Mendicants in Florence

Amy in Santa Croce


Today we visited the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella and the Franciscan church of Santa Croce. A good time was had by all! At Santa Maria Novella, we saw Masaccio's Trinity, the frescoes by Ghirlandaio commissioned by the Tournabuoni family, Brunelleschi's Crucifix, Orcagna's Strozzi altarpiece...and so much more! At Santa Croce we discussed Giotto's cycle of the life of Francis in the Bardi chapel, the Peruzzi chapel and the Franciscan qualities of the architecture. Unfortunately much of Santa Croce is under scaffolding. As the students will surely confirm, the coolest thing at Santa Croce was the elaborate model of the Nativity set up underneath the church!



Here is one of Alex's pictures of the Nativity scene, or Presepio, that was set up in the crypt of Santa Croce in celebration of the Feast of Epiphany.