First: Santa Felicita
In the heart of the Florentine Oltrarno district, between the Ponte Vecchio and Palazzo Pitti, the Church of Santa Felicita stands in the square of the same name, one of the oldest churches in the City of Giglio together with San Lorenzo. Its origins are rooted in Roman times; its remains emerged during a series of excavations undertaken around the middle of the last century. Important remains of the basilica and early Christian burials were brought to light, which contained evidence of the presence of a Greek-speaking Christian community of Syrian origin, and traces of the Roman Via Cassia emerged underground. The destruction of the original building can be traced back to the devastation by the Goths and the Lombards. Pontormo, Transport of Christ Pontormo, Transport of Christ It was later rebuilt and then abandoned, presumably due to the plague of 1348; a new church with Gothic characteristics was then built by the nuns. Between 1700 and 1800 it was completely restored by the architect Ferdinando Ruggieri and today it maintains its appearance; the façade is gabled on which the Vasari Corridor rests, clearly visible from both the outside and the inside. Once inside, you notice that the plan is a Latin cross and consists of a single covered nave with a barrel vault with lunettes. On the right, in Brunelleschi’s Cappella Barbadori – Capponi you can admire a masterpiece by Pontormo, the painting Transport of Christ, sometimes erroneously called the Deposition; the hand of the painter of the eccentric Florentines was also responsible for the Annunciation.
Second: Santo Spirito
Santo Spirito Church made by Filippo Brunelleschi began designs for the new building as early as 1428. The first pillars to the building were delivered in 1446, ten days before his death.[11] After his death, the works were carried on by his followers Antonio Manetti, Giovanni da Gaiole, and Salvi d’Andrea; the latter was also responsible for the construction of the cupola.
Unlike S. Lorenzo, where Brunelleschi’s ideas were thwarted, here, his ideas were carried through with some degree of fidelity, at least in the ground plan and up to the level of the arcades. The Latin cross plan is so designed to maximize the legibility of the grid. The contrast between nave and transept that caused such difficulty at S. Lorenzo was here also avoided. The side chapels, in the form of niches all the same size (forty in all), run along the entire perimeter of the space.
Brunelleschi’s facade was never built and left blank. In 1489, a columned vestibule and octagonal sacristy, designed by Simone del Pollaiolo, known as Il Cronaca, and Giuliano da Sangallo respectively, were built to the left of the building. A door was opened up in a chapel to make the connection to the church.
A Baroque baldachin with polychrome marbles was added by Giovanni Battista Caccini and Gherardo Silvani over the high altar, in 1601. The church remained undecorated until the 18th century, when the walls were plastered. The inner façade is by Salvi d’Andrea, and has still the original glass window with the Pentecost designed by Pietro Perugino. The bell tower (1503) was designed by Baccio d’Agnolo.
The exterior of the building was restored in 1977–78.
Carmine Church
Santa Maria del Carmine is a church of the Carmelite Order, in the Oltrarno district of Florence, in Tuscany, Italy. It is famous as the location of the Brancacci Chapel housing outstanding Renaissance frescoes by Masaccio and Masolino da Panicale, later finished by Filippino Lippi.The church, dedicated to the Beatae Virginis Mariae de monte Carmelo, was founded by a group of Carmelite friars from Pisa. Construction of the church commenced in 1268 as part of the Carmelite convent, which still exists today. Of the original edifice only some Romanesque–Gothic remains can be seen on the sides.By the 14th century, it was the seat of a number of lay fraternities. The complex was enlarged a first time in 1328 and again in 1464, when the capitular hall and the refectory added, though the church maintained the Latin Cross, one nave plan. Renovated in the Baroque style in the 16th–17th centuries, it was damaged by a fire in 1771 which destroyed the interior of the church. It was rebuilt internally in the Rococo style in 1782. The façade, like in many Florentine churches, remained unfinished. The fire did not touch the sacristy: therefore have survived the Stories of St. Cecilia attributed to Lippo d’Andrea (c. 1400) and the marble monument of Pier Soderini by Benedetto da Rovezzano (1511–1513). The vault of the nave has a trompe-l’œil, quadratura fresco by Domenico Stagi.
The Brancacci Chapel also survived the fire, and was saved by the subsequent restoration by the intervention of a Florentine noblewoman who was firmly opposed to the covering of the frescoes. The chapel is home to the famous frescoes by Masaccio and Masolino, considered the first masterwork of the Italian Renaissance. Masaccio‘s master Masolino, commissioned by a wealthy merchant, Felice Brancacci, began work on the chapel in 1425 and was soon joined in the project by his pupil, Masaccio. The scenes by Masolino are St Peter Healing a Lame Man and Raising Tabitha from the Dead, St Peter Preaching, and Adam and Eve. Those by mostly Masaccio are The Tribute Money, St Peter Healing with his Shadow, The Crucifixion of St Peter, The Baptism of the Neophytes, and The Expulsion from Paradise. Their treatment of figures in believable space made the frescoes among the most important to have come out of the Early Renaissance. The cycle was finished by Filippino Lippi. The elaborated Italian Rococo ceiling is from one of the most important 18th century artists in the city, Giovanni Domenico Ferretti.
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