Colonna di San Zanobi, Florence

Colonna di San Zanobi is a marble monument commemorating Saint Zanobi, set beside the Baptistery of San Giovanni. Its slender shaft carries a cross above a crown shaped like flames. A small metal tree fixed to the column gives the object its most striking clue: this monument marks the place associated with a miraculous tree.

Saint Zanobi had been Florence’s bishop and died circa 430. During the 9th-century transfer of his remains, an urn carrying them was taken from San Lorenzo toward Santa Reparata because danger from Hungarian invasions threatened the area beyond the city walls. As local tradition has it, the procession brushed an elm in winter, and the bare tree burst into leaves.

The event is traditionally dated to 26 January 429, although that date belongs to the story rather than an established account of the column’s construction. The monument’s exact erection date is unknown, but it was already standing by 1333. Look at the attached tree: that modest metal image keeps the old miracle visible in the marble itself.