Florence23 Plaque commemorating where Girolamo Savonarola, along with Fra Domenico da Pescia and Fra Silvestro, were put to death for heresy on May 23, 1498. Savonarola was a Dominican priest and leader of Florence from 1494 until his execution in 1498. He was known for religious reformation, anti-Renaissance preaching, book burning, and destruction of art. He vehemently preached against what he saw as the moral corruption of the clergy. In 1497 he and his followers carried out the Bonfire of the Vanities. They sent boys from door to door collecting items associated with moral laxity: mirrors, cosmetics, lewd pictures, pagan books, sculptures, gaming tables, chess pieces, lutes and other musical instruments, fine dresses, women's hats, and the works of immoral poets, and burnt them all in a large pile in the Piazza della Signoria. Fine Florentine Renaissance artwork was lost in Savonarola's notorious bonfires, including paintings by Sandro Botticelli thrown on the pyres by the artist himself. This lead to a backlash reaction, excommunication by Pope Alexander VI, and his eventual arrest and execution.