One morning in 1498, a Dominican monk named Girolamo Savonarola said a last "Mass in the chapel of Florence's Palazzo Vecchio. Then he and two fellow Dominicans were dragged outside to a cross-shaped scaffold. As thousands of Florentines jeered, they were stripped of their white habits. The last of the three, Savonarola silently received the hangman's noose. As he died, a pyre was lit at the bottom of his scaffold.
Last week, Florentines flocked to the scene of Savonarola's execution to celebrate the sooth anniversary of his birth. A children's choir sang. Nuns convoyed little girls in white dresses who sprinkled flowers...
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