Spanish Chapel – Take II

We were talking the other day to the helpful librarians and instructors at the British Institute about the fresco in the Spanish chapel that we last posted on and they collectively said “oh, that fresco, it’s covered in this book….” Again TravelMarx is the last to know. We’ve updated the picture in that post with some additional information.

The book that has details on the fresco is called Siena, Florence, and Padua: Art, Society and Religion 1280 – 1300. Volume II: Case Studies. The book is edited by Diana Norman. The fresco is discussed in chapter 10 The art of Knowledge: two artistic schemes in Florence. In this chapter the Triumph fresco is discussed along with the sculpted reliefs on Giotto’s bell tower. Like the fresco, the reliefs provide an encyclopedic view of learning.

The Spanish Chapel and a Snapshot of Medieval Knowledge

The other day we went back to Santa Maria Novella to visit the Spanish Chapel. You get to the chapel by entering the museum part of the church to the left of the main façade. It is a separate ticket from the ticket for entering the main church. (Welcome to the typical Florence tourist church. Take heart, ticket sales support restoration.)

The Dominican chapterhouse is where the order met to discuss the issues of the day or to pray. It was typically a semi-private space reserved for just the order. The Spanish Chapel is so called because Cosimo I “assigned” the chapel to his wife Eleonora di Toledo and her Spanish retinue so they could have a place of their own and, the name stuck. The chapel was frescoed by Andrea Bonaiuti (called Andrea da Firenze or translated literally Andrea ‘good help’) between 1365 and 1367.

The subject matter of the chapel is definitely about hammering home the finer points of the Dominican world view for those in the know, while for others, the frescoes are simply pretty, colorful scenes. One wall in particular struck our fancy and that’s the wall with the fresco called The Triumph of Saint Thomas and the Allegory of Sciences – it’s the wall on the left upon entering the chapel. The fresco is so orderly that you wonder what’s going on. After discussing the fresco on one tour with the British Institute and then talking with an art guide on another visit we were able to put together a reasonable interpretation of the fresco.

Why is this interesting? It’s interesting because it is a late medieval, early Renaissance snapshot of what the Dominicans thought the world of knowledge looked like, a map so to speak. Maps like this are interesting because they often condense many concepts in an artful way and call out to be deciphered.

The Dominicans were important in bringing systematic (as they knew it back then) education to bear on problems of the day. The rise of the religious orders (mostly in the 1200s) like the Dominicans and the Franciscans largely mirrored the influx of people from the country into medieval cities (especially in Italy). The influx of people brought physical and spiritual problems that the mendicant orders administered to. St. Thomas Aquinas is a key figure in the Dominican Order and the Catholic Church. His work Summa Theologica, completed about 100 years before the chapel was frescoed, was a compilation of all the theological teaching known at the time, so who else to be sitting on the throne in the fresco.

Toscana Esclusiva – Firenze cortili e giardini aperti

We had heard that this happens once a year but it caught us by surprise: Toscana Esclusiva – Firenze cortili e giardini aperti. In a nutshell, one can see how the other ½ lives. Okay, less cynically, it means you get to enter for free into a number important palazzi and private villas. The event takes place in Florence and Fiesole on the 11th of May this year. Lucca, Pisa, and Siena open up their historical sites on the 18th, one week later. For details see Associazione Dimore Storiche Italiane.

When we walked by the first garden on the tour (Giardino Malenchini) and picked up the brochure, we knew we had to see as many as we could. The names and the buildings are so familiar to us by now that getting a chance to walk in through a gate and see the other side is a treat. In a city of walls and gates, like Florence, it can sometimes be frustrating that so much “seems” to be off limits. This is one time to explore even if it is for one day.

Travelmarx reviewed stops #1 through #14 on the attached map (the ones in our neighborhood). If some of the names sound like something you’ve seen on a wine bottle, the answer is you have: Frescobaldi, Torrigiani, and Antinori. The stops on the itinerary that are a definite stop if you should have the chance in the future are:

• Giardino Malenchini, via de’Benci 1. It has a nice garden space that looks out on to the Arno. Satellite photo.


• Palazzo Guicciardini, via Guicciardini 15. For being just steps away from the Palazzo Pitti and off the always crowded via Guicciardini this palazzo’s inner courtyard and garden is like in another world. Very nice. Satellite photo.


• Palazzo Frescobaldi, via Santo Spirito 13. The garden is a huge open area with beautifully trained wisteria. As well, there are unusual views of the back of back of the church of Santo Spirito. Satellite photo.


• Giardino pensile di Palazzo Guicciardini, via Santo Spirito 14. “pensile” means hanging or suspended as this garden is sort of suspended over the Arno on the south side. You enter the garden from the south and then climb a small hill to peek over the rail at the Arno. Satellite photo.


• Giardino Torrigiani, via del Campuccio 53. Who doesn’t want to see this famous garden with the oddly shaped tower set in the middle of huge tract of land surrounded by high walls? Satellite photo.


• Palazzo Corsini, Lungarno Corsini 10. No garden, but nice huge staircases and chandeliers to gawk at. Satellite photo.


• Palazzo Antinori, Piazza Antinori 3. Nice little garden and courtyard with miniature models of the different estates that produce wine under this name. Satellite photo

Paperback Exchange

The Paperback Exchange is an Anglo-American Bookshop in the center of Florence, located at Via delle Oche, 4R (Street of Geese). When trying to look for an art history book or the latest English-language best seller, it’s easier and friendlier to shop at this bookstore. (Finding a book in Edison or someone to help you can be a frustrating experience! Though in fairness, Edison has good road maps and a decent travel section if you don’t mostly all Italian books.) The Paperback Exchange carries textbooks that are used in art history courses and these can be fun to browse through. They have both new and used books. If you are here in Florence or Italy for a period of time, picking up a copy of the classic text History of the Italian Renaissance by Hartt is probably a good idea – it’s a must - and the Paperback Exchange carries it. You could always sell it back.

Euro-Dollar Exchange Rate Help in Florence

To encourage Americans to not be scared by the bad exchange rate, Florence has put in place a program called Fiorino Effect. Fiorino refers to the old Italian coin, the florin, sometimes called the “fiorino d’oro” or “little gold flower”. The program gives you:

* 10% discount on participating restaurants and hotels. See the list of participating businesses in first link above.

* 20% discount at exhibits at the Palazzo Strozzi. This is probably not that interesting for a short-time visitor. Palazzo Strozzi exhibits will be interesting if you have already exhausted all the other museum venues. Though, walking in to admire the courtyard of the Palazzo Strozzi is definitely recommended. There is a nice caffe inside the courtyard to grab refreshements.

* Free entrance to the Palazzo Medici. This could be interesting for a short-time visitor especially if the Magi Chapel is included.

* 15% discount on Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Travelmarx is ashamed to say that we’ve never been here, but may try with this promotion.

It looks like you have to bring this voucher with you and show it up front. No word on whether the forms will be available at participating businesses. Best bet would be to print a few out before coming.

Firenze Com’Era – Florence How it Was

There is a lesser known museum called the Museo Storico Topografico “Firenze Com’Era” which translates to the Historical Topographical Museum “Florence As it Was”. If you have been in Florence for a while or you are really interested in what Florence was like before what we see today this is the museum for you. The museum is located at Via dell’Oriuolo 24 – there is a courtyard with large trees that marks the entry point.

The museum has a couple of Etruscan items, but Florence wasn’t really an Etruscan settlement, nearby Fiesole was. The museum really starts with the original Roman town founded in c. 59. There is a nice scaled-down version of the first Roman settlement that really gives a sense of how it looked. The bulk of the museum is pictures of what Florence looked like during the ages. We found an old watercolor(?) of “our street” and the famous arches of Via del Canneto taken toward the end of the 19th century (a guess). Included is a recent photo. The view is looking west on Via Canneto.

Around town (in major bookstores and book stalls) you’ll find books similarly titled Firenze Com’Era. Each covers a different time period. For example Firenze, Com’Era – Dal Dopoguerra agli anni Settanta (Florence as it Was from After the War to the 1970s) or Com’Era – Firenze 100 Anni Fa (How it Was – Florence 100 Years Ago). Obviously the title is a common one, but look before you buy to make sure you are getting the time period you are interested in.