
Baptistery of San Giovanni - Florence, Italy
Posted by:
neoc1
N 43° 46.388 E 011° 15.318
32T E 681506 N 4849147
The Baptistery of San Giovanni is a pivotal location in Dan Brown's novel Inferno. It is located in the Piazza del Duomo,Florence, Italy.
Waymark Code: WMVHXX
Location: Toscana, Italy
Date Posted: 04/23/2017
Views: 11
The Baptistery of San Giovanni (Baptistery of St. John) is plays a prominent role in the novel Inferno by Dan Brown. The protagonist, Robert Langdon, must follow a series of clues to determine the location of a biohazard poised to be released upon mankind. Langdon determines that he must go to the Baptistry of San Giovanni to find where the death mask of the poet Dante, which contains the clues to his next step on his journey, was hidden by deceased Ignazio Busoni, the director of Il Duomo.
His visit to the Baptistery of San Giovanni begins on chapter 52 and continues through chapter 59. In chapter 52 Langdon obtains a clue about a the hidden location of Dante's death mask when reads Dante's exiled words - "I shall return as poet and put on, at my baptismal font, the laurel crown."
Dan Brown then reveals the location - The Baptistry of San Giovanni in Florence, Italy:
"Florence was home to the world's most celebrate baptismal fonts, which for more than seven hundred years has been used to purify and christen young Florentines - among them Dante Alighieri."
"Could this building be the place Ignazio was referring to?"
"I know the gates Ignazio was talking about! The Gates of Paradise!"
The Gates of Paradise is the name that Michelangelo gave to the gilded bronze doors of the Baptistry of San Giovanni that were created by Lorenzi Ghiberti.
Langdon, of course find the hidden death mask of Dante inside the Baptistry of San Giovanni, deciphers the cryptic clues written on Dante's death mask and determines the next place he must visit.