Manzoni in Florence and the national language issue

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The florentine side of the Euro coins

Today I was thinking about money.

But not about money in the trivial sense of making money, instead I was reflecting about the semantic aspect of money.

More precisely which message does a coin carry with itself, apart from its intrinsic monetary value?

In the course of history, kings and emperors have mint coins with their effigies; that was a way to declare sovereignty, economic power and prestige.

Later on, many governments started to mint coins and making bills with the effiges of famous scientists, artists and writers.

For the case of Italy we saw, among others, Giuseppe Verdi, Galileo Galilei, Guglielmo Marconi, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Alessandro Volta, Leonardo da Vinci, Alessandro Manzoni.

That said, if you happen to be on a coin or a bill with your face, then you have seriously made an outstanding work, and it’s worth mentioning and celebrating your genius worldwide.

And then the Euro came.

Every country adopting the Euro currency had to choose their preferred side of the coins, Italy included. Having to deal with 8 coins, and accounting for an immense cultural heritage, with dozens of famous musicians, artists, scientists and hundreds of monuments, Italy had to come to a compromise by selecting only a few of their representative idols and symbols.

So we have Castel del Monte (0.01 €), Mole Antonelliana (0.02 €), the Colosseum (0.05 €), the Birth of Venus (0.10 €), Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (0.20 €), The Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius (0.50 €), the Vitruvian Man (1 €), Dante Alighieri (2 €).

Namely, of eight coins there are three coins speaking about Florence (the Birth of Venus, the Vitruvian Man and Dante Alighieri). Counting the fact that the Marco Aurelio was placed in the Capitoline Hill by Michelangelo, half the coins deal with Florence.

A city alone, that was chosen to represent, with its history and beauty, nearly the 50% of a whole country.

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The insurrection of Florence (update)

There is an update about the liberation of Florence occurred on August 11 1944, during World War II.

It is well known that the nazis, on the night of August 3 1944, mined all the five bridges (Ponte San Niccolò, Ponte alle Grazie, Ponte Santa Trinita, Ponte alla Carraia, Ponte alla Vittoria), to prepare their retreat from Florence.

Only Ponte Vecchio was saved.

It has been argued that the nazis chose to save Ponte Vecchio from destruction since it was Hitler’s favorite bridge (lieblingsbruecke) [2] [3].

Moreover, mining Ponte Vecchio would have been useless because, once collapsed, it would have been possible to cross the river anyway, due to the huge amount of ruins it would produce in the water.

But now a new book provides a different account of the facts [1]. It seems that the nazis mined Ponte Vecchio, but a citizen called Burgassi (nicknamed Burgasso), knowing where the electrical wires had been placed (in via de’ Ramaglianti), demined the bridge.

The story is indeed interesting but the doubt remains.

References:

[1] Di Pietra e d’Oro – Il Ponte Vecchio di Firenze sette secoli di storia e di arte, Maria Cristina de Montmayor, 2016.

[2] L. Giannelli, M. Tarassi, “Operazione Feuerzauber – La tragica estate 1944”, Scramasax, 2014.

[3] G. Festerle, B. Rock, C. Tauber, Italien in Aneignung und Widerspruch, De Gruyter, 2013.

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Enrico Fermi in Florence

Enrico Fermi (1901-1954)

Enrico Fermi (1901-1954)


Enrico Fermi (Nobel prize in physics 1938) is worldwide recognized as one of the greatest scientists of any time. After Galileo Galilei, Alessandro Volta and Guglielmo Marconi, he is without doubt the italian physicist who gave the most important contributions to physics.

Many people know that Fermi studied in Pisa, attending the University and the prestigious Scuola Normale Superiore, but a few people is aware of the fact the he started his academic career in Florence.

Shortly after graduating in physics, he became professor of analytical mechanics (Meccanica Razionale) and mathematical physics (Fisica Matematica) at the University of Florence (at the School of Engineering and at the School of Physics, respectively), in the years 1924-1926. He joined the Arcetri Institute of Physics, directed at that time by Antonio Garbasso, a former student of Heinrich Hertz and Hermann von Helmholtz. Fermi established his residence in via Pian dei Giullari 63/a (it is worth noting that this address is very close to the house of Galileo in Arcetri).

Fermi in Arcetri (Florence). From left to right: Franco Rasetti, Rita Brunetti, Nello Carrara, Enrico Fermi.

Fermi in Arcetri (Florence). From left to right: Franco Rasetti, Rita Brunetti, Nello Carrara, Enrico Fermi.

The notes of the course of analytical mechanics remain in a manuscript written by two of Fermi’s students and are conserved at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The notes on electrodynamics of the course in mathematical physics are available in three copies. The original notes are probably those of the copy conserved at the University of Chicago, donated by Fermi’s wife Laura in 1955.

During this short but very intense period, he developed in early 1926 his famous statistics that nowadays is known as Fermi-Dirac statistics, since Dirac found the same results in October of the same year. Fermi wrote to Dirac to establish his priority that was recognized by Dirac. The statistics is a fundamental milestone in the history of physics, and is the base of the modern semiconductors devices, namely your mobile phone and computer.

On December 4th 2015, the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), unveiled a milestone in the main hall of the School of Engineering of the University of Florence, at the presence of the Rector.

Fermi's IEEE milestone at the School of Engineering, University of Florence

Fermi’s IEEE milestone at the School of Engineering, University of Florence

The milestone is the fourth in Italy; the others are in Como (dedicated to the invention of the voltaic pile by Alessandro Volta) and in Pontecchio Marconi (two milestones dedicated to the early experiments on wireless telegraphy by Guglielmo Marconi).

References:

[1] R. Casalbuoni, G. Frosali, G. Pelosi, Enrico Fermi a Firenze, Firenze University Press 2014, PDF.

[2] G. Manes, G. Pelosi, Enrico Fermi’s IEEE Milestone in Florence. For his Major Contribution to Semiconductor Statistics, 1924-1926, PDF.

[3] G. Pelosi, Enrico Fermi in Florence, IEEE 2013, PDF.

[4] E. Segrè, Enrico Fermi, Physicist, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1972.

[5] L. Fermi, Atoms in the Family. My life with Enrico Fermi, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1954.

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The last days of Giacomo Puccini

Puccini at the time of composition of Turandot (1924).

Puccini at the time of composition of Turandot, at his home in Viareggio (1924).

Puccini was a heavy smoker of cigarettes and cigars. In February 1924, while composing his last opera Turandot in Viareggio, he began to suffer from sore throat, and in March it developed with cough and hoarseness. The previous summer, while touring the Europe with his son Antonio (Tonio), Puccini accidentally swallowed a goose’s bone in Ingolstadt, that was promptly removed from his hypopharynx. So, initially his problem was thought to be related with that accident.

But the sore throat persisted, and Puccini, suggested by his doctor Prof. Vivi of Milan, decided to consult several physicians that prescribed some useless remedies: mouthwashes, milk and honey, raw eggs. He was erroneously diagnosed with a rheumatic larynx disease by a doctor in Viareggio who told him “Nothing, nothing Maestro…Don’t worry: it’s a rheumatic form…Do some garglings, some painting…Here it is the prescription”. Prof. Domenico Tanturri from Naples suggested to undergo a thermal therapy, that Puccini effectively did in the last week of May at Grand Hotel des Thermes in Salsomaggiore, a health resort near Parma, where he met the italian royal family (the King suggested him to make garglings with water and salt). He wrote to a friend: “Salsomaggiore should be good for uterus, but I have sore throat”. On June 1 he wrote to his friend Sybil Seligman from there: “my throat is just the same — the cure hasn’t made any difference. They say I shall be better later — we’ll see”.

His sore throat eventually developed with earache, deglutition pain, weight loss and lumps in the neck that hindered the closure of his shirt collar.

Puccini, suggested by Prof. Bianchini, decided to consult Prof. Torrigiani and Prof. Toti. Camillo Arturo Torrigiani, an otolaryngologist in Florence, visited him on October 10 and diagnosed an advanced extrinsic cancer of the supraglottis, with the dimension of a walnut.

At that time, laryngeal cancers were classified as intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic laryngeal cancers developed in the interior of the larynx, mostly benign, and with slow growth, spreading very gradually and only invading the glands in an advanced stage. Extrinsic cancers originated around the orifice of the larynx, or on its pharyngeal surface, and they were often malignant, with rapid invasion of the lymphatics at early stages. Extrinsic cancers were considered seldom operable, and complete laryngectomy unhelpful, leaving the patients to their destiny.

Torrigiani suggested Puccini to go to Berlin to Prof. Moss. Puccini contacted the italian embassy in Berlin: the ambassador’s counsellor Antonio Chiaramonte Bordonaro explained that Prof. Moss was no more in activity, having become blind.

