Santa Maria Sopra Porta

The church of Santa Maria Sopra Porta (Above the Gate) got its name from the fact that it stands where the south gate, called Por Santa Maria (Saint Mary Gate), of the Carolingian circle of walls used to be. In the image below, you can see the ninth-century walls marked in white and the church outlined in red.

It was at that gate in about 550 AD that Totila, king of the Ostrogoths, breached Florence’s walls. (Dante put him in a river of boiling blood for that.)

Above: Totila’s taking of Florence as portrayed in BAV Chig. L.VIII.296.

The church’s earliest mention is in a donation record of 1038, but it becomes most meaningful to us in 1215, for it was here that Oddo Arrighi called together his family and advisors on the evening after he was stabbed and insulted by Buondelmonte dei Buondelmonti. During that meeting, some suggested that Buondelmonte be beaten, others that his face be disfigured and, lastly, Mosca de’ Lamberti took the floor to convince the crowd that only murder could wipe away the disgrace. And it was on this very spot that he uttered the famous words “Cosa fatta capo ha!” (“What’s done is done!”).

At the beginning of the 1300s, it was adopted as the headquarters of the Captains of the Guelph Party, which grew up around it. After the fire of 1304 (caused by the hateful Neri degli Abati), the church was reconstructed but not exactly in its original location. In 1486, its name was changed to San Biagio, and then changed back again in 1885. In 1706, it was completely destroyed by another outbreak of fire, which is perhaps one reason why they located the fire station here, and the fire wagons in this piazza, in 1785.

Coat of arms of the Guelph Party