Posted by admin
Open weekdays, 8.15 - 13.30, free. Via porta Rossa. For photos see gallery below.
The Palazzo Davanzati is a grouping of medieval tower-homes joined together, in typical medieval style, in the mid-14th century. It represents a transitional moment between medieval homes and renaissance palaces. Sections of the building re-opened to the public in late 2005 after a long restoration, and parts are still inaccessible. Read more…
Posted by admin
The Piero della Francesca Pilgrimage
I’m listing the Piero Pilgrimage under Tuscany, but really it just starts there - in the end you cross the entire country, spend some time in the Marches and finish on the East coast in Rimini! This itinerary does not include the museums in Milan and Perugia, nor the Uffizi in Florence, all three of which house important works by Piero. Rather, the trip follows Piero’s path through works still found in-situ, or in their city of production in the case of Urbino. Read more…
Posted by admin
Ospedale degli Innocenti
Brunelleschi’s building in Piazza S.S. Annunziata is easily recognized by its majestic portico, a series of round arches punctuated by roundels of swaddled babes by the Della Robbia family. Many visitors to and even residents of the city do not know much about its function, however. The building opened its doors as a foundling hospital, the ancestor of the modern day orphanage, in 1445. This was in response to the city’s problem of infant abandonment, which had recently come more to the patricians’ attention, not in the least because often, abandoned babies were products of the servant-master relations of these same patricians. Unwanted babies were often exposed to the elements or drowned. The city responded to this terrible fact mainly because of the concern for the unbaptised souls of the children. The Institution of the Innocenti sought mainly to remedy this problem. Read more…
Posted by admin
The Dominican Observant convent of San Marco was built starting 1436 and frescoed almost in its entirety by Fra Angelico from 1440-50 (approx.). It is a marvel of the effective use of painting in functional, religious spaces.
Annunciation in cell
A small museum contains panel paintings by Fra Angelico (to the right of the entrance door, off the courtyard). The courtyard also gives access to a chapter house (where the friars held daily meetings), with a large painting of a Crucifixion. On this same level (not off the courtyard but through a set of doors) is a refectory which doubles as a gift shop. Through this same doorway there is a stairway that leads to the friar’s “dormitory”, a series of 44 cells. Each friar had his own cell, and each cell contains a simple painting by Fra Angelico or members of his workshop. These austerely simple works make an interesting comparison to the more public, decorative panel paintings housed below. On this floor, in the opposite direction from the cells, don’t miss the library designed by Michelozzo, and the cell at the far end which belonged to Cosimo de’ Medici himself, patron of the entire complex.
Arttrav offers a podcast of san marco to lead you through these spaces.
Opening hours: Monday-Friday: 8.15-13.50; Saturday: 8.15-18.50; every second Sunday: 8.15-19.00. Admission 4 euros. Located in Piazza san Marco.
