Chiesa Santi Apostoli

The church of Santi Apostoli is opens on Piazza del Limbo located just west of the Ponte Vecchio on the north side of the river. The brochure from the Archdiocese of Florence says it dates back to the 11th century – the great period of Florentine Romanesque. For me the church is interesting because it is simple, off the beaten track, and suggests a possible location that Brunelleschi drew his inspiration for his signature design in the Ospedali degli Innocenti, Santo Spirito, and San Lorenzo – the rounded arches ending on columns. At least, I can’t imagine how Brunelleschi would not know about the church and would not have looked at it (ditto on San Miniato). Vasari in is Lives of the Artists says as much – but then again, he didn’t quite always get it straight.

My Next Brunelleschi House?

Recently I had a tour of the Old Sacristy designed by Filippo Brunelleschi (1377 - 1446) and started thinking of his designs. Also, I did a mockup of Santo Spirito with the hopes of trying to learn something about the proportions. I got to thinking, why not build a Brunelleschi house? Very simple design based around a courtyard that could be covered or not. If covered, maybe something like his Pazzi Chapel dome? Of course, the color scheme would be white and grey as is typical in these spaces. 

One of the square building blocks shown above, a side aisle bay, in Santo Spirito measures 11 braccia on a side which is about 6.42 meteres or 21 feet. All other measurements in the church are related to this basic measurement. (The graphics were created in PowerPoint.)