Chiesa di San Salvatore al Monte

San Salvatore al Monte is a Franciscan church on Monte alle Croci, above Florence. Its restrained Renaissance design and hilltop convent preserve a quieter expression of the city's artistic and religious history.

Why it matters

The church was shaped by the contrast between Franciscan simplicity and the ambitions of its Medici patrons. Michelangelo is associated with the affectionate name “bella villanella” for the building. The convent remains a Franciscan house and includes the Centro Missionario Francescano and the Commissariato di Terra Santa della Toscana.

What to notice

The classicising façade has a single portal beneath three aedicule windows. An eagle emblem associated with the Quarratesi family and the Calimala guild appears on the façade and within the church. Inside, a single nave is lined with ten side chapels and divided by paired orders of Doric pilasters in pietra forte; triangular and curved pediments alternate above.

Context and history

The Franciscan presence on Monte alle Croci began in 1417, when Luca di Jacopo del Tosa donated property to the Friars Minor. Castello Quarratesi undertook an enlargement of the complex after the first church was demolished in 1456. Lorenzo il Magnifico later advanced the project, whose design was developed with Giuliano da Sangallo and carried out by Simone del Pollaiolo, known as il Cronaca, around the turn of the sixteenth century. The convent retains a two-storey fifteenth-century cloister.