SAN MINIATO CHURCH

We recommend our guests at Hotel Alessandra visit the picture postcard panoramic terrace of San Miniato.
The San Miniato al Monte church is one of the finest examples of Tuscan Romanesque architecture, built between the 11th and 13th centuries.
The typical facade in white and green marble is decorated by fine arcading and has a 12th-century mosaic of Christ between the Madonna and St. Miniato. In the interior, the altar preserves the bones of St. Miniato. The raised presbytery is of great beauty with its pulpit and and its choir with fine inlaid wooden choir stalls. The Sacristy is frescoed by Spinello Aretino with the sixteen stories of the legend of St. Benedict.
The Chapel of St. James, or "Cardinal of Portugal" is decorated with five splendid roundels by Luca della Robbia. The Chapel of the Crucifix was designed by Michelozzo and decorated by Luca della Robbia.
To the right of the church is the Bishop's Palace, ancient summer residence of the bishops of Florence which then became a convent, a hospital and a Jesuit house. From its front steps you have a nice view on the ochre-colored town. The church figures prominently in Brian de Palma's thriller "Obsession" (1976, with Geneviéve Bujold and Cliff Robertson).