This first section is a brief explanation of my Italy blog posts, which were inspired by my 2-week trip to Italy in May, 2025. Feel free to skip this section if you’ve read it before.
Dear Reader, If you read my Italy posts in the order in which they’ve come out, it may seem as though we hopped back and forth all over the country, but I have decided not to write these posts sequentially. I want to write about the things that interest me most, as the spirit moves me. For some topics, I may even combine cities. I hope that by doing so, you’ll find it a lot more interesting than if I just give you a tedious day by day description of our itinerary, as if I were your Aunt Mabel forcing you to sit down and watch all her Super 8 films of the family road trip to Niagara Falls from 1966.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about how I’m approaching this travelogue-within-a-blog, please let me know in the comments below!
When you approach the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence, Italy, the first thing that strikes you is the fact that the façade is missing. That’s strange. In a city with such ornate architecture, why would a basilica that was built in 1470 not be completed by now? Well, that’s a controversial question, indeed.
In 1518, Michelangelo was commissioned to design the façade from white Carrara marble, and he did build a wooden model of it which we still have today. We even have some of the carved pillars, as he did start the work. Unfortunately, the project was abandoned because of political changes and lack of funds.
Back in 2007, there was a movement to build the façade based on Michelangelo’s model, and they actually went so far as to project an image on the current façade so that the public could see what it would look like. Check out that video below.
The debate about it has ebbed and flowed ever since. As with so many grand Italian ideas, it seems to have died somewhere along the way. I can’t find any other significant news about it since 2007. Some say that we could never duplicate the building techniques of Michelangelo’s era, and any attempt to do so would be a travesty. Others would love to do it, but wonder where the money would come from. But the one thing Florence seems to be able to agree on is that it should be Michelangelo’s design or nothing at all, and so we are presented with the ugly brick masonry that was never intended to be anyone’s first impression of this grand building. It’s really sad.
I must say, though, that the basilica’s stark masonry made for a nice contrasting backdrop for a very organic art exhibition that happened to be going on while we were there. It consisted of sculptures by the artist Andrea Roggi. I have come across his work before, and it has always appealed to me. It feels like it has grown from the very roots of trees, and somehow, magically, has been turned into metal. Seeing the exhibit was an unexpected bonus.
We went to the basilica in the first place because I wanted to see the thing I had most looked forward to on our entire Italy trip: Michelangelo’s secret room, where he hid for two months while in fear for his life. That visit definitely did not disappoint. You can read all about it in my earlier blog post.
Due to my laser focus on the hidden room, I must admit we did not enter the basilica itself, and from the looks of it, it is quite beautiful on the inside. Other things we missed seeing in this large monastic complex were the Old Sacristy with its sculptures by Donatello, and the Laurentian Library by Michelangelo. (That last one, in particular, kind of smarts, because, you know, Michelangelo.)
These oversights are all due to a lack of time and not enough research on my part. This is why I tend to do so much research before a trip. Because kicking myself for the rest of my life over the things I came so close to seeing but will never get to see is bound to leave a mark.
Anyway… Instead, we went straight for the Sagrestia Nuova, the New Sacristy, also known as the Medici Chapel. It is also designed by Michelangelo, and the hidden room lies beneath it. Work had begun to add this chapel on to the basilica in 1520, and it was finally completed in 1533.
While awaiting our reserved time for the hidden room visit, we looked at some reliquaries that were on display. This was Dear Husband’s first trip to Europe, and Italy in particular, so he was not yet used to seeing body parts behind glass being venerated. (Your first time is always a shock. But hey, the ornate containers were pretty.)
After seeing the hidden room, we got to take a closer look at the Sagrestia Nuova, the chapel that Michelangelo was building for the very Medici that he felt the need to hide from for two months. (Yeah, I know. Crazy. Read the other post.)
The chapel has a few Medici tombs and quite a few Michelangelo sculptures. Some are of the Medicis themselves, and others are that of night, day, dusk, and dawn. Those, in particular, include some really interesting design elements.
