Dante Alighieri

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Statue of Dante Alighieri by Paolo Emilio Demi
Niche of the Uffizi colonnade
Piazzale degli Uffizi
Florence, April 2014

“Vincenzo Batelli, for that was the name of this clever Florentine printer, found it impossible to conceive of a niche as a purely architectural feature. Like so many others of his time, a niche, for him, was nothing other than an architectural backdrop to set off the fame and glory of some illustrious person, and thus a sort of vacant lot, just waiting for its guest of honour. The city of Florence and indeed the entire region of Tuscany was unrivalled for its lavish supply of geniuses, heroes, artists, poets and men of science. It would therefore be quite simple to fill each one of Vasari’s niches and still have plenty of the great and the good left over. Why not seize this golden opportunity to wed all these lonely widowed niches with their perfect spouse?” (The strange story of the 28 statues, The Museums of Florence)