Churches
.JPG) Duomo: The Duomo, or Santa Maria del Fiore, to give the cathedral its proper name, dominates the centre of Florence. In Italy, a cathedral is generally referred to as a Duomo, which comes from the Latin word domus, or house. The cathedral is seen as the Domus Dei (House of God). When the present cathedral was commissioned, in 1296, to replace the old church of Santa Reparata, the ambitious nature of the project was clearly laid out:
“The Florentine Republic….desires that an edifice shall be constructed so magnificent in its height and beauty that it shall surpass anything of its kind produced in the times of their greatest power by the Greeks and the Romans.”
No doubt, the Florentines also had in mind the recent building of a magnificent cathedral by their hated neighbours, the Sienese. This would have been more than a sufficient spur to action. As far as sheer size is concerned, the final building surpassed the original expectations. It is 508 feet in length (154m.), 125 feet wide at the nave and aisles (38m.), and 297 feet (90m.) across the transepts.
The cathedral was originally designed by Arnolfo di Cambio, but later modified by Francesco Talenti. It was dedicated to Santa Maria del Fiore, or the Virgin of the Flower, and work began on September 8th 1296, the anniversary of the Virgin’s birth. The most powerful guild in the city, that of the Wool Merchants, was entrusted with the project in 1332, but it was soon realised that the cost could not be borne by the guild alone, so it was decided to make a deduction of three lire from the will of every citizen, making the cathedral a truly collective undertaking. Although the cathedral dates back to the end of the 13th century, the present facade was erected almost five hundred years later in the second half of the 19th century.
 Baptistery: Sitting on a perfect east-west axis with the cathedral, stands the Baptistery (Entrance fee), one of the most revered places in the city. Dating back to the 11th century (some think even earlier), generations of Florentines have been baptised here, including Dante, who called it Il Mio Bel San Giovanni. Over time, the decoration and upkeep of the Baptistery became the responsibility of Il Arte di Calimala, the Guild of the Cloth Merchants, whose emblem, the eagle gripping a bale of cloth, can be seen on the north side of the building. (The Guilds were local associations of the masters of particular trades and professions and the Cloth Merchants' Guild was one of the most prominent).
In the early 14th century, the Guild commissioned the first of three sets of bronze doors, which have earned the Baptistery a central place in the history of European sculpture. The earliest set can now be found on the north side of the building and are the work of Andrea Pisano.
.JPG) Santa Croce: On the eastern side of the medieval city, stands the great Franciscan church of Santa Croce. It was built between 1295 and 1385 and is 381 feet long (115.5m) and 126 feet wide (38.2m). When we step inside the cavernous interior of Santa Croce we are reminded that the churches of the mendicant orders were once described as giant preaching barns. Both the Dominicans and the Franciscans, the two great religious movements of the 13th century, required huge spaces to accommodate the extremely large congregations they attracted.
The layout is based on a tau cross, or a T-cross, as it is often called. This plan, characterised by a long transept (240 feet or 73m), was common in many of the large convent churches. The huge nave is seven bays long and is vaulted by a timber truss roof. The wooden beams were painted in the 14th century and much of the decoration remains intact. The apse, which is vaulted in stone, is separated from the nave by a large triumphal arch with pointed windows and openings.
 Santa Maria Novella: The beautiful Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella (Entrance fee) was begun in 1278. The Dominicans had arrived in Florence in 1219, seven years before the Franciscans. The two orders were known as mendicants (beggars), because, having renounced all property, they were supposed to follow the example of the Apostles and rely on people’s charity. This enabled them to dedicate their lives to preaching and converting. They were particularly active within the urban communities, which, in the 13th century, were spreading throughout the peninsula.
Santa Maria Novella is the only major church in the city to possess an original facade. (San Lorenzo and Santo Spirito don’t have any facades at all and the Duomo and Santa Croce have facades which date from the 19th century). The lower half of the facade dates from the 14th century and, in its rounded arches and geometrical shapes of coloured marble, it recalls earlier Romanesque churches in Florence, such as the Baptistery and San Miniato. The upper half of the facade was added over a hundred years later and was designed by the great polymath of the Renaissance, Leon Battista Alberti.
