Long before becoming the cradle of the Renaissance, Florence preserved important remains from the Roman and Early Christian periods: archaeological excavations carried out beneath Piazza della Signoria and the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore have brought to light extraordinary discoveries, including the remains of a Roman theatre dating from the 1st–2nd centuries AD and the ancient episcopal complex of Santa Reparata.
We can locate the earliest settlement of Florence along the Arno River, where the Etruscans established a crossing at one of the river’s narrowest points. This was probably a wooden footbridge, which rested on stone piers. The ford stood not far from today’s Ponte Vecchio and connected the city of Vipsul, the ancient Fiesole with its hills, which were healthier than the plain, to the rest of Etruria. The Etruscan toponym of Florence is unknown. Instead, the sources record the Latin name Florentia. Among the echoes of history, such a good omen found fulfillment: may you be prosperous forever!
The Roman origins of Florence
When the Romans began their expansion towards the Po Valley, they made the Via Cassia Nova cross the ancient ford. Hence, they decided to establish a colony in Florentia in order to control the surrounding plain. The area, which was then marshy, first required drainage works, possibly ordered by Julius Caesar. According to tradition, in 59 BC a settlement was founded there as a reward for military veterans. The Liber Coloniarum refers to a lex Iulia agris limitandis metiundis, commissioned by Caesar, by which he expressed his intention to establish by the Arno River a new colony1. The settlement grew rapidly and, in honor of its military origins, the Romans dedicated it to the god Mars.
Hence, the colony followed the standard Roman orthogonal layout. In fact, the decumanus maximus ran from east to west, the cardo maximus from north to south. Near present-day Piazza della Repubblica the two main axes intersected where there was the city forum. Archaeological excavations carried out in the middle of the 20th century have uncovered the city’s earliest brick defensive walls. It had numerous fortified towers, which enclosed the quadrangular core of the city and opened to four entrance gates. During Hadrian’s reign, the construction of buildings typical of Roman city life began: baths, aqueduct, theatre, and amphitheatre.
Underground Florence
Although Florentia was a crucial outpost for the Romans, visible traces of its past is rather scarce today. The rapid Medieval expansion of the city led to the almost total loss of old buildings, while preserving the original urban planning layout.
The few surviving architectural remains, which are still under archaeological investigation, are known as “Underground Florence”. These include the remains of the ancient theatre (1st–2nd century AD), discovered beneath Piazza della Signoria about four metres below ground.
The sacred axis: the church complex of Santa Reparata and the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Florence
Saint Ambrose, bishop of Milan, visited Florence in 393 to consecrate the Basilica of San Lorenzo. This is the event that, more than any other, marks the beginning of Florence’s early Christian era. The city already venerated its martyrs, such as Miniatus, whose beheading took place during the persecution of Decius (250). However, the arrival of Ambrose marked the beginning of a great architectural phase.
Archaeological evidence confirms the presence of a cult center, starting in the early Christian age, in the area where Santa Maria del Fiore stands today. From Late Antiquity onward, a complex of buildings gradually developed north of the Roman walls, along a sacred axis, on the site now occupied by Santa Maria del Fiore. By the 13th century the axis included the cathedral of Santa Reparata, the Baptistery of San Giovanni, the bishop’s palace and the Hospital of San Giovanni Evangelista. The spatial arrangement of the area was certainly less monumental than it is today. Thus, while the Baptistery has survived over time, only a few traces remain of Santa Reparata in Florence. However, in 1296 the ancient church was demolished to make way for Santa Maria del Fiore.
The Cathedral of Santa Reparata in Florence
Excavations conducted by Guido Morozzi since 1965, and completed by Franklin Toker2, have confirmed the existence of Santa Reparata under Santa Maria del Fiore. The architectural remains made it possible to ascertain its early Christian origins and the evolution of the building over the centuries through different construction phases.
