Florence - Church of the Annunciation

(Local Name: Santissima Annunziata) Whereas the religious center of Florence is the Cathedral, and the heart of its politics is the Palazzo Vecchio and the Palazzo della Signoria, the intellectual life of the city is adjudged, quite rightly, to focus on the church of Santissima Annunziata and its square, the Piazza della Santissima Annunziata.

The church of the Annunziata, founded about 1250 as an oratory for the Servite Order and completely rebuilt between 1444 and 1481 by Michelozzo, is an architectural masterpiece, not least because of the unusual ground plan for the church and its cloisters (nave with side chapels, fronted by a large round choir chapel, plus additions); it also contains many superb works of art. The entrance is under a seven-arched portico (1559-1561) supported by columns with elegant Corinthian capitals. Of the four doors, the one on the left leads into the Chiostro dei Morti (cloister of the dead), via the Sagrestia della Madonna. This cloister contains the fresco "Madonna del Sacco", so-called because of the bag St Joseph is leaning on, and a major work of Andrea del Sarto (1525). Adjoining it are the chapterhouse, the Cappella della Confraternità di San Luca, the "Chapel of the Crucified", the reliquary chapel and the sacristy.

The right-hand door leads into the Cappella Pucci or di San Sebastiano, both en route to the Chiostrino dei Voti (little cloister of the votive offerings), so-called because of the votive offerings hung here by the faithful, and built by Manetti (1447) to designs by Michelozzo.