Church of s.s crocifisso

CHURCH OF SANTISSIMO CROCIFISSO

The Holy Cross Church is situated on a gentle slope opposite the Town Hall and is accessed by a grand staircase. The project is attributed to one of the most active Florentine architects of the late Baroque. This church was built for the storage of a thirteenth-century cross, as the inhabitants of San Miniato attributed to it the protection from the plague in 1631. Outside the church is very simple, the interior walls are painted with beautiful frescoes.

The crucifix cannot be seen because it is enclosed in a casket next to the figure of the risen Christ, surrounded by a golden frame. Up to 200 years ago this door opened with two keys, one held by the Bishop and the other by the Mayor because the

management of the Crucifix was a very important thing for the city. The painting, which is behind the crucifix is by Francesco Lanfranchi, who has also created the Oratory boards of Loretino. From an architectural and pictorial point of view the church is very special because there isn’t the classical nave with columns at the bottom.It has Greek cross ( arms of the same length) while Catholic churches have Latin cross. In fact it is more a sanctuary than a church, and this is why the Greek cross plan. Bishop Francesco Maria Poggi, an important figure in Florence, was appointed bishop of San Miniato taking with him some great people including the architect Antonio Maria Ferri, architect and engineer of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. In fact he needed a very good engineer because this church is located on the slope of the hill and then they had to solve a lot of static problems. As for the painting, a single painter, Anton Domenico Bamberini, realized the painting cycle. The interior style is baroque with its typical treasure of paintings. There are real paintings and paintings through which he wanted to convey the idea that there was a marble relief: in monochrome (black and white) are represented the scenes of earthly life, color the afterlife, the true Christian life. Above it is shown the intake of Christ in Heaven. In the vaults of the 4 arms of the cross are the allegorical figures representing the virtues; near the windows there are other figures that represent the minor prophets. In the spandrels of the dome, however, we have the major Prophets and the Evangelists: John with the eagle, Matthew with the angel who holds the foot on a lot of money because before his vocation he was a merchant, Mark with the lion, Luke with the Ox.

The Crucifix Opera played a very important role because many people when they made a will, left all their properties to the Crucifix. For example, all those who at that time did a job that required to 'handle money' were considered sinners and therefore leaving everything to the Crucifix they hoped to save themselves from the sins committed in life.