CHIESA SANTA MARIA DEL CARMINE, CAPPELLA BRANCACCI
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Church built in 1268 and home to the Cappella Brancacci with its superb frescoes.
The Romanesque-Gothic church of Santa Maria del Carmine was built in 1268 by a group of friars from Pisa. Almost completely destroyed by fire in 1771, it was completely rebuilt in the 18th century. As is often the case in Florence, the façade was never completed. The interior is a single-nave Latin cross, with trompe-l'œil architectural perspectives on the vaulting painted by Domenico Stagi. At the entrance to the western arm of the transept is the Corsini chapel, built by Pier Francesco Soldini in the late 17th century and containing frescoes by Masaccio (1401-1428).
The church of Santa Maria del Carmine houses a second chapel, the cappella Brancacci, which was miraculously spared by the fire, and with it the famous cycle of frescoes depicting Stories from the Life of St. Peter and Original Sin (restored in 1984, certain aspects of the frescoes had been lost over the centuries). Begun by Masolino da Panicale from 1424 to 1425, continued by Masaccio from 1425 to 1428, and later completed by Filippino Lippi from 1481 to 1485, these frescoes are a masterpiece of Italian painting. The most interesting are those attributed to Masaccio, a brilliant artist and heir to Giotto, who marked the beginning of Florentine Renaissance painting, of which he would become the master. The Brancacci Chapel is a little gem, often overlooked by tourists.
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