Santa Maria Maggiore, affreschi sul pilastro 1

Santa Maria Maggiore di Firenze is a Romanesque and Gothic-style,

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

church in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

, region of Tuscany,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. This is among the oldest extant churches in Florence.

History

The church was originally constructed in the 11th century and underwent extensive renovations to the facade and sides in the 13th century. The original church existed as early as the 8th century, and is first documented in 931. The legend assigning its foundation to

Pope Pelagius II Pope Pelagius II (died 7 February 590) was the bishop of Rome from 26 November 579 to his death. Life Pelagius was a native of Rome, but probably of Ostrogothic descent, as his father's name was Winigild. Pelagius became Pope Benedict I's succes ...

in 580 A.D. is not reliable. Santa Maria Maggiore, la berta dettaglio

In 1176 it obtained the status of

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by ...

and was one of Florence's priories. The church subsequently expanded its possessions and in 1183 it was put under papal direct protection by

Lucius III Pope Lucius III (c. 1097 – 25 November 1185), born Ubaldo Allucingoli, reigned from 1 September 1181 to his death in 1185. Born of an aristocratic family of Lucca, prior to being elected pope, he had a long career as a papal diplomat. His pa ...

in 1186, which it kept in the following century. Acquired by the Cistercians, in the 13th century the church was rebuilt (with the exception of the original external walls and the vaults) in

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths ** Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken ...

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work '' The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculp ...

mentions one "Master Buono" as the designer of the new edifice; he also writes that the high altar had a ''Coronation of the Virgin'' by

Agnolo Gaddi Agnolo Gaddi (c.1350–1396) was an Italian painter. He was born and died in Florence, and was the son of the painter Taddeo Gaddi,who was himself the major pupil of the Florentine master Giotto. Agnolo was a painter and mosaicist, trained ...

, and the ''Cappella Maggiore'' contained frescoes by Spinello Aretino with the ''Stories of the Virgin and St. Antony Abbot'', of which today only a fragment survives. During the 15th century the church's finances declined: in 1514 Giulio de' Medici describes it as decaying, and in the following year the pope gave it to the Florence Cathedral's capitol. In 1521 it went to the

Carmelites , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Ca ...

from

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Eur ...

. In the early 17th century the interior was restored by Gherardo Silvani, perhaps following a project by

Bernardo Buontalenti Bernardo Buontalenti (), byname of Bernardo Delle Girandole ( 1531 – June 1608), was an Italian stage designer, architect, theatrical designer, military engineer and artist and inventor of italian ice cream. Biography Buontalenti was born in ...

Description

The exterior is rather undecorated, with stone walls and the portals surmounted by

tympani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally ...

. The bell tower, although reduced in height, survives from the Romanesque building. It has a Roman head embedded in its walls, popularly known as ''Berta'' The interior is simple with a nave and two aisles, ogival arches and

groin vault A groin vault or groined vault (also sometimes known as a double barrel vault or cross vault) is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. Honour, H. and J. Fleming, (2009) ''A World History of Art''. 7th edn. London: Lau ...

s. Artworks include frescoes by Bernardino Poccetti (''Histories of St. Zenobius'' in the vault), a ''Nativity'' by Matteo Rosselli, and, above the altar of the left transept chapel, a polychromed stucco relief panel, the ''Madonna del Carmelo'', long attributed to the 13th century artist,

Coppo di Marcovaldo Coppo di Marcovaldo (c. 1225 – c. 1276) was a Florentine painter in the Italo-Byzantine style, active in the middle of the thirteenth century, whose fusion of both the Italian and Byzantine styles had great influence on generations of It ...

. A recent restoration has caused scholars to question this attribution and posit an earlier, 12th century date for the panel.Ciatti, Marco and Cecelia Frosinini, ed. (2002). '''L'immagine antica.' The Madonna and Child of Santa Maria Maggiore: Study and Restoration. ''Florence: Edifir. The same chapel houses the tomb of

Brunetto Latini Brunetto Latini (who signed his name ''Burnectus Latinus'' in Latin and ''Burnecto Latino'' in Italian; –1294) was an Italian philosopher, scholar, notary, politician and statesman. Life Brunetto Latini was born in Florence in 1220 to a Tusc ...

, discovered in 1751, and a sarcophagus attributed to Tino di Camaino (early 14th century). Other artworks once housed in the church include the Carnesecchi Triptych, by

Masolino da Panicale , death_date = ''c.'' 1447 , death_place = Florence , nationality = Italian , field = Painting, fresco , training = , movement = Italian Renaissance , works = frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel , patrons ...

and Masaccio, as well as the '' Martyrdom of St. Sebastian'' and the '' Lamentation over the Dead Christ with Saints'' by Botticelli.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maria Maggiore Florence Maria Maggiore 11th-century establishments in Italy Maria Maggiore Romanesque architecture in Florence Gothic architecture in Florence