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Brunelleschi's last uncompleted work The Church of Santo Spirito
[Susan Glasspool]
The present Church was designed and started between 1428 and 1444 by the great architect Filippo Brunelleschi, two years before his death, and completed by his students. Antonio Manetti first took over direction of the building, followed by Salvi D’Andrea, who misunderstood Brunelleschi’s designs for the facade and changed it by putting in three doors instead of the four that were planned to correspond with the chapels in the apse.
The starkly imposing facade with its characteristic orillons and elegant bell tower (Baccio d’Agnolo), closes off one end of the square in one of the most picturesque areas of the Oltrarno. Its elegant bell tower, designed by Baccio d’Agnolo (1503-17), marks an essential part in the Florentine landscape.
The three naves in the interior, on a Latin cross, are divided by elegant Corinthian columns, the apse-shaped chapels around the perimeter creating the typical chiaroscuro effect of Brunelleschi’s late style.
The large cupola rises at the crossing between the transept and the main aisle. The octagonal Sacristy, designed by Giuliano da Sangallo and Simone del Pollaiolo, known as Cronaca, contains the ‘Crucifix’ in wood, a youthful work by Michelangelo, and other works of art..
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