Chiesa di Santa Margherita in Santa Maria dei Ricci – the story of a gamble that didn’t pay off and the ultimate punishment for blasphemy.

Within this pretty church, famous in Florence for it’s Organ Recitals and Concerts , hangs a morality tale that was borrowed by the Strozzi Palace in 2011 for inclusion in their fabulous Exhibition about Money and Beauty.

The tale has also been told in more detail in the book shown below called Sacrilege and Redemption in Renaissance Florence by William J Connell and Giles Constable 

Depicted clearly, in Florentine streets that look pretty much the same as they do now, this painting by Filippo Dolciati illustrates that in 1501 a young man called Antonio Rinaldeschi placed a final desperate bet in a game of dice in the Osteria del Fico (Fig Tavern) – lost yet again – big florins – and left the table in a rage!

When he got to the Tabernacle of the Madonna dei Ricci, the devil ( on his shoulder!) tempted him to vent his rage by hurling some horse manure from the street at the Tabernacle – and thus profane the image of the Madonna. This was an act which shocked the whole city, but which would not usually have merited the death sentence!

Nonetheless such was the concern of Pietro Soderini that the City might soon turn to lawlessness – he instructed that the miscreant was pursued across the countryside for this crime and ultimately arrested by the guards of the Podesta. He was tried by the famous Florentine Signore Otto – (the Tribunal of Eight) and condemned to death.

Imprisoned in the Bargello and sentenced to death he even tried to kill himself but failed – and still the sentence had to be carried out “pour encourage les autres” – and so Antonio was famously hung from the window of the Bargello Courtyard whilst according to this painting Angels and Devils seem to be , (how can this be?) , betting against one another for the right to his soul?

The story doesn’t quite end there because, despite ,or perhaps because of ,- the profanity visited upon it , the Tabernacle so abused seemed to have acquired miraculous powers – so at least some believers have benefited from the abuse.