Florence, Italy: Miraculous cross — 6 November 1331
An old chronicler records the following observation:
“That evenig a miraculous sign appeared in the sky: a vermilion cross over the palace of the Priors. Each bar was more than a palm and a half wide; one line appeared to be more than forty feet high, and the transverse was a little iess. The cross remained for as long as it takes a horse to run two laps. The people who saw this - and I saw it clearly - could understand that God was firmly set against our tormented city.” Here we have a clear example of a religious interpretation given to a natural phenomenon that puzzled observers of the time.
Source: Dino Compagni, Chronicle of Florence, trans. Daniel E. Bornstein (Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1986), 47-48. Case: W501