author
Girolamo Savonarola
1452–1498
A fiery Dominican friar who briefly helped reshape Florence, he became one of the most dramatic and controversial voices of the Italian Renaissance. His sermons against corruption and luxury made him famous, feared, and ultimately doomed.
1 Audiobook
The triumph of the cross
by Girolamo Savonarola
About the author
Born in Ferrara in 1452, Girolamo Savonarola entered the Dominican Order and later rose to prominence in Florence as a preacher known for urgency, moral intensity, and apocalyptic conviction. He attacked corruption in both civic life and the Church, drawing large crowds with sermons that called for repentance and reform.
After the Medici were driven from Florence in 1494, he became a major political and religious force in the city. Savonarola pushed for a more pious and republican Florence, and he is still remembered for inspiring campaigns against luxury and vanity, including the famous "Bonfire of the Vanities."
His influence did not last. Conflict with Pope Alexander VI, political opposition within Florence, and failed prophecies weakened his position. Arrested, tortured, and condemned, he was executed in Florence in 1498. Ever since, he has been seen in sharply different ways: as a fanatic, a martyr, a reformer, or an early challenger to abuses in the Church.