San Gimignano (SI)

Madonna col Bambino e angeli tra i santi Giovanni Battista, Maria Maddalena, Agostino e Marta
predella: Beata Fina e santa Maria Maddalena; Cristo in pietà tra la Vergine e Giovanni evangelista; San Girolamo e Beato Bartolo
in: Benozzo Gozzoli a San Gimignano, a cura di Gerardo de Simone, Cristina Borgioli, catalogo mostra (San Gimignano, Pinacoteca e Museo d’Arte Sacra, 18 giugno-1 novembre 2016), Firenze, Ed. Giunti, 2016

12. Manifattura delle Murate, Paliotto;
13. Manifattura fiorentina, Pianeta;
14. Manifattura fiorentina, Drappo;
15. Andrea del maestro Michele 'e compagni', Calice;
16. Orafo senese, Turibolo e navicella;
17. Orafo fiorentino, Turibolo;
18. Petrus Antonius de Sano, Croce astile.

Pala di Sant’Andrea: Madonna col Bambino (Madonna dell’Umiltà) e due angeli tra i santi Andrea e Prospero; predella: Cristo in pietà tra i santi Girolamo, la Vergine, Giovanni evangelista e Guglielmo
in: Benozzo Gozzoli a San Gimignano, a cura di Gerardo de Simone, Cristina Borgioli, catalogo mostra (San Gimignano, Pinacoteca e Museo d’Arte Sacra, 18 giugno-1 novembre 2016), Firenze, Ed. Giunti, 2016

The spectra of art can be defined as figurative objects that are often very damaged, sometimes invisible (but able to reappear), and which bear traces of assault or other types of intentional gestures destined to modify the appearance of images. This contribution focuses not only iconoclastic acts and meaningful alterations, but also on the efforts made to restore works of art that were altered over time. The palimpsest traces taken under consideration belong to a coherent body of paintings from the Trecento that depict crowned figures. Referring to the Christ in majesty iconography, in turn traditionally associated with that of the emperor, the image of a dominus holding a sceptre and a globe communicates a powerful feeling of domination, leading to acts of manipulation and destruction. In this view, the overlooked spectra of art cases concerning Giotto, Ambrogio Lorenzetti and Simone Martini are read in the context of the Angevine domination of Italy and the Risorgimento. Ultimately, the spectra of art call into question the traditional theories of restoration attached to the paradigmatic singularity of painting as an autographic art and to art conservation and restoration.
Les spectres de l’art peuvent être définis comme des objets figurés souvent très abîmés et parfois invisibles (mais pouvant réapparaître), qui portent des traces d’agression ou d’autres types de gestes intentionnels destinés à modifier l’apparence des images. Cette contribution met l’accent non seulement sur les actes iconoclastes et les altérations des images, mais aussi sur les efforts déployés pour restaurer des œuvres d’art qui ont été modifiées au fil du temps. Les traces des palimpsestes prises en compte appartiennent à un ensemble homogène de peintures du Trecento représentant des personnages couronnés. Faisant référence à l’iconographie du Christ en majesté, traditionnellement associée à celle de l’empereur, l’image d’un dominus qui tient un sceptre et un globe communique un puissant sentiment de domination conduisant à des actes de manipulation et de destruction. Les histoires inédites de spectres d’art de Giotto, d’Ambrogio Lorenzetti et de Simone Martini sont mises en rapport avec la domination angevine en Italie et avec le Risorgimento. Elles amènent à réfléchir aux théories de la restauration, encore trop attachées au paradigme de la singularité de la peinture comme art autographique, ainsi qu’à la conservation restauration future.

Pubblicazione di una memoria manoscritta del 1782 inserita nel Registro dei Matrimoni della Cattedrale di Colle Val d’Elsa. Nicola Apolloni, Arciprete Vicario della Diocesi di Colle, reggente ad interim del vescovado in tempo di sede vacante, volle lasciare resoconto a perpetua memoria di come prese possesso del territorio di San Gimignano.

This paper provides an overview of economic inequality in the Florentine State (Tuscany) from the late fourteenth to the late eighteenth century. Regional studies of this kind are rare, and this is only the second-ever attempt at covering such a long period. Consistent with recent research conducted on other European areas, during the Early Modern period we find clear indications of a tendency for economic inequality to grow continually, a finding that for Tuscany cannot be explained as the consequence of economic growth. Furthermore, the exceptionally old sources we use allow us to demonstrate that a phase of declining inequality, lasting about one century, was triggered by the Black Death from 1348 to 1349. This finding challenges earlier scholarship and significantly alters our understanding of the economic consequences of the Black Death. We also take into account other important topics, such as the change over time of the patrimony of the Church and of poverty. Particular attention is paid to the latter, and estimates of the prevalence of the poor in time and space are provided and discussed, also taking into account the definition and perception of the poor.


