The complex of the Basilica dei Santi Dodici Apostoli in Rome, located a few steps from Piazza Venezia, is rich in history and charm, considering that the church has been here at least since the fifth century a.D. Moreover it is considered one of the very first Christian places of worship built ex novo, not reusing pre-existing buildings. But there is also something else that makes the Basilica of the Santi Dodici Apostoli of Rome unique, regardless of the architectural and artistic wonders it has inside. Try to enter to the adjoining cloister, so intimate and quiet compared to the chaos of the city center, where you will be able to see, among tombs and marble inscriptions, a cenotaph in honor of Michelangelo.

First of all, what is a cenotaph? It is a funeral monument in which, however, the body of the deceased is absent. Reasons? Sometimes the body doesn't exist anymore because it disappeared in the folds of time, or because of a simple translation, or because this funeral monument was built only for the memory of the deceased, nothing more. But in this case we are facing a real... crime! Because the Michelangelo's corpse was stolen! The famous genius died at the venerable age of 89 (we are in 1564), in Rome, a city that has always welcomed him with kindness, also considering what he left to the Romans and to the whole world ( Sistine Chapel, Palazzo Senatorio, Palazzo Farnese, the Moses, the Pietà). Maybe in the Eternal City Michelangelo found love, also affiliating himself to a sort of para-esoteric movement that snaked within the Roman clergy (but this is another long and tortuous story). Apart from all this, when the famous artist died great was the emotion of Rome and beyond. After all, the brilliant master left his art in inheritance also in Florence, a city where he probably always felt at home, where he spent the wonderful years of his adolescence at the court of Lorenzo the Magnificent. A city in which he was unable to return also due to the numerous construction sites and works entrusted to him by the popes here in Rome. When, however, Michelangelo was initially buried here in the Basilica of the Santi Dodici Apostoli, a place certainly not as important as the Pantheon where Raphael was buried, many Florentines would have liked to bring the master back to them.

And so it seems that, about two weeks after Michelangelo's death, one of his nephews, Lorenzo, came from Florence to pay homage to Michelangelo, stopping to pray in front of his tomb, located in the Basilica of the Santi Dodici Apostoli which, at that time, was shining of new restorations and brand new works of art that made it splendid (such as the famous fresco of the apse basin then fragmented centuries later). According to tradition, the young Lorenzo, after having prayed for a long time in front of the tomb of his famous relative, left for Florence with a large cart on which he had carried his belongings. But he added something special to them: the Michelangelo's corpse! Oh yes, because the brave nephew packed and hid his illustrious relative, bringing him back to Florence which, with extreme joy, welcomed one of the symbols of the artistic and humanistic fervor that made the Tuscan city the undisputed protagonist of the period . So much so that even today, in the Church of Santa Croce, flanked by tombs of other famous protagonists of the universal history of Italy and beyond (from Galileo to Machiavelli), the Michelangelo's tomb still stands out there, as a sort of war trophy. And in Rome, even today, there remains only an empty cenotaph, to immortalize the memory of a man who changes not only the face of Rome, but also of art...