Florence's English Cemetery and its Dante
Scholars App
FLORENCE'S ENGLISH CEMETERY AND ITS DANTE SCHOLARS
The Victorian Cemetery was built by the Fiesolan
Gate, the Porta a' Pinti, through which Dante and Beatrice would
have gone as children in the summer to the countryside near
Sasso beyond Fiesole. Amalia Ciardi DuPrè, descendant of
Giovanni DuPrè, and relative of his daughter, Amala DuPrè, the
great nineteenth-century Florentine sculptors, created this
bozza for the empty niche in our wall, built when the Gate was
destroyed by Giuseppe Poggi:

Many international cosmopolitan scholars enamoured of Dante came
to Florence and several found their resting place here in the
so-called 'English' Cemetery, owned by the Swiss. One of these
was born in India and grew up in England, another's family was
from Jamaica, another came from Gdansk, a fourth from Trieste,
two others from Russia. This is a virtual guided tour to their
tombs to be honoured with laurel wreaths and with carrying their
books to their tombs in a celebration, 6 April 2021, when the
Florentine wild purple irises, her lily, begin to bloom.
In Sector B, near the tombs of other members of his family, his
daughter, Theodosia and her mother-in-law, Frances Trollope, is
the tomb of Joseph Garrow.
B12G/ B108/
624/ JOSEPH
GARROW/ INDIA/ENGLAND
Joseph Garrow was the first person to translate Dante's Vita
nova into English, which he published with the Italian and
English on facing pages, with the misleading title, The
Earliest Life of Dante. It was printed in Florence by
Felix Le Monnier in 1846. Times Literary Supplement 17/5/1920,
remarked 'but it is a curious footnote to the literary annals of
Anglo-India which proves that the son of an Indian mother lived
to translate Dante and to move in a circle where the Brownings
and Landor were the greater lights'. The Fioretta Mazzei
Mediatheca has purchased a fine leather-bound facing page
facsimile copy of the editio princeps from India. Thomas
Adolphus Trollope writes in What I Remember, II.150-159:
The little boy was born to the Indian Civil Servant's wife,
Sultana, who was said to be an Indian princess. Joseph Garrow
senior left his son Joseph £5,000, the interest to be used for
his education ‘which I desire may be as good as he is capable of
receiving in Europe’. He left his sister Eleanora Garrow £2,000
and a further £1,000 on condition that she ‘takes care of and
attends to the education’ of his son. Eleanora certainly seems
to have been Joseph’s affectionate aunt, and in her will, proved
in July 1805, she left him £1,000 in 4% stock, to be given to
him when he was 21. She also left £1,000 and some silver items
to John Wright, her father’s nephew who was at Caius College,
Cambridge, ‘in expectation he will continue as far as lies in
his power to be a kind Friend to the dear Son of my late worthy
Brother Joseph’. John Wright was in his early 30s and was about
to take deacon’s orders. JLMaquay, Diaries 13/11/1857 'old
Garrow wretched man died on Tuesday paralytic stroke.' His
daughter Theodosia (T. Garrow on the title page) made a
translation of Giovanni Battista Niccolini’s, Arnold of Brescia,
a tragedy, and this was published in London, also in 1846. See B85/ THEODOSIA
(GARROW) TROLLOPE, C77/ HARRIET THEODOSIA FISHER (GARROW). See also Neil Jeffares,
Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, Russell1.pdf
Joseph Garrow, Joseph [or, less likely, Sir William Garrow],
Eleanor
Cippo. Marmista ignoto. Sec. XIX, post 11/1857. Ambito toscano.
Cippo in pietra serena a sostituzione del cippo originario (non
siamo a conoscenza dell'epoca), frammenti cippo originario
conservati, inciso con iscrizione sepolcrale in latino in lettere
capitali e numeri arabi, epitaffio di Thomas Adolphus Trollope,
genero di Joseph Garrow. [M: A: 104. L: 60. P: 19.] Iscrizione
sepolcrale in latino in lettere capitali e numeri arabi: HIC
JACET IOSEPHUS GARROW/ ARMr/ DE BRADDONS IN AGRO DEVON/ APUD
INDOS NATUS/ A.D. 1789/ FLORENTIAN DENATUS/ A.D. 1857/ Eglise
Evangelique-Reformée de Florence Régistre des Morts: Joseph
Garrow, d'Angleterre/ I: 1852-1859 'Registre des Sèpultures avec
detail des frais', Paoli 685/ Q 280: 408 Paoli/ Records, Guildhall
Library, London: GL23777/1 N°242, Burial 12/11, Rev O'Neill;
