12. The First Performance of "The Mandrake" at Palazzo Medici Riccardi3. The Basilica of San Lorenzo - Preaching to the Women4. Piazza della Signoria - A Citizens’ Militia5. Palazzo Vecchio - Machiavelli and the Florentine Chancery6. The Loggia della Signoria (or “dei Lanzi”) - Machiavelli, the Republic and the Medicean Signoria7. The Bargello - Machiavelli and the War8. The Tabernacle of the Stinche - Machiavelli as Prisoner9. Casa Buonarroti - The Fortifications of Florence10. Santa Croce - the Death of Niccolò Machiavelli11. Palazzo Strozzi - the Fortune of Machiavelli
Monastery of San Marco - Machiavelli’s Savonarola
An itinerary devoted to Niccolò Machiavelli must give due importance to the figure of Girolamo Savonarola, not only a reference point for any reflection on Machiavelli but also the specific subject of one of his earliest extant writings, the letter to Ricciardo Becchi dated 9 March 1498 - shortly before Machiavelli began his career as official of the Florentine Republic. The itinerary thus starts from the area north of the city's center, site of the Church of San Marco and the Dominican Monastery of the same name, whose Prior was Girolamo Savonarola.
The church and monastery of San Marco were occupied by the Dominicans in 1435, after having been the seat of the Silvestrini since 1418. In 1437 Cosimo the Elder decided to rebuild the complex - as mentioned also by Machiavelli in the Florentine Histories (Istorie fiorentine) (VII, 5) - with Michelozzo as architect; the frescoes were entrusted to Fra Angelico. Michelozzo remodelled the existing structure (dating from the 14th century) in the sacristy and the apse, while further changes were made by Giambologna in the mid-sixteenth century and by Pier Francesco Silvani in 1678. Such outstanding figures in the city's cultural life as Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Agnolo Poliziano are buried in San Marco.
Part of the Monastery has now become the Museum of San Marco, with its splendid Hospice Hall, originally dedicated to Fra Angelico, while the other rooms display works by the finest Florentine artists of the 15th and 16th centuries. The Portrait of Girolamo Savonarola by Fra Bartolomeo clearly shows what a striking impression the Friar must have made at the time of Machiavelli.
In the Museum of San Marco can be seen two portraits of Girolamo Savonarola painted by Fra' Bartolomeo, known as Baccio della Porta. Born at Sofignano in the Province of Prato in 1472, the young painter was so impressed by Savonarola's preachings that he participated both times, in 1496 and 1497, in the bonfires of vanities held in Piazza della Signoria to destroy works of irreligious subject. In 1500 Fra' Bartolomeo seems to have become a novice in Prato, moving the following year to the Monastery of San Marco in Florence.
His first portrait painted on a panel probably dates to 1497, when Bartolomeo would have had a sharp, vivid image of Savonarola. At the bottom of the painting appears the inscription HIERONYMI FERRARIENSIS A DEO/ MISSI PROPHETAE EFFIGIES. Against a dark background emerges the severe profile of Savonarola, with the strongly-marked features accentuated by the hood that partially covers his face. The austerity of the portrait and the proud gaze of Savonarola evoke the striking impression made on his contemporaries by his virulent, fiery sermons. Machiavelli too, although very different in character from Fra' Bartolomeo, was struck by the sermons of the Friar from Ferrara, and especially by his hold over the Florentine people, "neither ignorant nor coarse" but nonetheless convinced by Savonarola that he spoke with God.
The Museum also contains a Portrait of Fra' Girolamo Savonarola in the Guise of St. Peter the Martyr painted a few years later, again by Fra' Bartolomeo. In this oil on wood, Savonarola is represented as the thirteenth-century Dominican Pietro da Verona. As compared to the earlier work, the portrait appears softer, the realism of the features less exaggerated. Savonarola is no longer depicted with the fierce gaze that emphasizes his strength of character, but in a more detached (and less striking) manner, through his transfiguration into the image of Peter the Martyr.
On 9 March 1498 Machiavelli wrote a letter to Ricciardo Becchi, Florentine ambassador to the papal court, informing him of Girolamo Savonarola's activity. Savonarola - writes Machiavelli - was intending to pray for a sign that would confirm his prophecies, "to unite those on his side and strengthen them in defending him". Just at this time the Signoria, Florence's highest governing body, had been elected, with a majority that opposed Savonarola. Aware of this difficult political situation, the Friar decided not to speak in the city's most prestigious church, the Duomo - still called "Sancta Reparata" by Machiavelli - but to content himself with preaching to the men in the Monastery of San Marco, while the women would listen to Fra' Domenico da Pescia in the Basilica of San Lorenzo.
In those sermons - reports Machiavelli - Savonarola sustained that "God had told him" that someone in Florence intended to become a tyrant, thus managing to unite his followers against a common enemy. However, "the Signoria having then written to the Pope in his favour" and no longer fearing his Florentine adversaries, Savonarola made no further mention of any tyrant.
For Machiavelli, Savonarola "speaks according to the times" - that is, adapting his sermons to the circumstances of the moment - "and colouring his lies". However, Machiavelli was not interested in the truth or falsehood of Savonarola's words, but in their political impact. Savonarola - in Machiavelli's opinion - managed to express politically what could be called today the complex relationship between reason and imagination, utilizing the latter to pursue objectives established by the former. In this perspective, Machiavelli is obliged to appreciate the policy of Savonarola, so quick at understanding the spirit of the times and unscrupulously adapting to different situations.
In Machiavelli's later reflections on Savonarola, the role of religion as civil restraint emerges. Religion is not merely an instrumentum regni useful for governing a coarse, ignorant population - the people of Florence, "neither ignorant nor coarse", were persuaded by Savonarola that he could speak with God (Discourses I, 11) - but is an element indispensable to the foundation and conservation of States.
