Description
The Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata is Florence's main Marian shrine, the mother house of the Servite order. It stands on the square of the same name, northeast of the center, next to the Ospedale degli Innocenti, and for centuries it was at the heart of the city's religious life.
The reason is an image: the "miraculous" Annunciation, a fresco venerated by the Florentines that gave the church its name. To reach it, in 1255 the Commune had a road laid out on purpose, today's Via dei Servi.
Legend tells of a painter, Bartolomeo, who could not paint the Madonna's face. He tried and tried again, then collapsed from sleep. When he woke the face was already there, finished by an angel.
The fresco is kept in the Annunziata shrine, inside the church. On March 25, the feast of the Annunciation, the Tuscan New Year is celebrated here.
The Annunziata chapel, the heart of the church, is a Carrara marble shrine designed by Michelozzo in 1447-48, with four Corinthian columns over five meters tall. Scholars date the fresco to the 1300s: the story remains a legend.
Before going in there is the Cloister of the Votive Offerings, frescoed by Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino. Inside, not to be missed is the Giambologna Chapel, decorated with his bronzes and where the artist wanted to be buried.
The order was born in 1233 from seven young Florentines who had seen the Virgin weep over the quarrels between citizens. The church was later renovated by Michelozzo, who from 1444 built the tribune, and in the 1600s it filled up with Baroque marbles, stuccoes and gold.
Outside, above the central arch of the portico, traces remain of Pontormo's frescoes, from 1513-14, now replaced by copies, while above the portal is a mosaic Annunciation from 1509.
On the side, an arch over the street links the church to the neighboring palace. It was built for Maria Maddalena de' Medici, a princess of fragile health, so that she could go to Mass without stepping into the street.
The reason is an image: the "miraculous" Annunciation, a fresco venerated by the Florentines that gave the church its name. To reach it, in 1255 the Commune had a road laid out on purpose, today's Via dei Servi.
Legend tells of a painter, Bartolomeo, who could not paint the Madonna's face. He tried and tried again, then collapsed from sleep. When he woke the face was already there, finished by an angel.
The fresco is kept in the Annunziata shrine, inside the church. On March 25, the feast of the Annunciation, the Tuscan New Year is celebrated here.
The Annunziata chapel, the heart of the church, is a Carrara marble shrine designed by Michelozzo in 1447-48, with four Corinthian columns over five meters tall. Scholars date the fresco to the 1300s: the story remains a legend.
Before going in there is the Cloister of the Votive Offerings, frescoed by Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino. Inside, not to be missed is the Giambologna Chapel, decorated with his bronzes and where the artist wanted to be buried.
The order was born in 1233 from seven young Florentines who had seen the Virgin weep over the quarrels between citizens. The church was later renovated by Michelozzo, who from 1444 built the tribune, and in the 1600s it filled up with Baroque marbles, stuccoes and gold.
Outside, above the central arch of the portico, traces remain of Pontormo's frescoes, from 1513-14, now replaced by copies, while above the portal is a mosaic Annunciation from 1509.
On the side, an arch over the street links the church to the neighboring palace. It was built for Maria Maddalena de' Medici, a princess of fragile health, so that she could go to Mass without stepping into the street.