marriage of child Theodosia 03/04/48 to Thomas Adolphus Trollope
at HBM (Hamilton), Joseph Garrow, Harriet Fisher, Frances Trollope
present, Rev Robbins (E101)/ Maquay Diaries: 13 Nov 1857/ Morning
Chronicle/ Registro alfabetico delle persone tumulate nel Cimitero
di Pinti: Garrow/ +/ Giuseppe/ / Inghilterra/ Firenze/ 10
Novembre/ 1867 [1857]/ Anni 67/ 624/ father of Theodosia
Garrow-Trollope (12 Aprile/ 1865/ Anni 46/ 904/+/ C11E),
stepfather of Harriet Theodosia Fisher (12 Novembre/ 1848/ Anni
37/ 393/ Latin epitaph written by Thomas Adolphus Trollope). See
Giuliana Artom Treves, Golden Ring, pp. 137/Chiesa Evangelica
Riformata Svizzera, 1827-present. See Mediatheca 'Fioretta Mazzei'
holdings, TAU
Again, in Sector B, but along the central path is
the tomb of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who had studied Dante in
his Italian as a child in England's Malvern, then came to Italy
to include him and his poetry in her Casa Guidi Windows,
which we have translated and re-published in a parallel text
edition:
B12-13I/
B8/ 737/ ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING/ JAMAICA/ENGLAND
I have written elsewhere on Elizabeth Barrett Browning,
especially in the notes to our edition for Penguin of Aurora
Leigh and Other Poems, but also in the essay on her death
and burial, http://www.florin.ms/ebbdeath.html
She had studied Dante in Italian as a child in Malvern and
brilliantly used the fallen leaves simile from Homer, Virgil,
Dante and Milton in her Casa Guidi Windows.
Harper's Monthly
engraving of EBB's tomb, 1867
Sarcofago. Disegno: Frederic Lord Leighton; Scultore Francesco
Giovanozzi; Firma: FRANCESCO GIOVANNOZZI FECE. [sarcofago in marmo
e elementi decorativi in piombo su disegno di Lord Leighton
eseguito da Francesco Giovannozzi, firma in basso a sinistra. Del
fratello, Luigi Giovannozzi (1791-1870), è la tomba della Duchessa
d'Albany in Santa Croce]. Sec. XIX, post 1864. Ambito toscano.
Sarcofago scolpito con cammeo a simbolo della Poesia, arpe, lira
greca (con il Dio Pan bifronte del Giardino Torrigiani), arpa
ebrea con catena spezzata, arpa cristiana; intagliato con gigli e
fiori delle Isole britanniche, rosa, trifoglio, giunchiglie, rami
d'ulivo; sarcofago retto da sei colonne con gigli su disegno di
Lord Leighton. Ultimo intervento di restauro, Meridiana Restauri,
2006, recinto in ferro, intervento conservativo sul ferro Daniel
Dumitrescu, 2008. Per i disegni preparatori conservati alla Royal
Academy Library, ecc., si veda ebbdeath.html [M: A: 105. L 191.2:
P: 118.5; P.s. A: 37. L: 212. P: 114.6 Recinto A: 72.
Totale: A: 204. L: 191.2. P: 118.5 ] Iscrizione sepolcrale in
lettere capitali e numeri arabi in piombo: E.B.B./ OB.1861./
Eglise Evangelique-Reformée de Florence Régistre des Morts:
Elisabeth Barrett Browning, l'Angleterre, agé de 45 ans/ Q 459:
271 Paoli, including English Church's tax of 113 Paoli/ Q 479: 90
Paoli paid to Ferdinando Giorgi, Master Mason for digging two
graves for EBB/ Records, Guildhall Library, London: GL23777/1
N°293 Burial 01/07 Rev O'Neill, 'bronchitis'/ Registro alfabetico
delle persone tumulate nel Cimitero di Pinti: 79. Barrett
Browning/ Elisabetta/ / Inghilterra/ Firenze/ 29 Giugno/ 1861/
Anni 45 [incorrect, 55]/ 737/ N&Q 207. E. B. B., ob. 1861. No
other inscription/ Freeman, 236-23/ NDNB article/ Belle Arti
1993-1997 scheda/ Henderson/ Webbs: heart attack, morphine
poisoning?/ Chiesa Evangelica Riformata Svizzer, 1827-preent.
Nulla osta.
TEXTS AND AUDIO
FILES OF DANTE ALIGHIERI'S COMMEDIA, ELIZABETH BARRETT
BROWNING'S POETRY
At
the top of the Cemetery, in Sector C, along the path from the
King of Prussia's Cross, is the tomb of Robert Davidsohn.
C21G/
C1/ 2024/ ROBERT DAVIDSOHN/ GERMANIA
Robert Davidsohn was the great historian of medieval Florence,
who had come from Gdansk and spent a lifetime working in
archives, compiling volume after meticulous volume in German to
be translated into Italian. When he died in 1937 it was too
dangerous to be known as Jewish. But now admirers place stones
on his tomb in the Jewish custom. His wife, an opera singer,
lived to be 100. I used his volumes in writing my Twice-Told
Tales: Brunetto Latino and Dante Alighieri, finding that
every archival reference he made was true.

