About the Servite Order (Order of the Servants of Mary):
As one of the five original mendicant orders, the Order of the Servants of Mary includes several branches of friars, contemplative nuns, a congregation of religious sisters, and lay groups. A mendicant order is one in which the members take a vow of poverty, live a traveling lifestyle, and rely on begging for their sustenance while actively preaching and serving the community, particularly the poor.
About the Basilica of Santissima Annunziata in Florence:
Dedicated to the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, construction of the Basilica began in 1444 under the architects Michelozzo and Leon Battista and is the mother church of the Servite Order. As you might expect from Florence, it has many beautiful pieces of art in its interior and is especially know for its magnificent frescoes. The earliest is Alesso Baldovinetti’s Nativity, painted in 1460; Cosimo Rosselli’s Calling of St. Philip Benizzi dates from 1476; the other episodes from the life of the Saint were painted by the young Andrea del Sarto in 1510.
The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary was portrayed by Rosso Fiorentino, one of the youngest and most promising artist of the day in the early 16th century. painted the Assumption, Pontormo the Visitation, and Fraciabigio the Betrothal of the Virgin. Andrea del Sarto, who had already worked on the St. Philip Benizzi frescoes, painted between 1511 and 1514 the Nativity of the Virgin and the Arrival of the Magi.
The ceiling was frescoed with the Assumption by Luca Giordano, and the high altar has a canvas by Giorgio Vasari showing St Luke painting the Virgin. On the other walls are works by Bronzino, Pontormo and Santi di Tito.
The arches and piers of the interior are sheathed in colored marble (16th and 17th century), and the ceiling was frescoed with the Assumption by Luca Giordano, and the high altar has a canvas by Giorgio Vasari showing St Luke painting the Virgin. On the other walls are works by Bronzino, Pontormo and Santi di Tito.
High up between the windows there are panels and medallions, painted with Miracles of the Annunciate by 17th-century artists.
To the left of the entrance is the Chapel of the Most Holy Annunciate, where the highly venerated image of the Virgin is preserved. The elegant tempietto which encloses it was designed by Michelozzo and built by Pagno Portigiani in 1448; the small oratory next to it has a panel of the Holy Face by Andrea del Sarto.
The many side chapels in the nave are mainly of the 17th and 18th century, such as the Feroni Chapel, by Giovan Battista Foggini and others, a jewel of the Florentine Baroque.
The Tribune has nine chapels which were completely transformed in the baroque period. Andrea del Castagno, one of the principal exponents of the Florentine renaissance style, was especially active in Santissima Annunziata: one of his frescoes is of St. Julian, in the Feroni Chapel, another is of the Holy Trinity with St. Jerome, in the adjacent chapel.
Leaving the church by the door at the end of the nave on the left, we enter the Cloister of the Dead, built around 1453. Above the door is the celebrated fresco of the Madonna del Sacco (1525) by Andrea del Sarto. In the other lunettes there is an interesting but very damaged fresco cycle on the Servites of Mary, painted in the early seventeenth century by Bernardino Poccetti and other artists of his time. Also in the Cloister is the Chapel of the Company of St. Luke, where the Confraternity of Painters had its headquarters in 1562 (before being moved in 1563 by order of Cosimo I to the Academy of the Arts of Design).
There are several burials here, including Maria Valtorta (writer of “The Poem of the Man-God”). Maria Valtorta died in 1961, at age 64, and originally was buried in the town cemetery in Viareggio. In 1973, her remains were moved to the chapel of the great cloister of the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata. Please note that, despite some popularity of her messages………….somehow the claim was made that high Church officials–including one Pope–endorsed it . This was not correct; in fact, “Poem of the Man-God” was included on the Index of Forbidden books until the abolition of the Index in the 1960s. And even Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, at the time prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, reiterated the Church’s rejection of the claims made for “The Poem of the Man-God.” We mention her tomb here only as a matter of historical interest.
Also the Basilica holds the tomb of Giovanni Villani (banker, official, diplomat and chronicler from Florence who wrote the Nuova Cronica on the history of Florence).
Traveling to the Basilica of Santissima Annunziata in Florence:
Address: Piaza della SS. Annunziata, 50122 Firenze FI, Italy
Tel: +39 055 266181
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