Santa Maria Novella
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The Museum The Great Cloister The museum, which the Florentine municipal authorities in- I de’ Medici. This dazzling chapel is entirely covered with The Great Cloister (named for its wings fully 56-bays long) is stituted in the complex of Santa Maria Novella in the early a complex cycle of frescoes by painter Andrea di Bonaiuto in an area of Santa Maria Novella that has housed the Carab- 20th century, includes the first two cloisters of the former (1365-1367), celebrating in allegorical form the triumph of inieri Officers’ School since 1920. The south walk is adjacent convent, the Spanish Chapel and the huge Refectory. The the Church of Rome against heresy, and the active and con- to the famous Pharmacy of Santa Maria Novella (accessed most famous of these is the Green Cloister, which was built templative life of the Dominican Order. The Green Cloister from Via della Scala) and the east walk is adjacent to the towards the middle of the 14th century on the north wall of also gives on to the chapel of the Ubriachi, an aristocratic Refectory. The cloister, reached from the museum through the basilica, to which it is joined by a door preceded by steps. Florentine family, and to the large Refectory adjacent to it, a door in the passage leading to the Green Cloister opposite It owes its name to the dominant colour in the extraordinary where a spectacular mural by Alessandro Allori and a large the Ubriachi Chapel, was built between 1340 and 1360 at the fresco cycle of Stories from Genesis painted on three of its four canvas by the same painter (1584-1597) depicting the Last same time as the dormitories, which extended over three of OPERA PER SANTA MARIA NO VELLA sides. These frescoes, dating back to the first half of the 15th Supper conceal the remains of the late 14th century fresco the cloister walks, thanks to the generosity of several Floren- century, include the famous scenes of Original Sin and of the decoration. The two rooms now house pictures from various tine families. Two centuries later, other Florentine families Great Flood painted by Paolo Uccello. A slype links the Green different locations in the convent, including a rare polyptych and Grand Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici paid for its walls to Cloister to the Cloister of the Dead, which opens off it to dated and signed by Bernardo Daddi and a broad range of be frescoed with stories of St. Dominic and other Dominican the north along the same wall of the church. This cloister is liturgical accoutrements, canonicals and vestments from the saints, scenes from the life of Christ (by the corners), and so named because it began to be used principally for burials basilica treasury. The most prestigious canonicals include a portraits of illustrious members of the Santa Maria Novella almost immediately after its construction, between the 13th silk altar frontal embroidered with scenes designed by Paolo community (on the pillars). Most of the cycle was painted and 14th centuries. The remains of admirable fresco decora- Schiavo in 1466, a 17th century altar hanging from the altar between 1570 and 1590 by more than 15 different painters tion in the chantry chapels which certain noble Florentine of St. Thomas Becket, the Venetian-made Reliquary of the In- from the Florentine Academy including Alessandro Allori, SANTA MARIA families erected there in the 14th century, and numerous scription on the Cross, two extremely delicate late 14th cen- Santi di Tito and Poccetti, celebrated for other, similar collec- tombstones from different periods, still bear witness to the tury wooden reliquary busts, and a large processional cross in tive achievements. Its sheer extension, its iconographic pro- NOVELLA cloister’s former function. Just next to the slype in the Green silver and gilt bronze by goldsmith Francesco Maringhi. gramme and the narrative clarity of the scenes make this one Cloister stands the 14th century friars’ chapter house, rechris- of the most emblematic cycles of the Counter-Reformation. tened the Spanish Chapel when it was granted in 1566 to the Musei Civici Fiorentini Spanish community that took up residence in the city in the opening times: Mon, Fri, Sat, Sun 10.00-16.00 Scuola Marescialli e Brigadieri dei Carabinieri entourage of Eleonora of Toledo, the wife of Duke Cosimo Last tickets sold half an hour before closing time open to the public on special occasions only Please check our website: www.museicivicifiorentini.it/smn Piazza della Stazione Museum entrance a c The Monumental Complex Great Cloister The Basilica entrance The Dominican order, or Order of Preachers, reached Flor- d b The church lies behind a magnificent façade inlaid with green ence in the wake of Fra’ Giovanni da Salerno in 1219 and set- and white marble, the upper part of which was completed tled in 1221 in the ancient church of Santa Maria Novella, by Leon Battista Alberti in 1470. The interior, with a central which the cathedral canons granted the friars. Their preach- nave and two side aisles scanned by Gothic piers, was origi- ing skills, particularly evident in the sermons of Fra’ Pietro da nally divided into two parts by a huge stone screen separat- Verona (1244), drew large congregations, and so fairly soon e ing the body of the church, for the faithful, from the crossing the brothers began to plan the construction of a larger church. and choir which were reserved for use by the friars. Giorgio The foundation stone was blessed in 1279, but a start must Vasari removed the screen in 1565 after Cosimo I ordered him have been made on building work some time before that. to restructure the church and its altars. Despite this transfor- In any event, the church was completed in the following mation, and a further restoration in 1858-60, the basilica is century and consecrated in 1420. The convent complex was home to countless masterpieces. Its most ancient works of art Toilet f gradually enlarged throughout the 14th century thanks to the include a large Crucifix painted by Giotto, although Duccio di generosity of the Florentine Republic and of the city’s leading Exit Basilica entrance Buoninsegna’s Maestà has been moved to the Uffizi. families, whose crests decorate many parts of the structure. The north aisle contains Masaccio’s celebrated fresco of the In the meantime, the Dominican community consolidated its Trinity, where the artist’s handling of perspective reveals an key role in the city, its Studium, or university, becoming one Piazza Santa Maria Novella affinity with the ideas of Filippo Brunelleschi, who made the of the most prestigious of its day. Crucifix in the Gondi Chapel. Also worthy of note are the In 1439 the convent’s guesthouse and the adjacent Chapel of paintings in the Strozzi di Mantova Chapel by Nardo and An- the Popes were to host the Council of Florence, providing ac- drea di Cione, the Tombstone of Fra’ Leonardo Dati by Lorenzo commodation for visiting papal delegations. The community Ghiberti, Sandro Botticelli’s Nativity, the Tornabuoni Chapel flourished throughout the early modern era, but it was sup- Basilica Museum Great Cloister frescoed by Domenico del Ghirlandaio and his workshop, Fi- pressed first by Napoleon, and again in 1866 after a brief re- a Cloister of the Dead lippino Lippi’s Strozzi Chapel and the cycle of 16th century. vival. A part of the monumental complex entered the owner- b Green Cloister ship of the municipality at that time, while further transfers of c Spanish Chapel Fondo Edifici di Culto e Opera per Santa Maria Novella ownership since then have resulted in the complex currently d Ubriachi Chapel Opening times: Mon-Thu 9.00-17.30, Fri 11.00-17.30, being managed by a variety of different institutions. e Refectory Sat 9.00-17.00; Sunday and religious feast days 13.00-17.00 f Dati Cloister Last tickets sold half an hour before closing time.