Savonarola: The Rise And Fall Of The Florentine Friar

Girolamo Savonarola's denunciations of luxury during the Renaissance drew the ire of the Catholic Church, which had him excommunicated, tortured, hanged, and burned in 1498.

Just the word Florence evokes a world of art, and power, and beauty. The Italian city was the cradle of the Renaissance, and hosted such masters as da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Botticelli. But one man saw all this wonder and wanted to watch it burn — Girolamo Savonarola.

Hailed by some as a prophet — and others as a fanatic — the Dominican friar embraced extreme asceticism and encouraged the luxury-loving Florentines to burn their treasures in his infamous “Bonfire of the Vanities”.

For a brief moment, Savonarola succeeded, temporarily turning the hedonistic city of Florence into a theocracy of his own making. But