Poet, writer and philosopher Dante Alighieri (c. 1265-1321), author of The Divine Comedy, stares up into a clear blue sky above the 13th century Franciscan Basilica di Santa Croce in Piazza Santa Croce at Florence, Tuscany Italy. The monument sculpted by Enrico Pazzi to mark the 600th anniversary of Dante’s birth in Florence was installed in the centre of the square in 1865, but moved to its present location beside the church after the devastating River Arno floods of 1966.
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Contributor:
Terence Kerr / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
2PG2HHMFile size:
34.5 MB (1.9 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
2832 x 4256 px | 24 x 36 cm | 9.4 x 14.2 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
13 July 2010Location:
Piazza Santa Croce, Florence, Tuscany, Italy.More information:
This image could have imperfections as it’s either historical or reportage.
Florence, Tuscany, Italy: Florentine Italian poet, writer and philosopher Dante Alighieri (c. 1265-1321), author of The Divine Comedy, stares up with an intense gaze at a deep blue sky above the 13th century Franciscan Basilica di Santa Croce (Basilica of the Holy Cross) in Piazza Santa Croce. The monument, sculpted by Enrico Pazzi, stands on a plinth by the basilica’s facade. It was commissioned to celebrate the 600th anniversary of Dante’s birth in Florence, but although the poet is also commemorated by an elaborate monument inside the church, the tomb is empty because he died and was buried in Ravenna, the city in which he spent his final days in exile. In the early 1850s, Ravenna rejected a plan to install a statue of Dante in one of its piazzas and the argument over which of the two cities would ultimately host a monument rumbled on for years. The choice of Enrico Pazzi (died 1899) to sculpt the monument to such a famous Florentine was disputed because of his own links to Ravenna, where he was born in June 1818. His monument to the 15th century Dominican friar and preacher Girolamo Savonarola, now in Florence’s Piazza Savonarola, has a similarly chequered history. The Dante statue was first installed in 1865 in the centre of Piazza Santa Croce, but was moved to its present location following the disastrous River Arno flooding that devastated Florence’s cultural monuments and artworks in November 1966. D0667.A7983