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Bones of forerunner of renaissance to be examined by experts
Rome, Nov 05: As a poet he encouraged his readers to contemplate death. Now, as the 700th anniversary of his birth approaches, a team of archaeologists will remove the remains of Italian poet Francesco Petrarca from their pink marble resting place, hoping to piece together details of his life.
Rome, Nov 05: As a poet he encouraged his readers to
contemplate death. Now, as the 700th anniversary of his birth
approaches, a team of archaeologists will remove the remains
of Italian poet Francesco Petrarca from their
pink marble resting place, hoping to piece together details
of his life.
Led by an Italian anatomy professor, the team wants to
reconstruct Petrarch's physical features to shed light on the
man considered second only to Dante in the pantheon of Italian
writers.
"We will be able to analyze his physical makeup, his height. We will be able to tell from his bones if he was suffering from illnesses,'' Vito Terribile Wiel Marin, of Padua University, said.
The bones will be removed on Nov. 18 from the tomb in Arqua-Petrarca, the village in Northeast Italy where Petrarch died in 1374. Marin said he believes that providing tidbits about Petrarch's body will be a service in itself, even if they do not advance the study of the poet's work.
Petrarch was born in Tuscany in 1304. He spent many years writing at a country retreat near Avignon in Southern France, home to the then-exiled papacy. He returned to Italy in 1353.
Bureau Report
"We will be able to analyze his physical makeup, his height. We will be able to tell from his bones if he was suffering from illnesses,'' Vito Terribile Wiel Marin, of Padua University, said.
The bones will be removed on Nov. 18 from the tomb in Arqua-Petrarca, the village in Northeast Italy where Petrarch died in 1374. Marin said he believes that providing tidbits about Petrarch's body will be a service in itself, even if they do not advance the study of the poet's work.
Petrarch was born in Tuscany in 1304. He spent many years writing at a country retreat near Avignon in Southern France, home to the then-exiled papacy. He returned to Italy in 1353.
Bureau Report