The church and square of San Lorenzo
You can reach the square and the church of San Lorenzo from the Duomo (cathedral) by taking Borgo San Lorenzo to the square of the same name.
Address: Piazza San Lorenzo
Opening hours: Monday to Saturday, 10:00–17:30. Closed on Sunday. The ticket office closes 60 minutes before closing.
Admission: €9 (basilica and Treasury museum).
The statue of John of the Black Bands dominates the square, where there is a small colorful market.
The church is said to date from 393 and was rebuilt in 1060. Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici commissioned Brunelleschi to rebuild the church, but for lack of means the work was finished only in 1460, and the facade remains in bare brick.
The very bare interior is the first example of Italian Renaissance architecture. The building does, however, hold a few masterpieces, including the two pulpits by Donatello, whose bronze bas-reliefs depict scenes of the Passion and the Resurrection.
The entrance to the Sagrestia Vecchia is to the left of the high altar. Brunelleschi's plan, a square covered by a hemispherical dome, is innovative for its time. Donatello carried out all of its decoration: the four tondi, two meters in diameter, the friezes and the reliefs of the door tympanums. The fresco of the celestial vault (constellation and the path of the sun) commemorates a date on which specialists still hesitate.
