CHIESA DI OGNISSANTI, FLORENCE – A dream completed during the 1250, rebuilt around 1627 in Baroque-style

The church was part of the conventual complex founded in 1251 by the Umiliati (who had come to Florence from Lombardy in 1239), it was completed originally during the 1250s, but almost completely rebuilt around 1627 in Baroque-style. The Umiliati, by the dedication and probity of the lay brothers and sisters, gained a reputation in Florence, and dedicated works of art began to accumulate in their severely simple church. Fifteenth-century frescoes by Domenico Ghirlandaio and Sandro Botticelli were preserved in the nave; Botticelli is buried in the church, near his beloved Simonetta Vespucci.

Around 1310 the high altar was adorned with the celebrated Madonna and Child with angels by Giotto, now in the Uffizi. Domenico Ghirlandaio painted frescoes of the Madonna of Mercy and the Pietà (1470-72) on the second altar. Early in the 17th century the friars had their large cloister frescoed with scenes from the Life of St. Francis by Jacopo Ligozzi, Giovanni da San Giovanni, and others. The large refectory of the church of Ognissanti is located between the first and second cloister of the old convent. The room on the opposite wall gives access to a splendid stone door in pietra serena, with two basins, built in 1480, on each side. The central fresco, is the work of Domenico Ghirlandaio, who produced with this work one of the best examples of his art, representing a serene yet dramatic episode of the Last Supper.

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