Santa Maria dei Candeli
Santa Maria dei Candeli is a former church situated in the Borgo Pinti in central Florence.
Initially founded in 13-14th centuries as a convent; the present structure was enlarged starting 1558, with a radical rebuilding in 1703 by the Baroque artist Giovanni Battista Foggini. The ceiling is frescoed with a the Assumption by Niccolò Lapi, the right wall houses a St. Clair by Francesco Botti and a St. Augustine by Jacopo Vignali. The main altarpiece is an Immaculate Conception by Carlo Sacconi, flanked by a Transit with St. Joseph by Tommaso Redi.
The monastic order was suppressed by the Napoleonic occupation, and became successively an orphanage, an asylum, and finally a lyceum for training policemen. Renaissance frescoes detached from the refectory depict a Last supper, Annunciation, and Adoration of the Bambino, formerly attributed to Franciabigio, but which some now attribute to Giovanni Antonio Sogliani.
[edit] References
- Borsook, Eve (1991). Vincent Cronin (general editor). ed. The Companion Guide to Florence. Harper Collins. pp. pages 249. ISBN000215139-1.
Coordinates: 43°46′25.95″N 11°15′50.22″E / 43.773875°N 11.26395°E
