Florence / Firenze
Learn more about the Renaissance at PBS online. Learn about the Medici
 Duomo or Santa Maria del Fiore |
In the Piazza del Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore or Duomo: Nave begun 1296 Arnolfo di Cambio, Gothic Dome 1420-1436 Brunelleschi, Renaissance Cenotaph to Sir John Hawkwood 1436(c) Ucello, Renaissance Niccolo Tolentino Equestrian 1455(c) Castagno, Renaissance Porta alla Mandorla Nino di Banco 1414-21 Marble Duomo
Campanile 1334-1384 Giotto Proto-Renaissance |
 Baptistry |
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Duomo Baptistery Baptistery completed 897 (?) Unknown Romanesque Baptistery Mosaics (interior) 1225 begun Jacopo Francescano Gothic South Door 1330-1335 Andrea Pisano Gothic North Door 1405-1425 Lorenzo Ghiberti Renaissance Gates of Paradise (East Door) 1425-1452 Lorenzo Ghiberti Renaissance
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Self-Portrait of Lorenzo Ghiberti, Gates of Paradise |
Gates of Paradise |
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Florence Photo Gallery |
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Santa Maria del Carmine The original structure was built in 1268, but all was destroyed by the fire of 1771 save the Brancacci Chapel and the Corsini Chapel. Expulsion from the Garden 1427(c) Masaccio Renaissance -The Tribute Money 1427(c) Masaccio Renaissance St. Peter Healing with Shadow 1427(c) Masaccio Renaissance |
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Piazza della Santissima Annunziata
Piazza SS Annunziata 1419-1424 (c) Brunelleschi Renaissance Equestrian Sculpture of Ferdinand I 1608 Giambologna Mannerism Santissima Annunziata 1444 Michelozzo Renaissance Ospedale Degli Innocenti 1419-1424 Brunelleschi Renaissance -Bambino Tondi (left) 1484 (c) Andrea della Robbia Renaissance |
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Piazza della Signoria Equestrian Portrait of Cosimo I 1594 (c) Giambologna Mannerism Neptune Fountain (Biancone) 1575 (c) Ammannati, Mannerism Judith Slaying Holofernes 1456 Donatello Renaissance IL Marzocco 1450 (c) Donatello Renaissance Florentine Lily 1450 (c) Donatello Renaissance Hercules and Cacus 1533 Bandinelli Renaissance Female Figure 1530 (c) Bandinelli Renaissance Male Figure 1530(c) de Rossi Renaissance Loggia dei Lanzi (Building) 1376-1382 Cione & Talenti Gothic Perseus and Medusa 1545-1554 Cellini Mannerism Rape of the Sabine Women 1583 Giambologna Mannerism |
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| The Ponte Vecchio
The Ponte Vecchio or "old bridge" was built in 1220, and is the last remaining medieval bridge spanning the Arno River. The other bridges of that period were destroyed by the Nazis during World War II. The Ponte Vecchio replaced an earlier Roman structure crossing the river. The Roman bridge was probably a connection between the Via Cassia that ran through Florence on its way to Rome. According to the chronicles of Vasari, Taddeo Gaddi reconstructed the bridge in the 1300's. During those days, the Ponte Vecchio was home to butchers. It wasn't until the rule of Ferdinand de Medici that the bridge was cleared of them, and then made home to the goldsmiths and their shops. Descendants of those early goldsmith shops line the bridge even today. In fact, a statue of the greatest goldsmith of all, Benvenuto Cellini, is placed in the center of the span, on the western side, symbolically keeping watch over his fellow craftsmen. Vasari himself created the corridor running along the top in order to create a passage for the de Medici to and from their palace on the other bank of the Arno. Today, a picture gallery is housed in the corridor. In 1966 the devastating flood that ripped the doors off the Baptistery of Santa Maria del Fiore and caused devastating damage to irreplaceable works of art and monuments, also swept the gold from the shops. A fortune was lost in the river, never to be recovered. |
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 The Ponte Vecchio |
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Tomb of Michelangelo by Giorgio Vasari |
Piazza Santa Croce This square was an important center of Renaissance Florence life. Artisan's workshops once lined the square, and Franciscan friars used to preach sermons in the center. It was also used for games and events as it still is today. Calcio was a somewhat brutal form of football. The game is resuscitated and played here each year to throngs of tourists and locals. Santa Croce has been called the "Westminster Abbey" of Florence, a sort-of Tuscan pantheon. The tombs of Michelangelo and Machiavelli are kept company by monuments to Dante (actually buried in Ravenna) Galileo, and others.
Santa Croce You cannot mistake the façade of the church of Santa Croce (Holy Cross) for any other in Florence. Right at the apex of the pediment, in the center of the façade is a large Star of David. The church was built by our old friend, Arnolfo di Cambio who was also the architect of the nave of Santa Maria del Fiore. The plan of Santa Croce incorporates a timber-roofed elongated nave. The original painted decoration of the timbers was still largely visible in the 1990's. Restoration of the surface paintings was begun in 1998. The columns are octagonal (look for signs of water damage from the 1966 flood at about knee level.) The elongated nave leads to a vaulted polygonal apse with splendid frescoes. Built for the Franciscan Order, the greatest artists of the day enriched the walls with fresco paintings, the most important of which are those depicting scenes in the life of St. Francis attributed to Giotto.
