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Santa Croce Church |
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Although the origins of the first Franciscan oratory are still lost in the mists of time, the construction of the new Basilica of Santa Croce is well documented. It officially started on May 3rd 1294, when the architect Arnolfo di Cambio laid the first stone of what was to become a masterpiece of Gothic art. Its spatial grandiosity and its structural elements carried out with rational clarity and sobriety. It was built on the plan of an Egyptian cross (in the shape of a T). The interior is divided into three naves (114,45 metres), a chancel and a transept full of chapels whose patronage was reserved to the most illustrious families: the Bardi and Peruzzi first, then also the Tosinghi, Pulci, Rinuccini and Alberti families. The walls of these chapels and the entire church were immediately covered with frescoes by Giotto and his school and the church became a museum of the Florentine painting of the XIV century. The same artists also designed the wonderful luminous stained glass windows.
The church, finished in 1442, was consecrated by Pope Eugene IV. The facade was left undecorated and it was completed only in 1857-63, more or less at the same time as the Bell tower was rebuilt to replace the original one which had been struck by lightning.
New architectural additions were introduced thanks to the patronage of Cosimo "the Elder" de' Medici and Andrea de' Pazzi. The former had the Chapel of the Novitiate built next to the Sacristy in 1434-45 by Michelozzo, then decorated by Andrea della Robbia and Mino da Fiesole; the latter sponsored the Pazzi Chapel, in the first cloister, or Cloister of the Dead, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and started around 1430.
Brunelleschi also designed the second Cloister of the Convent, or Greater Cloister, continued after his death by Bernardo Rossellino (1453 ca.) The entrance door (1450 ca.) was build by Benedetto da Maiano.
Rather out of place in this substantially Gothic ambience, the Niccolini Chapel (situated in the left transept) dates from a later period and was carried out around 1570 by the architect Giovanni Antonio Dosio. More or less in the same period (1566-1584) Giorgio Vasari was "modernizing" the basilica for the Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici.
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Cathedral or Duomo |
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Six centuries of works have gone into the history of the Cathedral or Duomo of Florence. Its basic architectural project was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio at the end of the 13th century. The cupola was created by Filippo Brunelleschi, genius of the Renaissance, while the facade made at the end of the 19th century. During this period a whole series of structural and decorative interventions changed the exterior and the interior in order to enrich the history of the monument: the construction of the two sacristies, the 16th century marble flooring, sculptures and frescoes signed by Paolo Uccello, Andrea del Castagno, Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari (the Last Judgement in the cupola). The third and last Florentine cathedral in 1412 was named Santa Maria del Fiore (Holy Mary of the Flower) in allusion to the lily symbol of the city. It was built on the former cathedral, which early Christian Florence had dedicated to Santa Reparata and which remained in activity for nine centuries,until its demolition in 1375. It was slightly more than half the size of the present basilica and was completed by two bell towers. A lot of parts of this construction remain till today and you can see it in the archaeological area underneath the Cathedral. The lantern (mounted in 1461) and the external revetments in white Carrara, green Prato and red Siena marble, that according to the directions of Arnolfo had to repeat the facings of the Baptistery and the Bell tower, gave uniformity to the style of the square. However it was necessary to wait until 1886 before the facade was carried out. The Basilica has witnessed many important moments in the history of the city. Among them we should remember the opening of the Council of Florence (March 2nd 1439), which led to the temporary union of the Orthodox Church and Catholic Churches, and the tragic Easter morning of April 26th 1478, when Giuliano de' Medici was murdered in the "Pazzi Plot" and his brother Lorenzo the Magnifico managed to avoid the weapons of his assassins by taking refuge in the Sacristy of the Messe.
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San Lorenzo |
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The tradition wants that the original church of San Lorenzo was built thanks to the donation of Giuliana, matron of Israeli origin. In 393 was consecrated cathedral from S. Ambrogio and it was dedicated to the martyr Lorenzo. Almost nothing of the primitive construction has arrived till today. The cathedral was rebuilt by the bishop Gherardo di Borgogna and consecrated in 1059. In 1418 the Medici family decided to do it its own temple. The project was entrusted at Brunelleschi that finished it in 1421. The Old vestry was completed before 1429. After the death of Brunelleschi, the church in 1461 was completed by Antonio Manetti, who changed some parts of the original project. The Basilica facade, in crude stone, is incomplete although there was for it a project of Michelangelo wanted and approved by the pope Lion X. The original wooden model of the facade is preserved today in "Buonarroti House".
The inner part of the church is divided in three naves that support round arches. To every arch of the central nave corresponds in the smaller naves a chapel, while the side naves are covered by ribbed vaults. The central nave is closed by a slow ceiling. The church results exceptional in good status although the nineteenth-century remakes. The Old Vestry is one of the first architectural accomplishment of Brunelleschi. It is dedicated to San Giovanni Evangelista and Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici wanted it as his chapel. On a square plant leans the hemispheric cupola. Restored between 1985 and 1989, it shows now the original colours of the fed up and of the friezes. Going out from the basilica and turning to the right, you enter the cloister, restored and broadened by Michelangelo. From the room of communication between the first chiostro of the complex and the church it is possible to reach the Library Medicea Laurenziana. Built by Michelangelo, it preserves the most prestigious collection of manuscripts in Italy. The famous staircase was made by the Ammannati in 1559 on a model of Michelangelo.
