Il Marzocco is a work by Donatello in pietra serena kept in the Museo del Bargello in Florence. Formerly it was located in Piazza della Signoria, where today, to preserve it from atmospheric agents, it is replaced by a copy. It dates back to 1419-1420. The statue was commissioned by the Florentine Republic on the occasion of Pope Martin V's visit to the city. It was intended to decorate the staircase of the papal apartments in Santa Maria Novella. Later it was moved to the town square, as a symbol of the republic itself. The statue depicts the symbol of the marzocco, a heraldic lion resting a paw on a shield, in this case decorated with the Florentine lily: this particular representation was in fact the symbol of the city since the Middle Ages and the lion was its totemic animal.
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