Lastra. Marmista ignoto. Sec. XX, post 9/1937// 1947. Ambito
toscano. Lastra in marmo, marmo sporco, rialzata su basamento in
granito lucido. Intervento di pulitura e sostituzione lettere in
piombo mancanti, Daniel-Claudiu Dumitrescu, 2010. [M: A: 7; L: 68;
P: 188.5 ; P.s.: A: 14.5; L: 89; P: 200.] 2024/ Iscrizione
sepolcrale in lettere capitali e numeri arabi in piombo:
PHILIPPINE COLLOT/ VED. DAVIDSOHN/ 1847-1947/ 2024/ ROBERT
DAVIDSOHN/ GERMANIA/ COMM. DOTT. PROF./ ROBERT DAVIDSOHN/
26.4.1853-17.9.1937/ 2024/ °=Prof. Tim A. Osswald,
University of Wisconsin Madison/ Belle Arti 1993-1997 scheda.
Chiesa Evangelica Riformata Svizzera, 1827-present.
See Mediatheca 'Fioretta Mazzei' holdings, TAU & PE
Also in this Sector C is the tomb of Adolfo
Mussafia, the scholar from Trieste, then part of Austria, of
Dante Alighieri's teacher, Brunetto Latino, whose work editing
the Tesoro I have also used extensively:
C28I/ C27/ 2011/ ADOLFO MUSSAFIA/ TRIESTE/
REGINA MUSSAFIA/ AUSTRIA
Adolfo Mussafia, from a Jewish family in Trieste, Professor in
Vienna, was a great scholar of Dante and his teacher, Brunetto
Latino, and for this chose to be buried in Florence rather than
under Austrian hegemony, his wife arranging for her ashes from
Vienna to be buried with his in death and his papers given to
the University of Florence. It is most appropriate that he and
Robert Davidsohn now lie so close to each other. He has an entry
in Wikipedia. His descendant, Professor Leopoldo Stefanulti, who
looks exactly like the medallion portrait of Adolfo Mussafia on
his tomb, arranged for its repair and cleaning by Daniel-Claudiu
Dumitrescu. This is one among several tombs with a portrait
medallion: A64/ GEORGE
AUGUSTUS WALLIS by Aristodemos Costoli, A15/
ANNE SUSANNA (LLOYD) HORNER by Francesco
Jerace; AB7/ INA
BOSS SAULTER, by Ettore Ximenes; B4/
ELENA NIKITICNA DIK, NATA AKZYNOVA by Fyodor
Fyodorovitsch Kamensky; C3/ THOMAS SOUTHWOOD SMITH by Joel T.
Hart; C27/ Adolfo Mussafia; D108/ THEODORE PARKER by William
Wetmore Story; D127/ JAMES ROBERTS, by Joel T.
Hart?; E12/ JAMES
LORIMER GRAHAM, JR by Launt Thompson; E9/
WALTER KENNEDY LAWRIE by Pietro
Bazzanti, F27/ PHILIPPINA
(SIMONS) CIAMPI, by Joel T. Hart?)

