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| Girolamo Savonarola |
Girolamo Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar and a preacher active in Renaissance Florence.
In September 1494, when King Charles VIII of France invaded Italy and threatened Florence he lead the Florentines in expelling the ruling Medicis and, at Savonarola's urging, established a popular republic. He intervened with the French King to save Florence.
In 1495, when Florence refused to join Pope Alexander VI's Holy League against the French, the Vatican summoned Savonarola to Rome. He disobeyed, and further defied the pope by preaching under a ban, and he was excommunicated in May 1497.
The Pope threatened to place Florence under an interdict, exclusion from participation in certain holy rites. This would lead the civil authorities hanging and burning the bodies of Savonarola and two of his supporters.
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| Savonarola executed in the Piazza della Signoria |
A statue dedicated to Girolamo Savonarola was was unveiled in 1875 in the Piazza Savonarola
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| Girolamo Savonarola statue Piazza Savonarola |
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| Girolamo Savonarola statue |