Italy Blog #34- Florence: Meet the Famous Dead in Santa Croche - Part 1

Giorgio Vasari sculpted this
Grave of Michelangelo

Today in our Italy blog #34, we'll introduce you to the famous dead people buried in the Basilica of Santa Croche, Florence, Italy. Today we'll show you the tomb of Michelangelo, Bruni and Galileo. If you don't know who they all are, you will by the time you read this. :)
 MICHELANGELO'S TOMB -  Michelangelo, who died in Rome in 1564, was buried here beneath a monument with allegorical figures of Sculpture, Architecture and Painting, designed by Giorgio Vasari. Michelangelo’s tomb served as the model for others, such as the tomb of Galileo, who died in 1642.
 

Michelangelo

MICHELANGELO - Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High Renaissance who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Everyone knows the famous "David," and the famous painting at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but there are so many works you may not know. Click here for a list.


FAST FACT- Did you know that Michelangelo was gay? He had a close relationship with a good-looking, young man, Tommaso de Cavalieri. Look it up! 

WHO WAS GIORGIO VASARI? - Giorgio Vasari was an Italian painter, architect, writer, and historian, most famous today for his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing. He was Born: July 30, 1511, Arezzo, Italy, and Died: June 27, 1574, Florence, Italy.
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Leonardo Bruni 

 

Bernardo Rossellino sculpted this
Grave of Leonardo Bruni - 1450

BRUNI'S TOMB - Sculpted by Bernardo Rossellino, was an Italian sculptor and architect, the elder brother of the sculptor Antonio Rossellino. As a member of the second generation of Renaissance artists, he helped to further define and popularize the revolution in artistic approach that characterized the new age.

WHO WAS LEONARDO BRUNI? - Leonardo Bruni was an Italian humanist, historian and statesman, often recognized as the most important humanist historian of the early Renaissance. He has been called the first modern historian.



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GALILEO'S TOMB -The tomb of Galileo Galilei (died in 1642) at Santa Croce in Florence was erected in 1737. It was designed by Giulio Foggini and contains a bust of Galileo Galilei  and figures representing Astronomy  and Geometry.

Gianbattista Foggini
Grave of Galileo Galilei

WHO WAS GALILEO?- World famous Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer, physicist, engineer, philosopher, and mathematician who played a major role in the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. Considered the father of modern science, Galileo

Galileo

(1564-1642) made major contributions to the fields of physics, astronomy, cosmology, mathematics and philosophy. He invented an improved telescope that let him observe and describe the moons of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, the phases of Venus, sunspots and the rugged lunar surface.
   He had powerful friends among Italy’s ruling elite and enemies among the Catholic Church’s leaders. His advocacy of a heliocentric universe brought him before religious authorities in 1616 and again in 1633, when he was forced to recant and placed under house arrest for the rest of his life (Sadly, a severe example of where science is squashed by religious beliefs)

NEXT: Meet More Famous Dead People!