Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi

Quite, lovely and beautiful frescos

It's a beautiful church with lovely ceiling frescos. Definitely deserves more 5*

Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi is a Renaissance-style Roman Catholic church and a former convent located in Borgo Pinti in central Florence. The Pazzi name was added after the Carmelite order nun Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi, canonized in 1669, whose family patronized the church. The original convent had been dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen delle Convertite, the patron of once-fallen, now converted women. The Cistercian order from Badia a Settimo took control of the site in 1332 and moved to it in 1442, while the convent was transferred to San Donato in Polverosa. However, the church and chapter house were rebuilt between 1481 and 1500, with initial designs in 1492 by Giuliano da Sangallo. The 13th-century interiors were redecorated in the 17th and early 18th centuries, which removed the altarpieces by masters such as Botticelli, Perugino, Lorenzo di Credi, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Raffaellino del Garbo. They were replaced by new ones from minor masters such as Carlo Portelli, Alfonso Boschi, Domenico Puligo, Santi di Tito, and Francesco Curradi. In the chapter house is a fresco divided into three lunettes of the Crucifixion and Saints (1493–96) by Pietro Perugino, commissioned by Dionisio and Giovanna Pucci. The first chapel to the right of the entrance is the Cappella del Giglio (Chapel of St. Mary of the Lily) frescoed with depictions of Saints Filippo Neri, Bernard, Nereo, and Achilleo by the studio of Bernardino Poccetti, with an altarpiece by Domenico Passignano. The fourth chapel on the right has a stained glass window by Isabella, the daughter of Georges Henri Rouault. The choir chapel originally contained a fresco by Domenico Ghirlandaio but was rebuilt from 1685 to 1701 by Ciro Ferri and Pier Francesco Silvani. Ferri painted the altarpiece and Luca Giordano the flanking pieces. The statues of Penitence and Faith on the right were sculpted by Innocenzo Spinazzi, while Innocence and Religion on the left by Giovanni Monatauti. The bronze reliefs on the altar were made by Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi. The interior also contains works by Giovanni and Cosimo Bizzelli, Jacopo Chiavistelli, Ottavio Vannini, Cosimo Rosselli, Cosimo Gamberucci, Leonardo del Tasso, Giuseppe Servolini, and Giuseppe Piattoli.

One of the most gorgeous churches I've seen so far in Florence. Art, ceiling, organ & architecture all together in the light from a rainy afternoon was magic.

Stunning architecture by Giuliano da Sangallo (porch) . If you love Baroque you can't miss the sculptures inside (Soldani , Spinazzi and others sculptors from the Medici court) as well as paintings.

Beautiful church with some impressive artworks and an extraordinary Baroque main altar and presbytery.

This church has a super altar, nice frescoes and some good paintings. It's not open every day but if you can get in to see it, you'll find it's worth your time. Entrance is free!

The conventual complex, dedicated to the Florentine Carmelite St Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi, who had such an influence on 17th-century spirituali ty, was originally founded in 1257 and dedicated to St Mary Magdalen delle Convertite', in a place where there was already a house for 'penitent' (or 'converted') women who followed the Rule of St Benedict. The convent in Borgo Pinti was rebuilt between 1481 and 1500; paid for by Bartolomeo Scala, it was designed by Giuliano da Sangallo, who devised the innovatory Ionic porti coed quadrangle (1) in front of the church. The aisle-less interior has six deep chapels on each side of the nave, in white plaster with beautiful carved arches in grey pietra serena, and was harmoniously decorated between 1480 and 1530 with altarpieces by artists such as Botticelli, Perugino, Lorenzo di Credi, Domenico and Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, and Raffaellino del Garbo, which unfortunately were moved elsewhere during the rearrangements of the 17th and 18th century. They were replaced by new ones, by minor masters such as Carlo Portelli, Alfonso Boschi, Domenico Puligo, Giovanni Bizzelli, Santi di Tito, and Francesco Curradi. The magnificent Crucifixion frescoed by Perugino (2) in the Chapter Room of the convent, finished 1493-96 for the Pucci family, is still one of the most important artistic witnesses to a particular historical moment: on a wall divided by three arches, but unified by a single landscape, the artist has portrayed with sobriety and mystical feeling Christ on the Cross adored by the Magdalene, between (on the left) the Madonna and St Bernard and (on the right) St. John the Evangelist and St. Benedict.