About This Location
Piazza di Santa Maria Novella feels open and calm compared to many streets in the historic center. The basilica dominates the view, and the façade is full of clues. High on the front, the inscription names Giovanni Rucellai, the patron who paid for the marble façade work, and it ends with the completion date, 1470 - tied to the design of Leon Battista Alberti. This place is also older than it looks from the outside. The Dominicans arrived here in the early 1200s, and the church grew from a small site outside the medieval walls into one of Florence’s major religious centers. The basilica was consecrated in 1420, after a long building process. Standing in the piazza, the two marble obelisks are hard to miss. Each sits on bronze turtles, and they were finally erected in 1608 to celebrate the marriage of Grand Duke Cosimo II and Maria Maddalena of Austria. Before the stone obelisks, this space used temporary markers for the Palio dei Cocchi - a festive chariot race held here in past centuries. Inside the church, some of Florence’s turning-point art is waiting. Masaccio’s Holy Trinity fresco is often mentioned as one of the first monumental paintings to use linear perspective in a convincing way - it still feels like a window cut into the wall. At the far end, the Tornabuoni Chapel is famous for Domenico Ghirlandaio’s fresco cycle, painted with his workshop between 1485 and 1490. Look closely and it becomes a snapshot of Renaissance Florence, with portraits of real people woven into sacred scenes. There are more stories in the quieter corners. The Strozzi Chapel frescoes by Filippino Lippi were completed in 1502, full of dramatic movement and imaginative details that feel different from the earlier, calmer style of the 1400s. If time allows, the convent spaces add another layer. The Spanish Chapel, painted by Andrea di Bonaiuto in the 1360s, turns Dominican ideas into a wall-sized visual program. Nearby, the Green Cloister is linked to Paolo Uccello’s green-toned frescoes on Genesis scenes, painted in the early 1400s. Just outside the religious complex, the neighborhood keeps shifting between centuries. Very close by is Firenze Santa Maria Novella station, a landmark of 1930s modern design by Gruppo Toscano led by Giovanni Michelucci. And a short walk away is the Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, rooted in the Dominican monastery’s herbal tradition and formally recognized as the “Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica” in 1612. This return to Piazza di Santa Maria Novella also marks the end of the tour. Thank you for exploring Florence with this audio guide. If it helped, a quick rating or review in the app is really appreciated.