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Churches and Synagogues

San Lorenzo

Piazza di San Lorenzo (Basilica and Biblioteca), Piazza di Madonna degli Aldobrandini (Cappelle Medicee)
Basilica Tel. 055 21 66 34
Biblioteca Tel. 055 21 07 60
Cappelle Medicee Tel. 055 238 86 02

Open: 10am-5pm Mon-Sat (Mar-Oct also 1:30-5pm Sun).
Church Services: 8am, 9:30am, 6pm Mon-Sat, 9:30am, 11am, 6pm Sun & religious holidays.
Biblioteca Open: Apr-Jun & during exhibitions. Closed: public hols.
Cappelle Medicee Open: 8:15am-1:50pm Tue-Sat (last adm; 30mins before closing).
Closed: 1st, 3rd & 5th Mon, 2nd & 4th Sun of the month.

San Lorenzo was the parish church of the Medici family, and they lavished their wealth on its adornment. Brunelleschi rebuilt the church in Renaissance Classical style in 1419, although the façade was never completed. In 1520 Michelangelo begun work on the Medici tombs and designed the Biblioteca Mediceo-Laurenziana in 1524 to house the manuscripts collected by the Medici. In both the New Sacristy and the Cappella dei Principi, extensive scaffolding has been erected (for an indefinite period) to protect visitors from falling marble.

Key Features:

Michelangelo's Staircase
The Mannerist pietra serena sandstone staircase to the Biblioteca is one of Michelangelo's most innovative designs. It was built by Ammannati in 1559.

Cappella dei Principi
The marble decoration of the Medici mausoleum, begun in 1604 by Matteo Nigetti, was not completed until 1962.

Medici Tombs by Michelangelo
Michelangelo's momumental funerary figures, symbolising Night, Day, Dawn and Dusk, are among his greatest works.

Donatello's Pulpits
Donatello was 74 when he began work on the bronze pulpits in the nave in 1460; they depict Christ's Passion and Resurrection.

Street around San Marco

The buildings in this part of Florence once stood on the fringe of the city, serving as stables and barracks. The Medici menagerie, including lions, elephants and giraffes, were housed here. Today it is the student quarter, and in term-time Piazza di San Marco is filled with young people waiting for lectures at the university or at the Accademia di Belle Arti. This is the world's oldest art school, set up in 1563, with Michelangelo as a founder.

Key Sights:

Galleria dell'Accademia
This gallery, famous for Michelangelo's David, also contains Bonaguida's Tree of the Cross.
San Marco
This Dominican convent is now a museum housing Savonarola's cell and the spiritual paintings of Fra Angelico (1395-1455).
Spedale degli Innocenti
The city orphanage was Brunelleschi's first completed Classical design. Andrea della Robbia added cameos of swaddled infants in the 1480's, as an inspiration to charity.

San Marco

Piazza di San Marco.

Church Open: 7am-noon, 4-8pm.
Church Services: 7:30am, 6:30pm Mon-Sat; 10:30am, 11:30am, 12:30pm, 6:30pm Sun & religious holidays.
Museum Open: 8:15am-1:50pm daily (to 6:50pm Sat, to 7pm Sun; last adm: 30mins before closing).
Closed: 2nd & 4th Mon & 1st , 3rd & 5th Sun of month; 1st Jan, 1st May, 25th Dec.

The convent of San Marco was founded in the 13th century and enlarged in 1437 when Dominican monks from nearby Fiesole moved here at the invitation of Cosimo il Vecchio. He paid a considerable sum to have the convent rebuilt by his favourite architect, Michelozzo, whose simple cloisters and cells are the setting for a remarkable series of devotional frescoes (c.1438-45) by Fra Angelico.

Star Features:

- The Annunciation by Fra Angelico (c.1440)
- The Crucifixion by Fra Angelico (1441-42)
- Library by Michelozzo (1441)

Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi

Borgo Pinti 58.
Tel. 055 247 84 20

Church & Chapter House Open: 9am-noon, 3-7pm daily.
Closed for mass: 5:30-6pm

This former convent has been restored following the floods of 1966. Originally run by the Cistercian order, it was taken over by Carmelites in 1628, and Augustinian monks have lived here since 1926. The chapterhouse, which is entered form the crypt, contains the famous Crucifixion and Saints fresco painted in 1493-6 by Perugino (his real name was Pietro Vannucci), who was one of the founders of the Umbrian School of artists. This beautiful and well-preserved fresco is regarded as a masterpiece, bearing all Perugino's trademarks, most notably the background, which is a detailed landscape of wooded hills and winding streams painted in soft blues and greens. The main chapel, decorated with coloured marble by Ciro Ferri (1675), is one of the best examples of the High Baroque style in a Florentine church. In 1492 Giuliano da Sangallo designed the church's unusual and striking portico, with its square-topped, Ionic-style arcades.

Santissima Annunziata

Piazza della Santissima Annunziata
Tel. 055 26 61 81

Open: 7:30am-12:30pm, 4-6:30pm daily.

The Church of the Holy Annunciation was founded by the Servite order in 1250 and later rebuilt by Michelozzo between 1444 and 1481.

There is a series of early 16th century frescoes in the atrium by Mannerist artists Rosso Fiorentino, Andrea del Sarto and Janopo Pontormo, but many of these frescoes have suffered from damp and are fading. The most celebrated are The Journey of the Magi (1511) and The Birth of the Virgin (1514) by del Sarto. The interior is dark and heavily decorated, with a frescoed ceiling complete by Pietro Giambelli in 1669. The church also boasts one of the most revered shrines in Florence, a painting of the Virgin Mary begun in 1252 by a monk. Devout Florentines believe it was finished by an angel, and many newly wed couples traditionally come here after their wedding ceremony to present a bouquet of flowers to the Virgin and pray for a long and fruitful marriage. Nine chapels radiate from the sanctuary. The central one was reconstructed by Giambologna to use as his tomb, and contains bronze reliefs and a crucifix sculpted by him.

Through the door in the north transept of the church is the Chiostro dei Morti (Cloister of the Dead), so called because it was originally used as a burial ground and is packed with memorial stones. The fresco above the entrance porch is by Andrea del Sarto. Painted in 1525, it shows the Holy Family resting on their flight to Egypt and is usually known as La Madonna del Sacco, since Joseph is depicted leaning on a sack.

The Cappella di San Luca off the cloister has been owned by the Accademia delle Arte del Disegno since 1565 and a special service dedicated to artists is held here every year on St. Luke's day (which falls on October 18). Benvenuto Cellini is among the artists buried in the vault below.

Tempio Israelitico

Via Farini 4.
Tel. 055 24 52 52

Synagogue and Museum Open: Oct-Mar: 10am-1pm, 2-4pm Sun-Thu, 10am-1pm Fri; Apr-Oct: 10am-1pm, 2-5pm Sun-Thu, 10am-1pm Fri.
Closed: Jewish holidays.

The green copper-covered dome of Florence's main synagogue stands out on the horizon as you look down on the city from the surrounding hills. As elsewhere in Europe, Jews in Florence were alternately welcomed and persecuted over the years. In the early 17th century they flocked to Livorno and then to Florence when it was freed form its strong political ties with Spain by Grand Duke Ferdinando I (1549-1609).

In the Inquisition, Grand Duke Cosimo III (1642-1723) passed laws forbidding Christians to work for Jewish families and businesses. In the 1860's the Jewish ghetto was cleared to make way for the Piazza della Repubblica. The synagogue was built was built by Marco Treves in 1874-82 in Spanish-Moorish style. It has a museum of ritual objects dating to the 17th century.

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