Saturday 30 June 2018

Giovanni Francesco Sanminiatelli

This is Count Giovanni Francesco Sanminiatelli, he was born in Pisa on February 13th, 1814 and (supposed to have) died on August 21st, 1869 in Florence.  During his life he had many accomplishments: he was named a Knight of Saint Stephen and became a great expert in ecclesiastical law even sitting as a judicial vicar - as such he decided to excommunicate a certain Paolino Certarossa (Siena 1868) based on statements by two different witnesses that Paolino is involved in sorcery and black magic. Exactly one year later the Count died but his body mysteriously dissolved in a green puff of smoke before the eyes of the grieving family (who decided to avoid the scandal, keep this a secret and proceed with a closed-casket funeral). Giovanni's tortured spirit is condemned to forever inhabit disgusting mannequins in middle-Tuscany and area (just guessing here: Paolino wasn't entirely innocent). I tracked down his latest appearance in a window of a store on Via de'Tornabuoni 73, Florence.


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