On October 22 Puccini wrote to his librettist Giuseppe Adami: “What shall I tell you? I am going through a most terrible time. That trouble in my throat torments me more morally than physically. I am going to Brussels to consult a famous specialist. I am leaving soon. Will they operate on me? Shall I be cured? Shall I be condemned? I cannot go on like this any longer. And Turandot is there. Back from Brussels, I will get to work”.

On October 26, Puccini visited Celle, the small village of his ancestors, in province of Lucca, and he was welcomed with great honours.

On October 28, Puccini went back to Florence, to consult with Prof. Addeo Toti, from 1894 director of the otolaryngologist section of the hospital of S. Maria Nuova. Toti confirmed the laryngeal cancer diagnosis, and suggested Puccini to undergo a radium treatment at the Istituto Fototerapico in Florence, under the supervision of its director, Prof. Celso Pellizzari.

Puccini, suggested by Prof. Vivi, consulted another specialist, Prof. Giuseppe Gradenigo from the University of Naples.

On the same day he wrote to Carlo Clausetti, manager of Casa Ricordi: “My illness is papilloma, not serious, but you must get rid of it and soon; it is located under the epiglottis. I telegraphed to Prof. Gradenigo, I shall undergo surgery…with radium or X-rays, we’ll see the response from Gradenigo. About the location of radium application, Florence or Paris. Nice boredom! But at least now I know what it is my illness that worries and torments me since months”.

Puccini, while conscious of the seriousness of the illness, was not entirely made aware of his desperate condition. His mood was fluctuating from desperation to hope. Only Antonio was told the truth.

On October 29, Antonio consulted Prof. Toti to be updated on his father condition, and Toti told him: “do you know that your father has a riding cancer?”.

On November 2, Torrigiani examined Puccini again in his ambulatory, with Gradenigo and Toti. They performed a laryngeal biopsy and confirmed the clinical diagnosis of extrinsic cancer of the larynx.

Gradenigo then advised Puccini to consult his colleague, Prof. Louis Ledoux of Brussels, that used a combination of radium and surgery to treat laryngeal carcinomas. He told him “Not at all Florence! Go to Brussels. There radium does wonders. I will give you a letter for Prof. Ledoux. A little tumor, all will be gone”.

On the same day Arturo Toscanini, after the rehearsal of Arrigo Boito‘s Nerone in Bologna, was informed by Giovacchino Forzano (who had been notified about Puccini’s condition with a letter from his wife Teresa), while in his dressing room, that they should go to Viareggio to see Puccini the next day, before his travel to Bruxelles. Toscanini had a temper tantrum “To Puccini? Do I go to Puccini?”. Forzano explained him the reason and Toscanini was moved. “Yes, yes…tomorrow morning immediately…with your car, Forzano…but we should tell him why we come to him, we won’t be able to tell him the truth?”. “Maestro” replied Forzano “we will tell him that we came for the rehearsals of Turandot”. In that period Puccini and Toscanini were not in very good relationships, but once Toscanini learnt about his old friend’s condition, all the clouds disappeared.

On November 3, Forzano took his car and went to Viareggio with Toscanini at Puccini’s Villa in via Buonarroti, officially to discuss about Turandot, in order not to worry Puccini. Following Forzano’s account of the visit, Puccini was very happy to see Toscanini. He said “Arturo! Once back from Brussels I will soon finish the Turandot!”. He ignored the gravity of his illness and joked with Toscanini about the change of the voice that his condition has caused him. “Do you hear Arturo what a tenor voice?” and he was making vocalisms. Puccini showed a radio to Toscanini and Forzano and said: “Yesterday, there was a tenor, Arturo, singing from London, a stuff to revolver shoot him…let’s hear if there is something better today”. He turned the radio on and it was broadcasting Chopin‘s funeral march. Forzano recalls “I don’t know how we could withhold our torment”.

On the same day, Puccini wrote to Riccardo Schnabl: “Dear Riccardo, I leave for Brussels for radium therapy. I consulted with Torrigiani, Toti, Gradenigo came from Naples. They sent me to Brussels! I am seriously ill! You could figure my soul. I go with Tonio; Elvira is too in pieces to sustain the long travel. What miseries! And Turandot? Mah! Having not completed this opera aggrieves me. Will I recover? Will I be able to finish it on time? The opera poster is published yet”.

On November 4 Puccini left for Brussels with his son Antonio and the next day they were at the Radium Institute in Avenue de la Couronne, occupying adjoining rooms. His stepdaughter Fosca and his wife Elvira didn’t follow him, because of the bad health condition of his wife (she was suffering for bronchitis and went to Milan to be able to communicate faster with Puccini). Puccini took with him 36 pages of musical sketches for the finale of Turandot, hoping to make some progress with the opera.

Dr. Ledoux visited Puccini for an hour and a half, examined a piece of tissue taken from the lump in the larynx and then confirmed the diagnosis. He told Puccini’s son: “do you know you have conducted here a corpse and not a man? If only three months ago your father had been here, something probably useful could have been done…today an extirpation surgery is ruled out because your father would die under surgery”.

Puccini’s cancer was of invasive type (adenocarcinoma), too advanced and of vestibular form, with extralaryngeal type and metastasis nodes.

Sybil Seligman, although suffering for an acute sciatica, came to Brussels and wrote a very strong letter to Fosca, Puccini’s stepdaughter, urging her to come to her stepfather. Three days later Fosca came.

On November 7, Puccini started the therapy with Dr. Ledoux. He was treated with a collar containing radium some hours a day. Puccini wrote to Magrini: “I am crucified like Jesus! I have a collar around my throat that is like torture. External radium for now, and then they will put crystal needles into my neck and make a hole, again in my neck, so that I can breathe. Don’t tell that to Elvira, nor to anyone. This hole, with a rubber or silver tube in it, I don’t know yet, terrifies me. They assure me that I won’t suffer nothing, and I must do that to leave quiet the part that must be cured…so I will have to breathe from the tube. My God what an horror! I, after eight days, will resume breathing from the mouth. What an ordeal! God assist me. It’s a long treatment, six weeks, and it is terrible. They assure me that I will recover. I am a bit skeptical and my soul is prepared for all. Since the day of departure, my illness has worsened. I spit vivid and dark blood from the mouth at morning. But the doctor says it is nothing and I must be quiet because the treatment has started. We will see…”. Antonio washed Puccini’s handkerchiefs.

After each collar treatment, Puccini was free of movement; on November 8 he went with his son Antonio to the theatre Le Monnaie to see his Madama Butterfly, where he was recognised and acclaimed by the public. The italian ambassador Orsini-Baroni and the apostolic nuncio Clemente Micara went to see him in the clinic. The belgian royal family asked about his condition every morning.

On November 12, Antonio wrote to Clausetti: “The therapy has started this morning, with external applications of radium; it is a bit torture for dad, because he has the throat enclosed in a wax collar…but patience. Within 8 or 10 days internal application will start, that it seems won’t be painful. Dad’s moral is so so, certain moments very worried and a bit mopish. It grieves poor man. Let’s hope, let’s hope, the doctors do have hope!”. After this letter, Clausetti immediately took the train and came to Brussels.

After some treatment Puccini started to feel better, the bleeding stopped and he was allowed to smoke a few cigarettes.

On November 19, Puccini wrote to Angiolino Magrini: “same story. Bed, collar, inhalations, non appetite, three pillars in bed. On monday the bad starts. Let’s hope they will save me”.

Antonio was called by Dr. Ledoux that told him his father must undergo a surgery. Antonio shivered, Puccini agreed and at evening he wrote to Adami: “For now it is a bit bad the cure. External applications. But on monday God knows what they will do me to reach the interior, under the epiglottis. They assure that I will not suffer, and they also tell that I will recover. Now I start to hope. Days ago I had lost any hope of recovering. And what hours and what days! I am ready for all”.

On November 22, Antonio wrote to Magrini a telegram: “Monday surgery stop Possible complications stop Only way to save him from an atrocious end stop If possibile come here stop I hug you”.

On November 23 Puccini went to the cinema with Antonio, Fosca and Clausetti to watch an american movie.

On November 24 Puccini had the surgery. He was diabetic and at risk of postoperative infections. Dr. Ledoux inserted seven radioactive needles into the larynx. The operation lasted 3 hours and 40 minutes and was performed using local anesthesia with novocaine; general anesthesia was avoided, because of Puccini’s condition. A tracheotomy was carried out, and a nasogastric tube was inserted. Dr. Ledoux planned to leave in the radioactive needles for seven days. Puccini found the strength to rise from the stretcher and put himself to bed without assistance. He wrote: “I feel like I have bayonets in throat!”. Antonio wet his father’s lips with champagne. Antonio gave him a paper and a pencil and Puccini wrote: “Will I be saved?”. They all agreed that the worst was over and he would be saved.

Puccini’s friend Magrini wrote to his wife: “Now I know that the surgery was terrible, 10 centimetres gash in the throat, as you do with the lambs. They then rummaged inside to isolate the tumor, that is big as a walnut, and surrounded it with seven radiating platinum needles. And all this martyrdom for three hours and forty minutes, having administered him strong injections of morphine”.

On November 26 Clausetti wrote to Adami that they were optimistic about the recovery of Puccini and Dr. Ledoux publicly declared to the management of La Monnaie “Puccini s’en sortirà” (Puccini will recover).

On November 28 at 4pm, Fosca was writing a letter to Sybil Seligman, informing her that “Everything is going well and the doctors are more than satisfied; our adored dad is safe! Safe – do you understand? Certainly he has suffered a good deal, but from now on this terrible part of the cure is over, and he will only have to submit the boredom of convalescence”.

But the letter was never finished. At 6 pm Fosca went out of the room to find Sibyl’s address; in the meanwhile Puccini, sitting on the armchair, had a heart attack, and bleeding from the wound. Cardiac frequency raised from 60 to 105. Dr. Ledoux said “C’est le coeur qui ne resist pas” (it’s the heart that does not resist), made two injections, removed the radium needles from Puccini’s neck and, while driving to home, was so distressed by the tragic events occurred in the clinic that he killed a female pedestrian. During the night Puccini wrote “I am worse than yesterday, the hell in the throat – I feel vanishing – fresh water”.

Puccini spent a restless night. His breath came in gasps, he tossed incessantly, and he lost his patience when Antonio refused to go to bed. His hands were constantly moving.

The next morning at 7-8 am, Monsignor Micara was in the anteroom, called by Antonio that asked his father if he could admit him and ambassador Orsini-Baroni in the room. Puccini hailed yes, but only Micara entered and pronounced the last benediction, and the death agony began.

He wrote on a paper his last words for the wife: “Elvira poor woman over”. Puccini raised his hand as though to salute Antonio and Fosca and shortly after his head fell on its side. Puccini passed away. It was a sad rainy day, on November 29 at 11:30 am. Puccini was almost 66 years old. A national state of mourning was declared in Italy and the performance at La Scala canceled.

On December 1 there was a funeral ceremony in Brussels, which was followed on December 3 by a Mass at Milan Cathedral; on that occasion Toscanini conducted the orchestra and the La Scala choir and played the Requiem Mass from Puccini’s Edgar. Puccini was buried in the Toscanini’s family chapel, in the monumental cemetery of Milan, and then translated to his home at Torre del Lago on November 29 1926.

On April 25 1926, Turandot had its premiere at Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Toscanini stopped the performance where Puccini left his composition unfinished with the E♭ played by the Piccolo (after Liu’s funeral procession) and murmured to the public: “Here the opera ends, left unfinished for the death of the Maestro”. Then a deafening silence followed. From the public it was heard “Viva Puccini!”. The public stood up. Antonio and Fosca went on the stage and hugged Toscanini.

From the following replicas, Turandot was performed with the finale composed by Franco Alfano, which based his reconstruction on Puccini’s sketches and Toscanini’s advice, since the conductor had the occasion of discussing Turandot several times with Puccini and listened to it played at the piano by the composer.

References:

[1] Adami G., Giacomo Puccini. Il romanzo della vita.

[2] Barigazzi G., La Scala racconta.

[3] Carter M., Puccini, a critical biography.

[4] Fedrigo M., Puccini l’uomo.

[5] Forzano G., Musicisti della mia vita – Italian television broadcast, RAI (1963).

[6] Gara E., Carteggi Pucciniani.

[7] Giacomo Puccini ci ha lasciati il mondo piange il maestro, La Nazione 150 anni di storia.

[8] La morte di Giacomo Puccini a Bruxelles, Corriere della Sera, November 30 1924.

[9] Marchese-Ragona R., Staffieri A., Gli ultimi giorni di un grande compositore.

[10] Matis G.K., de A Silva D.O., Chrysou O.I., Karatékas M.A., Birbilis T.A., Giuseppe Gradenigo: Much more than a syndrome! Historical vignette.

[11] Phillips-Matz M. J., Puccini: A Biography.

[12] Seligman V., Puccini Among Friends.

[13] Specht R., Giacomo Puccini the man his life his work.

[14] Tainmont J., Belgian fate of Giacomo Puccini.

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Florentine typical expressions (part 8)

It’s time for part eight of Florentine typical expressions!

1) ‘un se ne pòle più, it means we can’t take it anymore (it’s enough). Pole in florentine is the third singular person of the verb potére (can). Spèngi la televisione, è tardi, non se ne pole più! (Turn off the tv, it’s late, it’s enough for us!).

2) bellìco, it is a variant for ombelìco (navel). It is a very joking variant, so don’t use it when talking with your doctor.

3) lìcitte, it’s the bathroom. Note that this is an ancient expression used by nonni: this is extremely florentine and the youth could not understand that! If you use it with elderly florentine people you will surely surprise them with your incredible florentine culture. E vo a’ i’ licitte! (I go to the bathroom!).

3) imbacuccàto, it means heavily dressed. Indeed it is used to indicate someone who is dressed with heavy clothes. Fa molto freddo, guarda come s’è imbacuccata! (It’s very cold, look how she is heavily dressed!).

4) da’ retta nini, literally obey to me baby. Da’ retta nini, stammi a sentire! (come on baby! Listen to me!). You can use it when you want to say pay attention to someone who is not following your requests. This is very informal, use only with your friends.

5) ambrogétte, it is an old variant of mattonelle (tiles). It is used only by nonni.

6) indòsso, it means addosso (on). It is used to indicate when you put on some clothes. Oggi i’ tempo gl’è variabile, ‘un so i’ che mettimi indosso! (today the weather is variable, I don’t know what to put on!). Méttimi is a contraction of mettermi (to put on me).

7) guastàto, it literally means damaged. It is used to indicate a spoiled food or weather. I’ tempo s’è guastato, fra poco pioverà! (the weather is getting worse, it’s going to rain!).

8) dare i’ cencio, it means to scrub the floor. Guarda come gl’è sudicio! E voglio dare i’ cencio! (Look how it’s dirty! I want to scrub the floor!).

9) àndito, it is the entrance (lobby) of the house. Oggi pulisco l’andito (today I clean the lobby).

10) sbacchiàre, it is used to indicate when doors or shutters are slamming (especially due to the wind). Chiudi la porta, e tira vento, sennò la sbacchia! (close the door, the wind blows, otherwise it will slam!).

11) mettersi a diacére, it means to lie. Sono troppo stanco, mi metto a diacere ni’ letto! (I am too tired, I lie down on the bed).

12) ‘un si frigge mica con l’acqua, literally we don’t fry with water. It is used when you want to indicate that you are doing or did something carefully and professionally. Guarda come l’ha riparato! Un si frigge mica con l’acqua! (Look how he repaired it! We don’t fry with water!).

13) m’hanno bell’e appinzào, this is another nonni expression. It is used to indicate when you are punctured by a mosquito. Maledette zanzare! Le m’hanno bell’e appinzao! [contraction of appinzato] (Damned the mosquitos! They just punctured me!).

14) c’è la brinata!, it indicates when there is a morning with hoarfrost. Oggi gl’è freddo! E ce la brinaha! [contraction of brinata] (today it’s cold! There is hoarfrost!).

15) bubbolare da’ i’ freddo, it means to shiver with cold. Che freddo oggi! E si bubbola da’ i’ freddo! (what a cold today! We shiver with cold!).

16) un freddo cane, the word cane (dog) is used to indicate a very cold day. E nevica! Fa un freddo cane! (It’s snowing! It’s very cold!).

17) alle porte co’ sassi, literally at the doors with the stones. It is used to indicate that you are late or near a decisive moment. Studia, domani tu c’hai l’esame! Tu sei alle porte co’ sassi! (Study! Tomorrow you have the exam, you are at the decisive moment!).

18) l’hai voluta la bicicletta? O pedala!, it means did you want the bicycle? Pedal! A variant is l’hai vorsuta la bicicletta? O pedala!.

19) comodàre, it means to be useful. Guarda questo giubbotto, che ti comoda? (look this jacket, is it useful for you?).

20) scalmanàto, it is used to indicate a restless, upset, nervous person. Datti una calmata, tu se’ troppo scalmanato! [variants scarmanàto, scarmanàho] (keep calm, you are too agitated!).

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The birth of Dante

Domenico di Michelino - Dante with his Comedia - Florence Cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore

Domenico di Michelino – Dante with his Comedia – Florence Cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore

When Dante Alighieri was born?

