The visit to the exhibition can be extended and continued through the itinerary :
Leon Battista Alberti, architect, and his Florentine commissioners
In the Florentine society of the mid fifteenth century, the merchant Giovanni Rucellai was rapidly becoming one of the wealthiest and most respected men in the city. He entrusted to Alberti the design of his new palazzo in Via della Vigna.
But Alberti’s work was not restricted to the design of the family mansion; for his patron he conceived the most exhaustive programme of propaganda to which a private citizen could aspire. As well as Palazzo Rucellai, he also designed the Shrine of the Holy Sepulchre and the facade of the Church of Santa Maria Novella, in which he skilfully combined elements of the Florentine tradition with others of classical inspiration.
The itinerary comprises the visit to the following sites located in the vicinity of Palazzo Strozzi:
Palazzo Rucellai, the Shrine of the Holy Sepulchre inside the Rucellai Chapel in San Pancrazio,
the Church of Santa Maria Novella
Palazzo Rucellai
Via della Vigna Nuova n. 18
Palazzo Rucellai is the prototype of the Renaissance mansion. Alberti’s intervention was concentrated in the reorganisation of the pre-existing Rucellai dwellings and on the facade, marked by pure and elegant geometrical forms. Leon Battista Alberti achieved for his patron a dwelling of classical flavour which greatly enhanced the latter’s prestige.
Free access for visitors to the exhibition (exhibition ticket must be shown)
opening hours: 10-13 15-18 from Monday to Saturday, closed Sunday
Shrine of the Holy Sepulchre in the Rucellai Chapel
Via della Spada angolo piazza San Pancrazio
Inspired by the sanctuary of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and covered with exquisite marble inlay, the Shrine was built by Alberti for the family chapel of the Rucellai in the Church of San Pancrazio, based on the Renaissance principles of proportion and harmony.
Free access for visitors to the exhibition (exhibition ticket must be shown)
opening hours: 10-18 every day
Facciata della Basilica di Santa Maria Novella e all'interno Cappella Rucellai e lo straordinario affresco di Masaccio (Trinità)
Alberti completed the facade of the Church of Santa Maria Novella with relief decorations in white and green marble, crowning the upper section with a triangular tympanum, a typically classical element.
Inside the church we can still admire the chapel of the Rucellai family and the famous fresco by Masaccio portraying the Trinity, composed in accordance with the Renaissance principles of linear perspective.
Opening hours of the Church of Santa Maria Novella
Monday-Thursday 9.00-17.00 Friday and Sunday 13.00-17.00 Saturday 9.00-17.00
Entrance € 2.50.
Free entrance for children up to 11, resident in the city and Province of Florence
Groups and individual visitors can visit the exhibition, followed by a complete itinerary lasting three hours, or by a customised tour consisting of the exhibition and visits to a selection of the monuments on the itinerary
Guided tours, for groups of a maximum of 25 and a maximum duration of three hours, cost € 110.00, excluding the entrance tickets
The guided tours are run by Florence tourist guides
Others sites to visit in Florence
Cappella Brancacci inside the Church of the Carmine
Church of Santa Trinita with the detached fresco by Neri di Bicci
The imposing detached fresco by Neri di Bicci, originally in the cloister of the church of San Pancrazio, is presented here as an invitation to the exhibition on the great humanist and ‘Renaissance man’, Leon Battista Alberti, in the nearby Palazzo Strozzi.
The fresco, painted in the mid-15th century, reflects a firm understanding of perspective and an appreciation of the elegant and ornate style, inspired by the treatises on painting and architecture by Alberti. Neri was both a sensitive and hard-working master who absorbed Alberti’s principles and succeeded in making them his own perhaps more than other, even better known, painters of the period.
Church of the Santissima Annunziata
Among the projects of Alberti in Florence is the circular Tribune of the church of the Santissima Annunziata, crowned by a cupola constructed in line with the techniques of ancient Roman architecture.
Information and bookings
Sigma C.S.C.
Monday to Friday 9 am-1 pm and 2 pm-6 pm
tel: + 39 055 2469600 – fax + 39 055 244145 – e-mail: cscsigma@tin.it
