Today we continue our travel to Tuscany and I'd like to introduce you to a magic and mysterious place: the Basilica of San Miniato al Monte in Florence.
The church is dedicated to Miniato, a Christian of Armenian origin, who was beheaded outside the walls of Florence (in the Porta alla Croce, Piazza Beccaria) for professing his faith.
The legend tells that San Miniato picked up his head and crossed the river Arno and then went up the hill where he was buried and where it is the church dedicated to him.
The Basilica of San Miniato is full of symbolism: the whole structure seems to have been built on the number 5, which is closely related to the golden ratio, through the pentagon and dodecahedron that comes from this. In the symbolism of the numbers, 5 is the number of the sun but also the quintessential symbol of the spiritual and rooted in the human spirit.
The facade of the church is covered in two-tone green and white marble, in the typical Florentine Romanesque style of the eleventh-thirteenth century. On facade stands out of the thirteenth century mosaic depicting Christ enthroned between the Virgin and San Miniato, while on the top of the front is placed a bronze eagle that represents the guild of merchants of the Art of Wool (Art Calimala) that from the thirteenth century had the patronage of the church.
Outside the Church there is the Bishop's Palace, the former summer residence of the bishops of Florence, who became convent, a hospital and a Jesuit house.
Climb up the stairs of the building and you will be delighted at the sight of one of the world's most famous Italian cities: Florence, here presented in all its beauty!
Leisure with me, this is my tourism!
