San Miniato al Monte Reopens with Art, Music, and New Publications

On June 24, 2020, the Basilica of San Miniato al Monte in Florence reopened with a ceremony called Scala Coeli, marking the feast of Saint John, the city's patron saint. Abbot Bernardo Francesco Gianni and the Olivetan monks led the event, which featured artist Marco Bagnoli, who carved an alabaster baptismal font, and musicians Eleonora Tassinari and Luca Di Volo. Two recent publications were presented: Marco Bagnoli, Janua Coeli (Petra, Florence 2019) and Fulvio Salvadori, Scritti sospesi / Visioni estatiche (Lindau, Turin 2020), discussed by Cristina Acidini, President of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno and the Fondazione Casa Buonarroti, and Pier Luigi Tazzi, curator of Atelier Marco Bagnoli in Montelupo Fiorentino. The abbot described the event as a moment suspended between mysticism and history, incorporating gestures, movements, songs, silences, readings, and declamations to commemorate the basilica's millennium and open toward the future after months of quarantine.