Building 1294 (c) Arnolfo di Cambio Tuscan Gothic Life of St. Francis 1320 (c) Giotto Proto-Ren. Lives of St. Johns 1330 (c) Giotto Proto-Ren. Annunciation 1425 (c) Donatello Renaissance Tomb of Leonardo Bruni 1445-1450 (c) Bernardo Rossellino Renaissance Pazzi Chapel 1429-1461 (c) Brunelleschi Renaissance One of the jewels of Renaissance architecture is the Pazzi Chapel. It was commissioned by the Pazzi family to serve as a Franciscan chapel and meeting space. The floorplan is in the form of a rectangle surmounted by a central cupola. The ratio of length to width is 1:2, the altar recess is 1:1. The harmonious pietra serena grey stone pilasters, oculi, dome ribs and corbels contrast cooly with the white stuccoed walls. This is an architecture that equates reason and logic with spiritual perfection. The porch was designed and built after Brunnelschi's death. |
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Santa Maria Novella |
Santa Maria Novella was founded by the Dominicans in 1246, but actual construction of the present church was probably begun about 1279 and continued into the trecento. When we look at Gothic art of Italy, we note that there are few characteristics to link it to the universal French Gothic style that found favor throughout most of Europe. Where are the stone traceries, the stained glass rose windows, the flying buttresses? If we can call these structures "Gothic" at all, in what ways are they different from Renaissance buildings? The floorplan of Santa Maria Novella shows us a structure based on a basilica plan, with an extended nave and short transept, with the crossing just before the apse itself. The vaulting of the ceiling is quadripartite, and ribbed in contrasting color that extends down into the compound piers that separate the nave from the side-aisles. The side-aisles are high and leave little room for the traditional Gothic clerestory, and no room whatsoever for the triforium. In fact, the walls seem to be more important that the vaulting or the piercing of space with windows and stained glass. This importance of the wall is typically Italian, and the main reason that Renaissance architecture will seem more of an outgrowth of these Gothic buildings than a radical departure. One cannot imagine Chartres providing inspiration for the Pazzi chapel, but one can easily imagine Santa Maria Novella providing inspiration for the church of San Lorenzo. It's all about the walls! If we imagine the French Gothic architect deconstructing the cathedral, piercing the walls, buttressing it with stone, making a cage for light with organic, soaring forms, we can imagine the Tuscan Gothic architect constructing his church with an eye for harmonious wall surfaces. This "supremacy of the wall" is typically Italian. The frescoes that embellish the wall surfaces in Santa Maria Novella are some of the most important in Florence. |
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San Lorenzo
Staircase of the Laurentian Library, Michelangelo |
The first great building of the Renaissance that exemplified the new ideals of humanism, and which became a kind of lesson for architects after, was the Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo. It is called the "Old Sacristy" to distinguish it from the later "New Sacristy" of Michelangelo. The primary function of the structure was to serve as the tomb chapel for Giovanni di Bicci de Medici, the founder of the family fortunes, and, secondarily, to serve as the de Medici chapel. The logic, clarity, and harmonious dignity of the interior are enforced by the use of pietra serena in contrast to the white stucco of the walls, and the clear proportions of the interior relationships. The dome is articulated with twelve ribs (12 is the number of the Apostles) and appears to hover above the four arches on curved pendentives. Building 1421-1469 Brunelleschi Renaissance Medici Chapel 1519-1534 Michelangelo Renaissance Bronze pulpits 1460-1466 Donatello Renaissance Laurentian Library 1524-1559 Michelangelo Renaissance The library of San Lorenzo was commissioned by Pope Clement VII in November 1523. It should be remembered that prior to becoming Pope, Clement was known as Cardinal Giulio de Medici. It seems logical that he wished to house the magnificent collection of books and manuscripts collected by the de Medici family. The problems of the site were obvious: the Laurentian Library had to be constructed atop the already existing monastic buildings of the San Lorenzo complex. Building was conducted in fitful stages, and abandoned when Michelangelo moved to Rome in 1534. The model for the staircase was sent from Rome to Florence, along with instructions in 1557, but Michelangelo never saw the finished structure. The most original feature of the entrance is the monumental staircase whose design came to Michelangelo in a dream. Carved of cool pietra serena, the central mass appears to be flowing down toward the viewer like lava, while the flanking sets of stairs appear to move upward. The conflict and resulting tension of these movements reminds one of the famous "Captives" that Michelangelo had carved of marble. The opposing tensions of the masses, the twisting rhythms, the tragic quality of his great sculptures seem to be reflected in the strangeness of this staircase. The entire room is strange: pairs of Tuscan columns are set into the walls, as if they are sculptures rather than supports. Beneath them are fluted cornices that, logically, should in no way be expected to support the columns above. The niches themselves seem like blank windows, born to see nothing, to lead to no view. All very strange, indeed. The library itself is built in repeating patterns. Desks, windows, pilasters and ceiling beams continue, bay after bay, window after window, and have no logical end point. One could imagine them extended into eternity. At the end of this procession, would have been a triangular rare book room. Michelangelo's drawings for this space are truly astonishing. Utilizing the space left between the existing buildings of San Lorenzo, he planned for a maze of reading desks on three sides: in effect, triangles nestled within triangles. The rare book room of Michelangelo was never built. |
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San Marco
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Library 1445(c) Michelozzo Renaissance Annunciation Fresco 1440-1445 (c) Fra Angelico Renaissance Last Supper 1480 (c) Ghirlandaio Renaissance Learn more about the city of Florence on the PBS Web-site. | Pisa Cathedral Building 1063-1272 Buscheto Romanesque Pulpit 1302-1311 Giovanni Pisano Gothic Pulpit of Baptistry 1259-1260 Nicola Pisano Gothic Campanile 1173-1350 unknown Romanesque Campo Santo 1278(begun) unknown Romanesque Campo Frescoes (Triumph of Death) 1350(c) Traini Gothic Baptistry 1152-1284 unknown Romanesque |
