Valerio Cioli, also called Cigoli or Giogoli was born in Settignano (Italy) in 1529 and dies in Florence in 1599, a year before Cardinal Rodrigo de Castro) was an Italian sculptor of the Mannerist era.
His most famous work is the Fontana del Bacchino del Giardino di Boboli, near the entrance of the Piazza Pitti in Florence. It depicts a jester from the court of Cosme I de Médici, ironically called nano Morgante (by Morgante, the giant of Luigi Pulci’s poem), naked and sitting on a turtle like a drunken Bacchus. In the same garden there are two other works by Cioli in collaboration with Giovanni Simone Cioli: the Uomo che vanga (“man who digs”) and the Uomo che scarica il secchio in un tino (“man who empties the bucket in a tub) Also among other known pieces is the allegory of the sculpture nothing less than in Michelangelo’s tomb.
From this famous sculptor we have in our church in Monforte the Christ in marble that was given to Cardinal Rodrigo de Castro by Felipe Segundo. Today we bring this entry on our page to have photographed the signature of Cioli, on the purity cloth of Christ, four photos that give us a complete message: VALERIUS CIOLIS · F · MDVC That we can well understand as De Valerio Cioli. Made in 1595.