Religious, Spiritual sights in Tuscany
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
A
Basilica di San Lorenzo
Founded in the late 4th-century, San Lorenzo lays claim to being the oldest church in Florence and once served as its cathedral. The current incarnation dates to the 1420s, when the Medici hired Brunelleschi to spruce up their parish church. The facade may look like a pile of rough-cut stones, but it belies the extraordinary, light-filled interior. The harmonious geometry, quantities of natural light and classical Corinthian columns of pietra serena (soft grey stone) were unlike anything in Christendom. Michelangelo was commissioned to design the facade in 1518, though it was never executed; hence its unfinished appearance. Donatello, who sculpted the church’s two bronze …
reviewed
-
B
Sinagoga e Museo di Storia e Arte Ebraica
This late-19th-century synagogue is a fanciful structure with playful Moorish and even Byzantine elements. Although Florence was home to a Jewish community since at least the 14th century, serious discussion on the building of an appropriate temple only began around 1850, after the town authorities had definitively dropped all discriminatory regulations against the Jews.
The playfulness of the exterior of the synagogue that resulted is matched inside by the prayer hall, sumptuously (if a little gloomily) decorated with Arabesques and held together by Moorish-style arches. Up on the top floor is the small museum. You can see Jewish ceremonial objects and some old codices,…
reviewed
-
C
Duomo
Pisa's duomo was paid for with spoils brought home after Pisans attacked an Arab fleet entering Palermo in 1063. Begun a year later, the cathedral, with its striking cladding of alternating bands of green and cream marble, became the blueprint floor for Romanesque churches throughout Tuscany. The elliptical dome, the first of its kind in Europe at the time, was added in 1380.
It is the three pairs of firmly closed, 16th-century bronze doors of the main entrance (west), designed by the school of Giambologna to replace the wooden originals destroyed (along with most of the cathedral interior) by fire in 1596, which the crowds ogle over. Quite spellbinding, hours can be spen…
reviewed
-
D
Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina
One of Pisa’s architectural gems is the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina. A fine example of Pisan-Gothic style, this now-deconsecrated church was built between 1223 and 1230 to house a reliquary of a spina (thorn) from Christ’s crown. Its ornately spired exterior is encrusted with tabernacles and statues but the interior is simple and perfectly suited to quiet reflection. Inside, the focal point is Andrea and Nino Pisano’s Madonna and Child (aka Madonna of the Rose, 1345–48), a masterpiece of Gothic sculpture that still bears traces of its original colours and gilding. At the other end of the church is a copy of the graceful Madonna del Latte (Our Lady of Milk, 1…
reviewed
-
E
Cappella Brancacci
Inside the rather workaday baroque finery of Basilica di Santa Maria del Carmine, the small Brancacci chapel harbours one of the great treasures of early Renaissance art. Commissioned in 1424, the fresco cycle was begun by Masolino, but it’s the work of his pupil Masaccio, then only 22, that makes art historians launch into paeans. His most important contributions include Expulsion of Adam and Eve, Tribute Money, St Peter Healing the Sick and Distribution of Alms and Death of Ananias. Besides their naturalism and successful use of perspective, Masaccio’s depiction of emotion – particularly Eve’s anguish – lends the cycle a remarkable combination of immediacy and humanit…
reviewed
-
F
Chiesa di San Firenze
From as early as 1645, the Oratorian Fathers wanted to expand the small parish church of San Firenze. For the next century, architects and finances came and went, and the design continued to change. The original church, which stood on the right flank of the present building, was to have a chapel and convent added. In the end, a new church, dedicated to St Philip Neri, was built on the left flank and the San Firenze church was reduced to an oratory.
The two were then linked and the whole complex became known, erroneously, as Chiesa di San Firenze. The late-baroque façade that unites the buildings was completed in 1775. Today most of the building is occupied by law courts, …
reviewed
-
G
Chiesa di Sant'Ambrogio
A rather dull 18th-century façade hides centuries of church history on this site. The first church here was raised in the 10th century, but what you see inside is a mix of 13th-century Gothic and 15th-century refurbishment. The name comes from the powerful 4th-century archbishop of Milan, Sant'Ambrogio (St Ambrose), who stayed in an earlier convent on this site when he visited Florence. The church is something of an artists' graveyard too.
