Donato di Becco Garden
Adjacent to Porta Senese and the walls, the garden preserves the memory of Donato di Becco, a notary born around 1280. During the plague of 1348, he did not hesitate to help the sick by drafting their last wills; unfortunately, he too fell victim to the epidemic, and his final document testifies to his struggle against the disease with a trembling script. Among his writings is a poignant poem that expresses the anguish of a community afflicted by relentless death.
The Last Bequest
In 1348, exhausted and weakened, Donato also fell victim to the plague. His last document, touching and incomplete, is written in his own hand with a shaky handwriting that reflects the moment when the disease took hold. Donato also left us a poem, which is both a prayer and a cry of despair. His verses, addressed to the Madonna, reflect the profound anguish of an entire community struck by such cruel and inevitable death. Here are his words, filled with pain and hope: