The church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence overlooks the square of Piazza del Carmine. It is famous for hosting the frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel, a fundamental work of Renaissance art, decorated by Masaccio and Masolino and later completed by Filippino Lippi.
The church dedicated to Beata Vergine del Carmelo was built in 1268 as part of a Carmelitano convent. The complex was expanded for the first time in 1328, when the city granted the monks the use of land adjacent to the fifth circle of walls, and then in 1464, with the addition of chapter room and refectory. The work was completed in 1476.
It was mainly devastated by fire of 1771 that almost completely destroyed the interior and required a complete redesign, which was commissioned to architects Giuseppe Ruggieri, author of the project , and Giulio Mannaioni. Was completed, a part of the facade, between 1775 and 1782.
The fire had fortunately not invested the old sacristy, nor the Corsini chapel, nor, fortunately, the Brancacci Chapel.
Cappella Brancacci
Holds the cycle of frescoes by Masaccio and Masolino, referred to as the starting point of the new Renaissance style in painting. Completed by Filippino Lippi, was studied and admired by generations of the greatest Florentine artists: Michelangelo for example, performed a few copies of the parts painted by Masaccio.
Cappella Corsini
The Corsini family in 1675 had built in a chapel dedicated to the Holy Family of St. Andrew Corsini, Bishop of Fiesole. Was called the architect Pier Francesco Silvani, who chose a baroque style a the time *trendy*in Rome, inaugurating this style in Florence. The small dome was frescoed by Luca Giordano in 1682 with the Glory of St. Andrew Corsini and decorated with stucco Foggini Giovan Battista.