It is possible that the church already existed in the fifth century, but its dating remains a matter of debate. Some historians point to the 6th century3. According to tradition, although not supported by unequivocal historical sources, its foundation dates back to the years following the invasion of the plain of Florentia by Radagaisus’s Ostrogoths and Heruli at the end of AD 4054. During the Battle of Fiesole, Stilicho’s Roman armies defeated the Barbarians. Thus, it is possible that this event sparked a period of renewal for the city. First of all, a new cathedral arose, also as an expression of gratitude for having escaped the danger. The reason for its dedication to Saint Reparata remains a matter of debate.
In fact, the liturgical calendar commemorates the saint on 8 October. Nonetheless, the battle against Radagaiso took place in August. Probably, the original dedication of the building was for the Savior, as common in early Christian times. Only in the 10th century did the cathedral’s dedication change to Santa Reparata5, as in nearby Lucca which held the relics of the martyr of Caesarea.
First church
The dating of the oldest archaeological remains, in the crypt of Santa Maria del Fiore, provides a plausible framework for the origins of Santa Reparata. The floor of the church was built over some earlier Roman buildings. We have evidence of this by the discovery of coins, including those of Emperor Honorius (395-423). In addition, a glass chalice, dating no later than the 7th century, was found in a reused tomb. Therefore, the building most likely dates back to the 5th or 6th century6.
Excavations have shown that the early Christian cathedral of Santa Reparata had a nave and two aisles with fourteen pairs of columns, a semicircular apse, and a large mosaic floor. The building had an overall length of about 60 meters. This estimate still needs to be verified since the first bays of Santa Reparata have not yet been excavated. They are located under the churchyard and the access staircase to Santa Maria del Fiore. Some mosaic portions are still well preserved. The surviving sections display a rich early Christian (the peacock, the chalice) and Roman-imperial (Solomon’s knot) symbolism.
The later building phases of the Cathedral of Santa Reparata in Florence
A first reconstruction of Santa Reparata took place during the Carolingian-Ottonian period. Excavations have revealed an extensive reorganization of spaces, while maintaining the pre-existing perimeter definition. In particular, the columns were replaced with seven pairs of pillars and the crypt was added. Here the remains of Saint Zanobi were moved from the nearby Basilica of San Lorenzo, perhaps during the episcopate of Bishop Andrew (869-898). The two bell towers were added in the 10th century and further works were undertaken in preparation for the Council of Florence in 1055. To this period dates the portico, attached to the façade. Archaeologists have discovered its foundations in the space in front of the churchyard of Santa Maria del Fiore.
Furthermore, Santa Reparata houses the tomb of Filippo Brunelleschi. The burials of Giotto, Arnolfo di Cambio and Nicola Pisano are also believed to rest there, although scholars have not yet found their tombs.
Florence and the Baptistery of San Giovanni
The origins of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, now just a few meters from the facade of Santa Maria del Fiore, remain the subject of scholarly debate.
Until 1500, following Giovanni Villani’s (1280-1348) Nuova Cronica, the Baptistery was considered an ancient temple of Mars, later transformed into a Christian place of worship during the first centuries. According to the Florentine chronicler, this suggestion derived from a statuette of the god on horseback which supposedly stood atop the temple. Supernatural powers were attributed to the sculpture, made of marble and later placed near Ponte Vecchio. Even before Villani, it was Dante who mentioned it in the Comedy:
“But it behoved the mutilated stone
Dante Alighieri, Paradiso, XVI, 145-147
Which guards the bridge, that Florence should provide
A victim in her latest hour of peace”.
Modern scholars have questioned this tradition. The statuette, believed to represent Mars, was lost during the flood of Florence in 1333. However, excavations carried out in the Baptistery area did not reveal the foundations of a temple, but of pre-existing first-century Roman dwellings.
