A Saint – a church
Florence and its Saints. One of them: Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi was burried in that church. Today it is empty. At earlier centuries, believers approached her sarcophagus on their knees.
Catarina dei Pazzi was the daughter of one of the influential families in Florence. While the Medici invested in an entire church and called it after a Saint (San Lorenzo), the Pazzi had a Saint in their family and a church has been called after her.
A medieval women’s house
In medieval times, a woman had just a few choices for her future life: to marry a man who cares about her and the family, to have the life of a courtesan or a nun. Those of them, who quit the life as courtesan might have found a refuge in so called institutions for fallen women, later also known as Magdalen Asylum, what explains the first name of the church: Santa Maria Maddalena la Penitente. In the bible, Mary Magdalene was the penitent woman who washed the feet of Jesus. But some years after the opening of that institution, the Florentine bishop closed this self-governing women house in the form of a convent in Borgo Pinti, which a rich Florentine had sponsored. Its position was simply too central. A male monastery fitted better. In 1442 a serious male order has been invited: the Cistercians took over the church and renamed it into Santa Maria Maddalena di Cestello.
The fallen women had from then on the chance to access to the church twice a year via the door to the Lily chapel.
New times in the spotlight
Even the monks of a traditional and conservative order like theCistercians understood that it was time for innovation to remain attractive for Florentines donations. Therefore, they asked Giuliano da Sangallo to bring light into their church and to help them in monetizing the building. The hall church had to be widened towards left and right and 2 rows of chapels were built, each consisting of six chapels. Rich Florentines could eternalize their memory and monks had a source for income. Sangallo’s modern architectural concept helped to eliminate the gothic narrowness and darkness. Breaking the rules meant at that time to break walls and to create space for the chapels assuring income for the convent. The concept of openness has been adopted later largely in other churches.
Renaissance as coincidence of opposites
But the main constructive innovation of the convent was the colonnade around the yard.
It looks like from Antique times because of the right architraves supported by columns with capitals. Sangallo kept two semi round arches, one at the entrance to and another one at the exit from the yard. They are higher and very majestic and their semi-round arches are supported by rectangular columns.
The rectangular architraves repose on cylindric columns. Sangallo has been inspired by Roman buildings seen in Rome during his stay there. He copied the Roman original, more explicitly than other architects in Florence at that time and avoided to add what would be closer to the prevailing taste of its time. The traditional behaviour of the Cistercians and the puristic approach of the great architect fitted very well to each other. Sangallo took inspiration from Santissima Annunziata which is close to Borgo Pinti and where an important project of Leon Battista Alberti, the tribune, surrounded by chapels, was under construction at the same time.
The multiplication of an ionic capital
Sangallo was inspired by antique temples and open for suggestions. The legend tells that a bishop of Fiesole found an Antique Roman capital during excavation work. Obviously, it was a piece from pagan times and therefore it should have been used for the building of new, more christian houses. But the beauty of this piece of stone enchanted the bishop so he took it with him to Florence where he lived in the via San Gallo in front of Sant’Agata. Somehow, he heard about the famous architect and his love for Antique art.
He showed it to Sangallo who was impressed, because finally the missing piece, the keystone for his colonnade has been found. The unique ionic roman capital in precious marble fitted so well into his idea of a Roman colonnade. It was perfect for the concept of right architraves inspired by antique temples. Roman beauty was geometric. At that time, marble became more and more expensive. Therefore, the capital was in grey sandstone and multiplied in a big number: another example of Florence’s beauty industry.
The transferral
Later the church has been renamed again. Since 1628 it was called Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi, because another order replaced the cistercians. Male Cistercians were really unhappy about this and their protest was loud. But the chance to win in their claims was very little. The nuns of the Carmelite order at San Frediano living in deplorable conditions had simply a better relationship to the Barberini-Pope Urban VIII and that via the Florentine cardinal Francesco Barberini, a clear family connection, who wanted to do a favor to his two nieces living with the Carmelites at San Frediano. On the other side, the Carmelites had a trump card in their hands, a dead body of a carmelite nun, Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi, which even one year after the dead in 1607 was still intact. Soon the process for her canonization started, which had a reesult in 1669. The carmelites of San Frediano had to promise to bring the mortal remains of Maria Maddalena, known also as Catarina de‘ Pazzi, with them to Borgo Pinti.
An advantage and really image building in the counter-reformation was to have a Saint person within the inner city. Around the casket containing the Saint’s body a glorifying choir chapel has been built in Santa Maria Maddalena Dei Pazzi. Only marble and semiprecious stones were used to rebuilt the choir chapel and to honor the saint.
Later, in 1928 her body has been transferred to the villa il Pino in via dei Massoni outside Florence in Careggi.