 San Miniato al Monte: San Miniato al Monte is, perhaps, the jewel in the Florentine crown and the view, from the little square in front of the church, more than justifies the climb up to it. The present building dates from the 12th century, but there was a church here, dedicated to San Miniatus, as far back as the 8th century. The facade of white and dark-green marble, with its rounded arches and use of geometric decoration, is a perfect example of a style in architecture that is called Tuscan Romanesque. The mosaic, above the central window, represents Christ, the Virgin and San Miniatus.
The design of the interior is based on that of the early Christian basilicas with a nave, two aisles and no transepts. The church is built on three levels. At the end of each aisle, a flight of stairs leads up to the presbytery, while at the end of the nave, steps lead down to the crypt, the oldest part of the church, which contains, under the high altar, the relics of San Miniatus. Many of the columns in the crypt are recycled originals from classical antiquity.
San Lorenzo: A church dedicated to Saint Lawrence has stood on this site since the year AD 393 when the first basilica was consecrated by Saint Ambrose, the Archbishop of Milan and one of the four Fathers of the Catholic Church. (The other three, out of interest, are St Gregory, St Augustine and St Jerome). This makes San Lorenzo the oldest Christian Basilica in the city and there is little doubt that it would have once acted as the cathedral of Florence.
The present church (Entrance fee), one of the first examples of the new Renaissance style of architecture, was mostly designed by Brunelleschi and paid for, largely, by Cosimo de’ Medici. In return for his generosity and also for the service that he rendered to the Republic, Cosimo is buried in the nave in front of the high altar, the most prestigious place in a church to be interred. He is commemorated by an inscription (see below), Pater Patriae (Father of the State), an honour he received posthumously, in 1464. Honours, however, can be taken away as well as given and the inscription was defaced each time the Medici were exiled (1494 and 1527) and the city regained its republican status. In many respects, the Medici family treated San Lorenzo like a private mausoleum, for so many of its members are buried here.
 Santa Trinita: The ancient church of Santa Trinita was originally built in the Romanesque style, but was rebuilt in the Gothic style at the beginning of the 14th century. (On the inside of the facade you can still see the outline of the early Romanesque church). The present facade was designed in the classical style at the end of the 16th century by Bernardo Buontalenti.
The fourth chapel off the right aisle is decorated with beautiful frescoes by Lorenzo Monaco.The frescoes date back to 1422 and depict scenes from the Life of the Virgin. The chapel was once the property of the Bartolini-Salimbeni family, whose palace can be found diagonally opposite the church. However, the most important chapel in the church lies to the far right of the high altar: the Sassetti Chapel.
 Orsanmichele: Orsanmichele does not look much like a church. In fact, it started life as a grain market, the second one to be built on this site. The first loggia had been erected in 1290 by Arnolfo di Cambio. Two years later an image of the Madonna, painted on one of its pillars, began to perform miracles. This very quickly transformed the grain market into as much a place of pilgrimage as of commerce. In 1304, the loggia was destroyed by fire and replaced by the present stone building. Orsanmichele ended its function as an open grain market in the 1360s when the open arches of the loggia were blocked in and the interior was dedicated solely to the veneration of the Virgin. At the same time, two more floors were added for the storage of grain. On the corners of the building, towards the the base, you will see a small reference to the original function of the building in the form of several ears of corn carved into one of the corner stones.
Santissima Annunciata: The church of Santissima Annunciata was built, in the middle of the 13th century, by members of the Servite order. The Servites, Servants of Mary, an order devoted to the Virgin Mary, was founded in 1233 by seven Florentine noblemen, who left the city to set up a monastery in the hills to the north of Florence. (The monastery at Monte Senario still exists and lies in a panoramic position, a thirty minute drive from the city).
The portico, at the front of the church, was added, at a later date, to harmonise with the earlier two at the sides of the square. On the pilasters, at either end of the portico, you can see the coat of arms of the Pucci family, one of the major patrons of the church. It takes the somewhat unusual form of the head of a moor. The head appears again, embedded into the marble paving, at the front of the church.
The church is preceded by an atrium, which is known as Lo Chiostrino dei Voti. It is decorated with frescoes by, amongst others, Andrea del Sarto and is named after the votive offerings that were left by visitors to the church, in this case, life-sized wax or wooden effigies of themselves. The effigies were originally hung from the ceiling in the nave of the church and when space rang out they were hung in the present cloister. In 1630 six hundred life-sized wax and wooden effigies and more than three and a half thousand votive images were removed from the church. Unfortunately, all have been lost without trace.
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