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HISTORICAL ANNOTATION 1015

435.5 Amo] The Amo River bisects the city of Florence in much the same way
as the Seine separates Paris. It flows from Florence to Pisa and empties into the
Ligurian Sea. Cohen, Columbia Gazetteer, 1:163, 1010, 3:2857.

435.6 Michael Angelo] Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-
1564), renowned Italian Renaissance sculptor, architect, and painter, is best known for
such important works as the paintings on the ceiling of St. Peter's Sistine Chapel. His
most famous work. the marble statue of David, was completed in Florence in 1504.
Linda Murray, Michelangelo (New York, 1980).

435.6 Dante] Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), Florentine poet, was author of the
epic Divine Comedy. In addition to his poetic works, Dante trained and worked as a
pharmacist and was involved in Florentine politics. Rachel Jacoff, ed., The Cambridge
Companion to Dante (New York, 1993), 1-13.

435.6 Savonarola] Girolamo Savonarola (1452-98), Italian priest of the
Dominican order, led Florence in the late fifteenth century. His famed opposition to
the openness of the Renaissance led to book burnings and the destruction of art he
deemed immoral. He emerged as political head of Florence in 1494 and led followers
in the Bonfire of the Vanities, the aim of which was to destroy such items as mirrors,
lewd or pagan books, cosmetics, and immoral works of art. Among works of art
destroyed in Savonarola's bonfires were works by Michelangelo and Botticelli. He
was excommunicated by Pope Alexander VI in 1497 and executed the following year.
Donald Weinstein, Savonarola and Florence: Prophecy and Patriotism in the
Renaissance (Princeton, N.J., 1970), 74-77, 287-88.

435.9 Venice] Located in northeastern Italy, Venice is known for its series of 150
or more canals, including the Grand Canal, which forms the city's main traffic artery.
A center for tourism and shipbuilding, Venice was once the most important maritime
city, with a population of some 200,000 in the fifteenth century. Baedeker, Northern
Italy, 239-40, 260; Cohen, Columbia Gazetteer, 3:3331.

435.14 mountains of the Tyrol] The Tyrolean Alps, famed for their beauty, are
located along the German border with Austria. Cohen, Columbia Gazetteer, 3:3252.

435.14 Hofer] Andreas Hofer (1767-1810), Austrian patriot and guerrilla leader,
led the Tyroleans against Napoleon in 1809. An innkeeper who traded in wine, horses,
and grain. Hofer was elected to represent his home region in the Tyrolean assembly
at the age of twenty-two. He led the military resistance against the French in the wars
of 1796 and 1805, protecting Tyrol and the house of Habsburg from French domina-
tion. Hofer was less fortunate in 1809 when Austria again took up arms against
France, and was executed at Napoleon I's order in 1810. Owen Connelly, ed.,
Historical Dictionary of Napoleonic France, 1799-1815 (Westport, Conn., 1985),
241-42.

435.22 Milan] At the heart of Lombardy and its capital, Milan is one of the rich-
est manufacturing centers of Italy, with silk and woolen goods comprising its primary
products. Several navigable water routes connect to Milan. Baedeker, Northern ltaly,
121; Cohen, Columbia Gazetteer, 2:1979.