We have few informations about his life, but we can try to reconstruct the story from direct or indirect accounts.

There is strong evidence that Dante was born in Florence, in the quarter of Porta San Piero and in the popolo (literally people, it means parish) of San Martino del Vescovo, son of Alighiero II di Bellincione and Bella degli Abati (maybe a diminutive for Gabriella). His house, in front of the Torre della Castagna, has been in possession of Geri del Bello and then of Alighiero.

Dante never ever speaks about his father, probably because Alighiero worked as a moneylender: at that time usury was considered a grave sin (indeed usurers are put by Dante in Inferno). Bella was maybe the daughter of Durante degli Abati [1], a florentine judge. Perhaps Dante took his name from his grandfather: according to Filippo Villani the poet was baptized with the name Durante, from which could be derived the syncopated form Dante (“Poetae in fontibus sacris nomen Durante fuit, sed syncopato nomine, pro diminutivae locutionis more, appellatus est Dante”, the name of the poet at the sacred fount was Durante, but as a syncopated name, because of the custom for diminutive locutions, he is called Dante [2]). His son Iacopo seems to confirm the name by writing (January 9 1343 [11]) “Cum Durante olim vocatus Dante quondam Alagherii de Florentia, fuerit condepnatus, et exbannitus per Dominum Cantem de Gabriellibus de Eugubio…” (with Durante, sometimes called Dante, from Alighiero of Florence, were condemned and banished by Lord Cante dei Gabrielli di Gubbio…). Though, Dante is never called Durante, in any public document or act, so the doubt remains.

On the contrary, there is certainty about the date of his baptism: following an ancient tradition, all the infants were baptized in Florence on two public ceremonies: the Holy Saturday and the Saturday preceding the Pentecost (see for example [3, 4]). Dante was baptized on Saturday March 27 1266 in the Baptistery of Saint John.

We are also sure about the date of his death: Monday September 14 1321. Giovanni Boccaccio refers that Dante was born “negli anni della salutifera incarnazione del Re dell’universo MCCLXV” (in the years of the salutary incarnation of the King of the Universe 1265), and then writes that he died “già nel mezzo o presso del cinquantesimo sesto suo anno” (yet in the middle or near his 56th year [5]). Buti says that “Ultimamente ridotto in Ravenna, avendo già cinquanta sei anni e quattro mesi, come catolico cristiano finio sua vita, a di’ 14 di settembre 1321 e fu sepolto alla chiesa de’ Frati minori in onorevole sepolcro” (lately in Ravenna, as cristian catholic he ended his life on September 14 1321, and was buried in the Church of Minor Friars in honorable grave) [6]. Many commenters confirmed that Dante was 56 years old at the time of his death [2], among others: Benvenuto da Imola, Filippo Villani, Domenico Bandini, Giovanni da Serravalle, Leonardo Bruni, Giannozzo Manetti, an anonymous chronicler from Ferrara, and Giovan Mario Filelfo. Others report different years of birth (e.g., Cristoforo Landino, Sicco Polenton, Francesco Maurolico, Bernardino Daniello, Ludovico Dolce, Marcantonio Nicoletti), but they don’t have any credit among scholars because of evident mistakes and discrepancy in their reports. Jacopo Filippo Foresti and Alessandro Vellutello confirm the reports of Boccaccio and Filippo Villani.

Giovanni Boccaccio also tells an interesting circumstance about the death of Dante. Ser Piero di messer Giardino da Ravenna (a notary, friend of Dante), that was present at Dante’s death, told him that the poet said to have passed his 56th year of life, since last May until that day. “E che egli fosse così assai ben si verifica per quello che già mi ragionasse un valente uomo, chiamato ser Piero di messer Giardino da Ravenna, il quale fu uno de’ più intimi amici e servidori che Dante avesse in Ravenna, affermandomi avere avuto da Dante, giaccendo egli nella infermità della quale e’ morì, lui avere di tanto trapassato il cinquantesimosesto anno, quanto dal preterito maggio avea infino a quel dì” (and that it was so, it can be verified by what a talented man told me, called ser Piero di messer Giardino from Ravenna, who was one of the most intimate friends and servants that Dante had in Ravenna, that affirmed that Dante, lying in the infirmity in which he died, had passed his 56th year, than from last May has passed until that day [7]). Following this detail, Pietro Gambera settled Dante’s birthday on May 31 1265, reasoning that “se egli fosse nato prima o dopo dell’ultimo giorno di maggio 1265, non avrebbe potuto dire, quando era nella infermità di cui mori, che aveva oltrepassato i 56 anni di tanti giorni, quanti ne erano passati dallo scorso (preterito) maggio sino al giorno in cui indicò la propria età” (if he was born before or after the last day of May 1265, he couldn’t have said, when he was in the infirmity which caused him to die, that he has passed 56 years of such many days, how many have been passed by the last May, until the day when he indicated his age) [8].

Dante starts his journey in the Inferno “Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita” (Midway upon the journey of our life) (Inferno I, 1). Commenting this verse, Giovanni Boccaccio explains that men’s life was conventionally set to be 70 years [7] (“la vita de’ mortali è […] settanta anni”, the life of mortals is 70 years), and so Dante was 35 years old at the beginning of his journey in the Inferno. Supporting this thesis, Boccaccio cites Psalm 90 (10) of the Holy Bible, where it says “the length of our days is seventy years or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away”. Dante himself speaks about this topic in the Convivio (XXIII, 10) when he says that, according to Aristotle , the life is ascending and descending, and he thinks that the summit point of this arc is “ne li più io credo tra il trentesimo anno e il quarantesimo anno, e io credo che ne li perfettamente naturati esso ne sia nel trentacinquesimo anno” (in the majority I take it to be somewhere between the thirtieth and the fortieth year, and I believe that in those of perfect nature it would be in the thirty-fifth year).

Vittorio Imbriani and others argued that Dante wasn’t born in 1265, because his family was in exile at that time.

In Inferno (X, 46-48) Farinata degli Uberti speaks to Dante about the Alighieri’s family, referring to the exile from Florence of the Guelf part after the arrival of Frederick of Antioch (February 2 1248) and the defeat of Montaperti (September 4 1260).

poi disse: “Fieramente furo avversi
a me e a miei primi e a mia parte,
sì che per due fïate li dispersi”

(Then said he: “Fiercely adverse have they been
To me, and to my fathers, and my party;
So that two several times I scattered them”)

In any case, after the Battle of Benevento (February 26 1266) and the death of King Manfred of Sicily, with the defeat of the Ghibellins, the Guelf part was reestablished. In Florence, Guido Novello de’ Guidi, a ghibelline that became despot of Florence in 1260 after the Montaperti battle, run away on November 11 1266 [9].

Imbriani thought that Dante couldn’t be born before May-June 1267 (in the hypothesis that his father got married before the return of the Guelfs in Florence) or May-June 1268 (in the hypothesis that his father got married after the battle of Benevento or better the escape of Guido Novello de’ Guidi from the city).

But most of the commenters are against Imbriani’s opinion (for example Barbi and Zingarelli), arguing that only a part of the Alighieri’s family was forced to leave Florence (but not Dante’s father, that had no political role); they were not mentioned in the list of “le principali case guelfe ch’uscirono di Firenze” (the main guelf families that exited from Florence), as listed by Giovanni Villani (Nuova Cronica LXXIX).

At this regard, we known from a document of the Monastery of Montedomini [10], that Dante sold in 1283 a credit to Tedaldo di Orlando Rustichelli that he had against Donato di Gherardo del Papa and Bernardo and Neri di Torrigiano; the credit was 21 lire. Many argued that Dante was 18 years old to be able to appear before the notary (and so he was born in 1265), but Imbriani made the hypothesis that since Dante was orphan he could have appeared before the notary even if he was younger [9]. Since the credit was very low, and the appearing of a minor before a notary was logic only in case of high credits, this hypothesis is not reasonable.

Some scholars (for example Cian, as reported by Petrocchi [10]) hypothesized that the Alighieri family was exiled in the Alpe di San Pellegrino, following the account of Giovanni Villani (Nuova Cronica LXXIX), but Alighiero’s wife (Dante’s mother) was allowed to return back in Florence because of her pregnancy.

Since we have clues that set his Inferno journey in 1300, we can date back his birth to 1265 (but someone thinks that it took place in 1301).

This from the sources, but what about Dante’s own words?

