Description
The Loggia del Bigallo is the elegant Gothic loggia in Piazza San Giovanni, at the corner with Via dei Calzaiuoli, right across from the Baptistery. It is part of a complex with an oratory and a small museum, which holds the works of the two confraternities it once belonged to.
Under these arches, for centuries, lost or abandoned children were put on display. If nobody came to claim them, the confraternity took care of them. The loggia was built for exactly this, after the terrible plague of 1348: it was built between 1352 and 1360.
From outside, stop and look at the arches: one is faced with polychrome marble, carved with prophets, angels and virtues. Above, three tabernacles hold statues of the Madonna, Saint Peter Martyr and Saint Lucy, and two frescoes from around 1444 tell the stories of Saint Peter Martyr.
Inside, the museum opens into three rooms. Don't miss the fresco of the Misericordia Domini: at its foot is the oldest known view of Florence, with the Baptistery and the still unfinished façade of the Duomo.
Then there is the portable triptych by Bernardo Daddi, from 1333, with the Madonna, the Nativity and the Crucifixion, and the large sculptures by Alberto Arnoldi on the altar of the old oratory: a Madonna and Child and two candelabra-bearing angels.
It was commissioned by the captains of the Misericordia, who had their seat here. The choice of arches is striking: round, in the middle of the Gothic age. Pointed arches belonged to Ghibelline Siena, while Guelph Florence preferred classical forms, which ended up inspiring the Renaissance.
In 1425 the nearly bankrupt Compagnia del Bigallo arrived, and the two confraternities lived under the same roof until 1489. The Bigallo was left on its own and made the loggia its symbol, until the captains of the Misericordia moved to a place nearby. The Misericordia still exists today.
Under these arches, for centuries, lost or abandoned children were put on display. If nobody came to claim them, the confraternity took care of them. The loggia was built for exactly this, after the terrible plague of 1348: it was built between 1352 and 1360.
From outside, stop and look at the arches: one is faced with polychrome marble, carved with prophets, angels and virtues. Above, three tabernacles hold statues of the Madonna, Saint Peter Martyr and Saint Lucy, and two frescoes from around 1444 tell the stories of Saint Peter Martyr.
Inside, the museum opens into three rooms. Don't miss the fresco of the Misericordia Domini: at its foot is the oldest known view of Florence, with the Baptistery and the still unfinished façade of the Duomo.
Then there is the portable triptych by Bernardo Daddi, from 1333, with the Madonna, the Nativity and the Crucifixion, and the large sculptures by Alberto Arnoldi on the altar of the old oratory: a Madonna and Child and two candelabra-bearing angels.
It was commissioned by the captains of the Misericordia, who had their seat here. The choice of arches is striking: round, in the middle of the Gothic age. Pointed arches belonged to Ghibelline Siena, while Guelph Florence preferred classical forms, which ended up inspiring the Renaissance.
In 1425 the nearly bankrupt Compagnia del Bigallo arrived, and the two confraternities lived under the same roof until 1489. The Bigallo was left on its own and made the loggia its symbol, until the captains of the Misericordia moved to a place nearby. The Misericordia still exists today.