The Sala d’Ercole in Florence’s historic Palazzo Vecchio houses a mysterious painting, known as the “Madonna and the UFO”. The tondo depicting a Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist was probably painted by Sebastiano Mainardi, although its attribution is still debated, and dates back to the second half of the 15th century.
The “Madonna and the UFO”
The work is famous because of a curious detail: behind the Madonna, there is an object in the sky that looks like a flying saucer at first glance! While calling it a UFO might seem bold, it is indeed an unidentified object, if not in the literal sense of “extraterrestrial”, then in an artistic sense at least. In fact, it is not clear what the artist intended to represent.
In the background, in the upper right corner, the figures of a shepherd and a dog stand out. Both seem to be looking at something in the sky. The animal appears to be in the act of howling: perhaps frightened, they are staring at a mysterious luminous object that is plying the skies.
UFOs in Florence
Florence is no stranger to mysterious sightings. Famous is the episode of October 27, 1954, when a series of unidentified objects even caused the suspension of a football match. At the “Comunale” stadium (nowadays “Artemio Franchi”), Fiorentina was facing Pistoiese in the early hours of the afternoon. It was a match like many, but became famous because of the incredible events that occurred at the beginning of the second half. Suddenly the ten thousand or so spectators fell silent and the players stopped playing. Everyone remained with their eyes fixed on the sky. Numerous flying objects, shaped like seagull wings, were crossing the sky above Florence.
Similar reports came from unsuspecting tourists and frightened citizens in the area around the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. At the Municipal Stadium, the confusion was so great that the referee had to suspend the match for around ten minutes. As if that were not enough, a strange, sticky white substance began raining down heavily. Reporters at the time described it as “siliceous cotton”.
Scholars’ assumptions
A theory proposed by scientists is that a military exercise was underway on that October 27, 1954. The test was to experiment with special techniques to fool the aircraft’s targeting systems. The unidentified objects were nothing more than reflections of light caused by the instruments. Moreover, as for the siliceous cotton, it was first speculated that it was the organic product of the secretion of some particular species of spiders. It is a well-known phenomenon. Arachnids in the family Linyphiidae produce long filaments that permit them to move. This migratory phenomenon, known as “ballooning”, is difficult to observe in real time.
However, CICAP scholars later discovered that there was an artificial substance called chaff that had a chemical composition very similar to that of siliceous cotton1. That chaff was used, for military purposes, to confuse the radar of enemy aircraft. Did it cause the phenomena observed by the Florentine chroniclers? Could it be true?
The artistic depiction of the divine spirit in the Madonna and the UFO
Similarly, there is also a rational explanation for the strange detail of the Madonna and Child with the infant St. John. The stain, or UFO as it is called, could be a pictorial metaphor for the divine spirit. This theme became common in Florentine art after Girolamo Savonarola’s sermons. Artists who depicted luminous clouds in the skies included Pinturicchio, Agnolo di Bronzino, and Domenico Ghirlandaio. The mysterious object is supposed to be a sign from God attesting to the birth of the Redeemer: the Merkavah, or Chariot of Fire, as mentioned by the prophet Ezekiel in the Holy Scriptures.
Samuele Corrente Naso
Notes
- Please refer to the CICAP article for further discussion. ↩︎