The poet states many times that he was born in Florence. For example:

1) “La tua loquela ti fa manifesto
di quella nobil patrïa natio,
a la qual forse fui troppo molesto”

(Thy mode of speaking makes thee manifest
A native of that noble fatherland,
To which perhaps I too molestful was)

(Inferno X, 25-27)

2) “Di vostra terra sono, e sempre mai
l’ovra di voi e li onorati nomi
con affezion ritrassi e ascoltai”

(I of your city am; and evermore
Your labours and your honourable names
I with affection have retraced and heard)

(Inferno XVI, 58-60)

3) “E io a loro: «I’ fui nato e cresciuto
sovra ’l bel fiume d’Arno a la gran villa,
e son col corpo ch’i’ ho sempre avuto”

(And I to them: “Born was I, and grew up
In the great town on the fair river of Arno,
And with the body am I’ve always had)

(Inferno, XXIII, 94-96)

4) “Sott’ esso giovanetti trïunfaro
Scipïone e Pompeo; e a quel colle
sotto ’l qual tu nascesti parve amaro”

(Beneath it triumphed while they yet were young
Pompey and Scipio, and to the hill
Beneath which thou wast born it bitter seemed)

(Paradiso VI, 52-54)

5) “La tua città, che di colui è pianta
che pria volse le spalle al suo fattore
e di cui è la ’nvidia tanto pianta”

(Thy city, which an offshoot is of him
Who first upon his Maker turned his back,
And whose ambition is so sorely wept)

(Paradiso IX, 127-129)

6) “Poi che fu piacere de li cittadini de la bellissima e famosissima figlia di Roma, Fiorenza, di gittarmi fuori del suo dolce seno – nel quale nato e nutrito fui in fino al colmo de la vita mia, e nel quale, con buona pace di quella, desidero con tutto lo cuore di riposare l’animo stancato e terminare lo tempo che m’è dato”

(Since it was the pleasure of the citizens of the most beauteous and the most famous daughter of Rome, Florence, to cast me forth from her most sweet bosom (wherein I was born, and nurtured until the culmination of my life, wherein with their good leave I long with all my heart to repose my wearied mind and end the time which is granted me)

[When Dante speaks about the culmination of his life he means 35 years old, as seen above]

(Convivio I, III 4)

The most clear account of Dante’s birth in his own words is perhaps in Paradiso XXII (106-120):

S’io torni mai, lettore, a quel divoto
trïunfo per lo quale io piango spesso
le mie peccata e ’l petto mi percuoto,

tu non avresti in tanto tratto e messo
nel foco il dito, in quant’io vidi ’l segno
che segue il Tauro e fui dentro da esso.

O glorïose stelle, o lume pregno
di gran virtù, dal quale io riconosco
tutto, qual che si sia, il mio ingegno,

con voi nasceva e s’ascondeva vosco
quelli ch’è padre d’ogne mortal vita,
quand’ io senti’ di prima l’aere tosco;

e poi, quando mi fu grazia largita
d’entrar ne l’alta rota che vi gira,
la vostra regïon mi fu sortita.

(Reader, as I may unto that devout
Triumph return, on whose account I often
For my transgressions weep and beat my breast,

Thou hadst not thrust thy finger in the fire
And drawn it out again, before I saw
The sign that follows Taurus, and was in it.

O glorious stars, O light impregnated
With mighty virtue, from which I acknowledge
All of my genius, whatsoe’er it be,

With you was born, and hid himself with you,
He who is father of all mortal life,
When first I tasted of the Tuscan air;

And then when grace was freely given to me
To enter the high wheel which turns you round,
Your region was allotted unto me)

Dante’s gives here some astrological hints. I said astrological and not astronomical, since at that time astrology had the dignity of a science, and people trusted in the influence of stars and planets on the human things. Dante had certainly studied astrology and he uses it to delimit his birth. In Convivio (XIII, 8) he says:

“A che è mestiere fare considerazione sovra una comparazione che è ne l’ordine de li cieli a quello de le scienze. Sì come adunque di sopra è narrato, li sette cieli primi a noi sono quelli de li pianeti; poi sono due cieli sopra questi, mobili, e uno sopra tutti, quieto. A li sette primi rispondono le sette scienze del Trivio e del Quadruvio, cioè Gramatica, Dialettica, Rettorica, Arismetrica, Musica, Geometria e Astrologia”.

(Whereto we must need consider a comparison that holds between the order of the heavens and that of the sciences. As was narrated above, then, the seven heavens that are first with respect to us are those of the planets; next come two moving heavens above them; and one above them all, which is quiet. To the seven first correspond the seven sciences of the Trivium and of the Quadrivium, to wit grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, arithmetic, music, geometry and astrology).

So, if we want to understand what Dante means, we must deal with it.

Sky over Florence on May 31 1265 21:00:00 UTC+01:00

Sky over Florence on May 31 1265 21:00:00 UTC+01:00

He says “I saw The sign that follows Taurus, and was in it”: the signs that follows Taurus is Gemini.

“O glorious stars”: he means the stars of Gemini, maybe Castor and Pollux.

“O light impregnated With mighty virtue”: here it is a reference to Jupiter.

“With you was born, and hid himself with you,
He who is father of all mortal life
When first I tasted of the Tuscan air”

The father of mortal life is the Sun; Dante here probably follows Aristotle’s Physics II “sol et homo generant hominem” (the Sun and the man generate the men).

So he says, when I was born (“When first I tasted of the Tuscan air”) the Sun was born and hid himself in Gemini. In 1265 the Sun transited this sign between May 14 and June 13. This is all we can say about his birth. Following the account of Piero di messer Giardino da Ravenna, cited by Giovanni Boccaccio, we could conclude that the poet was born in a day between the end of May and the beginning of June 1265.

References:

[1] N. Zingarelli, La vita, i tempi e le opere di Dante, I, 1939, pp. 80-85
[2] Le vite di Dante, del Petrarca e del Boccaccio scritte fino al secolo decimosettimo per la prima volta raccolte da Angelo Solerti, ed. Vallardi, Milano 1904
[3] Antonio Lumachi, Memorie storiche dell’antichissima basilica di S. Giovanni Batista di Firenze, ed. Lorenzo Vanni, Firenze 1782.
[4] R. Davidsohn, Storia di Firenze I
[5] G. Boccaccio, Trattatello in laude di Dante, ed. Ricci, p. 573, p.596
[6] F. da Buti, Commento di Francesco da Buti sopra la Divina Comedia di Dante Allighieri, ed. Nistri, Pisa 1858
[7] G. Boccaccio, Esposizioni sopra la commedia di Dante, Inferno I, 1-6
[8] P. Gambera, Note dantesche con due tavole astronomiche, ed. Jorane, Salerno 1903
[9] V. Imbriani, Studi Danteschi, p.309
[10] G. Petrocchi, Vita di Dante, Laterza 2008
[11] M. Santagata, Dante. Il romanzo della sua vita, Mondadori 2013

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Monna Lisa update

It seems that, after a few days I posted my article on Leonardo’s Monna Lisa, the Louvre has changed the content of the web page that describes the painting, removing their statement about it (that I cited in the article):

“It was eventually returned to Italy by Leonardo’s student and heir Salai. It is not known how the painting came to be in François I’s collection”.

Just a coincidence?

Anyway, you can see the former page on the archive’s web cache:

Link 1

This is the web archive’s complete cache of the Gioconda’s web page:

Link 2

These are the snapshots of the above web page (original and actual):

Original Louvre's web page, with the statement about the unknown origin of Monna Lisa.

Original Louvre’s web page, with the statement about the unknown origin of Monna Lisa.

Updated Louvre's web page (at the time of this article) without the statement about the unknown origin of Monna Lisa.

Updated Louvre’s web page (at the time of this article) without the statement about the unknown origin of Monna Lisa.

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The mystery of Monna Lisa

Leonardo da Vinci - Monna Lisa (La Gioconda) - Louvre - Paris

Leonardo da Vinci – Monna Lisa (La Gioconda) – Louvre – Paris


Who is the woman depicted in this painting? Who is the author of this painting?

While we are quite sure about the answer to the latest question, the mystery remains for the first one.

For a curious joke of the destiny, one of the most famous paintings in the world remains unknown in its profound essence.

Shortly before Leonardo‘s death, his pupil Salaì returned to Milan in April 1518 [1].

We known that a painting called La Gioconda existed, because it is mentioned in a document discovered in the Archivio di Stato di Milano in 1990, which dates back to 1525 [2].

When Salaì died, his two sisters took his legacy and made an inventory to divide the goods. In this inventory we read, among the other things:

Quadro dicto una Ledde n° 1 – sc. 200 l. 1010 s.-d. Quadro de Santa Anna n° 1 – sc. 100 l. 505 s.-d. Quadro de una dona aretrata n° 1 (dicto la Honda) dicto la Ioconda

(Painting called a Ledde n° 1 – sc. 200 l. 1010 s.-d. Painting of St. Anne n° 1 – sc. 100 l. 505 s.-d. Painting of an arrear woman n° 1 (called la Honda) called la Ioconda).

