Wind from the gathering storm whistled through the cracks and rent windows of the vacant church, the shadows long and deep from the light of the lantern on the bench at the pew. Lorenzo kept an iron hold on his instinctive fear, willing his fingers away from the silver dagger hidden under his robes. The church had been empty when he had arrived; now a man was leaning against the pulpit, long fingers folded under his chin, his smile amused, much of his aquiline face swallowed by the shadow of a white cowl.
The Ferragamo family have long been patrons of the arts and have donated copious amounts of money towards the restoration of Florentine art. Salvatore Ferragamo played a large role in the 2019 restoration of the Fountain of Neptune by donating 1.5 million euros to the project. Because of the new Art Bonus program started in 2014, private donors such as Ferragamo are now able to receive a tax deduction for any donations made toward the city's art restoration efforts. Thanks to Ferragamo's generous donation, the long overdue restoration of the fountain began in early 2017 and was completed in 2019. During the restoration the pump that had not functioned since 1987 was finally replaced with a new stainless-steel system. Other repairs included removing stains from the marble, patching cracks and restoring rusted bronze figures.[11]
Lorenzo Il Magnifico Crack Fix
Unfortunately the smoke from the altar candlesand censers, and the dust of centuries havedarkened and almost completely destroyed theoriginal colour of this fresco; ominous crackshave also appeared in several places, but it is tobe hoped that time will spare one of the greatestmasterpieces of modern art for many centuriesto come.
There were other, unanticipated, issues that arose because of print. In the past, while the Church did its best to crack down on heresies, it was not necessary to impose any kind of formal censorship. No written material could be mass-produced, so the only ideas that spread quickly did so through word of mouth. Print made censorship both much more difficult and much more important, since now anyone could print just about anything. As early as the 1460s, print introduced disruptive ideas in the form of the next best-seller to follow the Bible itself, a work that advocated the pursuit of salvation without reference to the Church entitled The Imitation of Christ. The Church would eventually (in 1571) introduce an official Index of Prohibited Books, but several works were already banned by the time the Index was created. 2ff7e9595c
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