Untitled

Santa Maria Novella-Florence

ONE OF THE GREAT JOYS OF ITALIAN TRAVEL is arriving by train to Florence, emerging from the stazione, and winding around to stand before the Church of the New Saint Mary: Santa Maria Novella. It’s a dazzle of emerald and ivory marble, blending Gothic and Renaissance styles, dedicated to the Madonna of the Assumption, and packed with art inspired by the BVM.

This was the first great Florentine Basilica. Dominican friars, famous for their passionate preaching, began the project in 1279, to make room for their many followers. At the time, Florence was just a collection of humble huts, and Santa Maria Novella brought in a new architecture that the Dominican friars had seen while studying in Bologna, Paris, and Cologne. The grandiose building kicked off the city’s rise to glamorous fame and was further adorned in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Breakthrough art appears inside, which showcases the beginnings of the Renaissance. The most stunning examples are Giotto’s crucifix, hanging in the center of the church, and Massacio’s 3D Trinity that astounded viewers with its masterful use of perspective.

Here are some female highlights:

Cappella Tornabuoni
Behind the central altar you’ll discover this chapel, dedicated to the Madonna of the Assumption, covered with masterpiece frescos by Renaissance artist Ghirlandaio and his workshop. Among his students was fourteen-year-old Michelangelo, who Ghirlandaio threw off the project when the young artist boldly began to redraw his designs.

Giovanni Tornabuoni, a big shot in the Medici banking world, commissioned this late fifteenth-century chapel. While today we associate Tornabuoni with the famous Via—Florence’s fanciest shopping street—back then these frescoes are what shouted out the greatness of the Tornabuoni family. Giovanni probably chose Ghirlandaio for the job because the artist had a talent for portrait painting, and slipped in figures of family members throughout the biblical scenes. It’s a great way to see how Florentines were dressing in those days (1486-1490), and Ghirlandaio’s warm, clear style brings a deep humanity to every frame.

Focusing on the center of the chapel, in a lower panel, you’ll see Giovanni kneeling, opposite his wife Francesca Pitti, who died in childbirth in 1477.
The Life of the Virgin is told in the left fresco cycle. Starting at the bottom you’ll see her birth, presentation in the temple, annunciation, marriage, the birth of Christ, and her assumption into heaven. Curved above the window is her triumphant coronation.
On the right, the story continues with the Life of John the Baptist, aka Giovanni the Baptist, which donor Giovanni Tornabuouni probably also appreciated. Here you’ll see the Visitation, where Mary greets Elizabeth, who at an advanced age finds out she’s pregnant with John the Baptist.

Focusing on Tornabuoni ladies…

Giovanna degli Albizi can be seen in the Visitation, in sharp profile on the right, wearing a golden brocade gown with her hair done up in a lovely braided up-do. She was from a noble family that held power before the Medici, and her beauty was legendary, not only in Florence, but all over Europe. She married Lorenzo Tornabuoni in an extravagant 1486 celebration, gave birth to a son, and then tragically in 1488, at the age of tweny, died in childbirth with her second pregnancy. This portrait is an homage to her, and Ghirlandaio included an inscription—a line from a Roman poet, that translates to: Art, if only you could portray mores and spirit, there would be no more beautiful picture on earth.
Dianora Tornabuoni, the Patron’s sister, also appears in the Visitation, as the veiled woman dressed in black to the right of Giovanna, in the days when wives wore veils.
Lucrezia Tornabuoni, another sister of Giovanni, appears in the Birth of John the Baptist—she’s the older woman wearing blue shoes. Lucrezia was the wife of Piero de Medici, mother of Lorenzo the Magnificent—a noble, artsy woman who wrote sonnets.
Ludovica Tornabuoni, Giovanni’s only daughter, is painted in the fresco on the lower left: the Birth of Mary. Ludovica stands in profile, with her hair in a long braid, wearing a dress similar to the beautiful Giovanna degli Albizi. Since Ludovica was only about fourteen at the time of the painting, it must have been quite flattering to her (and her donor father) to be associated with the glamorous Giovanna.

Rucellai Chapel

On the right side of the main altar, you’ll find this chapel dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexander, the fourth-century martyr. She was a virgin beauty, devoted to Christ, who was condemned to death on a spiked wheel by the Emperor Maxentius. Miraculously, the wheel broke, so she was then beheaded. The painting is credited to Bugiardini, and many experts believe Michelangelo helped him out.

Spanish Chapel

Don’t miss the amazing fourteenth-century frescos in this chapel adjoining the Green Cloister, featuring jewel-toned images by Andrea di Boniauto, which illustrate the complex philosophy of the Dominicans. It was renamed the Spanish Chapel in the sixteenth century, when it was given to Eleonora Toledo, who came from Spain to marry Cosimo de Medici and brought her Spanish entourage with her. (Read more about Eleonora in Chapter 24, focusing on the Costume Gallery at the Pitti Palace.)

Check out the women in the right wall fresco: The Church Militant, Church Triumphant. My eye is always drawn to those dancing beauties in the middle of it. According to the Dominicans, these women symbolize the perils of seductive pleasures—such as Lust, symbolized by the woman in the red dress with the monkey on her lap.

On the lower left there are legendary women gathered to the side of the Duomo, including stars of beloved poets: Dante’s Beatrice, Boccaccio’s Fiammetta, and Petrarch’s Laura.

In the main altar fresco, the Triumph of the Catholic Doctrine, fourteen maidens are lined up on thrones, symbolizing good things, according to the Dominicans: the Sacred Sciences and the Liberal Arts—aspects of the intellect, which Dominicans believed should be perfected to reach God’s salvation.

Santa Maria Novella: Piazza Santa Maria Novella, Open Monday-Thursday 9-5:30, Friday 11-5:30, Saturday 9-5, Sunday (after morning mass) 1-5, www.smn.it.

Golden Day: Allow yourself an hour or more to visit the Basilica and cloisters. Depending upon the time of day, you may want to head for a delicious Tuscan lunch at cozy Osteria Belle Donne (Via delle Belle Donne 16, 055 238 2609, reservations recommended). Or if you’re more in the mood for a chic caffe or cocktail experience, the J.K. Place Hotel terrace awaits you, right on the Piazza Santa Maria Novella.

TIP: To avoid waiting in line, you can buy tickets in advance at www.smn.it.