When Michelangelo died in Rome in February 1564, at the age of eighty-eight, the city wanted to bury him in . His nephew Leonardo saw things differently and acted fast.
The body was packed into a crate and declared as trade goods, then driven out of the city like any ordinary freight. Only once it reached Florence did the lid come off. The city gave him a state funeral in , with artists competing for the honour of taking part and a church full of painted tributes.
His tomb here was designed by , a painter and biographer who had known him in person. Three mourning women sit beneath it, representing sculpture, painting and architecture, the three arts in which his contemporaries felt he stood above everyone else. Above them hangs his portrait, with that crooked nose.
A few metres along you'll find the grand tomb of , the poet behind the , standing empty because never gave his bones back. Side by side, the two tell the same story with a different ending, and if you want to hear it you can follow our walk about Dante and Beatrice.
That brings this walk to a close, and it's been lovely having you follow him through his city. You'll need a ticket for the church. Piazza San Marco, where you started, lies twenty minutes to the northwest, and if you'd like to see more, our route past the icons of Florence is waiting for you.
Sources. Story: Opera di Santa Croce (tomba di Michelangelo, progetto di Vasari); Treccani (Michelangelo Buonarroti, morte e funerali) Photos: Tomb of Michelangelo, Santa Croce, Florence, via Wikimedia Commons, photo Rufus46, CC BY-SA 3.0
