Santi Apostoli: Crusader Flints and the Pazzi
Why is it significant?
You have found one of the quietest squares in central Florence, Piazza del Limbo, and the plain Romanesque front of Santi Apostoli, sitting lower than the street around it.
Key Facts
| Place | Santi Apostoli: Crusader Flints and the Pazzi |
|---|---|
| Address | Piazza del Limbo 1, 50123 Firenze FI, Italy |
| Geo Coordinates | 43.76920, 11.25210 |
| Part of Walk | Guilds, Feuds and Bonfires: The Florentine Republic Walk in Florence |
| Generated | Generated |
You have found one of the quietest squares in central Florence, Piazza del Limbo, and the plain Romanesque front of Santi Apostoli, sitting lower than the street around it. The odd name of the square is no joke: the story goes that this was once a burial ground for babies who died before baptism, the souls medieval theology placed in limbo.
Beside the door, a stone inscription proudly claims that Charlemagne himself founded the church in 805, with legendary paladins among the witnesses. It is a medieval invention, a piece of civic boasting, and historians date the building to the eleventh century. But that is the Republic in a nutshell... a city of merchants who badly wanted ancient, noble ancestors.
The real treasure is inside. The church keeps fragments of stone said to come from the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, brought home, according to tradition, by Pazzino de' Pazzi, who was supposedly the first crusader over the walls in 1099. Every Easter a fire is struck from those flints and carried in procession to the cathedral, where it sets off the Scoppio del Carro, the explosion of the cart... a towering wagon of fireworks lit by a rocket shaped like a dove.
Remember that family name. The Pazzi became bankers and rivals of the Medici, and in 1478 they plotted to murder Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici during Mass in the cathedral. Giuliano was stabbed to death; Lorenzo escaped, wounded. The revenge was savage. Conspirators were hanged from the windows of the Palazzo Vecchio, and the family's name and coats of arms were ordered removed from the city.
And yet the flints stayed here, and the Easter ritual went on. In a republic that destroyed so many of its own families, the ceremonies outlived the people. From the square, walk west along Borgo Santi Apostoli to the fortress-like palace at its end, facing the river.