TheMarzocco is theheraldic lion that is a symbol ofFlorence, and was apparently the first piece of public secular sculpture commissioned by theRepublic of Florence, in the late 14th century. The lion stood at the heart of the city in thePiazza della Signoria at the end of the platform attached to thePalazzo Vecchio called theringhiera, from which speakers traditionally harangued the crowd. This is now lost, having weathered with time to an unrecognizable mass of stone.
The best known rendition is byDonatello, made in 1418–20. Donatello’sMarzocco was placed in the Piazza della Signoria in 1812, but in 1885 it was moved to theBargello, having been replaced by the copy we see to this day.
The original that had stood since (perhaps) 1377, and is now lost, appears to have been similar to Donatello's in design, though it was fullygilded and may have crouched over a submissive wolf representing Florence's great rivalSiena.[1] It can be seen in the background of several paintings and prints, though by the time it was replaced it was so worn that (being only medieval, not classical) it was not considered worth keeping, and disappeared. About 1460 it was given a richly sculpturalsocle with doublebaluster-like motifs[2] at the corners. Theringhiera, once a platform from which theSignoria addressed the people, then a focus for popular tumult, was removed at the same time as the statue was replaced by Donatello's on a pedestal in 1812.
The obscure nameMarzocco, unfathomable to some scholars, would by others derive fromMarte (Mars), whose Roman statue, known as the "Roman God of War", noted by Dante[3] and carried away by a flood of theArno in 1333, had previously been Florence’s emblem.[4] The lion is seated and with one paw supports the coat-of-arms of Florence, thefleur de lys calledil giaggiolo, the iris.Marzocco was` invoked in the Florentinebattle cry and figures in Gentile Aretino's poem "Alla battaglia":
"San Giorgio,[5] Marzoccho Marzoccho
suona percuoti, forbocta rintoccho
Palle palle,[6] Marzoccho Marzoccholegagli strecti e pon lor buona taglia!"[7]
TheMarzocco was such a powerful symbol of theFlorentine Republic that the republican Florentine troops in theSiege of Florence (1529–1530) were known asmarzoccheschi, "sons of the Marzocco",[8] and pro-Medici besiegers of the city in 1530 held a funeral and ritually buried a representation of it, with bells tolling.[9] Prisoners of war fromPisa were forced to kiss it in 1364.[10]AtAnghiari, subject to Florence from 1385, the 15th-century Palazzo del Marzocco faces the church; atMontepulciano stands theMarzocco column; atVolterra theMarzocco stands against the Palazzo dei Priori, seat of government; atLivorno the 15th-centuryTorre del Marzocco (illustration, right) guards the harbor entrance; and atPietrasanta there are a 16th-centuryMarzocco fountain and theMarzocco column, erected in 1513 whenPope Leo X awarded the commune to Florence.
In the subjected territory of Pisa, whenCharles VIII of France entered Sarzana in 1494, the Pisans took theMarzocco, emblem of their subjugation to Florence, and cast it into the Arno.[11] Live lions were kept at the commune's expense from the Middle Ages until they were banished in 1771.
At times theMarzocco would be crowned according to a motto by the writer ofnovelleFranco Sacchetti:
"Corona porto, per la patria degna,
Acciochè libertà ciascun mantegna."[12]
Donatello'sMarzocco was commissioned by the Republic of Florence for the apartment ofPope Martin V atSanta Maria Novella, where this traditionalinsegna of communal republican defense[13] stood guard atop a column at the foot of the stairs that led to thesale del papa ("Papal apartments") in the convent.[14] It is sculpted in the fine-grained gray sandstone of Tuscany calledpietra serena. The Pope lingered at Florence after leaving theCouncil of Constance during theWestern Schism. This staircase was demolished, perhaps by 1515.[15]
The DonatelloMarzocco was moved to thePiazza della Signoria in 1812,[16]
A crownedMarzocco, emphasizing the sovereign independence ofTuscany, appears onTuscany's first issue of postage stamps, 1851.
Il Marzocco was adopted for the name of a progressive weekly literary review in broadsheet format published in Florence in 1896–1932.
