Santissima Annunziata, Florence


The Basilica della Santissima Annunziata is a Renaissance-style, Roman Catholic minor basilica in Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy. This is considered the mother church of the Servite Order. It is located at the northeastern side of the Piazza Santissima Annunziata near the city center.

History

The church was founded in 1250 by the seven original members of the Servite Order. In 1252, a painting of the Annunciation had been begun by a friar Bartolomeo, commissioned by the Servite monks. It is said he despaired about being able to paint a virgin with a beautiful enough face, and fell asleep, only to find the painting completed. This miracle he attributed to an angel. The painting now housed in the church, acquired increasing veneration, such that in 1444 the Gonzaga family from Mantua financed a special tribune. Initially Michelozzo, who was the brother of the Servite prior, was commissioned to build it, but since Ludovico III Gonzaga had a special admiration for Leon Battista Alberti, this latter architect was given the commission in 1469. Alberti's designs were constricted by the pre-existing foundations. Construction was completed in 1481, after Alberti’s death. Though the structure was refurbished in Baroque-style in the seventeenth century, the basic scheme of a domed circular space flanked by altar niches is still evident.
The facade of the church was added in 1601 by the architect Giovanni Battista Caccini, imitating the Renaissance-style of Brunelleschi's facade of the Foundling Hospital, which defines the eastern side of the piazza. The building across from the Foundling Hospital, designed by Sangallo the Elder, was also given a Brunelleschian facade in the 1520s.

Veneration

Pilgrims who came to the church to venerate the miraculous painting often left wax votive offerings, many of them life-size models of the donor. In 1516, a special atrium was built to house these figures, the Chiostrino dei Voti. By the late 18th century there were some six hundred of these images and they had become one of the city's great tourist attractions. In 1786, however, they were all melted down to make candles.
Pope Alexander VI, in appreciation for the survival of Rome after French occupation, paid homage and gifted a silver effigy to the church.
The Florentine brides traditionally visit the shrine to leave their bouquets.

InteriorEve Borsook, The Companion Guide to Florence, 5th edition, Harper Collins 1991. page 246.

This church is entered from the Chiostrino dei Voti. The Baroque decoration of the church interior was begun in 1644, when Pietro Giambelli frescoed the ceiling with an Assumption as a centerpiece based on designs by Baldassare Franceschini.
The 1st chapel to right contains a Madonna in Glory by Jacopo da Empoli, with walls frescoed by Matteo Rosselli. The 5th chapel on the right contains a Monument to Orlando de' Medici by Bernardo Rossellino. The right transept has a small side chapel has a Pietà by Baccio Bandinelli and graces his tomb.
The chapel-surrounded tribune or choir, known as the Rotonda, was designed in turn by Michelozzo and Alberti between 1444–76. Notable among the chapels is the fifth, which has a crucifix by Giambologna for his tomb, with statues of the "Active and Contemplative Lives" by his pupil Francavilla, saints and angels by Pietro Tacca, and murals by Bernardino Poccetti. The next chapel has a Resurrection by Bronzino with a statue of St Roch attributed to Veit Stoss. The next chapel has a Madonna with Saints by a follower of Perugino.
In the sixth chapel to the left of the nave is a SS Ignatius, Erasmus and Blaise by Raffaellino del Garbo; the next chapel has one of the panels of Annunziata Altarpiece by Perugino, once at the high altar of the church. The altarpiece of the next chapel has a Trinity with Saint Jerome and two saints by Andrea del Castagno, who also painted the mural of The Vision of St. Julian in the next chapel, called the Feroni chapel. This chapel was elaborately decorated in a baroque fashion by Gianbattista Foggini in 1692. The first chapel just to the left of the entrance has a tabernacle of the Annunciation by Michelozzo and the sculptor Pagno di Lapo Portigiani.
The organ is the oldest in Florence and the second oldest in Italy. The church contains the tomb of the Italian writer Maria Valtorta. A memorial was erected in the church to the painter Giovanna Tacconi Messini by her husband after her death.

Cloisters

The Chiostrino dei Voti was designed by Michelozzo. Baldovinetti painted the first lunette in the chiostro in c. 1460. In about 1476, Rosselli began a cycle dedicated to the then Blessed Filippo Benizzi, fifth Prior General of the Servites, which was then completed by Andrea del Sarto.
SiteWorkDatePainter
1st rightAssumption1513-1514Rosso Fiorentino
2nd rightVisitation1516Pontormo
3rd rightMarriage of the Virgin1513Franciabigio
4th rightBirth of the Virgin1513-1514Andrea del Sarto
5th rightVoyage of the Magi1511Andrea del Sarto
1st-5th leftLife of S. Filippo Benizi1509-1510Andrea del Sarto
6th leftLife of S. Filippo Benizzi1476Cosimo Rosselli
Just left of entrance to churchNativity1460-1462Alesso Baldovinetti

Another cloister, known as the Chiostri dei Morti, contains the famous Madonna del Sacco by del Sarto. The Cappella di San Luca, which opens off it, has belonged to the artists confraternity or the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno since 1565. Many artists are buried in its vault, including Benvenuto Cellini, Pontormo, Franciabigio, Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli and Lorenzo Bartolini. Inside is Pontormo’s Holy Family painted for church of St. Ruffillo and murals by Alessandro Allori: Trinity; Vasari: St. Luke paints Madonna; and Santi di Tito: Solomon directs the construction of the temple of Jerusalem. The ten large stucco figures were sculpted by Vincenzo Danti, Montorsoli and others.
Most part of the Cloister of SS. Annunziata is today the seat of Istituto Geografico Militare. In 2007, in the west part of the cloister occupied by the Istituto, the group found a monumental stair by Michelozzo, previously hidden, an Annunciation attributed to Paolo Uccello, and some 'Grottesche' frescoes by Morto da Feltre.