San Miniato al Monte
— the chant rising as Florence goes dark.
Not only on a wall.
“The church above Florence. Green and white marble, geometric panels worked by Tuscan masons a thousand years ago, older than the Duomo by two centuries. Benedictine Olivetan monks still sing Gregorian chant in the late afternoon. Walk up from the river, or climb the long stairs from the Piazzale Michelangelo. Most people come for the view of the city. Many stay for the chant.
San Miniato al Monte, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.
Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.
The place, in three passes.
San Miniato al Monte sits on the hill above the Arno in Florence, at roughly 115 meters above sea level, one of the highest points in the historic centre. The basilica is reached by the long stone staircase that climbs from the Piazzale Michelangelo, or by the road from the Porta San Miniato. It is named for Saint Minias, an Armenian merchant or Roman soldier said to be Florence's first Christian martyr, executed around 250 CE under the emperor Decius. Construction of the present basilica began in 1013 under bishop Alibrand, on the site of an earlier shrine. The basilica and its monastery have stood on this hill ever since.
The façade is the founding work of what art historians call the Florentine Proto-Renaissance: bands and geometric panels of white Carrara marble inlaid with dark green serpentine from Monte Ferrato near Prato. The lower register dates to the mid-11th century; the upper façade and its golden Byzantine mosaic of Christ between the Virgin and Saint Minias were completed by about 1260. From 1288 the Arte di Calimala, the wool merchants' guild that ran the cloth trade of medieval Florence, took on maintenance of the basilica and set the bronze eagle on the gable as their emblem, a bale of wool in its talons. The same green-and-white geometry would echo through the Baptistery and, two centuries later, the Duomo.
The basilica is open daily and admission is free. The Benedictine Olivetan community that has lived here since 1373 sings Gregorian chant during the late-afternoon Mass; the chant is the reason many visitors come back. The walk up from the river is steep but short: the Rampe and the long staircase from Piazzale Michelangelo climb in about ten minutes, and city buses 12 and 13 run from the centre. The monks keep a small shop selling honey, herbal liqueurs, and soaps made on the property. The view across Florence is widest from the terrace just below the façade, especially in the hour before sunset.