Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi

Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi is a religious complex in central Florence, Italy, including a church and a former convent in Borgo Pinti.

The "Pazzi" name was added after a Carmelite nun from the Pazzi family, who patronized the church, was canonized in 1669. The original convent had been dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen "delle Convertite", the patron of once-fallen, now "converted" women. The cistercian order from Badia a Settimo took control of the site in 1332, and moved here in 1442, whiel the convent was transeferred to San Donato in Polverosa. However the church and chapter house were rebuilt between 1481-1500, with initial designs in 1492 by Giuliano da Sangallo. The 13th-century interiors were redecorated in the 17th and early 18th centuries, which removed prior altarpieces by masters such as Botticelli, Perugino, Lorenzo di Credi, Ghirlandaio, and Raffaellino del Garbo. They were replaced by new ones, by minor masters such as Carlo Portelli, Alfonso Boschi, Domenico Puligo, Santi di Tito, and Francesco Curradi. In the chapter house is a fresco divided into three lunettes of the "Crucifixion and Saints" (1493-96) by Pietro Perugino, commissioned by Dionisio and Giovanna Pucci.

The first chapel to the right of the entrance is the "Cappella del Giglio" (Chapel of St. Mary of the Lily) frescoed with depictions of "Saints Filippo Neri, Bernard, Nereo, and Achilleo" by the studio of Bernardino Poccetti with an altarpiece by Domenico Passignano. The fourth chapel on the right has a stained glass window by Isabella, the daughter of Georges Henri Rouault. The choir chapel originally contained a fresco by Domenico Ghirlandaio, but was rebuilt in 1685-1701 by Ciro Ferri and Pier Francesco Silvani. Ferri painted the altarpiece and Luca Giordano the flanking pieces. The statues of "Penitence" and "Faith" on the right were sculpted by Innocenzo Spinazzi, while "Innocence" and "Religion" on the left by Giovanni Monatauti. The bronze reliefs on the altar were made by Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi.

The interior also contains works by Giovanni and Cosimo Bizzelli, Jacopo Chiavistelli, Ottavio Vannini, Cosimo Rosselli, Cosimo Gamberucci, Leonardo del Tasso, Giuseppe Servolini, and Giuseppe Piattoli among others.

ee also

*The Virgin appearing to St. Bernard

References

* [http://www.frommers.com/destinations/florence/A33295.html| Frommers entry]
*cite book | first= Eve|last= Borsook| year=1991| title= "The Companion Guide to Florence"| publisher= Harper Collins| editor= Vincent Cronin (general editor)| id=ISBN000215139-1 | url= | authorlink= |pages= pages 248
* [http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/crocefissione_del_perugino.html| Museums in Florence.]