San Miniato al Monte Reviews (Florence, Italy)

My Number One Recommended Site in Florence

St. Augustine, Florida

October 19, 2009

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Best of IgoUgo With beautiful structure, functioning monastery, herbalist shop, historical cemetery, and unparrelled view over the city of Florence, San Miniato al Monte is undoubtedly one of the most amazing churches in Italy. My personal favorite place to visit ...Read more With beautiful structure, functioning monastery, herbalist shop, historical cemetery, and unparrelled view over the city of Florence, San Miniato al Monte is undoubtedly one of the most amazing churches in Italy. My personal favorite place to visit while I lived in Florence, this Romanesque church offers so many great things to the people that walk up the hill to see it. Some say that Michelangelo once declared this church the most beautiful of the city, and it's not hard to see why.

If you opt to take the walk up from the city center, you'll pass through some lovely areas, like the San Niccolo neighborhood, and then up the stairs of the "Way of the Cross". It's a bit of a hike, but not too hard if you take your time. Otherwise there are buses that bring up right up to the property (but then there is a big staircase to the doors of the church). The first thing you'll notice is the view from the courtyard over the entire city of Florence and surrounding hillsides which is breathtaking.

Next, here are unending rows on the periphery of the church of the most interesting burial sites imaginable - from miniature temples devoted to families, to burial drawers stacked a couple floors high, to large memorials and sculptures. One of the more famous graves is that of Carlo Colludi, creator of Pinocchio (you can find a map of the grave-sites near the side entrance by the herb shop). This cemetery covers all sides of the church and monastery and one can get lost amongst the interesting sculptures, inscriptions, and views.

The interior of the church is also very unique and offers many layered views into the history of the structure. Built in 1018, the interior chapel looks unfinished in ways, and even has peeling frescos on the walls. The chapel is divided into 3 overlapping levels, and you can descend into the lower level at the front to witness a mass. Notice the columns in this section, as they were all pillaged from Rome and each one is different. Evening vespers are held here where the monks lead a service in Gregorian chant...and out of this world experience not to miss!!

Before leaving, take a look up at the belltower outside....this was once wrapped in mattresses to protect it from the canonballs being launched from the city center during the battle for the Florentine Republic. Also, be sure to stop in the monks' shop out front to browse the homemade homeopathic essential oils, lavender soaps, herbal candies and unique honey varieties - we brought home a jar of cherry blossom unfiltered honey and it was amazing. (You can also buy postcards and books about the church here too).

• http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/
• Via del Monte alle Croci/Viale Galileo Galilei
• Bus 12, 13
• Open daily 8am - 7:30pm (Easter - Oct), 8am - 1pm, 2:30pm - 6pm (Oct - Easter)
• Admission is free Close

From journal Churches in Florence - The Major Players

#1 Best View in Florence

by airynfaerie

St. Augustine, Florida

October 5, 2009

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Best of IgoUgo While living in Florence, the number one thing we would recommend to visitors is a trip to the church of San Miniato al Monte. There are many reasons to visit this lovely church, but one of the best reasons is because of the unparalleled view of the ...Read more While living in Florence, the number one thing we would recommend to visitors is a trip to the church of San Miniato al Monte. There are many reasons to visit this lovely church, but one of the best reasons is because of the unparalleled view of the city.

From the city center, walk south across the the Arno river over the Ponte alle Grazie, through the San Niccolo neighborhood, and through the oldest surviving city gate. Right outside the gate, walk straight uphill and the, look to the left for a pedistrian only stairway as the street veers to the right. This stairway, made up of over 100 stone steps is a lane called the "Way of the Cross" and has wooden crosses outlining the path with stone inscriptions on each with the cross "stations". When you reach the top of this road, walk to the right for another block and you'll then see the church of San Miniato al Monte to your left.

A beautiful church that was founded in 1013 and was stated to be one of Michelangelo's most favorite churches, San Miniato stands brilliantly up a steep staircase with gardens flanking each side. Catch your breath at the top of the stairs. Get ready. Grab a camera...

then turn around.

The view from the courtyard over the entire city of Florence and surrounding hillsides is breathtaking and we enjoyed it more than the famed Piazzale Michelangelo. There are unending rows on the periphery of the church of the most interesting burial sites imaginable - from miniature temples devoted to families, to burial drawers stacked a couple floors high, to large memorials and sculptures. One of the more famous graves is that of Carlo Colludi, creator of Pinocchio.

There can be an entire post dedicated to the interior and history of this post, but because this post is about the view, we'll stick to the exterior courtyard. Sit on the stone low walls around the gravel drive and relax as you are quiet and take in the one of a kind view. Especially beautiful at sunset, this view gives a sense of peace like no other over the red rooftops of the city and iconic Tuscan cypress trees.

http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/
Open daily 8am-7.30pm (closed 12pm-3pm in winter)
Walkable from city center, or by bus #12 or #13 to Viale Galileo Galilei
Admission is free Close

From journal Best Lookouts and Views Around Florence

A Pleasant Walk and an Amazing View

by Liam Hetherington

Manchester, United Kingdom

August 10, 2008

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Best of IgoUgo I think that if I were to recommend just one thing to any visitor to Florence it would be to pay a visit to the little church of San Miniato al Monte. I care not whether you are in town for a month or a day – go. It contains no great renaissance ...Read more I think that if I were to recommend just one thing to any visitor to Florence it would be to pay a visit to the little church of San Miniato al Monte. I care not whether you are in town for a month or a day – go. It contains no great renaissance work of art, it is not architecturally ground-breaking, it has very little historical import. Yet it is a pretty little thing: one guide describes it as ‘the finest of all Tuscan Romanesque basilicas… one of the most beautiful churches in Italy’. Even better, it is from here that you get THE classic view over Florence.

