Bonfire of the Vanities

Bonfire of the Vanities

Bonfire of the Vanities (Italian: Falò delle vanità) refers to the burning of objects that are deemed to be occasions of sin. The most infamous one took place on 7 February 1497, when supporters of the Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola collected and publicly burned thousands of objects like cosmetics, art, and books in Florence, Italy, on the Mardi Gras festival. Such bonfires were not invented by Savonarola, however. They were a common accompaniment to the outdoor sermons of San Bernardino di Siena in the first half of the century.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonfire of the Vanities
• Page 219 - Greenblatt, S., 2011, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern: Norton, New York, 356p.