Santa Maria delle Carceri is a

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

church, designed by

Giuliano da Sangallo Giuliano da Sangallo (c. 1445 – 1516) was an Italian sculptor, architect and military engineer active during the Italian Renaissance. He is known primarily for being the favored architect of Lorenzo de' Medici, his patron. In this role, Giuli ...

, and built in

Prato Prato ( ; ) is a city and municipality (''comune'') in Tuscany, Italy, and is the capital of the province of Prato. The city lies in the northeast of Tuscany, at an elevation of , at the foot of Monte Retaia (the last peak in the Calvana ch ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It is among the earliest examples of a

Greek cross The Christian cross, with or without a figure of Jesus, Christ included, is the main religious symbol of Christianity. A cross with a figure of Christ affixed to it is termed a crucifix and the figure is often referred to as the ''corpus'' (La ...

plan for a complete church in

Renaissance architecture Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

History

According to the tradition, on July 6, 1484, a painted image of

Madonna and Child In Christian art, a Madonna () is a religious depiction of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a singular form or sometimes accompanied by the Child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word ...

, located on a wall of the public jail ('' carceri'') of Prato, began to animate itself in the eyes of a local child. It was therefore decided to build a basilica on that site to celebrate the event.

Lorenzo de Medici Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (), known as Lorenzo the Magnificent (; 1 January 1449 – 9 April 1492), was an Italian statesman, the '' de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic, and the most powerful patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Lo ...

, lord of the

Republic of Florence The Republic of Florence (; Old Italian: ), known officially as the Florentine Republic, was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Florence in Tuscany, Italy. The republic originated in 1115, when the Flor ...

, imposed a design by his favourite architect, da Sangallo. The latter's proposal included a Greek cross plan inspired to

Filippo Brunelleschi Filippo di ser Brunellesco di Lippo Lapi (1377 – 15 April 1446), commonly known as Filippo Brunelleschi ( ; ) and also nicknamed Pippo by Leon Battista Alberti, was an Italian architect, designer, goldsmith and sculptor. He is considered to ...

Pazzi Chapel The Pazzi Chapel () is a chapel located in the "first cloister" on the southern flank of the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence, Italy. Commonly credited to Filippo Brunelleschi, it is considered to be one of the masterpieces of Renaissance ...

and by

Leon Battista Alberti Leon Battista Alberti (; 14 February 1404 – 25 April 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, Catholic priest, priest, linguistics, linguist, philosopher, and cryptography, cryptographer; he epitomised the natu ...

's theoretical works; Sangallo used the same idea for his first project of

St Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (), or simply St. Peter's Basilica (; ), is a church of the Italian Renaissance architecture, Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within the cit ...

, later superseded by

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

. The same model inspired his brother Antonio da Sangallo the Elder for the church of San Biagio at

Montepulciano Montepulciano () is a medieval and Renaissance hill town and ''comune'' in the Italian province of Siena in southern Tuscany. It sits high on a limestone ridge, east of Pienza, southeast of Siena, southeast of Florence, and north of Rome ...

. The interior of the church was completed from 1486 to 1495, while the exteriors remained unfinished in 1506. The upper part of the western arm was completed in the late 19th century following Sangallo's design.

Exterior

The church has four equal-size arms surmounted by a small dome. The external covering is typically bichrome as in many other Prato's buildings, using white and green marble. The lower fraction shows a framed decoration which originally was to be reproduced in the upper area, finishing with a tympanum (this can be seen only in one arm). The small cupola, of Brunelleschi's inspiration, has a drum with twelve circular windows and a conical covering surmounted by a lantern. The bell tower was realized in 1777-1780 by Francesco Valentini.

Interior

The interior has a solemn Renaissance atmosphere, with the four arms starting from the cubical central hall, surmounted by the semi-spherical dome. All corners are marked by fake columns with precious capitals whose

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

s underline the vault. The arms are decorated by four stained-glass windows designed by

Domenico Ghirlandaio Domenico di Tommaso Curradi di Doffo Bigordi (2 June 1448 – 11 January 1494), professionally known as Domenico Ghirlandaio (also spelt as Ghirlandajo), was an Italian Renaissance painter born in Florence. Ghirlandaio was part of the so-c ...

(1491). The entablature has a frieze with festoons and coats of arms in

majolica In different periods of time and in different countries, the term ''majolica'' has been used for two distinct types of pottery. Firstly, from the mid-15th century onwards, ''maiolica'' was a type of pottery reaching Italy from Spain, Majorca a ...

from

Andrea della Robbia Andrea della Robbia (20 October 14354 August 1525) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, especially in ceramics. Biography Born in Florence, Robbia was the son of Marco della Robbia, whose brother, Luca della Robbia, popularized the use of g ...

's workshop; Della Robbia was also author of the tondos with ''Evangelists'' (1491), in the

pendentive In architecture, a pendentive is a constructional device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or of an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to point ...

s of the dome. The latter has a

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

creating an enlarging perspective effect. The high altar, designed by Sangallo after that in the Roman Pantheon, is in white marble. The altarpiece is the fresco of the miracle after which the basilica was erected, portraying the ''Madonna with Child between Sts. Leonard and Stephen'' (1330–1340). The presbytery's arms ends with a parapet by

Bernardo Buontalenti Bernardo Timante Buonacorsi ( – June 1608), known as Bernardo Buontalenti () and sometimes by the nickname "Bernardo delle Girandole", was an Italian Scenic design, stage designer, architect, theatrical designer, Military engineering, military ...

(1588), flanked by two stone altars (1575). In the sacristy is a fresco of ''

Madonna of Humility A Madonna of humility or Virgin of humility is a depiction in art of the Virgin Mary sitting on the ground, or upon a low cushion. She usually holds the Christ Child in her lap, making it one form of the Madonna and Child. The iconography origi ...

'', 1420, and there are some rooms of the ancient jail.

Images

File:LaspeyresPrato.jpg, Plan File:LaspeyresPrato2.jpg, Section File:Chiesa delle carceri, int., acquasantiera col battista.JPG File:Chiesa delle carceri, int., balaustra disegnata dal buontalenti, stemma di prato.JPG Image:Carceri, san giovanni, tondo di andrea della robbia.jpg File:Santa Maria delle Carceri-internal dome 1.jpg, Dome

Notes

A small church called ''Santa Maria delle Carceri'' is found at a Franciscan monastery on Mount Subasio in Umbria, built around the Eremo delle Carceri.

References