You can also see, behind plexiglass, some plans used by the workers who constructed the chapel. It includes line drawings with placements of the sculptures, as well as math notes. It’s kind of interesting to see how much thought they put into the job. Even though it’s obvious that people in the middle ages were capable of exquisite craftmanship, we tend to believe that they lacked our intelligence since they were lagging in the realms of science and medicine. These plans, and their results, suggest otherwise.
Originally, there were some much more elaborate plans for the altar in this chapel, which included semi-precious stones and rock crystal, but it was never completed. Work had begun to create an altar in the 20th century, but then it was discovered that Hitler was to visit Florence in 1938, and knowing his reputation for confiscating anything of value, instead they erected the present temporary altar made of painted wood and inlaid panels that has been there ever since.
There are some creepy “trophies of arms” sculptures in the hallway that were begun by Michelangelo. They were originally intended to go over tombs of two people to extoll their military glory, but then the project was downsized. Works of this type always seem to include a disembodied torso with either a spear or something alien growing out of it. It’s an Ancient Roman thing that I’ll never truly understand, but apparently Michelangelo wanted to pay homage to the old tradition.
Next, we went into the Cappella dei Principi (The Chapel of Princes). I almost felt guilty, because this one, in my opinion, is much more awe-inspiring than Michelangelo’s was. It’s kind of an unfair comparison, though. This one had a much larger budget to work with, and was conceived of 40 years after Michelangelo had died. It was not principally completed until 1640, and kept being improved upon until 1962.
The Chapel of the Princes had a lot more space to work with as well. Its dome reaches a height of 197 feet, which towers over the Sagrestia Nuova’s mere 39 feet. The bigger chapel was also about 8000 square feet, double the size of the Sagrestia Nuova. When you have more money and space to play with, it’s not at all surprising you can come up with a more stunning result. (I can’t help but defend Michelangelo. He’s my guy.)
It contains 6 sarcophagi of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany (All from the Medici family, of course.) These sarcophagi are made of porphyry, which is a luxurious purple stone. They are topped with bronze statues. The sarcophagi are actually empty. The remains of the Grand Dukes and 44 other family members are actually in rooms in the floor of the underlying crypt.
There are mosaics of semi-precious stones such as mother of pearl, lapis lazuli, and coral throughout the chapel, and behind the altar is a small room full of precious religious relics. Around the Chapel are the 16 coats of arms of the Tuscan cities under Medici control. (Somehow I managed to miss one. Sorry about that.)
The paintings in the dome are by Pietro Benvenuti. Clockwise from the top of this photo are of the Crucifxion, the Nativity, the Sacrifice of Noah, the Death of Abel, All, the Creation, the Last Judgment, and the Resurrection. The altar is made primarily of alabaster, marble and bronze, but just as with the altar in the Sagrestia Nuova, many of the panels were replaced with inlaid wood when it was discovered that Hitler was on his way.
(An interesting side note: According to this article, which includes some really chilling photographs, it seems that Hitler enjoyed his stay in Florence very much, although he stayed only one day and did not step foot in either chapel. And I was shocked to discover that Dear Husband and I stood in these chapels exactly 88 years and 1 day after that infamous visit.)
The Medici intended to have a substantial piece of the holy sepulchre placed in the middle of the chapel floor, but they failed in their various attempts to buy or steal it from Jerusalem. There was, of course, quite the public outcry about these attempts. You’ve got to hand it to the Medici. They were the poster children for arrogance. I’m glad they didn’t get their way, for once, or we probably wouldn’t have had this chapel all to ourselves.
I’ll leave you with a photo layout of the photosphere that DH took of the Chapel of the Princes. I know that it’s pretty obvious that it goes full circle, but I felt the need to emphasize that, because I appear in it twice. No, I’m not a twin. One of me is plenty.
If you have the good fortune to find yourself in Florence, I highly recommend this basilica, with all its chapels, libraries, and hidden rooms. Guidebooks don’t seem to give them the credit they deserve, but that’s in your favor, as they will most likely be less crowded than other venues in Florence. Make time for them. You’ll come away feeling that it was time well-spent.
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