Description
The church of Sant'Ambrogio stands in the square of the same name, in the eastern part of central Florence, north of Santa Croce. Plain on the outside, inside it is one of the churches richest in history and atmosphere in the city.
You come here for a miracle, a fresco and the tombs of great artists. The interior is a long single-nave hall with a timber-truss ceiling and altars framed by pietra serena arches.
To the left of the high altar opens the Chapel of the Miracle. Here Mino da Fiesole carved a marble tabernacle between 1481 and 1483: on the predella, the priest Uguccione hands the abbess the relic of the miraculous blood.
On the wall, the fresco by Cosimo Rosselli tells of a procession in 1340 with that relic. It is set in the little square in front of the church, drawn as it was then, and on the left is the painter's self-portrait among the Florentines of his day.
Next to the chapel is displayed the sinopia, the preparatory drawing for that fresco. It is worth a look: some figures are sketched without clothes, to fix the volumes the drapery would later cover.
Along the nave, between the second and third altars on the left, stands the wooden St. Sebastian by Leonardo del Tasso. Here and there, 14th-century frescoes resurface, found behind the stone arches after the flood of 1966.
Between the 15th and 16th centuries, several artists chose to be buried here: Andrea del Verrocchio, Il Cronaca, Francesco Granacci, the Del Tasso family and Mino da Fiesole, who asked for and got a tomb in front of his own tabernacle.
It all began on December 30, 1230. An old priest, Uguccione, found drops of clotted blood in the chalice from the previous day's Mass, which he hadn't cleaned properly the evening before. The bishop kept the vial with him for a year before being convinced.
The church was already ancient: it is recorded in 988, and according to tradition St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, had been hosted here in 393. Its most precious masterpieces, by Masaccio and Masolino, Filippo Lippi and Botticelli, are now in the Uffizi.
Don't miss
• The Chapel of the Miracle.
• Mino da Fiesole's tabernacle.
• Cosimo Rosselli's fresco.
• Leonardo del Tasso's St. Sebastian.
Did you know?
• The miracle of Sant'Ambrogio predates the more famous one of Bolsena by some thirty years.
• In 1595 a fire spared the consecrated hosts: the water used to put it out turned them into a kind of little ring-shaped cake, kept beside the blood.
• A tabernacle by Giovanni della Robbia, on one side of the square, shows St. Ambrose blessing passersby.
You come here for a miracle, a fresco and the tombs of great artists. The interior is a long single-nave hall with a timber-truss ceiling and altars framed by pietra serena arches.
To the left of the high altar opens the Chapel of the Miracle. Here Mino da Fiesole carved a marble tabernacle between 1481 and 1483: on the predella, the priest Uguccione hands the abbess the relic of the miraculous blood.
On the wall, the fresco by Cosimo Rosselli tells of a procession in 1340 with that relic. It is set in the little square in front of the church, drawn as it was then, and on the left is the painter's self-portrait among the Florentines of his day.
Next to the chapel is displayed the sinopia, the preparatory drawing for that fresco. It is worth a look: some figures are sketched without clothes, to fix the volumes the drapery would later cover.
Along the nave, between the second and third altars on the left, stands the wooden St. Sebastian by Leonardo del Tasso. Here and there, 14th-century frescoes resurface, found behind the stone arches after the flood of 1966.
Between the 15th and 16th centuries, several artists chose to be buried here: Andrea del Verrocchio, Il Cronaca, Francesco Granacci, the Del Tasso family and Mino da Fiesole, who asked for and got a tomb in front of his own tabernacle.
It all began on December 30, 1230. An old priest, Uguccione, found drops of clotted blood in the chalice from the previous day's Mass, which he hadn't cleaned properly the evening before. The bishop kept the vial with him for a year before being convinced.
The church was already ancient: it is recorded in 988, and according to tradition St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, had been hosted here in 393. Its most precious masterpieces, by Masaccio and Masolino, Filippo Lippi and Botticelli, are now in the Uffizi.
Don't miss
• The Chapel of the Miracle.
• Mino da Fiesole's tabernacle.
• Cosimo Rosselli's fresco.
• Leonardo del Tasso's St. Sebastian.
Did you know?
• The miracle of Sant'Ambrogio predates the more famous one of Bolsena by some thirty years.
• In 1595 a fire spared the consecrated hosts: the water used to put it out turned them into a kind of little ring-shaped cake, kept beside the blood.
• A tabernacle by Giovanni della Robbia, on one side of the square, shows St. Ambrose blessing passersby.