Santo Spirito

Back in October of 2017, my better half and I took a trip to Italy for a little better than a week. A handful of days in Rome followed by a week in Florence was just what the doctor ordered and turned out to be one of the most powerfully transformational moments of our lives. 

This image is a sketch I did on our final day in Florence. The AirBnB we stayed at had only one window in the entire apartment. This was our view from our lone window in the bedroom. Santo Spirito is just across the Arno via the Ponte Santa Trinita (the next bridge north of the renowned Ponte Vecchio) and is the name of this basilica, the attached convent and abbey, and the piazza it sits upon. 

The Basilica di Santo Spirito is Brunelleschi's plain-fronted church from the 1400's and houses, among other treasures, one of Michelangelo's earliest works, a wooden crucifix that, at a glance, you'd likely never attribute to the master. During his early years, he performed anatomical studies of the corpses that were released from the abbey at this church. In return, he carved an incredible wooden crucifix which occupies a gallery of its own in this quintessential renaissance church. 

These days, the basilica is visited primarily by locals for services, so when we finally decided to explore the oddly undecorated church in our square, we were blown away by the church and its collections, as well as having the place largely to ourselves. The main source of traffic for this church is in fact students. At all hours of the day and night, students and travelers gather on the ample steps of this church to socialize, drink, eat (seriously, the best pizza I've ever had anywhere is served out of a 20' x 20' corner shop a block and a half from here) and generally enjoy the square. 

If you find yourself in Florence, make it a point to visit Piazza di Santo Spirito, grab a pie from Gusta Pizza (be prepared to wait a little - there's always a line out the door!), pick up a craft beer from the first trattoria on the square (can't remember the name, but look for a stylized version of the basilica on the label - the beer is brewed right in the neighborhood!), and then grab a step in front of Santo Spirito. Trust me, it's worth it. 

Of course, part of me deeply regrets tearing this page out of my sketchbook to leave as a thank-you for our host, Allessandro. But then I pull up the message I got from him the day after we left, gushing about it, so I guess it was a page well-spent!