Sarcofago. Marmista ignoto. Sec. XX, post 6/1905// 3/1915. Ambito
toscano. Sarcofago in marmo bianco scolpito, tondo con la sua
effige (apice naso mancante o eroso) posto su quattro colonne in
marmo grigio e lastra in marmo bianco (piccole parti distaccate),
sul fronte e tergo e sui due fianchi laterali ghirlande e festoni,
recinto in pietra serena. Possibile intervento di consolidamento e
pulitura sul marmo (richiesta da parte di un discendente.
[M: A: 72; L: 91.8; P: 52.5; A Colonne: A: 119.5; Circum: 49; L/P:
24.5; M Base: 17.6; L: 123.3; P: 82; RP.s.: A: 43.5; L/P: 201.]/
Iscrizione sepolcrale incisa in lettere capitali e numeri arabi e
romani: ADOLFO MUSSAFIA/ N. A SPALATO, IL 15 FEBBRAIO 1834/ M. A
FIRENZE IL 7 GIUGNO 1905 / LA MOGLIE INCONSOLATA/ REGINA MUSSAFIA/
AUSTRIA/ DELLA VEDOVA REGINA MVSSAFIA MORTA A VIENNA IL XV/ MARZO
M.D.CCCC.XV. QVI PER SVO VOLERE FVRONO DEPOSTE LE CENERI IL
SUSSEGVENTE XI APRILE/ 2011/ Belle Arti 1993-1997
scheda/°=Leopoldo Stefanutti. Chiesa Evangelica Riformata
Svizzera, 1827-present.
See Mediatheca 'Fioretta Mazzei' holdings, TAU & PE
Also in Sector C we find the tomb of the wife of
Domenico Comparetti, who wrote on Virgil in the Middle Ages,
she, Russian Jewish, married to this great Catholic Italian
Dante scholar:
C28L/ C18/ 760/ ELENA RAFFALOVIC COMPARETTI/ RUSSIA/ ITALY
She married, unhappily, Domenico Comparetti, the great Catholic
medievalist. Mikhail Talalay notes that she was a feminist and
educator, daughter of the banker Lev Anisimovic Rafalovic, her
mother a Polyakov, and that Samojlovna, the wife of her uncle
Rafalovic Ljubov', is buried in the Allori Cemetery. Bibl.:
Storia di Elena, a cura di E. Frontali Montali, Torino, La Rosa,
1980; M.A. Manacorda, 'La breve illusione pedagogica di Elena
Comparetti' in L'educazione delle donne: Scuola e modello di
vita femminile nell'Italia dell'800, a cura di S. Soldoni,
Milano, Angeli, 1989. She is of the family of Don Lorenzo Milani
Comparetti, likewise an educator.
Lastra. Marmista ignoto. Sec. XX, post 1918. Ambito toscano.
Lastra in marmo, con lettere romane in ottone [M: A: 18; L: 60; P:
80.] Iscrizione sepolcrale in italiano in lettere capitali e
numeri arabi in piombo: ELENA COMPARETTI/ RAFFALOVICH/ ODESSA
1842/ FIRENZE 1918/ [Comparetti/ Elena/ /Italia/ Firenze/ 29
Novembre/ 1918/ / 760 Later Hand]/ [Wife to prof. Domenico
Comparetti] Talalay: Odessa 1842-1918; femminista, pedagoga,
figlia del banchiere Lev Anisimovic Rafalovic e di Elena
Jakovlevna Poljakova, moglie del filologo pisano Domenico
Comparetti; nel Cimitero 'Agli Allori' si trova la tomba della
moglie dello zio Rafalovic Ljubov' Samojlovna/1825-1883, HII11/
°=Valeria Milani Comparetti. Chiesa Evangelica Riformata Svizzera,
1827-present.
Компаретти, урожд. Рафалович, Елена Львовна, Одесса 1842 —
Флоренция 1918, D28L [педагог].
Mediatheca 'Fioretta Mazzei' holdings, TAU & PE
Also in Sector D, in the Russian Row, we find the
tomb of the wife of Professor Petr Nikolaevic Kudrjacev:
D25P/ D80/
609/ VARVARA
ARSEN'EVNA KUDRJAVCEVA NATA NELIDOVA/ RUSSIA
The widowed Professor Kudrjacev laments the death of his wife,
speaking of himself as 'orphaned' in reference to the sculpture
on the tomb of the dead Mercadanti mother and her orphaned son
MARIA MERCADANTI, D52, GAUDENZIO MERCADANTI, D50. A scholar, he
studied Dante.

