Friday, September 18, 2015

Field Trip: Chiostro dello Scalzo

The last two weeks I spent walking through Florence and its surrounding neighborhoods. The Chiostro dello Scalzo was a highlight. Built by the Compagnia dei disciplinati di San Giovanni Battista, a confraternity, the cloister (1478) was originally attached to a chapel space.
In inclement weather, the laymen covered the central opening with a straw mat.

Architect Pietro Paolo Giovannozzi modified the interior in the early eighteenth century, adding a groin-vaulted ceiling, broken pediments over doorways and the doubled columns visible in the image above.

Images above:  Chiostro dello Scalzo, Florence, Italy. September 2015. K. Rylance.

2 comments:

Jeff Rosenberg said...

Are those skulls and crossbones on the pedestals?

Keli Rylance said...

Yes. They are also painted in fresco in the lunettes. The space kind of looks like an ossuary.