Address: Via della Badia dei Roccettini - Fiesole
The Badia Fiesolana stands on the site of the old cathedral of
Fiesole dedicated to Saint Peter, on the step road that climbs to
San Domenico from the Ponte alla Badia on
the Via Faentina.
The Camaldoli friars replaced the original church with one of
which the Romanesque
facade decorated in dark
green and white marble like San Miniato al Monte remains. The
monastery (12th cent.) passed to the Benedictine order which kept
it until 1439 when it was transferred to the Augustinian canons
of the congregation of San Frediano of Lucca and then finally to
the Scolopi.
From the middle of the 15th century on, thanks to the munificence
and desire of Cosimo the Elder, the church and much of the
complex were renewed. The religious building is now an example of
early Renaissance architecture. It is a Latin cross plan, with
barrel vaulting and side chapels. The whitewashed surfaces are
clearly articulated by molding in pietra serena. Cosimo himself
lived in the
Convent, which has an elegant
Cloister.
He had quarters built for himself and collected rare codexes
which after the suppression of the goods of the church in 1778,
passed the Biblioteca Laurenziana. It must also be recalled that
in 1753 the Accademia dei Georgofili was institued here, the
first of an agrarian nature in Europe.
