Monumento a Dante Alighieri | |
 Statue of Dante Alighieri | |
 | |
| 43°46′08″N11°15′44″E / 43.76886°N 11.26229°E | |
| Location | Piazza Santa Croce, Florence, Italy |
|---|---|
| Designer | Enrico Pazzi |
| Type | Memorial |
| Completion date | 1865 |
| Dedicated to | Dante Alighieri |
The Statue of Dante Alighieri (Italian : Monumento a Dante Alighieri) is a monument to Dante Alighieri in Piazza Santa Croce, outside the Basilica of Santa Croce, in Florence, Italy. Erected in 1865, it is the work of the sculptor Enrico Pazzi. [1]
In the early 1850s, a project for a statue of Dante in a piazza in Ravenna was declined. Pazzi subsisted on small private projects for tomb monuments and house decorations. He completed for Giovanni Dupré a commission for a nativity scene, destined for the Signora Bianchi of Siena; however, he had difficulty in getting paid. [2]
In 1857–1859, a move was made to complete the Dante statue, but now for Florence. The patriotic Pazzi recalls an unfortunate episode when Prince Leopold, Count of Syracuse (brother of the King of Naples) visited the studio accompanied by the interior minister of Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany. The visiting Prince inquired why Dante was surrounded by beasts. Pazzi indicated that the lions were the Marzocchi , long a symbol of Medici Florence. However, when asked why the eagle did not have a double head, the symbol of the Habsburg dynasty, Pazzi impertinently replied that this was a Roman eagle, arising from the ashes of the fallen Roman Empire. With this, the retinue left. It would be nearly half a decade before Pazzi's statue was erected in the piazza. [3]
The statue was erected in 1865 to celebrate the 600th anniversary of Dante's birth. The pedestal was designed by Luigi del Sarto. The creation of a statue of a famous Florentine by a sculptor from Ravenna caused some rumblings. Florence and Ravenna had for years disputed who was to hold the remains of Dante: his native city or the city of his exile. The church of Santa Croce, which stands on the same piazza as this statue, has an elaborate but empty tomb monument to the poet.
The pedestal has four Marzocco lions with shields holding the names of minor works by Dante and the symbols of various Italian cities who contributed to the cost of the sculpture. [4]
The statue initially placed in the center of the Piazza was moved after the flood of November 1966 to a position in front of the flank of the façade of the basilica. [5]
Dante Alighieri, most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante, was an Italian poet, writer, and philosopher. His Divine Comedy, originally called Comedìa and later christened Divina by Giovanni Boccaccio, is widely considered one of the most important poems of the Middle Ages and the greatest literary work in the Italian language.
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 360,930 inhabitants in 2023, and 984,991 in its metropolitan area.
Baccio Bandinelli, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, draughtsman, and painter.
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The Florence Baptistery, also known as the Baptistery of Saint John, is a religious building in Florence, Italy, and has the status of a minor basilica. The octagonal baptistery stands in both the Piazza del Duomo and the Piazza San Giovanni, across from Florence Cathedral and the Campanile di Giotto.
The Basilica di Santa Croce is a minor basilica and the principal Franciscan church of Florence, Italy. It is situated on the Piazza di Santa Croce, about 800 metres southeast of the Duomo, on what was once marshland beyond the city walls. Being the burial place of some of the most notable Italians, such as Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, the poet Foscolo, the philosopher Gentile and the composer Rossini, it is also known as the Temple of the Italian Glories.
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Piazza Santa Croce is one of the main plazas or squares located in the central neighbourhood of Florence, in the region of Tuscany, Italy. It is located near Piazza della Signoria and the National Central Library, and takes its name from the Basilica of Santa Croce that overlooks the square.
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Enrico Pazzi was an Italian sculptor, mainly active in Florence, Italy. He is known for his Monument to Dante (1857-1865) in the Piazza Santa Croce, Florence, and for the Prince Mihailo Monument in the center of Serbian capital city Belgrade.
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Pasquale Romanelli was an Italian sculptor, apprentice of Lorenzo Bartolini.
The Tomb of Dante is an Italian neoclassical national monument built over the tomb of the poet Dante Alighieri in 1781. It is sited next to the Basilica of San Francesco in central Ravenna.
Emilio Gallori (1846–1924) was an Italian sculptor, principally of historical monuments and religious statuary.
