DISCOVER FLORENCE

The Museum of Santa Maria Novella is located in the ancient Dominican convent which, together with the adjoining basilica, is one of the most prestigious monuments of the city, for the important civil and religious events that took place and for the extraordinary quality of works of art preserved.

The cloisters inside the church feature some rare examples of fourteenth and fifteenth century Florentine painting. The best known is the Chiostro Verde (Green Cloister), which owes its name to the dominant color of the unusual cycle of frescoes depicting the History of Genesis. The cycle includes important paintings by Paolo Uccello, including his famous masterpiece “Diluvio Universale”.

From the cloister you enter the Chapter House, called Cappellone degli Spagnoli (Spanish Chapel) since the sixteenth century when it was sold by the Duke Cosimo I de' Medici to the countrymen of his Spanish wife Eleonora of Toledo. The large chapel is decorated with a fine fourteenth-century cycle of frescoes by Andrea di Bonaiuto that celebrates the role of the Dominicans in the Church through a complex web of allegorical references.

The visit continues with the Cappella degli Ubriachi (Chapel of the Drunk) and the ancient Refectory, with frescoes by a pupil of Agnolo Gaddi in the late fourteenth century and then, again, by Alessandro Allori in the late sixteenth century. These two areas are home to a permanent exhibition consisting of a rich selection of jewellery, sacred vessels and vestments belonging to the ancient treasure of the church of Santa Maria Novella and a series of paintings coming from different areas of the complex.