The Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi Church is located in the center of Florence. This church is especially worth a visit because of the fresco “Crucifixion and Saints” painted by Perugino in the chapter house. The cloister designed by Sangallo is also open to visitors.
Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi Church Florence
Address, opening hours and entrance fee
Address: Borgo Pinti, 58 – 50121 Florence, Italy. Telephone: +39 0552478420. Opening hours: From 09.00 to 12.00 and from 17.00 to 19.00. Entrance fee: Free.
History and description
By the way, Pazzi means “lunatics” in Italian. In this case, however, the name refers to a nun from the Pazzi family who often came to church.
The entrance to the church is in the Borgo Pinti. The entrance door has no number and leads directly to a cloister designed by Giuliano da Sangallo in 1492. This open space is delimited by large columns of the pietra serena stone with Ionic capitals.
The church was built in the 13th century. However, the interior was completely redesigned in the 17th and 18th centuries. The altarpieces by famous artists such as Botticelli and Ghirlandaio were removed to make way for works by less gifted colleagues.
Perugino
Perugino‘s fresco in the chapter house was painted between 1493 and 1496.
The masterpieces of many churches in Florence have been transferred to other places. Another work by Perugino, “The Virgin Who Appears to Saint Bernhard”, was also affected by this fate. This work, painted as an altarpiece for the Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi Church, can now be seen in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.