THE CONVENT OF SAN DOMENICO

Discover Fiesole

The Convent of San Domenico owes its name to the town where it is located, a hamlet of Fiesole halfway between Florence and Fiesole. The Convent was founded in 1405-1406 as a monastery for reform at the behest of Giovanni Dominici and the bishop of Fiesole Jacopo Altoviti, both friars of S. Maria Novella.

The religious complex, also known as " Conventino ", to underline its small size compared to the Convent of Santa Maria Novella (of which he was a direct descendant), was completed in 1435 and thus became the second Dominican convent in the Florence area, before the Convent San Marco in Florence. It was an important cultural center and training for young friars, there were also set up studies that rilasciavano the title of lector.

The Convent of San Domenico is recognized as a masterpiece of the late Middle Ages and the beginning of the beautiful Florentine Humanism, is known for hosting the Brother Antoninus of Florence , (future archbishop of Florence then proclaimed a saint), Vittorio Ricci Apostolic Prefect of Formosa and southern China (who revealed to the West the discovery of the Australian mainland) and the painter Giovanni da Fiesole known as Beato Angelico . Him know that in 1420 he painted on the bow entrance of the small church, Our Lady of Blessing (whose 1960 restoration has returned the sinopia), two frescoes (a large Crucifixion is now in the Museum of St. Petersburg dell''Ermitage ), the "Triptych," also called "Pala of San Domenico di Fiesole" and two other tables scattered in the era of the Napoleonic suppressions and now preserved in the Louvre in Paris and the national museum of the Prado in Madrid.

The history of San Domenico continues with the construction of the Church in the first half of the 400 and extension work on the cloister side facing Florence, which thanks to the Salviati family permitted the beginning of the fifteenth century building that which sustained their spending, a new building, which will be located in the Library.

In 1588, thanks to the donation of the Genoese Jeronimo Brignole following the decision to become a monk, was erected novitiate New, distributed on 3 floors (now home to a European University Institute section). In 1635, to a design by Matthew Nigetti, it was built the bell tower and the porch.

For information and visits contact the Reception.