In Florence, off a busy side street near the church of the Santissima Annunziata there is a quiet slice of heaven. After ringing a door bell a big wooden door opens and we are welcomed inside the Convent of Santa Maria degli Angeli by a nun dressed in her typical black and white dress.
So typical
of buildings in Italy
inside layers and layers of history exist. The building housed the Convent of
S. Maria degli Angeli. Six Florentine women bought a house here in 1507 on this
street. They dedicated their life to religion and helping the poor. As more and
more women joined the group they took on the veil and became an official order
of cloistered nuns underneath the Domenican rule. In the 18th
century the space was transformed into a Conservatory and a ‘school for wealthy
families’. After monastic changes in the first part of the 19th
century the convent changed again, however the school remained. A portion of
the building is still a school today. The nuns (now of a different order) also offer
a religious pension to students and tourists.
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| (photo: Conservatorio) |
So typical
of monastic complexes there is an inner cloister dotted with plants and bushes,
which brings stillness, quiet, and calm from the busy bus-lined road outside.
At some point in time the spaces between the columns were glassed in.
From a
small door we enter a small chapel which has been recently restored by private
sponsors. The walls are decorated with 17th century frescoes. We
walk by the nuns to go to a special rooms upstairs. They are saying the rosary
together with a priest on television!
One can
stay here- no television, simple rooms and an atmosphere of quiet reflection.
In the dining room (the ancient refrectory) you can eat your dinner under a 17th
century Last Supper depicted by Matteo Rosselli. www.conservatorioagneli.it.
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| Angelica observing fresco |
- Posted
by Elizabeth
(photos Elizabeth unless otherwise indicated)
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