So there is evidence that a painting referred to as la Ioconda was in Salaì’s legacy at his death. Shell and Sironi then speculated that Salaì returned with him Leonardo’s paintings from the Château du Clos Lucé [2].

We also know, from a report of Antonio de Beatis [3], secretary of the cardinal Luigi d’Aragona, that Leonardo showed to these guests three paintings, when they visited him on October 10 1517 in Cloux. In his diary he wrote:

In uno di li borghi el sig.re co noi altri ando ad veder ms. Lunardo Vinci firentino, vecchio de più de LXX anni, pittore ì la eta nostra excell.mo, quali mostrò ad sua s. Ill.ma tre quatri, uno di certa donna firentina, facta di naturali ad instantia del quodam Mag.co Jiuliano di Medici. L’altro di San Joanni Bap.ta giovan., et uno di la Madona et dil figliolo, che stan posti in gremo di S.ta Anna: tucti perfectissimi“.

(In one of the boroughs the Lord went to see with me Sir Leonardo da Vinci florentine, more than 70 years old [Leonardo was 65], excellent painter of our time, who showed to his most illustrious lordship three paintings: one of some florentine woman, natural made at the instance of the late Magnificent Jiuliano de Medici. The other of the youth Saint John the Baptist, and one of the Madonna and the Son, who are placed in the lap of Saint Anne: all the most perfect).

In the third edition of the Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca (1691) dipingere al naturale means “Painting, or drawing [Painters], portraying true, and natural objects, whence natural absolut. is said the Figure, and natural object, from which the painter draws his work.“. Perhaps de Beatis means that Leonardo made is painting from life.

Antonio de Beatis - Account of the visit to Leonardo da Vinci - October 10 1517

Antonio de Beatis – Account of the visit to Leonardo da Vinci – October 10 1517

While we could recognize in this account of the visit two paintings now at the Louvre (St. John the Baptist and The Virgin and Child with St. Anne), there is no certainty about the first painting.

The painting mentioned in the Salaì’s testament as “quadro de una dona aretrata” (literally, painting of an arrear woman), is highly estimated: 100 scudi and 500 soldi. It is interesting to note that this price is twice that of two diamonds and twice that of an emerald that are included in the same inventory. Since this was a very high amount of money, it was speculated that maybe this painting was the original Leonardo’s artwork.

Just to feed the confusion, a document discovered in 1998, always in the Archivio di Stato di Milano [4], dated December 28 1531, includes a list of nine paintings that Lorenziola (a Salaì’s sister), gave to Ambrogio da Vimercate as a pawn for a debt with Gerolamo da Sormano. In another document [5], these nine paintings, which included the so called Gioconda, are estimated only 241 lire imperiali (equal to 26 scudi), while in the 1525 inventory they were evaluated 1590 lire imperiali (equal to 315 scudi). The question arose whether these paintings were copies made by Salaì, and not Leonardo’s originals.

Another document, found in the Archives Nationales of Paris [6], reports a very high amount payment, for the years 1517-1518, of 2604 lire tornesi, from the King’s treasurer Jean Sapin, to “messire Salay de Pietredorain” (gentleman Salaì di Pietro d’Oreno) “pour quelques tables de paintures qu’il a baillées au Roy” (for some tables of paintings that he leased to the King). Villata and Marani [7] pointed out that it could be very strange if Salaì had making money for himself by selling some Leonardo’s paintings to the King, Leonardo alive, considering also that Leonardo has a fixed salary from the King, 700 scudi per year, as reported by Pedretti in 1957.

So we cannot exclude that Leonardo’s paintings, Monna Lisa included, did return back to Milan somewhen between 1525 and 1531.

Maybe the painting mentioned in the 1525 inventory is really Leonardo’s Monna Lisa. According to Giorgio Vasari [8]:

Prese Lionardo a fare per Francesco del Giocondo il ritratto di mona Lisa sua moglie; e quattro anni penatovi, lo lasciò imperfetto; la quale opera oggi è appresso il re Francesco di Francia in Fontanableò

(Leonardo started to paint for Francesco del Giocondo the portrait of his wife Lisa; and four years having trouble with it, he left it unfinished; that work is now with King Francis I of France in Fontainebleau).

In 2005, while cataloguing the book for an incunabula exhibit at the Heidelberg University Library (shelf mark D 7620 qt. INC [23]), Armin Schlechter made a discovery that could confirm the reliability of Vasari’s account [10, 11, 22, 24]. In a note in the margin of Cicero‘s Epistolae ad familiares (which was printed in Bologna, 1477), where the author makes a comparison by naming the Greek painter Apelles, Agostino Vespucci (a Florentine chancellery official, assistant to Niccolò Machiavelli, and Amerigo Vespucci‘s cousin) wrote:

Apelles pictor. Ita Leonardus Vincius facit
in omnibus suis picturis, ut enim caput
Lise del Giocondo et Anne matris virginis.
Videbimus, quid faciet de aula magni consilii,
de qua re convenit iam cum vexillifero. 1503. 8.bris

(Apelles the painter. That is the way Leonardo da Vinci does it with all of his pictures, like, for example, with the countenance of Lisa del Giocondo and that of Anne, the mother of the Virgin. We will see how he is going to do it regarding the great council chamber, the thing which he has just come to terms about with the gonfaloniere. October 1503)

Cicero's "Epistulae ad Familiares" with Agostino Vespucci annotations, printed in Bologna (1477).

Cicero’s “Epistulae ad Familiares” with Agostino Vespucci annotations, printed in Bologna (1477).

Interestingly, in Vespucci’s note there are references not only to the Monna Lisa, but also to two other works by Leonardo, namely The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne (the Heidelberg’s incunabulum was displayed at the Louvre exhibition for the restoration of that version of the subject, March 29-June 25, 2012 [9]) and the Battle of Anghiari.

Agostino Vespucci's annotation about Leonardo's Gioconda (detail).

Agostino Vespucci’s annotation about Leonardo’s Gioconda (detail).

We do not know if Vasari did ever see the painting (maybe if and when it was returned back to Milan in 1524-1531 with Salaì), but he cites the eyebrows of the woman, while the Monna Lisa has no eyebrows. According to the Anonimo Gaddiano though (1540), Leonardo made a portrait of Francesco del Giocondo. Giovan Paolo Lomazzo, friend and frequenter of Francesco Melzi, in his Trattato dell’arte della pittura, scoltura, et architettura (1584) [25] cites la Gioconda and Monna Lisa as two different paintings:

Cotali sono gli avvertimenti del comporre i ritratti in generale, & in particolare, i quali quanto siano necessari massime nel rappresentare gl’ornamenti, gl’atti, & gesti convenienti á Principi à virtuosi, & alle femine che si ritranno, si può comprendere ne’ ritratti fatti da gl’eccellenti pittori, per altro ancora famosissimi, & da celebri scoltori. Fra i quali si veggono quelli di mano di Leonardo, ornati à guisa di primavera come il ritratto della Giocóda, & di Mona Lisa, ne’ quali hà espresso trà l’altre parti maravigliosamente la bocca in atto di ridere…

(Such are the warnings of composing portraits in general, and in particular, which how necessary they are above all in representing the ornaments, acts, and gestures appropriate to Princes, virtuous men, and females to be portrayed, may be understood in the portraits made by the excellent painters, for that matter still famous, and by celebrated sculptors. Among whom are seen those by the hand of Leonardo, ornamented in the guise of a spring like the portrait of the Gioconda, and of Mona Lisa, in which he has expressed among other parts wonderfully the mouth in the act of laughing…)

In 1590, Lomazzo wrote in his Idea del tempio della pittura [26] (cited by Pedretti [3]):

Il che chi desidera di veder nella pittura, miri l’opere finite, (benche siano poche) di Lionardo Vinci, come la Leda ignuda, & il ritratto di Mona Lisa Napoletana, che sono nella fontana di Beleo in Francia, e conoscerà quanto l’arte superi, & quanto sia più potente in tirare à se gli occhi de gli intendenti, che l’istessa natura.“.

(Which whoever desires to see in painting, admire at the finished works, (though they are few) of Lionardo Vinci, such as the Leda ignuda, and the portrait of Mona Lisa Napoletana, which are in Fontainebleau in France, and will know how much art surpasses, and how much more powerful it is in drawing to itself the eyes of the experts, than nature itself.)

Moreover, if we trust the account by Antonio de Beatis from his visit to Leonardo in 1517, maybe he is not speaking about the Monna Lisa, since he writes about a portrait of a florentine woman made by Leonardo upon commission by Giuliano de’ Medici, who was Leonardo’s patron in Rome in 1513-1515, and not by Monna Lisa’s husband, Francesco del Giocondo, as Vasari reports.