A historiographical misunderstanding
A Notitia iudicati of 897, according to which the imperial envoy Adalbert exercised judicial functions “in atrio contra ecclesia sancti Iohanni Battiste, domus“, that is, in front of the Basilica of Saint John the Baptist, long led scholars to believe that the Baptistery was already in existence in the ninth century. Tradition, indeed, held that it had been consecrated for worship immediately after the expulsion of the Ostrogoths from Florence in AD 405. However, excavations carried out in the area have failed to uncover any Early Christian remains. The mistaken tradition concerning the origins of the Baptistery may therefore have arisen from the fact that, in ecclesiastical documents, the Florentines referred to the cathedral both by the title of Santa Reparata and by that of San Giovanni, attesting to a dual dedication rather than to the existence of two separate buildings7.
Consequently, the Notitia iudicati referred to the cathedral, and the same interpretation applies to the consecration of 6 November 1059, which took place in the presence of Pope Nicholas II.
The Medieval Origin
The origins of the Florentine Baptistery are therefore medieval. The Libri di Calimala record that in 1128 a baptismal font was transferred from the Cathedral of Santa Reparata to San Giovanni, a fact that may indicate the date of the building’s construction. The structure was conceived from the outset for its sacramental function, as its octagonal form reveals. In Christian tradition, the eighth day symbolises eternal life, the time of humanity reborn through baptism. The Baptistery was clad in white Carrara marble and green serpentine stone from Prato. The addition of the lantern, commissioned by the Arte di Calimala in 1150, marked the completion of the works.
The Baptistery and the beginnings of the Renaissance
The Baptistery is accessible through three bronze doors, carved at different times between 1329 and 1452. They mark a boundary, a limen in a spatial sense, but also a moment of historical and artistic passage. Andrea Pisano created the South doors, with stories of the Baptist (1329-1336), in the context of a solid Gothic tradition. Conversely, the competition for the North doors (1401) marked the beginnings of the Renaissance. Different artists participated in the competition, including Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi. A bronze quatrefoil panel, with the theme of the Sacrifice of Isaac, decided the outcome of the competition. Ghiberti conceived his work in stylistic continuity with Pisano’s existing door. Instead, Brunelleschi proposed a new style, with references to classical art. His relief introduced a dynamism and expressive force never seen before.
Some historians argue that the competition ended in a tie between Lorenzo Ghiberti and Brunelleschi, but the latter refused to work with his colleague. Ghiberti made the North doors between 1403 and 1424, with the Stories of the New Testament, in the Late Gothic style. The following year he began working on the East doors of the Baptistery, known as the Gates of Paradise. However, the seeds of the Renaissance had already been sown, and from Florence it would eventually spread throughout Europe.
Samuele Corrente Naso
Notes
- E. J. Shepherd, L’impianto produttivo del Vingone e la costruzione di Florentia, Rassegna di Archeologia 22B/2006. ↩︎
- G. Morozzi, F. Toker, J. Herrmann, Santa Reparata. L’antica cattedrale fiorentina. I risultati dello scavo condotto dal 1965 al 1974, Firenze 1974. ↩︎
- Herrmann, Morozzi e Farioli, Verdon propendono per il V secolo; Toker e Lopes Pegna per il VI. R. Chellini, La basilica di Santa Reparata a Firenze: dati acquisiti e problemi irrisolti. In T. Verdon, Firenze prima di Arnolfo, retroterra di grandezza, Atti del ciclo di conferenze, Firenze, 14 gennaio 2014-24 marzo 2015, Mandragora. ↩︎
- P. J. Heather, La caduta dell’impero romano: una nuova storia, Garzanti, 2006. ↩︎
- G. Tigler, Il Battistero e il Pantheon. In T. Verdon, Firenze prima di Arnolfo, retroterra di grandezza, Atti del ciclo di conferenze, Firenze, 14 gennaio 2014-24 marzo 2015, Mandragora. ↩︎
- Alberto Busignani e Raffaello Bencini, Le chiese di Firenze. 4. Quartiere di S. Giovanni, Le Lettere, Firenze 1988. ↩︎
- G. Tigler, Il Battistero e il Pantheon. ↩︎
