Santa Maria degli Angeli is a former church and convent in
FlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence...
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
. It belonged to the Camaldolensian order, which was a reformed branch of the Benedictines. The order was founded in 1012 by the hermit St. Romuald at Camaldoli, near Arezzo, hence the name. Very little of the medieval building exists today.
The so-called
Rotonda degli Scolari, partially built by
Filippo BrunelleschiFilippo Brunelleschi was one of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. All of his principal works are in Florence, Italy...
, is part of the complex.
In 1434,
Filippo BrunelleschiFilippo Brunelleschi was one of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. All of his principal works are in Florence, Italy...
was commissioned by the
MediciThe House of Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house who first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside, gradually rising until...
family to design an
oratoryIn Christianity, an oratory is a room for prayer, from the Latin orare, to pray.In the Roman Catholic Church, an oratory is for all intents and purposes another word for what is commonly called a chapel...
for the convent.
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Santa Maria degli Angeli is a former church and convent in
FlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence...
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
. It belonged to the Camaldolensian order, which was a reformed branch of the Benedictines. The order was founded in 1012 by the hermit St. Romuald at Camaldoli, near Arezzo, hence the name. Very little of the medieval building exists today.
The so-called
Rotonda degli Scolari, partially built by
Filippo BrunelleschiFilippo Brunelleschi was one of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. All of his principal works are in Florence, Italy...
, is part of the complex.
The Rotunda
In 1434,
Filippo BrunelleschiFilippo Brunelleschi was one of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. All of his principal works are in Florence, Italy...
was commissioned by the
MediciThe House of Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house who first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside, gradually rising until...
family to design an
oratoryIn Christianity, an oratory is a room for prayer, from the Latin orare, to pray.In the Roman Catholic Church, an oratory is for all intents and purposes another word for what is commonly called a chapel...
for the convent. It was located at the corner of the property, along the outer wall. Though the construction was rapid, it was halted due to funding problems in 1437. In 1503, the shell was given a simple wooden roof, but the structure deteriorated rapidly. The building, which was used for various purposes, was patched up and given its modern appearance in the 1930s. It was given the university and thus its more modern name
Rotonda degli Scolari (Scholar's Rotunda)
Drawings, which are copies of original plans, and descriptions give us a good indication of Brunelleschi’s intentions. The building was to have an octagonal, domed space at its core, surrounded by eight ancillary spaces. Though the outside - as it was restored - has little similarity with what Brunelleschi intended, on the inside one can see how some of the original spaces were arranged.