Built over the ruins of a thirteenth century Augustinian priory and located in the Oltrarno district south of the River Arno, the Basilica of Santa Maria del Santo Spirito was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi as a Latin Cross. With the main façade marked by three hearty wood doors, Santo Spirito’s plain outer walls contrasted sharply with the more elaborate inner chapels and sacristy. Completed in 1487, more than forty years after Brunelleschi’s death and only five years prior to my journey to the after life, Santo Spirito and the piazza and stone fountain that it faced, its outlying buildings, and the nearby hospital quickly became a refuge for Florentine citizens. A cloistered life within the welcoming arms of the church was preferred by many over living free in a Florence that was being ravaged by war, disease, hunger, poverty and crime.
On one side of the convent was the hospital. On the other side was the morgue, which is where I next saw Michelangelo.
Being with Michelangelo caused me to recall what he had said to me at the old market when he was ten years old.
These fish, he had said, they speak to me without words, as you have done. They tell me I will do much with my hands.
The fish had been right. He was working with his hands. They were exploring the insides of my dead body.