Florence: Santa Maria Novella

In Florence, we enjoyed visiting the church of Santa Maria Novella. It didn’t have the opulence of some churches we saw in Italy, but it also had NO CROWDS! A big plus, which gave us the opportunity to explore at our leisure.

Even a “simple” church like this had beautiful arches and high ceilings.

And a beautiful altar.

But, I think we enjoyed the outside courtyard even more.

Check out these ceilings! I think they’re gorgeous.

But, the thing that amazed me the most was an antique tapestry. This was from the 1400s! Stitched with gold thread, it was in very good condition.

Whoa! Can you believe it? This is padded embroidery, where a base layer of stitches is put in and then others are added over top. This blew my mind.

I forget what it was used for. Some sort of vestments, if I remember correctly. It was the only textile item on display. Shockingly, it had very little in the way of a protective environment. It was behind glass in an area with low light, but the nearby windows were open and unscreened. How has this held up so well?

It was very interesting exploring this church on our own.

Ellen Lindner.