Visiting hours: from 9 to 13, closed on Sundays.
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Santa Maria Novella |
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Santa Maria Novella is the first Basilica ever built in Florence. Its name, "Novella", comes from the fact that it was built upon the site of a 9th century oratory, called Santa Maria delle Vigne, which had already been enlarged in 1094. In 1221 this church and the surrounding area was assigned to the Dominican monks, who immediately began to transform it. Constructions started on what were to be the sumptuous headquarters of the powerful Dominican Order in 1246; designed by two architect monks, Fra Sisto Fiorentino and Fra Ristoro da Campi, it was completed in 1360 under the direction of Fra Iacopo Talenti, who also designed the Spanish Chapel or chapter house (1350-55), the convent Refectory (1353) and the great pointed belltower in Romanesque-Gothic style (1330).
The elaborate facade of inlaid green and white marble is a real masterpiece: it was started in 1300 and later completed by Leon Battista Alberti in 1470. The interior of the Basilica contains a series of works that bear the signatures of Giotto, Andrea Orcagna, Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Benedetto da Maiano, Masaccio, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Filippino Lippi. The frescoes inside the Cloisters are the work of Paolo Uccello and the Florentine school of the 13th to 15th century.
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Santissima Annunziata |
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The church stands on the pre-existent oratory of the Servi di Maria (1235) which was built around the miraculous image of Our Lady of the Annunciation by seven young noblemen who decided to take monastic vows and give up worldly pleasures. As a further sacrifice, they later founded the Monastery of Monte Senario, above Fiesole. Michelozzo built the First Cloister in the mid 15th century. The main body of the Church, started in 1440 by Michelozzo and Pagno Portigiani, was later altered by Alberti, who created the impressive Tribune that can be seen on the righthand side.
Three separate environments can be reached from the plain facade, decorated with the coats of arms of Pope Leo X dei Medici frescoed by the young Pontormo : the Pucci Chapel or of San Sebastiano on the right; the large Cloister dei Morti on the left, with frescoes also by Andrea del Sarto ("Madonna della Borsa"); and the First Cloister or little Vows Cloister in the centre, frescoed throughout by masters of the Florentine Mannerist school of the early 16th century: Rosso Fiorentino, Pontormo, Franciabigio e Andrea del Sarto, who painted the face of the Virgin as a really faithful portrait of his wife, Lucrezia del Fede who apparently, according to Vasari was not faithful at all.
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Florence Palaces |
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Palazzo della Signoria, or Palazzo Vecchio, as it appears today, is the result of at least three successive building stages between the 13th-16th centuries: the original builidng of Arnolfo's palace, overlooking the square and placed next to the Loggia dei Lanzi; the first alterations in Republican times, and the later restructuration carried out by Vasari, after the coming to power of Cosimo I de' Medici, who moved into the palace with all his family. Palazzo Vecchio's exclusive role as the political representative of the city gradually lost importance from 1565 for three centuries, being partly replaced by the Uffizi and the new Palace at Pitti, though it came to the fore again at the end of this last century: after the Lorraine family had been expelled from the city in 1848, it became the seat of United Italy's provisional government from 1865-71, when Florence was the capital of the kingdom of Italy, and housed the Chamber of Deputies (the Senate sat next door in the Uffizi, linked up by an overhead passageway above Via della Ninna). It was to return to its original function as the seat of the City Council in 1872. Although the palace today contains the offices of the City Council, much of it can still be visited. The public can admire the Hall of the Five Hundred, the little Study of Francesco I and the four monumental apartments: the Quarters of the Elements, the Quarters of Eleonora of Toledo, the Residence of the Priors and the Quarters of Leo X, where the reception rooms of the mayor and the council that governs the city are situated today. The Hall of the Two Hundred is once more being used for the meetings of the City Council and therefore not always open to the public.
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S. Spirito Church |
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At the end of the homonymous square there is the Augustinian chruch of S. Spirit, begun in 1444 by Brunelleschi, but continued and finished from his student Antonio Manetti and other artists, on a model the Teacher left, with the addition of modifications rather unhappy. It was completed only in 1487. The simple façade does not seem to conceal one of the most pure creations of the Renaissance, whose harmony and elegance show surely the Brunelleschi imprint. Inside the church is divided in three naves from monolithic columns with Corinthian capitals. It accommodates some wonderful works of art, like the "Madonna in trono and Santi" by Filippo Lippi, or the sculptures of A. Sansovino in the Cappella Corbinelli. The drawing of the vestibule is by Giuliano da Sangallo but it was accomplished by Cronaca (1492-1494). Also the drawing the of octagonal vestry, built between 1489 and 1492, is due to Giuliano da Sangallo. On the left side of the church there is the entrance to the Cenacolo of S. Spirit, frescoed by the Orcagna, which paintings unfortunately are string damaged. Inside the Cenacolo takes place the Salvatore Romano Foundation, that collects a part of frescos detached, Romanic and renaissance sculptures, pieces of furniture and architectural elements.
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