Una reggia nel convento: gli appartamenti papali di Santa Maria Novella nel Quattrocento

Abstract

At the end of the 14th century, the convent of Santa Maria Novella in Florence was undergoing an economic crisis, but with Leonardo Dati, Master of the Dominican Order between 1414 and 1425, its fortunes took a positive turn. Renewed ties with the Florentine Republic transformed the convent into a prestigious site of hospitality, capable of receiving and accommodating illustrious figures. Its spaces were reshaped, turning Santa Maria Novella into one of the main political and cultural stages of the city, as it served repeatedly as the residence of the papal court in Florence between 1419 and 1515.

Today, only the perimeter walls of the papal apartments remain. Its original splendour, to which major artists such as Lorenzo Ghiberti, Donatello, and Nanni di Banco contributed, is no longer visible today. The palace hosted four popes, emperors, kings, and was the exclusive seat of the Council of Florence. This paper presents little-known documents and an extraordinary unpublished plan from the mid-fifteenth century, which make it possible to reconstruct the creation of the apartments and the transformation of the convent around the Chiostro Grande, thus shedding new light on a grand yet ephemeral moment in the history of Santa Maria Novella and the city as a whole.