About in 1505, Raphael made a sketch of the Monna Lisa that looks different from the one in the Louvre. This led to speculation that there were two different portraits of Monna Lisa.

Young Woman on a Balcony by Raphael (c. 1505), Louvre.

Young Woman on a Balcony by Raphael (c. 1505), Louvre.

According to Franck Zöllner [12], Leonardo was relatively free of commitments from the end of 1502 to the summer of 1503, so he could accept Francesco del Giocondo’s request to paint a portrait for his wife.

It is also possible that Leonardo effectively worked more than four years on the painting. At this regard, there is a drawing made with red chalk, now in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle (n. 12409 recto), depicting a storm on a valley (maybe a view of the Valtellina) that could be related to the mountains to the left of Monna Lisa [13], dated around 1499-1500, or 1506 [14] or 1500-1502 (cfr. Pedretti).

It has been argued that Leonardo’s continued working for many years on the painting, considering the similarity of the landscape of the Monna Lisa with that of the St. Anne of the Louvre (which is dated 1510-1513). There is a drawing in the Codice Atlantico in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana of Milan (fol. 864 recto, ex fol. 315 recto-a), dated around 1513-1515, that shows a study for a left eye and some strands of hair that could be related to La Gioconda [15].

The Monna Lisa was probably in Fontainebleau in 1542 [16], but there is no certainty about it, because no inventory or source reports its presence.

According to a very late report by Pierre Dan [17] the king paid 12000 french franc to get the painting, while Cassiano dal Pozzo saw “tal Gioconda” in Fontainebleau in 1625 and wrote “dalla parola in poi altro non gli manca” (excluding the speaking she doesn’t miss anything).

Enea Hirpino wrote (cfr. Canzoniere, 1520) about a portrait of Costanza d’Avalos, made by Leonardo, who painted “lei sotto il bel negro velo” (her under the beautiful black veil), so the name of this woman born in Naples can’t be excluded from the hypotheses, also considering the words by Lomazzo.

Carlo Pedretti proposed [3] to identify the woman in the painting with Pacifica Brandano, that died in childbirth in 1511 (the son was the future Cardinal Ippolito de’ Medici, only illegitimate son of Giuliano de’ Medici). Maybe what de Beatis and the cardinal saw was not La Gioconda, but the portrait of a naked courtesan, Pacifica Brandano, since he writes “facta di naturale” (made as natural) that indeed could be interpreted as nude. A model for the painting could be see in a cartoon (Monna Vanna?) now at Musée Condé in Chantilly, which has some painted versions [18].

Cartoon of a nude woman after Leonardo's lost original? - Musée Condé in Chantilly - This painting is supposed to come from Leonardo's workshop. Some experts claim that it was painted after the original that Leonardo made for his patron Giuliano de' Medici.

Cartoon of a nude woman after Leonardo’s lost original? – Musée Condé in Chantilly – This painting is supposed to come from Leonardo’s workshop. It was speculated that it was painted after the original that Leonardo made for his patron Giuliano de’ Medici.

Tanaka argued that the woman of the painting could be Isabella d’Este [19]. Pedretti, following the above cited report from de Beatis (he wrote that the day after the visit to Leonardo he saw a portrait in Blois, not so beautiful as that of “signora Gualanda”), made the hypothesis that the woman could be Isabella Gualanda, born in Naples in 1491 from a pisan family [20, 21].

In summary, speaking about the Louvre painting, we do not know who the woman of the portrait is, we do not know when it was started, we do not know who commissioned it to Leonardo, and we do not know how long Leonardo did work on it.

Finally, we don’t even know how the painting came to King Francis I. We know that King Francis had a great consideration for Leonardo. Benvenuto Cellini wrote in his Discorso dell’Architettura

E perché egli era abbondante di tanto grandissimo ingegno, avendo qualche cognizione di lettere latine e greche, il Re Francesco, essendo innamorato gagliardissimamente di quelle sue gran virtù, pigliava tanto piacere a sentirlo ragionare, che poche giornate dell’anno si spiccava da lui; qual furno causa di non gli dar facoltà di poter mettere in opera quei sua mirabili studii, fatti con tanta disciplina. Io non voglio mancare di ridire le parole, che io sentii dire al Re di lui, le quali disse a me, presente il cardinal di Ferrara e il cardinal di Loreno e il Re di Navarra: disse, che non credeva mai, che altro uomo fusse nato al mondo, che sapesse tanto quanto Lionardo, non tanto di Scultura, Pittura e Architettura, quanto ch’egli era grandissimo Filosofo.

(And since he was abundant with such great wit, having some knowledge of Latin and Greek letters, King Francis, being most galliardly enamored of those great virtues of his, had so much pleasure in hearing him reason, that a few days a year he would be away from him; which was the cause of not giving him the faculty to be able to put into operation those admirable studies of his, made with such discipline. I will not miss to repeat the words, which I heard the King say of him, which he said to me, the Cardinal of Ferrara and the Cardinal of Lorraine and the King of Navarre being present: he said, that he never believed, that any other man was born in the world, who knew as much as Lionardo, not so much of Sculpture, Painting and Architecture, as that he was a very great Philosopher).

Despite the tradition tells that the King paid for this painting, there is no proof at all for this claim. This is so incontestable that the Louvre official website too has to admit that “It was eventually returned to Italy by Leonardo’s student and heir Salai. It is not known how the painting came to be in François I’s collection“.

Then, if no sensational document will appear from some archive to reveal the truth, the secret of Monna Lisa will remain with Leonardo.

The mystery continues.

[UPDATE 14-05-2015] The Louvre has removed the statement from the web page.

Louvre official website with the declaration of unknown origin of Monna Lisa

Louvre official website with the declaration of unknown origin of Monna Lisa

References:

1) B. Jestaz, François Ier, Salaì et les tableaux de Léonard de Vinci, in “Revue de l’art”, 126, 4, 1999, pp. 68-72)
P. C. Marani, La Gioconda, Art e Dossier, Giunti, 2014.

2) J. Shell, G. Sironi, Salaì and Leonardo’s Legacy, in “The Burlington Magazine”, february 1991, pp. 95-108.

3) C. Pedretti, Storia della Gioconda, in Studi Vinciani. Documenti, analisi e inediti leonardeschi, Ginevra 1957.

4) V. Longoni, Umanesimo e Rinascimento in Brianza. Studi sul patrimonio culturale, Milano 1998.

5) E. Villata, Leonardo da Vinci. I documenti e le testimonianze contemporanee, Milano 1999.

6) B. Jestaz, François Ier, Salaì et les tableaux de Léonard de Vinci, in “Revue de l’art”, 126, 4, 1999, pp. 68-72.

7) E. Villata, Leonardo da Vinci. I documenti e le testimonianze contemporanee, Milano 1999 and P. C. Marani, in F. Viatte, V. Forcione, Dessins et Manuscrits de Léonard de Vinci, Parigi 2003.

8) G. Vasari, “Le vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori“, 1550, 1568.

9) V. Delieuvin, La “Sainte Anne” d’Agostino Vespucci, in La “Sainte Anne”, l’ultime chef-d’oeuvre de Léonard de Vinci, catalogue de l’exposition, sous la direction de V. Delieuvin, Paris-Milano, Musée du Louvre-Officina Libraria, 2012, pp. 117-19.

10) A. Schlechter, “Ita Leonardus Vincius facit in omnibus suis picturis”. Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa und die Cicero-Philologie von Angelo Poliziano bis Johann Georg Graevius, IASLonline. http://www.iaslonline.de/index.php?vorgang_id=2889

11) A. Schlechter, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” in a Marginal Note in a Cicero Incunable, in Early Printed Books as Material Objects, Conference Proceedings (Munich, 19-21 August 2009), ed. by B. Wagner and M. Reed, The Hague, IFLA – International Federation and Library Association, 2010, pp. 151-76.

12) F. Zöllner, Leonardo’s Portrait of Mona Lisa del Giocondo, in “Gazette des Beaux-arts”, 1490, march 1993, pp. 115-138.

13) K. Clark, The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle, second edition revised with the supervision of C. Pedretti, London 1968.

14) M. Kemp, in Leonardo da Vinci, editors M. Kemp and J. Roberts, London 1989.

15) C. Pedretti, The Codex Atlanticus of Leonardo da Vinci. A Catalogue of Its Newly Restored Sheets, parte seconda, New York 1979.

16) Abbé Guilbert, Description historique des chateau, bourg et forest de Fointanebleau, 2 voll., Parigi 1731, vol. I, pp. 153-159, cited by Zollner 1993, p. 116 and note 19 p. 131.

17) Dan, Le Trésor des merveilles de la Maison Royale de Fontainebleau, 1642.