Urna su colonna.
Marmista ignoto. Sec. XIX, post 4/1866. Ambito toscano.
Pilastro in marmo sormontato da un'urna, recinto in pietra serena.
Possibile intervento di pulitura. [M: A: 167; L: 40.5; P: 40.5;
P.s. A: 55; L: 64; P: 64; RPs: A: 68; L: 113; P: 197.]
L'epitaffio fa riferimento alla scultura dell'orfano sulla tomba
di Maria Mercadanti. Kudrjavceva, nata Nelidova, Varvara
Arsen'evna. Eglise Evangelique-Reformée de Florence
Régistre des Morts: Bardera Kudrawzow, femme de Pierre Kudrawzow,
Moscou, Empire Russe/ I: 1852-1859 'Registre des Sepultures avec
detail des frais, Paoli 640/ Q257: 175 Paoli/ Talalay: 6.2.1826 -
17(5).3.1857; 'moglie professore università di Mosca' (Petr
Nikolaevic Kudrjavcev, noto storico, italianista (1816-1858), MKF;
N° 609, RC; Epitaffo: nikto ne prinosil/ stol'ko scast'ja/ kak ona
i tomu, kto znal/ i poterjal ee nikogda/ ne izbyt' gor'kogo
sirostava/ Nessuno ha dato tanta felicità quanto lei e chi l'ha
conosciuta e perduta sarà sempre amaramente orfano (epitaffio
composto probabilmente dallo stesso professor Kudrjavcev rimasto
vedovo)/ Kudranzow/ Bardera [sic]/ / Russia/ Firenze/ 17 Marzo/
1857/ Anni 30/ 609. Chiesa Evangelica Riformata Svizzera,
1827-present.
See City and Book III: gimel.html.
Кудрявцева, урожд. Нелидова, Варвара Арсеньевна, 6.2.1826 —
Флоренция 17(5).3.1857, № 609, D25P [«жена профессора Московского
университета» <П.Н. Кудрявцева>, МКФ], никто не приносил
столько счастья как она и тому, кто знал и потерял ее никогда не
избыть горького сиротства.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dissertation :
'The Figure of the Pilgrim in Medieval Poetry.'
Director: Professor Phillip W. Damon, English and
Comparative Literature, University of California,
Berkeley, 1974. Published as The Pilgrim and the Book: A Study of
Dante, Langland and Chaucer, 1987, 1989, 1993.
Books

Brunetto Latini. Il
Tesoretto. Edition, Translation,
Preface. New York: Garland, 1981. Garland Library of
Medieval Literature, 2. Ed. James J. Wilhelm. xliii + 164
pp. Reviewed: Italica;
Italianistica: Rivista di letteratura italiana; Speculum . ISBN 0-8240-9376-3.
Archived, http://www.florin.ms/Tesorett.html

Brunetto Latini: An
Analytic Bibliography. London: Grant and Cutler,
1986. Research Bibliographies and Checklists. Ed. Alan
Deyermond. 153 pp. Reviewed: Italian Studies; Zeitschrift für
Romanische Philologie; Les Lettres Romanes; Romanische
Forschungen. ISBN
0-7293-0216-4 or 84-599-1681-2. Obtainable from Boydell and Brewer

