Legend has it that the cathedral was built to house a relic that commemorates a miracle that did not happen here. The miracle of the Mass at Bolsena happened, you guessed it… at Bolsena, a town just 23 km away from here. In a church in Bolsena in 1263, a priest who was celebrating mass had doubts in the transubstantiation of christ, Read more…
Entry gate into spanish chapel, view to altar
Annexed to the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence is a large frescoed chapter house that is one of the most impressive surviving testimonies of the 1360s in Florence. Erroneously named the “Spanish Chapel” because of its later use for prayer by Spanish colonists, the structure (built probably in the 1350s) in fact served as the chapter house for the dominican friars of SMN. The chapter house also had an altar and a burial function for its patron Buonamico di Lapo Guidalotti, who paid the painter Andrea di Bonaiuto (Andrea di Firenze) to work on it from 1366-8. Read more…
Itinerary
On the spur of the moment we headed out one strangely cool August day to take in some of what Mugello has to offer. I think this will be the first of many such trips as there is a lot to see. Two old roads lead into this area and are fun to drive, with great scenery. We took the Faentina on the way out - you guessed it, this road goes all the way to Faenza via the mountain pass at Marradi. There is some good landscape to be photographed off to the side of the road.
A History of the franciscan order and description of the major early renaissance achievements in the Church of Santa Croce in Florence (begun in the 1290s).
Baptistry defined: locus for baptism. This is usually done inside churches in a baptismal font and does not require a separate building, but Florence (like Pisa) has separated out the parts of its Cathedral complex. We tend to think of the baptistry as a structure that completes the cathedral and the belltower, but actually it was the FIRST structure on this spot!
