The Santa Maria Novella Complex includes a series of striking rooms, adjacent to the Basilica, decorated from the 14th century onwards.
Of great impact is the Green Cloister, entirely frescoed by Paolo Uccello (c. 1425) with scenes from the Old Testament, including the episodes of the Universal Flood and Noah's Drunkenness, manifestos of the early Florentine Renaissance. The grandiose Cappellone degli Spagnoli - formerly the Dominican chapter house and then place of worship of the Spanish community following Eleonora di Toledo, wife of the Medici Grand Duke Cosimo I - is entirely decorated with astonishing 14th-century frescoes by Andrea di Bonaiuto; the Chiostro Grande (the largest cloister in the entire city) was frescoed in the second half of the 16th century by a series of Florentine artists (Bernardino Poccetti, Alessandro Allori and others). These two pictorial cycles depict stories of the Dominican Order and episodes from the life of Christ. Next to the Chiostrino dei morti, the ancient cemetery of the complex, is the Cappella degli Strozzi, frescoed by Andrea Orcagna (around 1350).
The Cappella degli Ubriachi and the Refectory (where the original lunettes of the green cloister by Paolo Uccello are preserved) house a collection of sacred art with precious textiles, embroidery, wooden sculptures and goldsmithery.
Museo e Chiostri Monumentali di Santa Maria Novella
Piazza della Stazione, 4, 50123 Firenze FI, Italia
At the entrance, there is an elevator to go downstairs. The Museum is entirely accessible.
Disabled toilets are available inside the Museum.
To enter the Church people with a motor disability have to exit the Museum and access the Church from the entrance in Piazza Santa Maria Novella 18.
MUS.E Association regularly organizes guided tours and workshops in Santa Maria Novella Museum and in the other City Museums of Florence for special audiences with visual or hearing impairments and people with intellectual disorders or senile decay. These activities are designed for the specific needs of any of them, to make the museum experience immersive, relevant and enjoyable for all. For information and booking: info@musefirenze.it; + 39 055 0541450.
