Russian Orthodox Church of the Nativity
Why is it significant?
Among the sober Florentine villas of Via Leone X, a burst of colour: bulbous onion domes, glazed tiles, a gilded cross. For a moment you could be in Moscow or Yaroslavl. This is the Russian Orthodox Church of the Nativity, and it is a monument to how fond the Russians were of Florence.
Key Facts
| Place | Russian Orthodox Church of the Nativity |
|---|---|
| Address | Via Leone X 8, 50129 Firenze FI, Italy |
| Geo Coordinates | 43.78380, 11.25490 |
| Part of Walk | Florence, Capital of Italy: Boulevards, Exiles and the English Cemetery |
| Generated | Generated |
Among the sober Florentine villas of Via Leone X, a burst of colour: bulbous onion domes, glazed tiles, a gilded cross. For a moment you could be in Moscow or Yaroslavl. This is the Russian Orthodox Church of the Nativity, and it is a monument to how fond the Russians were of Florence.
It was built between 1899 and 1903 to a design by the Russian architect Mikhail Preobrazhensky, with Florentine builders and craftsmen. It is really two churches, one above the other: a lower church, low and intimate, and a taller upper church beneath the domes. Many of the icons and furnishings came from Russia.
Who were its faithful? Diplomats, aristocrats on long Italian sojourns, painters, invalids hoping the Tuscan sun would cure their lungs. The richest of all were the Demidov family, whose fortune came from the iron mines of the Urals, and who built a palatial villa outside the city and filled it with art. Anatoly Demidov even married a niece of Napoleon.
And the writers and composers came too. Fyodor Dostoevsky, short of money and on the run from creditors, spent the winter of 1868 in Florence and finished The Idiot there. Pyotr Tchaikovsky came in 1890 and, working at a furious pace, wrote most of his opera The Queen of Spades in a few weeks; later he named a string sextet Souvenir de Florence. Neither of them would have recognised this church, which came later, but they would have recognised the community that built it.
After 1917 that community changed overnight. The rich visitors disappeared and the refugees from the revolution arrived, and this church became a lifeline for people who had lost a country. Services are still held here today. Now walk east along the boulevard to the great open space of Piazza della Libertà, with a medieval gate and a triumphal arch facing each other.