4. Santa Maria Novella

Annette and I have been here for three weeks now and have both found some work, even though for English teachers November isn’t the best time to come, as courses started at the beginning of October.

When we were on holiday in Florence two years ago we visited the famous Uffizi art gallery, saw Michelangelo’s David and also the Bargello. However, Florence probably has more art galleries, churches containing works of art and museums than many larger cities in the world. Actually UNESCO says that 60% of the world’s most important works of art are to be found in Italy and approximately half of these are in Florence. So there should be plenty more to see...

It’s a Wednesday afternoon and I am in town with a couple of hours to kill after an interview and so decide to check out the church of Santa Maria Novella. This is the church where the first attacks were made on Galileo that led to his eventual indictment.

Visitors who arrive in Florence at the station usually walk straight past this ‘masterpiece of Rennaissance architecture’, as you can only see this rather dull brick back of it from the main ‘Piazza Stazione’. You have to make the short walk around the corner to ‘Piazza Santa Maria Novella’ to witness 'Rennaissance man' Leon Battista Alberti’s crowning glory, the facade of Santa Maria Novella.

However that’s not all there is! Inside is a veritable treasure trove of interesting works of art, much more interesting infact, than the inside of the more famous main Cathedral, ‘Santa Maria del Fiore’ and with no queues!

Built between 1246 and 1360 on a 9th century oratory, Alberti’s genius was to add the frieze of squares, the s-shaped volutes at either side (a new element never before seen, even in antiquity!) and the Dominican solar emblem at the top. All bringing the facade to a harmonious completion.

Inside there are many masterpieces, including some famous frescoes that a young Michelangelo worked on with his teacher, Ghilandaio.
But Massaccio’s ‘Trinity’ is perhaps the most interesting and fascinating piece. Painted between 1425 and 1428 and only discovered in 1861 after being covered up by a Vasari altar! It’s the earliest surviving painting that shows such a detailed understanding of perspective, something that had been lost for nearly a thousand years. Massaccio, with the help of Brunelleschi had rediscovered one of the lost arts and gave the Rennaissance an invaluable tool to continue its developement.




My favourite part though is the inscription above the skeleton which
reads:




"I was what you are and what I am you will be"

A sobering thought indeed! and interesting way to spend a Friday afternoon!


(Original journal entry 28/11/01)