Badia Fiorentina

The Badìa Fiorentina is an abbey and church of the Fraternity of Jerusalem situated on the Via del Proconsolo in the centre of Florence, Italy. It is famous for being the parish church of Beatrice Portinari, the love of Dante's life, and the place where he watched her at Mass. Later, Boccaccio delivered his famous lectures on Dante's The Divine Comedy in the church.

The abbey was founded as a Benedictine institution in 978 by Willa, Margravine of Tuscany, in commemoration of her late husband Uberto, and was one of the chief buildings of medieval Florence. A hospital was founded in the abbey in 1071. The church bell marked the main divisions of the Florentine day. Between 1284 and 1310 the Romanesque church was rebuilt in Gothic style, but in 1307 part was demolished to punish the monks for non-payment of taxes. The church underwent a Baroque transformation between 1627 and 1631. The prominent campanile, completed between 1310 and 1330, is Romanesque at its base and Gothic in its upper stages.

Major works of art in the church include the Apparition of the Virgin to St Bernard by Filippino Lippi and the tombs of Willa's son Ugo, Margrave of Tuscany (died 1001) and the lawyer and diplomat Bernardo Giugni (1396–1456), both by Mino da Fiesole. The attached Chiostro degli Aranci (Cloister of the Oranges) contains a fresco cycle (1436–1439) on the life of St Benedict, largely by an unknown artist but including a later panel by the young Bronzino. The cloister itself was designed by Bernardo Rossellino.

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