Remembering Savonarola

May 23, 2013 11:00

This morning, instead of our Global Studies class, we attended La Fiorita, an annual event that commemorates the execution of Florentine friar Girolamo Savonarola. Savonarola was a preacher and instituted a rather strict religious campaign in Florence during the late 15th century. He was eventually excommunicated, arrested and publicly burned on May 23, 1498 in the Piazza della Signoria.

The annual commemoration on May 23 begins with mass at 10am in the priori chapel of Palazzo Vecchio and continues with a traditional costume parade that loops through the historic center and returns to the Piazza della Signoria at 11am. This is the part of the ceremony that we caught.

After the town councillor of the Florentine Tradition gave a speech, the mayor of Florence, Matteo Renzi, placed flowers on the commemorative plaque embedded in the piazza. The mayor actually came around and shook our hands as the procession exited the piazza and made their way to the Arno where flowers are symbolically thrown into the river.