La Badia Fiorentina

Another week, another free guided tour with the school. This time we visited La Badia Fiorentina, a church I had unknowingly passed by a handful of times across from the Bargello Museum (a sculpture museum that I have yet to visit) on Via del Proconsolo.

One enters from the Pandolfini Chapel and passes a small courtyard with composite columns featuring dolphins, the sign of the family.

The church dates back to the 10th century and was reconstructed in the 13th century in its current gothic style. It features late gothic, renaissance, baroque, and rococo artwork.  Filippino Lippi's painting Apparition of the Virgin to St. Bernard can be seen on the left wall upon entering, and one is meant to make comparisons between Mary's face here and in depictions of her reaction during the Annunciation. She appears pallid and points to St. Bernard's page, telling him how to translate the Bible. On the bottom righthand corner is a portrait of the man who commissioned the painting. If you look up in a straight line from his head, under the rock you will see a the devil hiding. Temptation is always lurking in some dark corner or another!

Filippino Lippi is an artist with an interesting story (aren't they all?). He was the son of Filippo Lippi, a famous artist who was originally a monk. Filippo met and fell in love with a nun and she became pregnant. His connections with the Medici family helped them request leave from their orders, and they continued in their religious fervour as laypeople. Since Florence was a small town at that point, Filippino likely could not escape the scandal his parents' love affair caused, and for that reason he is one of the first painters of the Renaissance who painted with his emotions. Many of his paintings, some of which you can see in the Uffizi, show the inner turmoil he suffered.


The Chiostro degli Aranci (Cloister of the Orange Trees) is accessible by a stairwell right of the altar. There you get a small view of the bell tower and frescoes depicting life of St. Benedict. Now they house monks and nuns of the Fraternity of Jerusalem who specialize in helping the poor.

After our tour it was time for my first spritz ever. Spritz is an orange aperitif that I learned I am not that fond of. It's a fizzy drink that is also a bit bitter made with Aperol, Prosecco, and tonic water. You can find it in any bar here but guess where we went? The library!  I went with three German speaking friends who luckily spoke Italian most of the time. The Biblioteca delle Oblate has a full bar and a patio, so when you're craving beer while studying, you don't have to go too far!

Later tonight, I received six mosquito bites as I studied in my kitchen. Dare I say summer has begun?

Today's word of the day is badia, pronounced "ba-DEE-ah", which derives from the word abbazia or "abbey". It might just be a Florentine word so I wouldn't use it in everyday conversation with an Italian. Not that you'd be talking about abbeys anyway...