Page:The Life of Michael Angelo.djvu/47



was born on March 6, 1475, at Caprese, in the Casentino—a rugged country of rocks and beech-trees and “pure air” which dominates the backbone of the bony Apennines. Not far away, on Mount Alvernia, St. Francis of Assisi beheld his vision of the crucified Christ.

The father —a violent, restless, “God-fearing” man—was podestat, or resident magistrate, of Caprese and Chiusi. The mother died when Michael Angelo was six years of age. They had five sons—Leonardo, Michelagniolo, Buonarroto, Giovan Simone and Sigismondo.