Keywords: Economic inequality; social inequality; wealth concentration; middle ages; early modern period; Tuscany; Florentine State; Italy; plague; Black Death; Church property; poverty; Florence; Prato; Arezzo; San Gimignano
Acknowledgements

This encyclopedia entry examines new recently discovered biographical data and studies about the medieval Italian poet Folgore da San Gimignano and assesses the political and historical value of his works within the history and politics of San Gimignano, Italy.

Questa entrata enciclopedica include nuovi dati biografici inediti recentemente scoperti e reperiti all'Archivio della Biblioteca di San Gimignano di Arezzo che mettono in luce l'aspetto politico e storico dell'autore.

Known as Folgore da San Gimignano, the poet and knight Iacobo Micheli was a contemporary of Dante Alighieri who lived in San Gimignano, a small hill town in the region of Tuscany. We currently possess a total of thirty-two sonnets attributed to him, twenty-nine of which are preserved in the codex Vaticano Barberino Latino 3953. He is mostly remembered for his "Corona dei mesi" [The Garland of the Months], a sequence of fourteen sonnets celebrating the military and courtly valor of his fellow knights who belonged to the powerful Tuscan Guelf League. This poetic composition is modeled upon the Provençal plazer, a traditionally rustic lyrical genre that celebrates the pleasures of life. Folgore is indeed renowned for having successfully adapted the Provençal genre to Italian lyric, and his work was prominent among his contemporaries. This is demonstrated by the existence of numerous copies of these sonnets throughout Italy as well as the popular comic parody written by the contemporary jester Cenne della Chitarra. In contrast to Folgore's pleasures, Cenne discloses a list of lamentations about annoying and unpleasant things. Furthermore, because Cenne hailed from the Ghibelline city of Arezzo, which fought against the Guelf city of San Gimignano in 1312, his parody can also be approached as a political satire.

Saggio originariamente pubblicato dall’autore in, Sant’Agostino di San Gimignano, le secolari vicende, (Poggibonsi, Progetto Lavoro Onlus, 2004), Scheda 3, pagine 264-267. Il rinvenimento di ulteriori notizie nell’aprile 2021 hanno consigliato la nuova pubblicazione del piccolo saggio con le altre notizie rinvenute.

Once belonging to the (suppressed) Monastero di Santa Chiara of San Gimignano, but today conserved
in the Museo di Arte Sacra of that city, is a reliquary cross, decorated with silver leaf and embellished with
figures of translucent enamel, that was produced in Siena in the last quarter of the Trecento. Although the
object offers many aspects to consider, despite numerous lacunae, it has been almost completely ignored
in studies of fourteenth-century Sienese metalwork. This essay attempts to provide a deeper understanding
of the cross, beginning with its provenance: the convent of Clarissan nuns of San Gimignano, which was the
home of such precious works as Coppo di Marcovaldo’s Crucifix and Memmo di Filipuccio’s Madonna and
Child with Saints, both in the Pinacoteca Civica. The Clarissan convent, founded in the 1260s, was in close
proximity to friars’ convent in San Gimignano, which oversaw the nuns’ spiritual care and notably was the
residence of Fra Giovanni de’ Cauli, the presumed author of the Meditationes Vitae Christi, a fundamental
text for the development of late medieval iconography. Documentary, iconographic, and stylistic analyses
of the cross are followed by a reconstruction of its function and a study of the art historical context of its
production.

“Folgore da San Gimignano e l’importanza della letteratura in Italia.” Invited lecture by the City Council of the city of San Gimignano, Italy for the “Maggio dei Libri,” a National project sponsored by the Italian Minister of Education to promote literature and education in Italy.  http://www.ilmaggiodeilibri.it/

The mighty portrait of the Virgin Mary surrounded by a crowd of saints in the main hall of the public palace of the well known medieval town of San Gimignano is charged of several meanings. Among them a kind of legitimation of the communal authority by the divinity to whom the main public authorities ask for protection. This may be confirmed by the presence of rare public coats of arms painted in the frame of the fresco work. We try to explain each of them giving an unedited display of a complex symbolic heritage of a relatively small free-commune in central Italy.