18) D. A. Brown, K. Oberhuber, Monna Vanna and Fornarina. Leonardo and Raphael in Rome, in Essay Presented to M. P. Gilmore, edited by S. Bertelli and G. Ramakus, Firenze 1978, pp. 25-86.

19) H. Tanaka, Leonardo’s Isabella d’Este. A New Analysis of the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, in “Annuario dell’Istituto Giapponese di Cultura in Roma”, 13 1976-1977, 1977, pp. 23-35.

20) C. Pedretti, Leonardo. A Study in Chronology and Style, Londra 1973 and C. Vecce, Leonardo, Roma 1998.

21) C. Vecce, La Gualanda, in “Achademia Leonardi Vinci. Journal of Leonardo Studies and Bibliography of Vinciana”, vol. III, 1990.

22) Marco Versiero. “L’epistolario ciceroniano postillato da Agostino Vespucci: Leonardo a Firenze, tra Poliziano e Machiavelli. Pio II nell’epistolografia del Rinascimento”, Jul 2013, Pienza, Italy. https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01383013

23) Cicero, Marcus Tullius, “Epistulae ad familiares”, Bologna, 1477. Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg. https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/cicero1477/0023/image,info

24) “Mona Lisa – Heidelberg discovery confirms identity”. https://web.archive.org/web/20081231223408/https://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/Englisch/news/monalisa.html

25) G. P. Lomazzo, Trattato dell’arte della pittura, scoltura, et architettura, Milano 1584, p. 434. https://archive.org/details/trattatodellarte00loma/page/434/mode/2up

26) G. P. Lomazzo, “Idea del tempio della pittura nella quale egli discorre dell’origine e fondamento delle cose contenute nel suo trattato dell’arte della pittura”, Milano, 1590, p. 6. https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_YC59KugXgdQC

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La bella Simonetta (Vespucci)

Sandro Botticelli - Idealized portrait of a lady (portrait of Simonetta Vespucci as nymph), ca. 1475 - Städel Museum Frankfurt

Sandro Botticelli (or Botticelli’s school) – Idealized portrait of a lady (portrait of Simonetta Vespucci as nymph), ca. 1475 – Städel Museum Frankfurt

The young woman of this portrait attributed to Sandro Botticelli, with wires perle braided hair, a cameo in the neck depicting Apollo, Marsyas and Olympus, and a ruby on the head with even pearls, is nowadays celebrated everywhere as the icon of beauty of the Renaissance. The cameo of the portrait (known also as Sigillo di Nerone) was one of the most highly prized gems (about 1000 fiorins) of Lorenzo de’ Medici’s collection (see Melissa Meriam Bullard and Nicolai Rubinstein, “Lorenzo de’ Medici’s Acquisition of the Sigillo di Nerone”, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes Vol. 62, 1999, pp. 283-286).

Simonetta Vespucci (nee Cattaneo) was born in Fezzano di Portovenere (La Spezia) or Genova on January 28 (?) 1453 from Gaspare Cattaneo and Caterina (Cattocchia) Violante Spinola di Obizzo (the widow of Battista Campofregoso, doge of Genova for a day in 1437, before her second marriage). Details of her life are mostly unknown, but her story has reached us mainly thanks to the paintings of Botticelli.

Sandro Botticelli - Birth of Venus Botticelli - detail - Uffizi Gallery - Florence

Sandro Botticelli – Birth of Venus (detail) – Uffizi Gallery – Florence

We have some clues that Simonetta was loved by Giuliano de’ Medici, brother of Lorenzo il Magnifico, but there is no proof of a real relationship. Indeed some sonnets composed by Giuliano de’ Medici on the death of a lady could be related to her, and according to a manuscript from the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, Simonetta was “oggetto continuo e palese delle sue amorose poesie” (continuous and evident target of his loving poems). In April 1469 she married the youth Marco Vespucci, cousin of Amerigo Vespucci, with a combined marriage that took place perhaps in Piombino, where Marco’s father Piero Vespucci used to be hosted by the Appiani family for his business. The Florence’s catasto of 1469-1470 registers the presence of Marco and Simonetta: “Marco di Piero di Giuliano Vespucci anni XVI; Simonetta di messer Guasparri Catani sua donna di anni XVI“. They were both 16 years old.

Domenico Ghirlandaio - Cappella Vespucci - Church of Ognissanti in Florence - ca. 1472

Domenico Ghirlandaio – Deposizione (Pietà) – Cappella Vespucci – Church of Ognissanti – Florence – ca. 1472. Some authors identify Simonetta with the third woman from the right in the upper part of the fresco (but could be Lisabetta Mini, wife of Nastagio Vespucci), Amerigo could be the first man from the left in the lower part (but could be Amerigo’s grandfather, himself called Amerigo).

The Cattaneo family evidently had interest in strengthen their links with the Vespucci, a powerful family of florentine bankers. Simonetta and Marco settled in Florence, and Lorenzo il Magnifico invited the couple for a rich party in the family’s palazzo at via Larga, and then for another one in the Villa Medicea at Careggi.

Simonetta was celebrated not only in paintings (she is identified, among others, with the woman in Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus and in a portrait of Piero di Cosimo) but also in literature.

Luigi Pulci (a childhood friend of Lorenzo de’ Medici), his brother Bernardo (in the elegy De obitu divae Simonettae and in the sonnet La diva Simonetta a Julian de’ Medici), the poet Girolamo Benivieni, the veronese poet Francesco Nursio Timideo, and an anonymous poet dedicated to Simonetta some poems in vernacular; Lorenzo himself celebrated her iconic beauty with four sonnets in his Comento de’ miei sonetti (in the sonnet O chiara stella che co’ raggi tuoi he imagined that Simonetta came up to the sky to enrich the firmament), while Michele Marullo, the florentine humanist Naldo Naldi, the pistoian poet and cleric Tommaso Baldinotti, Piero di Francesco Dovizi da Bibbiena (later Lorenzo’s private secretary and tutor of his son, he wrote the elegy Heulogium in Simonettam puellam formosissimam morientem), Alessandro Cortesi (a Poliziano’s friend), and Poliziano himself composed works on Simonetta in latin. Poliziano wrote in the unfinished poem Stanze Cominciate per la Giostra del Magnifico Giuliano di Piero de’ Medici that during a knightly joust that took place in Piazza Santa Croce on January 29 1475, Giuliano de’ Medici won the competition taking with him a portrait of Simonetta. The little portrait, that had been painted by Botticelli, had a french inscription saying La sans par (the unparalleled one).

Simonetta was described later in 1515 by Tommaso Sardi, a dominican monk of the convent of Santa Maria Novella, in his commentary De Anima Peregrina. A series of latin elegies composed about in 1475 by the rimanese poet Giovanni Aurelio Augurelli (Amica ad magnanimum Iulianum Medicem), in which an amica (friend) celebrates Giuliano’s victory, could refer to Simonetta.

In the last days of Simonetta’s illness Lorenzo il Magnifico was in Pisa; he sent his doctor (maestro Stefano) to assist her. Stefano said that the patient illness was not tuberculosis, but maestro Moisè (Vespucci’s doctor) disagree. They disputed about the administration of a medicine to the patient, and they finally gave it, but nothing could be done, and she died, probably of tuberculosis or pneumonia, according to the symptoms described by Piero Vespucci in the letters to Lorenzo de’ Medici (fever, vomit, breathless of chest, insomnia, lack of appetite) on friday April 26 1476. She was 23.

Lorenzo’s agent Sforza Bettini sent a letter to Lorenzo to announce her death with these words: “La benedetta anima della Simonetta se ne andò a Paradiso, come so harette inteso: puossi ben dire che sia stato il secondo Trionpho della morte, che veramente havendola voi vista così morta come la era, non vi saria parsa manco bella e vezzosa che si fusse in vita: requiescat in pace” (Simonetta’s blessed soul came to Paradise, as you know; you can well say that it has been the second Triumph of death, truly because if you’d have seen her dead as she was you’d have recognized she was not less beautiful and pretty than she was when alive: may she rest in peace).

Letter of Sforza Bettini to Lorenzo de' Medici announcing the death of Simonetta Vespucci

Letter of Sforza Bettini (27 April 1476) to Lorenzo de’ Medici announcing the death of Simonetta Vespucci – Archivio di Stato di Firenze, Mediceo Avanti Principato, filza 33, c. 318

According to Lorenzo de’ Medici’s account of the funeral (though it could be not completely reliable), Simonetta was carried to her resting place uncovered (white dressed, according to Bernardo Pulci), to let anyone admiring her beauty, and surrounded by a crowd of people.

She was buried in the Church of Ognissanti, though the exact location of the burial site is unknown. It has been said that Botticelli loved and idealized her beauty so much that he asked to be buried at her feet.

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