the receding water and found again 20 kilometers away from its point of departure. It is a “miracle” of sorts that they were able to get it back at all. The restauration work has uncovered magnificent details of craftsmanship but the piece could not be brought back to its original splendor and parts are irrevocably damaged.

We also saw a fresco painted in the same church on the subject of Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) done by Giotto ( mentioned by Dante in the divine comedy.). Of interest in this painting is the perspective, which changes from flat subject to the observer’s ability to feel 3-d effects.

1325?

As usual, there were too many things to see. I took many pictures that will, undoubtedly, remain in my memory stick never to be seen again. The point is: you have to see it yourself. Otherwise, you might as well google the pictures (better quality than mine). But the feeling of being here, of seeing the tombs of people whose names often appear in the context of an art or a science lesson, is just not something that is easily described. Florence has much to be proud of, for the great men it produced.