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A new exhibition on the horrors of medieval life In the Pitch Dark Ages
[Sarah Katz]
For those looking for something a little more adventurous in Florence, the permanent exhibition Oscuro Medioevo Fiorentino offers a unique glimpse of the city at the height of the Black Plague in A.D. 1348. Sometimes verging on the grotesque, the museum leads visitors through graphic examples of the injustice, disease and filth that were the normal living conditions of the city's poor. Through interactive guides, films and images, the display creates a vivid portrait of life as suffered by those men and women that were not born into the privileges of nobility. In fact, little trace of the Republicanism and beauty which has given Florence its fame is to be found here. Jurisdiction and punishment were meted out by the rich at the expense of the poor, in a society in which those with money paid and those without it were executed. In this section, visitors are led past a variety of contemporary torture devices, while their audio-guide provides information on the practices.
To provide a break in the carnage, they are then moved on to a recreated market cart, stocked with the typical fare of the Florentine marketplace, most of which the peasant could only look at and never taste. The next section illustrates medieval medical practices and disease, from dental practice and tooth extraction, to more disturbing problems such as leprosy and the Plague. Although the models here more closely resemble Halloween horror than reality, the combination of the guide, the models, and the films is both an edifying and horrifying experience.
Finally, guests are invited to enter the reconstruction of a peasant dwelling. It is an underground building with no windows or light from the outside. The ceilings are little over five feet high, and the cloying humidity during its occupancy has been recreated. As the audio-guide describes the stench of human waste that would have been present, and the vermin and parasites that infested everything in the house, it is difficult to remember that one is in an essentially clean building in a modern city.
Although not for the sensitive or faint of heart, Oscuro Medioevo Fiorentino is a must-see for anyone interested in sensational exhibitions or popular history.
It is located at Via Faenza 13/r (near the Medici Chapels) and is open from 11 am to Midnight.
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