Santa Trinita: The Medici Banker's Chapel
Why is it significant?
In the middle of Piazza Santa Trinita a tall granite column holds up a figure of Justice in red porphyry, with scales in her hand. Behind it rises the late sixteenth-century façade of Santa Trinita. The column is your first clue, the chapel inside is your last.
Key Facts
| Place | Santa Trinita: The Medici Banker's Chapel |
|---|---|
| Address | Piazza di Santa Trinita, 50123 Firenze FI, Italy |
| Geo Coordinates | 43.77010, 11.25070 |
| Part of Walk | The Medici Quarter of Florence: Palaces, Tombs and Rivals from San Lorenzo to Santa Maria Novella |
| Generated | Generated |
In the middle of Piazza Santa Trinita a tall granite column holds up a figure of Justice in red porphyry, with scales in her hand. Behind it rises the late sixteenth-century façade of Santa Trinita. The column is your first clue, the chapel inside is your last.
The column came from the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, a gift from Pope Pius IV to Cosimo I, and it was raised here in 1565. Tradition says it marks the place where Cosimo heard the news of his victory at Montemurlo in 1537, the battle that destroyed the Strozzi and the last hopes of the old Republic. Justice, in other words, as the winner saw it.
Inside, in a chapel to the right of the high altar, Domenico Ghirlandaio painted the life of Saint Francis between 1483 and 1485 for Francesco Sassetti, general manager of the Medici bank. The story goes that Sassetti had first wanted a chapel in Santa Maria Novella, and that the Dominicans refused to have Saint Francis there. Look at the scene of the Pope approving the Franciscan rule: it is set not in Rome but in Piazza della Signoria, with the Palazzo Vecchio behind. On the right stands Lorenzo the Magnificent beside Sassetti, while the poet Poliziano climbs a staircase with Lorenzo's sons.
In another scene, a child brought back to life, Ghirlandaio painted this very square as it looked in his day, with the old front of the church and the medieval bridge. Sassetti and his wife kneel on either side of the altarpiece, a Nativity of 1485 that is still in place. He died in 1490, and four years later the Medici bank collapsed and the family was driven out of Florence.
You began at the palace where Cosimo quietly ran the city through friends and money, and you end in front of his bank manager, painted into a saint's life next to Lorenzo. The Medici fell, came back, became dukes and finally died out, and this quarter still carries all of it, in stone, paint and family names. Step outside: the river and the Ponte Santa Trinita are just ahead, and the walk is complete.