Façade

The façade was built to a design by Don Giovanni de’ Medici, the natural son of Duke Cosimo, between 1593 and 1596 and executed in white Carrara marble. It is organised into two superimposed orders separated by a projecting cornice, with the lower order characterised by columns flanked by pilasters set on tall plinths and surmounted by Corinthian capitals, while the upper order features single pilasters with composite capitals.

The paired columns and pilasters of the lower order frame, on either side, panels of black Portovenere marble enclosing octagonal slabs of red mischio, while at the centre stands an elegant portal surmounted by a cartouche bearing the motto ‘IN HOC SIGNO VINCES’ and by a triangular pediment broken by the cross of Saint Stephen; along the median cornice runs the inscription commemorating the construction of the façade commissioned by Ferdinando I de’ Medici, third Grand Duke of Tuscany, together with the date of its completion: ‘FERDINANDVS: ‘FERDINANDVS MED(iceus) FIL(ius) M(agnus) D(ux) ETR(uriae) III PARIETEM SECTO MARMORE OPERVIT AN(no) SAL(utis) CIƆ IƆ XCVI’.

Mediating between the two orders is the large curvilinear pediment, which encloses a garland surrounding an animal protome, probably the Capricorn—an astrological symbol favoured by Duke Cosimo de’ Medici, who promoted of the construction of the church. In contrast to the horizontal articulation of the masonry, the central axis is recessed and encompasses the portal area together with an upper band of black Portovenere marble bearing the Medici–Stephanian coat of arms and a smaller pediment. The latter is surmounted by the cross of the Order of Saint Stephen and encloses a second cross on its front face, above which a laurel wreath is set over crossed palms.

The pilasters of the upper order frame further bands of black Portovenere marble, incorporating rectangular windows flanked by draped motifs and surmounted by shields of the Order of Saint Stephen. Along the upper cornice runs the dedicatory inscription to Cosimo I, recording the year in which the load-bearing structure of the church was completed, 1566: ‘COSMUS MED(iceus) MAGN(us) DVX ETRVR(iae) I A FVNDAMENTIS EREX(it) AN(no) SAL(utis) CIƆ IƆ LXVI’. The draped elements beside the windows, the volutes flanking the upper pediment, and the elaborate Medici–Stephanian coat of arms—here combined with a cherub and the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, and surrounded by drapery and trophies—derive from the formal idiom of Bernardo Buontalenti, with whom Giovanni had trained, while the coloured marble revetments may draw inspiration from Giorgio Vasari’s initial project. Giovanni de’ Medici was assisted by Alessandro Pieroni, and the craftsmen involved included the stonemasons and carvers from Rignano: Francesco di Niccolò Balsimelli, Giovanni di Gismondo Gargiolli, and Domenico di Michelangelo Gargiolli.

The lateral wings, of late seventeenth-century construction, were clad to a design by Luigi Pera during the Fascist period, as recorded by the inscription placed there: ‘RITE CONFIRMATIS AVSPICIIS FELICIORE AEVO HVIVS TEMPLI FACIES ALIS AVCTA A(nno) D(omini) MCM XXXIV’.