DANTI, Vincenzo
(b. 1530, Perugia, d. 1576, Perugia)

Monument to Giovanni da Salerno

1571
Marble
Santa Maria Novella, Florence

The monument to Blessed Giovanni da Salerno is the most extreme of all Danti's essays in the duplication of earlier styles.

Founder of the Convent of Santa Maria Novella, Blessed Giovanni Guarna (1190-1242)was born in Salerno. He received the Dominican habit from the hands of the Founder of the Order, Saint Dominic of Guzmán in 1219, and was sent along with 12 other Friars to introduce the Order in Tuscany. Although he was the youngest of them all, Giovanni was assigned as the head of the group by Saint Dominic himself. His remains are found beneath the altar of the Cappella Tornabuoni, also known as the Cappella Maggiore inside the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella.