A new perspective on the Santo Spirito quartiere - By Maartje Visser

“La prossima fermata; Piazza Frescobaldi”, I always heard this announcement for the next bus stop when I travelled from the Dutch University Institute for Art History to the Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence, not knowing the Frescobaldi family would be the topic of my research internship some time later. This summer, I spent three months in the beautiful city of Florence to research the Frescobaldi family as part of the Patrician Patronage Project. This internship not only gave me the opportunity to gain insight into the history of the Frescobaldi family, but it also provided me with a deeper knowledge of the history of Florence in general, especially about the area that belonged to the Frescobaldi for centuries, the Santo Spirito quartiere.

The Frescobaldi coat-of-arms

From pillar to post - By Lotte van ter Toolen

After my failed attempt to visit San Gaggio, I decided it was time to turn to the church of Santo Spirito for my research on the Corsini family. In 1804 the tomb monuments, busts and cenotaphs of the Corsini had been moved from San Gaggio to this church, where the family had owned a chapel as well.

              In 1300 the Corsini Chapel (La Cappella dei Principi Corsini) was founded on the east-side of the second cloister of Santo Spirito, the so-called chiostro grande dell’Ammannati. As of 2007 this cloister has lost its religious function and it now belongs to a military institute. But although this cloister now holds a branch of the Esercito Italiano (the Italian army), the Corsini Chapel itself has not been turned into a military office and, luckily, is still intact. Therefore, I left the Dutch University Institute of Art History in good spirits on the day of my second excursion, confident and eager to finally see some Corsini monuments. Seeing as I had spent the last days studying in the library, bent over books and barely moving, I decided to walk all the way down the hill to the church.