Michelangelo's nephew smuggled his body out of Rome to Florence in a bale of goods in March 1564, ahead of the pope's tomb plan

Michelangelo died in Rome shortly before 5 p.m. on 18 February 1564, weeks before his 89th birthday. Romans regarded him as theirs. His body was placed in the church of Santi Apostoli, and the pope planned a monumental tomb for him in St. Peter's. Duke Cosimo I de' Medici wanted him buried in Florence with a state funeral. Michelangelo's nephew and heir, Lionardo Buonarroti, reached Rome on 24 February to remove the body. Accounts agree it was taken at night from its temporary tomb and shipped as merchandise, in a bale of hay in one telling and a bale of wool in another^†. Vasari, writing in 1568, says it was sent to Florence in a bale as if it were goods. The cart crossed into the Duchy of Florence before the empty grave was discovered. The body reached Florence on 10 March 1564 and was taken to Santa Croce. The funeral was held on 14 July 1564 at San Lorenzo. The tomb at Santa Croce, designed by Vasari, has three mourning figures for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Michelangelo lies there in 2026. Which pope objected, and how, is not stated in the sources found^†.