The Battle of Marciano
“Cerca trova” (seek and ye shall find) is a mysterious inscription that is located at the top of Vasari’s fresco The Battle of Marciano positioned in the Hall of the Five Hundred in Palazzo Vecchio.
This inscription and its anagram CATROVACER play a very important role in Dan Brown’s Inferno.
The words “cerca trova”, however, are not as mysterious as believed: in fact, in the 1960s, some art historians discovered their origin.
The Battle of Marciano, also known as The Battle of Scannagallo, was a very important battle fought by the troops of the Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici against the city of Siena, near Marciano in Val di Chiana.
The battle was decisive in defeating Siena and achieving supremacy over all of Tuscany.
The conflict was also important for the Duke Cosimo because the troops of Siena were led by Piero Strozzi, a Florentine nobleman, who was his archenemy.
Other Florentine troops, consisting of supporters of the Florentine Republic as well as enemies of Cosimo I in general, joined Piero Strozzi.
The Battle of Marciano was also fought among Florentines to achieve the supremacy over Florence. So when we say “Siena soldiers”, we mean the troops defending Siena, which included Florentine soldiers.
Siena soldiers wore different green flags, some of them donated by the king of France, who supported them.
Dante’s verses were embroidered on a number of these green flags:
He goes in search of freedom, which is so dear,
As he who gives his life for it would know.
(Purgatorio, Canto I, 71–72)
By these verses, Siena troops wanted to express that they were fighting to defend their own freedom.
But those Siena soldiers, looking for freedom, instead found the defeat.
This is the sarcastic message that Cosimo I wanted to express by asking Giorgio Vasari to paint the words “cerca trova” on a green flag in place of Dante’s verses.
Anyway, seek and ye shall find… something!
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HELLO MY FRIENDS
I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT I AM READING DAN BROWNS BOOK “INFERNO” AND I LOVE IT. IT HAS MANY SYMBOLS, BUT THE BEST SYMBOL IS “CATROVACER”. I THINK THAT DAN BROWN IS THE BEST AUTHOR IN THE WORLD. HE ALWAYS MAKE PEOPLE THINK, WHAT IS THE MEANING IN HIS BOOKS. I AM JUST SORRY THAT OTHERS HAVE NOT READ ALL HIS BOOKS. I HAVE READ ALL HIS BOOKS, AND I CAN SAY THAT NO ONLY “THE DA VINCI CODE IS A BEST SELLER, ALL HIS OTHER BOOKS SHOULD BE THAT. THANK YOU. HAVE A LOVELY DAY. PYRIEL
Hello Pyriel, Dan Brown’s books are fabulous and they cause curiosity about art and history, have you seen the books that we suggest about that?
I totally agree and I am a big fan of Dan Brown and have read all his books including inferno and Da Vinci Code.. He is the best!
I’m currently reading Inferno, the text on the front cover currently led me here. I’ve had more fun reading this book series and watching the movies than I have any other.
I’m falling in love with RL
I’m a member of cultural association Scannagallo. We recall this battle every year on the last weekend of May or the first weekend in June, whatever the dates are redefined every year.
We are a group of dedicated re-enactors, and we have participated in pageants and events in Italy and abroad. We are able to organize conferences and cultural events, we can realize exhibitions of clothes and weapons with educational days for the public and school groups. Our group, along with other Italian and foreign groups can organize any event of historical reenactment.
this is the link to our website:http://www.scannagallo.com/2013/
sorry for my english!! 🙂
Dan, thank you for providing such a illistrious peace of ur work in the name of inferno, though I am starting stage of reading this book, true to the fact itz my first book of urs. It pulls deeply into the story giving a feeling to complete at instance….. Right now im at 196th page….. Really intriguing is “Im wondering when agent bruder exhales slowly and says to his boss’you’re not going to believe this’ that gives a suspence about sienna…….. Thank you soo much
I just saw Inferno the film…………..It has triggered my curiosity to read Mr. Brown’s works. ThanX everyone!!
Viktor