The Pilgrim and the
Book: A Study of Dante, Langland and Chaucer. Berne,
New
York: Peter Lang, 1987. Second edition, 1989. xix + 321 pp.
Third, revised, edition, 1993. xxii + 303 pp. Reviewed: Studies in the Age of
Chaucer; Annali d'Italianistica; Speculum; Journal of
Medieval Studies; Medium Aevum. ISBN
0-8204-2090-5. Type-set by author in Nota Bene. Obtainable
from Editrice
'Aureo Anello'
Twice-Told Tales:
Brunetto Latino and Dante Alighieri. New
York: Peter Lang, 1993. xiv + 552 pp. Reviewed: Speculum; Parergon; Annali
italianistica.
ISBN 0-8204-1954-0. Type-set by author in Nota
Bene. Obtainable
from Editrice
'Aureo Anello'
Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
Aurora Leigh and Other Poems. Edited,
John Robert Glorney Bolton and Julia Bolton Holloway.
Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics, 1995. xx + 517 pp.
Originally type-set by author in Nota
Bene. ISBN
0-14-043412-7
Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
Aurora Leigh: Romanzo in versi. Trad.
Bruna Dell'Agnese, ed. Julia Bolton Holloway, AD. Florence:
Le Lettere (search 'Aurora Leigh'),
2002. ISBN
88-7166-665-8.

Il
pellegrino e il libro: Uno studio su Dante Alighieri.
De strata francigena
20/1 (2012). Firenze: Centro Studi Romei. 191 pp.

White
Silence: A Virtual Guidebook to Florence's Swiss-owned
so-called 'English Cemetery. E-book. Florence,
Aureo Anello Books, 2013

Elizabeth Barrett
Browning. Casa Guidi Windows/Le Finestre di
Casa Guidi. Traduzione di Rosalynd Pio.
Testa a fronte, inglese/italiano. Firenze: Aureo
Anello Books, 2017.
Christine de Piza/
Cristina da Pizzano. Le Chemin de Longs Etudes/ Il
Cammin di Lungo Studio. Traduzione di Ester
Zago. Testo a fronte, francese/italiano. De Strata
Francigena. A cura di Renato Stopani. Firenze: Centro
Studi Romei, 2017. v + 128 pp.
“Brunetto Latino.” In Oxford Bibliographies in Medieval Studies.
Ed. Paul E. Szarmach. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019
http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396584/obo-9780195396584-0261.xml.

Il Tesoro
di Brunetto Latino, Maestro di Dante Alighieri, Il Tesoretto,
Il Tesoro, Firenze: Regone Toscana, 2020. 428 pp.
FLORIN WEBSITE © JULIA BOLTON
HOLLOWAY, ACADEMIA
BESSARIONE || MEDIEVAL: BRUNETTO
LATINO, DANTE
ALIGHIERI, SWEET
NEW STYLE: BRUNETTO
LATINO, DANTE ALIGHIERI, & GEOFFREY CHAUCER || VICTORIAN:
WHITE
SILENCE/BIANCOSILENZIO: FLORENCE'S 'ENGLISH' CEMETERY
|| ELIZABETH
BARRETT BROWNING || WALTER
SAVAGE LANDOR || FRANCES
TROLLOPE || HIRAM
POWERS || ABOLITION
OF SLAVERY || FLORENCE
IN SEPIA || CITY AND BOOK CONFERENCE
PROCEEDINGS I, II,
III,
IV, V, VI,
VII, VIII , IX ||
MEDIATHECA
'FIORETTA MAZZEI' || EDITRICE
AUREO
ANELLO CATALOGUE
|| FLORIN
WEBSITE || UMILTA
WEBSITE || RINGOFGOLD
WEBSITE || AUREO
ANELLO ASSOCIAZIONE, 1997-2020|| LINGUE/LANGUAGES:
ITALIANO,
ENGLISH
|| VITA
New: Dante
vivo || White
Silence/BiancoSilenzio