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 Enrico Scrovengi was one of Padua's best known
and wealthiest citizens. He took over his father's lucrative business and had amassed a fortune by lending money at high rates, a practice that the church and fellow citizens saw as sinful.
Dante in his
Divine Comedy had banished Riginaldo(Enrico's father) to the seventh circle of hell. This part of hell is reserved for sinful usurers. Enrico was seen as a trickster, a hypocrite, and also as suffering from the sin of pride. The family was not on the best of terms with the church. During the siege of 1320, Enrico deserted Padua and fled to Venice where
he lived until he died in 1336. His body was brought back to Padua and placed in his tomb in the chapel. Enrico had built the chapel thinking it would guarantee him a place in heaven. |