| Church of Santa Maria Novella |
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Address: Piazza Santa Maria Novella
 The Dominican friars, Sisto da Firenze and Ristoro da Campi,
began to build the church in 1246 on the site of the l0th-century
Dominican oratory of S. Maria delle Vigne. The nave
and aisles went up in 1279 and the building was finished in the
middle of the 14th century with the campanile and the Sacristy by
Jacopo Talenti. The marvelous facade was remodelled between 1456
and 1470 by Leon Battista Alberti (the original facade was early
14th century) who created the splendid portal and everything
above it, articulated in inlaid squares and bordered by the
heraldic sails of the Rucellai family who commissioned the work.
Two large reversed volutes tie the lateral masses together with
those in the center, articulated by four engaged pilasters and
terminating in a triangular pediment. The interior is divided
into a nave and two aisles by compound piers with pointed arches,
and 16th-century renovation.
Interior
The church houses numerous works from the 14th to the 16th
centuries. Of particular note are the Monument to the Beata
Villana by Rossellino (1451); the Bust of St. Antoninus (in terra
cotta) and the Tomb of the Bishop of Fiesole by Tino da Camaino;
Ghiberti's lovely tombstone for Leonardo Dati (1423); the Tomb of
Filippo Strozzi by Benedetto da Maiano (1491); Vasari's Madonna
of the Rosary (1568); the Miracle of Jesus by Bronzino. Be sure
to stop for a while in the Cappella Maggiore (or Tornabuoni
Chapel), with a fine bronze Crucifix by Giambologna on the altar
and frescoes with the Stories of St. John the Baptist and Stories
of the Madonna by Domenico Ghirlandaio, late 15th cent.; the
Gondi Chapel, by Giuliano da Sangallo, with fragments of frescoes
by 13th-century Greek painters on the vault and Brunelleschi's
famous Crucifix on the back wall; the Cappella Strozzi di
Mantova, with frescoes of the Last Judgement on the back wall,
Hell on the right wall and Paradise on the left, by Nardo di
Cione or Orcagna. The gate to the left of the facade leads to the
First Cloister, in Romanesque style (1350) frescoed with Scenes
from the Old Testament by Paolo Uccello (now in the Refectory).
From here, through the Chiostrino dei Morti, one arrives at the
Chiostro Grande, with more than fifty arches and completely lined
with frescoes by Florentine masters of the 15th and 16th
centuries (generally not open to the public since it is now used
by the armed forces).
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