Description
The church of San Frediano in Cestello is a large Baroque church in Piazza di Cestello, in the Oltrarno, with its entrance facing the Arno. With three monumental aisles and a Latin-cross plan, it is one of the most important churches in the district.
Its history is full of twists: nuns and monks swapping homes, a church turned toward the river, an Irish bishop stopping a flood of the Arno. The very name tells of one of these changes.
At the beginning there was a Carmelite convent here, where Saint Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi lived and died. In 1628, by wish of Pope Urban VIII, the nuns swapped their building with that of the Cistercians of Borgo Pinti, and took the saint's body with them.
The Cistercians, who called the church "Cestello Nuovo," rebuilt everything. After the death of the architect Gherardo Silvani, in 1680 Giulio Cerruti rotated the axis of the church, with the entrance toward the Arno. In 1689 Antonio Maria Ferri finished the dome.
Inside, the dome is frescoed by Antonio Domenico Gabbiani with scenes of the glory of the Magdalene and of Virtue. The 17th- and 18th-century frescoes and stuccoes celebrate in many ways the saint who lived her cloistered life here.
In the chapel dedicated to her, Giovanni Camillo Sagrestani painted the Ecstasy of the Saint in 1702. In the transept are a large canvas by Francesco Curradi, from the 17th century, and an altarpiece of the Crucifixion by Jacopo del Sellaio.
In the third chapel from the left, the Chapel of Saint Bernard, is kept the Madonna of the Smile, a much-venerated wooden statue carved between the 13th and 14th centuries. The chapel has frescoes by Pier Dandini, from 1688-89.
On the choir loft above the entrance is an organ with a sumptuous Baroque case, all carvings and gilding, built in 1768 for the parish church of Santo Stefano in Campi Bisenzio. It has been in this church since 1818.
And the name? It comes from a nearby ancient parish, where according to legend the Irish bishop of Lucca Frediano diverted the flooding waters of the Arno, avoiding a disaster. When it was demolished, in 1798, the title and the saint's relic passed here.
The monastery next door, suppressed in 1783, became the Archbishop's Seminary, still active. It has a rich library of medieval codices, including the Codice Rustici of 1448, and in the former refectory a large fresco by Bernardino Poccetti.
Don't miss
• The frescoed dome.
• The Madonna of the Smile.
• The Baroque organ.
• Sagrestani's Ecstasy of the Saint.
Did you know?
• "Cestello" comes from "Cistercian": it was the "Cestello Nuovo," as opposed to the "old" church of Borgo Pinti.
• A plaque on the outer wall of the monastery, in Borgo San Frediano, marks where Saint Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi lived and died.
Its history is full of twists: nuns and monks swapping homes, a church turned toward the river, an Irish bishop stopping a flood of the Arno. The very name tells of one of these changes.
At the beginning there was a Carmelite convent here, where Saint Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi lived and died. In 1628, by wish of Pope Urban VIII, the nuns swapped their building with that of the Cistercians of Borgo Pinti, and took the saint's body with them.
The Cistercians, who called the church "Cestello Nuovo," rebuilt everything. After the death of the architect Gherardo Silvani, in 1680 Giulio Cerruti rotated the axis of the church, with the entrance toward the Arno. In 1689 Antonio Maria Ferri finished the dome.
Inside, the dome is frescoed by Antonio Domenico Gabbiani with scenes of the glory of the Magdalene and of Virtue. The 17th- and 18th-century frescoes and stuccoes celebrate in many ways the saint who lived her cloistered life here.
In the chapel dedicated to her, Giovanni Camillo Sagrestani painted the Ecstasy of the Saint in 1702. In the transept are a large canvas by Francesco Curradi, from the 17th century, and an altarpiece of the Crucifixion by Jacopo del Sellaio.
In the third chapel from the left, the Chapel of Saint Bernard, is kept the Madonna of the Smile, a much-venerated wooden statue carved between the 13th and 14th centuries. The chapel has frescoes by Pier Dandini, from 1688-89.
On the choir loft above the entrance is an organ with a sumptuous Baroque case, all carvings and gilding, built in 1768 for the parish church of Santo Stefano in Campi Bisenzio. It has been in this church since 1818.
And the name? It comes from a nearby ancient parish, where according to legend the Irish bishop of Lucca Frediano diverted the flooding waters of the Arno, avoiding a disaster. When it was demolished, in 1798, the title and the saint's relic passed here.
The monastery next door, suppressed in 1783, became the Archbishop's Seminary, still active. It has a rich library of medieval codices, including the Codice Rustici of 1448, and in the former refectory a large fresco by Bernardino Poccetti.
Don't miss
• The frescoed dome.
• The Madonna of the Smile.
• The Baroque organ.
• Sagrestani's Ecstasy of the Saint.
Did you know?
• "Cestello" comes from "Cistercian": it was the "Cestello Nuovo," as opposed to the "old" church of Borgo Pinti.
• A plaque on the outer wall of the monastery, in Borgo San Frediano, marks where Saint Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi lived and died.