B & B in Florence
Centro Fiorenza
Cuculia - Ristorante Libreria
Da i' Conte Diladdarno
Fili Folli
Ugo Bellini - Cose preziose
Tourist informations
Entrance from: Piazza del Carmine.
Opening hours: Holydays: 8-12AM and 8,30-6PM; Working days: 8AM-5.30PM.
Admission ticket: Free.
Opening hours: Holydays: 8-12AM and 8,30-6PM; Working days: 8AM-5.30PM.
Admission ticket: Free.
The church of Santa Maria del Carmine, originally built in romanic-gothic style, was almost completely rebuilt after a fire in 18th Century and is known for the frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel.
History
The church of Santa Maria del Carmine, with the Carmelite monastery, was founded in 1268. The monastery was enlarged in different periodes: a first time in 1328, when the commune permitted to the Carmelites to build on the ground near the fifth city walls; a second time in 1464, when refectory and chapter hall were added; at the end of the enlargment in 17th Century, the monastery included two cloisters, an inner one (built short after the foundation and restored in 1490) and an outer one (built between 1600 and 1612 following the original style of the church).
The church was almost completely destroyed in 1771, by the fire arosen during the construction of a new wooden ceiling; the Corsini and Brancacci Chapels, fortunately, were not destroyed, but the rest of the building went completely lost.
Click to enlarge pictures.
The reconstruction, based upon a project by Giuseppe Ruggieri, was completed in 1782 by Giulio Mannaioni, who reconstructed the whole interior of the church but leaved the façade uncompleted.
At present day the second refectory of the monastery, built in the 17th Century, is used for art exhibitions and concerts.
In the spotlight
The single-nave interior is characterized by the eighteenth-century ornaments added after the fire. The Frescoes on the vault are work by Domenico Stagi and Giuseppe Romei.
On the right side: at the second altar, the Crucifixion by Vasari (1560); at the third altar, the Visitation by Aurelio Lomi (circa 1590); in the transept: on the left the Cappella Corsini, built following a project by Francesco Silvani and dedicated to Saint Andrea Corsini, who is depicted in the Frescoes on the dome (painted by Luca Giordano, 1682); the Chapel contains also an Altar and the Burial of Cardinal Neri Corsini, both realized in marble by Giovan Battista Foggini. On the right side of the transept is the Brancacci Chapel, with frescoes by Masaccio, Masolino and Filippino Lippi. On the side of the Brancacci Chapel, in the Chapel della Passione are still visible some Fragments of frescoes dating to the 14th Century ascribed to Lippo Fiorentino; they depict the Last Supper and Saints; in the choir, with frescoes by Domenico Stagi, is the Monument to Pier Soderini, by Benedetto da Rovezzano.
In the sacrysty we can find some parts of the original gothic structure, such as the Windows and the Painted Truss which was not destroyed by the fire of 1771; the chapel is decorated with Frescoes with Episodes from the Life of St. Cecilia dating to the first 14th Century and ascribed to Bicci di Lorenzo.
