B. Santa Trinita

Above: Luigi Garibbo, “Piazza Santa Trinita,” ca. 1829, The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

The Basilica of Santa Trinita (whose stress falls on the first i, following the Florentine habit of keeping the accent of the Latin nominative) was constructed upon a site where a tiny Romanesque church called Santa Maria dello Spasimo once stood. The earliest documentation dates from 801, over 400 years before it was encompassed by the city walls. Others, however, maintain that the church only goes back to 1077 and that the references in extant documents to Saint Mary of the Sorrows pertain in reality to a painting still in the church’s possession.

Although proof is slim, it was probably constructed around 1091 by Vallombrosians, an offshoot of the Benedictine order founded during the eleventh century by a monk, later canonized, called Giovanni Gualberto. According to several sources, Giovanni belonged to the Visdomini family, but according to others to the Buondelmonti. At any rate, there’s no doubt that the link between the Vallombrosians and this church is very old and has always been very strong. The order’s second church is San Salvi on the other side of town.

Coat of arms of the Vallombrosians

To the left of the altar, and along the nave a bit, is the chapel of Dino Compagni’s family. There are two markers, one (above) in Latin, placed there over a century after the historian’s death, which reads: “D.O.M. In honor of Dino Compagni, famous knight and chronicler of his times, here interred in 1323. Dedicated by his descendants.” The other plaque is in Italian: “Worthy refuge for the bones of Dino Compagni since February 26, 1324, this temple’s vaults resounded with his magnanimous words, ‘Whom do you intend to fight with? With your brothers? What victory will you achieve? Nothing but tears.’ And may worthy honor, in the renovation of this ancient building, renew also in this genteel chapel the memory of him who was the third gonfaloniere of the Republic and historian of the age that knew Dante the poet. The Commune of Florence, on the sixth centenary of that service as gonfaloniere, in 1893.”

The piazza outside the church was one of the city’s regular areas of celebration, and conflict, especially after the bridge, also called Santa Trinita, was built in 1252. This change in urban architecture transformed the piazza into a thoroughfare that became busier as the Oltrarno grew.

In 1257, a small group of Guelphs and Ghibellines, who had drawn their swords against one another in the piazza in 1257, burst into the church during mass and continued their duels among the pews; the war council met here to deliberate before the battle of Campaldino in 1289; and it was here during May Day festivities in 1300 that the Black and White Guelphs came to blows, only six weeks before Dante was elected prior.

The last thing to admire before you cross this piazza is the beautiful Column of Justice. It arrived long after Dante left, but its placement here seems fitting. Pope Paul III (r. 1534-49), during whose pontificate Michelangelo finished the Last Judgment in the Sistine chapel, had ordered the excavations of the baths of Caracalla that led to the unearthing of this column. Pope Pius IV (r. 1559-65) later gave it as a gift to Cosimo I de’ Medici who had it erected here in 1565 in honor of the Florentines’ victory over Siena. The allegorical figure of Justice was set atop it in 1581. Legend has it that nearby jewelers once complained of missing gems only to find them on one of the statue’s scales in the nest of a magpie.

Carefully cross the piazza to see the next sight.