Among those who rest in peace here are Mino da Fiesole, Il Verrocchio and Il Cronaca. Nearby is the local produce market, Mercato di Sant'Ambrogio, on Piazza Ghiberti.
reviewed
-
H
Cattedrale di San Zeno
The Pisan-Romanesque facade of Cattedrale di San Zeno boasts a lunette of Madonna col Bambino Fra Due Angeli (Madonna and Child Between Two Angels) by Andrea della Robbia. The cathedral’s other highlight – the silver Dossale di San Giacomo, begun in 1287 and finished off by Brunelleschi two centuries later – is in the gloomy Cappella di San Jacopo off the north aisle.
reviewed
-
I
Basilica di San Frediano
The facade of the Basilica di San Frediano has a unique (and much-restored) 13th-century mosaic in a markedly Byzantine style. The main feature of the beautiful basilica’s interior is the Fontana Lustrale, a 12th-century baptismal font decorated with sculpted reliefs, just to the right as you enter. Note, too, the fine capitals, many recycled from the nearby Roman amphitheatre.
reviewed
-
J
Cattedrale di San Martino
Lucca’s mainly Romanesque Cattedrale di San Martino, dedicated to San Martino, dates to the 11th century. The exquisite facade was constructed in the prevailing Lucca-Pisan style and designed to accommodate the pre-existing campanile. Each of the multitude of columns in its upper part is different. The reliefs over the left doorway of the portico are believed to be by Nicola Pisano.
The interior was rebuilt in the 14th and 15th centuries with a Gothic flourish. Lucca-born sculptor and architect Matteo Civitali designed both the pulpit and the 15th-century tempietto (small temple) in the north aisle that contains the Volto Santo. Legend has it that this simply fashioned …
reviewed
Advertisement
-
K
Chiesa di San Michele in Foro
This dazzling Romanesque church was built on the site of its 8th-century precursor over a period of nearly 300 years, beginning in the 11th century. The exquisite wedding-cake facade is topped by a figure of the Archangel Michael slaying a dragon. Inside, don’t miss Filippino Lippi’s 1479 painting of Sts Helen, Jerome, Sebastian and Roch (complete with plague sore) in the south transept.
reviewed
-
L
Chiesa di San Andrea
The 12th-century Chiesa di San Andrea was built outside the original city walls, which explains its windowless state (it needed to be fortified). The facade is enlivened by a relief of the Journey and Adoration of the Magi (1166) and inside there is a magnificent marble pulpit carved by Giovanni Pisano between 1298–1301.
reviewed
-
M
Battistero
The unusual, round Battisero has one dome piled on top of another, each roofed half in lead, half in tiles. Construction began in 1152, but it was notably remodelled and continued by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano more than a century later and was finally completed in the 14th century – hence its hybrid architectural style.
Inside, the beautiful hexagonal pulpit carved by Nicola Pisano between 1259–60 is the undisputed highlight. Inspired by the Roman sarcophagi in the Camposanto, Pisano used powerful classical models to enact scenes from biblical legend. His figure of Daniel, who supports one of the corners of the pulpit on his shoulders, was clearly modelled on an ancient…
reviewed
-
N
Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Carceri
Built by Giuliano da Sangallo towards the end of the 15th century, the high, graceful interior of the Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Carceri was a prototype for many a Tuscan Renaissance church. The glazed terracotta frieze and, above it, medallions of the Evangelists are by Andrea della Robbia and his team.
reviewed
-
Chiesa di San Biagio
To the west of Chiesa del Gesù, and prominent in the valley below is domed Chiesa di San Biagio, a fine Renaissance church built by Antonio da Sangallo the Elder which was undergoing major restoration when we last passed. Its highlight is an impressive marble altarpiece.
reviewed
-
O
Chiesa di Sant'Agnese
The Chiesa di Sant'Agnese, with its beelike banding around the façade, lies just outside the city walls. The original church was built in the early 14th century but this version was the result of a remake by Antonio da Sangallo il Vecchio in 1511.
reviewed
-
P
Baptistry
Across Via Roma is the 14th-century octagonal baptistry, elegantly banded in green-and-white marble to a design by Andrea Pisano. An ornate square marble font and soaring dome enliven the otherwise bare, red-brick interior.
reviewed
-
Q
Chiesa di San Francesco
Along Via dei Rossi, is Chiesa di San Francesco, with its vast single nave. It's suffered over the years - from a devastating 17th-century fire and use as army barracks.
reviewed
-
R
Cathedral
The 16th-century cathedral has an unfinished facade. Above the high altar is a lovely triptych by Taddeo da Bartolo depicting the Assumption.
reviewed
-
S
Chiesa di Sant’Agostino
Continuing up Via di Gracciano nel Corso, you will find Michelozzo’s Chiesa di Sant’Agostino.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
T
Baptistry
Just west of the cathedral is the 13th-century baptistry with a small marble font by Andrea Sansovino.
reviewed
-
U
Chiesa di San Marco
At the heart of Florence’s university area sits the Chiesa di San Marco.
reviewed
-
V
Chiesa di Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri
Vasari designed the church, Chiesa di Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri.
reviewed
