Badia Fiorentina
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The Badìa Fiorentina is an abbey and church of the Fraternity of Jerusalem situated on the Via del Proconsolo in the centre of Florence, Italy. It is famous for being the parish church of Beatrice Portinari, the love of Dante's life, and the place where he watched her at Mass, for Dante grew up across the street in what is now called the 'Casa di Dante', rebuilt in 1910 as a museum to Dante (though in reality unlikely to be his real home). He would have heard the monks singing the Mass and the Offices here in Latin Gregorian chant, all of which he includes in the Commedia. In 1373, Boccaccio delivered his famous lectures on Dante's The Divine Comedy in the church.
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[edit] History
The abbey was founded as a Benedictine institution in 978 by Willa, Margravine of Tuscany, in commemoration of her late husband Uberto, and was one of the chief buildings of medieval Florence. A hospital was founded in the abbey in 1071. The church bell marked the main divisions of the Florentine day. Between 1284 and 1310 the Romanesque church was rebuilt in Gothic style, but in 1307 part of the church was demolished to punish the monks for non-payment of taxes. The church underwent a Baroque transformation between 1627 and 1631. The prominent campanile, completed between 1310 and 1330, is Romanesque at its base and Gothic in its upper stages. Its construction was overseen by the famous chronicler Giovanni Villani.
[edit] Artworks
Major works of art in the church include the Apparition of the Virgin to St. Bernard (c. 1486) by Filippino Lippi and the tombs of Willa's son Ugo, Margrave of Tuscany (died 1001) and the lawyer and diplomat Bernardo Giugni (1396–1456), both by Mino da Fiesole (latter completed c. 1466). The murals in the apse were completed by Giovanni Domenico Ferretti in 1734.
The attached Chiostro degli Aranci (Cloister of the Oranges) contains a fresco cycle (1436–1439) on the life of St Benedict, largely by Giovanni di Consalvo, a generally unknown follower of Fra Angelico. The cycles also include a panel from 1526-1528 (St. Benedict chastising himself) by the young Bronzino. The cloister itself was designed by Bernardo Rossellino.[1][2]
[edit] References
- ^ Zucconi, Guido (1995). Florence: An Architectural Guide. San Giovanni Lupatoto, Vr, Italy: Arsenale Editrice srl. ISBN 88-7743-147-4.
- ^ *Borsook, Eve (1991). in Vincent Cronin: The Companion Guide to Florence, 5th Edition. HarperCollins; New York, page pages 90-92.
[edit] External links
