FLORENCE - After the restorations, the room with the excavations of the Church of San Pier Scheraggio opens to the public at the Uffizi, a place of worship pertaining to the Gallery on the ground floor which in the 16th century was incorporated into the Vasari complex and which now for the feast of San Francesco d ' Assisi (death occurred on 3 October 1226) is part of the ordinary visit itinerary.
You can "walk" on the excavations on a crystal floor, and admire a fresco of the '300 which depicts the saint and is the work of an unknown artist.
The homage to St. Francis continues on the museum's website with a virtual exhibition coordinated by Monica Alderotti and dedicated to the crucial moments in the saint's life, with an introduction by the Guardian of the Sanctuary of La Verna, Father Francesco Brasa.
The online hypervision consists of 20 high-definition images of works from the Gallerie collection, with explanations and comments, including masterpieces by Andrea del Sarto, Jacopo Ligozzi, Federico Barocci, El Greco, Ludovico Cigoli, Cristofano Allori.
The director of the Uffizi, Eike Schmidt, explains: "The opening to the public of San Pier Scheraggio these days is an event full of significance, if you think about the role of civic space that the church had in medieval times. And it is important that after almost two decades the fresco with St. Francis, an ancient image of the national saint, in a state institution such as the Uffizi, becomes visible to all. To celebrate the feast of the saint in Assisi, we also dedicate a beautiful virtual exhibition to him, which can be visited online all over the world: it is an opportunity to rethink the universal value of his message of love for creation, through the magnificent works of our collections ".
The restored spaces date back to the 11th century AD: it was at this time, therefore even before the Palazzo della Signoria, that the Romanesque church of San Pier Scheraggio was built, a real religious and civil reference point of medieval Florence.
It is certain that Dante Alighieri himself frequented this place as councilor of the town assembly that met here;
and it is also historically documented that, in this role, he spoke to you publicly in the year 1300. A little less than three centuries later the entire church was incorporated into the Uffizi complex.
With regard to the restoration, a new set-up and the enhancement of the lighting (double intervention by the architect Antonio Godoli), recovers and updates the usability of these spaces, already subject to restoration in the 1930s.
The ancient vestiges of one of the three naves of the building are made visible under the transparent crystal flooring, on which museum visitors can walk to admire the remains of the medieval architecture of San Pier Scheraggio up close (together with those of a crypt and a cloister built later, in the 15th century).