I had originally set off through the tight-packed crowds jamming the Ponte Vecchio. I could soon understand why one friend had said he would go out of his way to ensure he crossed the Arno by any bridge other than the Vecchio. The one bridge spared by the retreating Nazis, it is now ruined by the desperate commercialism of the goldsmiths and the thrombosis-like clots of school trips clogging the way. My destination at first was the Boboli Gardens behind the Palazzo Pitti; I had thought to maybe have a laze in the sun and read my book. However there was one one ticket office open for both palace and gardens, and there was already a sizeable queue even before they shut one of the two cash desks. Plus, entrance to the gardens was a whopping €10.00! Instead I set off for San Miniato earlier than I had intended.

The route along the Arno was through a less-touristed part of the city. The area around the Porta San Miniato was almost village-y. And once through the gate it fell silent. Literally. It was like the walls had cut off all the hubbub of Florence, of the traffic and the tourists. Countryside seemed to suddenly start. It was grassy along the old town walls. Trees shaded the way. There was birdsong. The road wound its way up the hillside but the stepped path cut across the bends. It seemed like only a pleasant minute (but must surely have been longer) that I reached Piazzale Michelangelo. Here the noise started again – tour bus exhausts, camera clicks, a group of Red Indians in full buckskin and head-dress miming along to a recording of Enigma’s ‘Return To Innocence’. Yet the view from the balcony is outstanding. You can frame the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio, the Campanile, and the dome of the Duomo in a single shot. Or you can look down the Arno to see bridge trooping after bridge.

It was slightly more of a struggle to get up to San Miniato itself. You follow Viale Galileo Galilei up past the snack bars and then climb the grand flight of steps up through the cemetary. This brings you up right in front of San Miniato’s white marble and grey-green slate frontage. The colours reflect those on the duomo, campanile, baptistery and Santa Croce. In fact, after the Baptistery this is the oldest religious structure in Florence – as the golden icon-style image inset above the central door suggests.

Inside there are fragments of frescoes along the right-hand wall; on the left there is the tomb of the 25-year-old Cardinal of Portugal who died whilst in Florence. There is a little central chapel, flanked by stairs up to the choir and down to the crypt. I went down first and flashed my torch around. Going up, the choir has a screen and pulpit carved with dragons and bug-eyed men (in what I would have previously have described as an ‘Anglo-Saxon’ style – very Bayeux anyway). From here yu can see the rounded roof of the little chapel, mirroring what looked like barrel-vaulting above. This is an illusion however – the painted roof is actually peaked. There is a sacristy to one side with frescos in vivid colours. You are asked to donate €1.00 for entry, which I did. It is another €1.00 if you want to put the lights on. I didn’t bother.

Outside the church there is a shop to the right selling Benedictine herbal remedies, honeys and jams (€5.00), and spirits (€12.00). Certainly worth a look! To the left there are some benches. I sat and greedily gazed over Florence. The view is even better from here than from Piazzale Michelangelo, though you are unable to see down the Arno. Sitting in the sun, I finally got out my book: ‘Romola’ by George Elliot. The prologue conjures up the ghost of a renaissance Florentine: "Let us suppose that such a Shade has been permitted to revisit the glimpses of the golden morning, and is standing once more on the famous hill of San Miniato, which overlooks Florence from the south…" Elliot listed what few things would have changed in the view in three and a half centuries – the walls and gates torn down, Santa Croce with a scandalous new spire. That is all. But what had changed in the 150 years since Elliot sat in the same spot as I? War damage; but that was repaired. Piazza della Republica was built; but I could barely see it. Maybe the only changes were the cranes in the distance now rivalling the campanile and the glint of cars as they zipped down the Lungarno…

The dinkily pretty little church of San Miniato al Monte, out away from the crowds, would be reason enough to have an enjoyable wander out this way. Yet from here, or from Piazzale Michelangelo, you get an unbeatable picture-postcard view of Florence all the way across to the flanking hills. Piercing the huddle of rooftops were just the towers of Palazzo Vecchio and Campanile, and the red-tiled domes of Duomo and San Lorenzo. This is a view principally unchanged from the day of George Elliot… or from the day of her heroine Romola. It is a timeless vista, and to gaze upon it as the sun started to sink was truly magical.
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From journal Florence, Birth-Place of the Renaissance

San Miniato al Monte

by paolo1899

Naples, Italy

November 14, 2007

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Best of IgoUgo The Basilica di San Miniato al Monte stands atop one of the highest points in Florence, and has been described as the finest Romanesque structure in Tuscany and one of the most beautiful churches in Italy.Miniato was an Armenian prince serving in ...Read more

From journal Chiesa di San Miniato

San Miniato al Monte

by A. Stevenson

Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France

August 16, 2000

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Best of IgoUgo For an uncrowded, panoramic view of Florence. There are other more popular viewpoints on the same side of the Arno, but San Miniato al Monte offers one of the highest and most natural (trees vs. concrete parking lots). From here you can also see ...Read more

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