If you are travelling to Tuscany over the summer and thinking of visiting Florence for a day or two, there are plenty of knockout works of art to be found in churches and palaces away from the enormous crowds. I visited the city in April with a friend and over the next few weeks I thought I would share some of those places that can be enjoyed at a gentler pace.
First up is San Salvatore in Ognissanti, or Church of All Saints.
On stepping into the church, we were concerned about disturbing a choir rehearsing in front of the altar but their choir-master, while patiently coaxing the high notes out of a group of nervous sopranos, waved us past.
The church was originally founded in the 13th century, by a monastic order, the Umiliati, which had strong ties to the wool trade - one of the most important medieval commercial activities in the city. It has a clear view of, and access to, the Arno where the washing, dying and fulling of wool took place. This area became known as the Borgo, or district of the, Ognissanti.
Although not situated in a Medici part of town, the church benefitted from Medici patronage - their coat of arms lies in the marble floor as you enter - which paid for the façade to be completed in the 1650s.
The Ognissanti was the local church of the Vespucci family who lived in the same street. The Vespucci were one time allies of the Medici, which allowed them to hold great office in the city. Amerigo Vespucci was a diplomat for the Medici in Seville and travelled twice to America, the country named after him. When he arrived in Brazil, he named the bay where he landed, All Saints Bay (in Portuguese, Baía de Todos os Santos), after his home town church.
The church contains two magnificent fresco paintings, commissioned by the Vespucci, of the great church scholars, St Augustine by Botticelli - his only work in fresco in the city - and St Jerome by Domenico Ghirlandaio (future master to Michelangelo). The detail of the carpet, or rug, that covers St Jerome's table is beautifully vibrant and detailed and indicates the influence of Flemish artists working in the city at this time. Jan Van Eyck’s painting in oil of St Jerome had recently been completed for Lorenzo de’Medici (Il Magnifico).
Botticelli is buried here and his tomb is in a side chapel on the right side of the altar - placed, at his own request, at the foot of the tomb of Simonetta Vespucci, the woman the artist is said to have adored. The Vespucci plaque is decorated with wasps (in Italian, vespe), the family’s symbol, and these can also be seen in Botticelli’s Venus and Mars in the National Gallery*; a painting in which Venus is said to have the features of Simonetta. The grave marker has become a beacon for the lovelorn and romantic and is often covered with heartfelt notes and single flower stems. On the day I was there, it had been rather ignobly obscured by some temporary carpet, gaffer-taped across it by a friend of culture, but a single red rose had still been laid on the top.
Botticelli’s family were neighbours of the Vespucci and the small round plaque which marks his grave bears only his family name, Filipepi. Botticelli is a nickname - possibly a reference to his initial training as a goldbeater (battiloro), or a more prosaic physical description as a little barrel (in Italian, botte). Ghirlandaio's name, too, is a nickname referring to his father's manufacture of gilded flower garlands, a fashionable item of jewellery worn by Florentine women in the 15th century.
Many artists of the 15th century were often known by names other than their family names: Masaccio (Hulking Tom), Masolino (Little Tom), Uccello (little bird), and Dominic from Venice, Domenico Veneziano.
** Cross the bridge to the left opposite Ognissanti (Ponte alla Carraia), to enjoy the most delicious gelato in Florence at La Carraia.
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