In Florence, on the Arno, near the bridge - By Henk Th. van Veen

On the south bank of the Arno, right next to the Ponte alle Grazie and facing the Piazza dei Mozzi, stands palazzo Torrigiani già Del Nero.

Palazzo Torrigiani già Del Nero

The building offers only a feeble reflexion of its erstwhile grandeur. Here the Del Nero resided. In those days the palazzo rose straight from the river-bed and formed one massif whole – a veritable bridgehead – with the  Ponte à Rubaconte, the longest bridge of Florence, also known as Ponte alle Grazie, because of the characteristic chapels that were built on it.  

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.