Ponte Vecchio, Florence, a bridge over which Savonarola would have walked many times (as well as Botticelli, Donatello, Ghiberti, and many other Renaissance greats). We stayed in a two hundred plus year old convent with spacious high ceilings, many salons and a gorgeous walled garden. It was a hospital during WW I and protected Jews during WW II. Weather blue sky, lots of sunshine, and warm. Our dinner was served to us by Andrea and his wife at the trattoria Club Paradiso. He was a character and made me a partner in the business but then fired me when I didn't show up early to wait tables. We talked about r purpose for being on this tour which led to a witness for Christ. His reply: "Protestantism isn't a disease, you know." And when I told him I didn't think he looked as old as 66, he replied, "That's because I am not a Protestant."
We traced Savonarola's steps, preaching in the Duomo, San Marco's priory, his room, his cloak and hair shirt, his prison cell in Tower Vecchio where he wrote his Prison Meditations, later translated by Luther and published in 1533 in Wittenberg, and the inauspicious marker in Piazza Signoria where he was burned in 1497. Next Florence post will include an excerpt from my book on Savonarola...
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment