A series of meetings to discover the complex of Santa Maria Novella

For four Sundays in January and February, the Florentine Civic Museums and MUS.E - in agreement with the Ministry of the Interior-Fund for Buildings of Worship and Opera per Santa Maria Novella and thanks to the support ofOfficina Profumo Farmaceutica Santa Maria Novella - are offering a series of thematic visits and activities dedicated to some of the spaces and themes of the Dominican complex of Santa Maria Novella.

The program includes:

Sunday, January 20, 2019
Domenico Ghirlandaio’s Tornabuoni Chapel
Thematic visit for youth and adults, 2:30 p.m.

The Major Chapel features an extraordinary decorative cycle, created by Domenico Ghirlandaio and his workshop on commission from Giovanni Tornabuoni in the late 15th century. The religious narrative of the stories of Mary and John the Baptist-celebrating the mystery of salvation as a prelude to the coming of Christ-is interwoven with the centuries-old celebration of the Tornabuoni family, whose representatives participate in the sacred story set in magnificent Renaissance Florence, “a city beautiful for its riches, victories and activities, famous for its monuments” that enjoys“ abundance, good health and peace.”The visit will provide an in-depth look at this dual reading.

Daily life in Santa Maria Novella
Activity for families with children ages 8 to 12, 4 p.m.

The Santa Maria Novella complex offers an opportunity to imagine and reconstruct the life, rules, schedule and duties of 13th-century Dominican friars, while appreciating the wealth of masterpieces the convent holds. It will thus be possible to relive on one´s own skin the passage of time in the convent - prayer in the great church, translated into visual form in the great works of Giotto, Masaccio, Brunelleschi or Ghirlandaio; the communal meal in the refectory; the meeting in the Chapter House; the study in the library, the silence in the cloister; the care and assistance in the infirmary; the rest in the dormitories - coming to appreciate the historical and artistic scope of the complex.

Sunday, January 27, 2019
TheTreasure of Santa Maria Novella
Thematic visit for youth and adults, 2:30 p.m.

From the time of their arrival in the city in the early 13th century, the Dominicans aroused great devotion in the Florentine people, who over the centuries-thanks to legacies and patronages-have been heavily involved in the construction and embellishment of one of the city’s main places of worship. The basilica and the convent were thus progressively enriched with admirable works of art and an apparatus of furnishings for worship that in the 15th century was considered among the richest in Florence. The visit will allow the public to discover the order’s most significant treasures: altar decorations, liturgical vestments, silverware and holy relics, the history of which will introduce them to major religious and theological themes and enable them to grasp with greater insight the meanings underlying the great masterpieces still housed in the complex today.

Scents from Paradise
Activities for families with children ages 4-7, 4 p.m.

How many stories can the works of Santa Maria Novella tell? Truly so many, too many to hear all at once. In this place suspended between centuries - between the grandeur of the altars and the restful greenery of the cloisters - young visitors will be invited to discover the history of the convent and its inhabitants in a new way: thanks to the magic of the images and scents of plants and flowers, now painted now sculpted or embroidered in the art masterpieces. At the end of the multi-sensory journey, children will be invited to rework in an artistic and olfactory way Giovanna Garzoni’s beautiful work on fabric: a triumph of the most beautiful flowers in Paradise.

Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019
TheGreen Cloister
Thematic visit for youth and adults, 2:30 p.m.

The visit will allow visitors to observe the eight marvelous frescoes painted by Paolo Uccello and collaborators in the first half of the 15th century for the Green Cloister and now on display in the Refectory after the recent delicate restoration work conducted by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure. These are detached frescoes forming part of the cycle of the Stories of Genesis and predominantly executed in verdeterra monochrome-“a sugo d’erbe e terra verde,” as it was written in the seventeenth century-so much so that they gave their name to the entire cloister. Works justly famous not only for their unusual colors but also for their original spatial construction and unprecedented rendering of the narrative, which participants will be able to grasp in every artistic, compositional and technical detail.

Perspective Exercises
Activities for families with children ages 8 to 12, 4 p.m.

The Green Cloister, the very heart of the Dominican convent, owes its name to the execution technique of the cycle of frescoes dedicated to the Stories of Genesis and painted in the first half of the 15th century by Paolo Uccello and collaborators with a prevalence of green tones. The focus will be on the eight wonderful paintings detached in the 20th century and now displayed in the Refectory: Renaissance masterpieces that it will be possible to appreciate in close form by paying special attention to the compositional structure and then trying their hand - in the wake of the research of Paolo Uccello, who “had no other delight than to investigate some difficult and impossible things of perspective” - with a series of perspective exercises, exploring its classical rules and infinite potential in the representation of reality.

Sunday, February 17, 2019
The Great Cloisters
Thematic tour for youth and adults, 2:30 p.m.

The 14th-century Chiostro Grande, so called because of the monumental dimensions of its sides, consisting of 56 round-arched bays, houses an extraordinary cycle of frescoes painted mostly in the 16th century by the leading painters of the Florentine Academy, including Alessandro Allori, Santi di Tito and Bernardino Poccetti. A true illustrated history of the founding saint and the order’s brightest fruits: St. Peter Martyr, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Antonino Pierozzi, so revered by the Florentines. The visit will make it possible to retrace step by step this precious pictorial testimony and to admire the evocative Dormitory that borders the northern side of the Great Cloister, built within the first decades of the 14th century, a most elegant environment in its simplicity, divided by two sequences of slender pillars supporting cross vaults.

A cloister as big as a house
Activities for families with children ages 4 to 7, 4 p.m.

But how big is the Great Cloister? It really is huge, so huge that it could house hundreds of friars and, in more recent times, carabinieri. Its imposing arches tell the story of the most important saints of the Dominican order; inside it finds a neat green space; on its sides of distribute on one side the ancient dormitory and on the other the Officina Profumo Farmaceutica, which still preserves the memory of the convent’s ancient apothecary shop. Walking through the entire cloister will be an opportunity for children to experience - thanks to the magic of images, scents and music - an eight-hundred-year-old tale, and then engage in a short activity all centered on the sense of smell.

For info: www.musefirenze.it

For residents of the Metropolitan City of Florence, the activity will cost 2.50 euros, for non-residents 5 euros. To the cost of the activity must be added the entrance fee to Santa Maria Novella (7.50 euros full, 5 euros reduced)

Reservations required by emailing info@muse.comune.fi.it or calling 055-2768224 055-2768558.

Image: Central nave of Santa Maria Novella

A series of meetings to discover the complex of Santa Maria Novella

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