Statue of Dante on the Piazzale degli Uffizi

Even though Giorgio Vasari (1511-74) designed the double portico that you find outside the Uffizi, we owe its statues to a man named Vincenzo Batelli (1786-1858). Born in Florence to an impoverished family, Batelli was forced to give up his education at the age of 12 but he was very intelligent and had a remarkable mind. (He memorized all of Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata and dozens of cantos of the Divine Comedy.)

He became a printer in Milan but returned to Florence around 1825 and opened his own shop where he published, among other things, the first illustrated edition of Manzoni’s Promessi sposi (1827).

It was Batelli’s idea to use the niches on these columns as a sort of outdoor museum of famous Florentines. Thanks to his fundraising and political organization, the pantheon of all 28 statues was completed quite quickly.

The sculptor Emilio Demi, who had already done the famous statue of Galileo at the University of Pisa, was selected to execute this pensive statue of Dante, which was unveiled in 1842.

You will notice that the last name on the pedestal contains a double-l (Alighieri) whereas we are used to seeing one. This caused a bit of a stir among Dante’s admirers and, indeed, spurred the publication of a little booklet in 1852 that presented various scholarly arguments in favor of the double-l. It sold right here by the statue for 1 lira.

Batelli was successful in collecting the funds for this beautiful project, but his own finances were another story. After several failed business ventures, the printer lost his home and died almost penniless.