Behind Closed Doors
A GUIDE TO THE HIDDEN GEMS OF FLORENTINE ART
Destination 5 minute read
Florence is famous as the cradle of the fifteenth-century Italian Renaissance, when artistic giants such as Michelangelo Buonarroti, Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli ushered in a new era of creativity, sculptural perspective and painterly techniques from chiaroscuro to sfumato.
Their work is scattered over the city, with many of the most notable works housed in the Galleria dell'Accademia and Uffizi Gallery. But with fame comes crowds. It can be hard to get more than a cursory glance at Michelangelo’s David or Botticelli’s Primavera when the halls are cramped shoulder to shoulder with visitors brandishing cameras.
While the city’s art is unmissable – especially as Florence is just a 40-minute shuttle from COMO Castello del Nero – the queues and number of tourists can be off-putting. For those hoping for a more intimate encounter with Italy’s masters, we’ve compiled our top recommendations for art you can admire with the space for it all to sink in.
Lorenzo Ghiberti
Gates of Paradise
Florence’s duomo is about as far away from secret as you can find, but the east doors of its baptistry are rarely overcrowded. While Lorenzo Ghiberti’s original gilded bronze doors are now preserved in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (which is also well worth a visit), the replicas installed at the duomo have a remarkable authenticity in situ.
They are five metres tall and depict intricate reliefs from the Old Testament in linear perspective. Look out especially for Noah’s flood and ark, as well as the creation of Adam and Eve. The doors are widely considered to be Ghiberti’s greatest masterpiece and it was supposedly Michelangelo who nicknamed them the ‘Gates of Paradise’.
The other Michelangelos
While David might be his most widely known sculpture, Michelangelo’s genius is found all over Florence. In the Cappelle Medicee – the burial place of the Medici family who sponsored much of the Renaissance – you can find his Dawn and Dusk, sculpted in the 1520s on the sarcophagus of Lorenzo de’Medici, as well as Night and Day on the sarcophagus of Lorenzo’s son, Giuliano. The works show Michelangelo’s signature attention to musculature, as well as his delicate precision.
Along the facade of the Palazzo Vecchio you can also find another of his works, L’importuno di Michelangelo, a caricature depicting a man’s face which is said to have been carved by Michelangelo to distract himself from the long and boring stories told by the man in question. Another ‘secret’ work is the wooden crucifix at the Basilica di Santo Spirito, attributed to a young Michelangelo, and said to have been carved for the prior as thanks for free lodging.
Donatello
David
On the subject of alternatives to Michelangelo’s David, it’s impossible not to mention Donatello’s version at the Bargello Museum. Predating Michelangelo’s depiction of the biblical figure by around 60 years, Donatello’s bronze David was the first freestanding nude male sculpture crafted since antiquity.
It’s a striking example of the Renaissance values of naturalism and individualism, and with David portrayed as a young boy rather than a muscular hero, it’s also a fascinating counterpoint to the later version. While you’re at the Bargello Museum, the Della Robbia Ceramics are also excellent, featuring glazed terracotta sculptures that show a different side to Florentine art beyond painting and marble.
Chiostro della Scalzo
The Chiostro della Scalzo is a tiny cloister in San Marco that is home to sixteen frescoes. Fourteen of them were painted by Andrea del Sarto in the early sixteenth century, showing episodes in the life of St John the Baptist. They’re little-known marvels from one of the late Renaissance’s acknowledged masters, painted in grisaille – a grey monochrome – to mimic the appearance of sculpted relief.
Even though they were painted over the course of around ten years, there’s an impressive unity to the sequence. No wonder that del Sarto’s student, Giorgio Vasari, referred to him as a ‘painter without errors’ in his Lives of the Artists.
Brancacci Chapel
Nestled in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in the lively Santo Spirito neighbourhood, the Brancacci Chapel is lined with frescoes by Masolino de Panciale and Masaccio painted in the early fifteenth century. Their collaboration shows a blend between Masolino’s decorative style with Masaccio’s skilful use of perspective and naturalism. The chapel, with scenes including the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, was left unfinished for several years until around 1480, when Franceso Lippi completed them.
For more information on the daily shuttle from COMO Castello del Nero to Florence, please contact our concierge team.
