Chiostro Convento del Carmine

The Chiostro del Convento del Carmine is one of the lesser-known corners of the Oltrarno area in Florence. It is generally considered as a passing through place which connects Piazza del Carmine to the Cappella Brancacci and the Sala Vanni. It was built in the early 17th century and it has a square architectural plan, characterised by round arches resting on pietra serena columns and a large central well.

The cloister’s walls can be considered as a small open-air museum. It hosts some 17th and 18th century frescoes painted by numerous authors, such as Galeazzo and Giovan Battista Ghidoni, Domenico Bettini, Cosimo Ulivelli, Antonio Nicola Pillori and others. But there are also some funerary monuments, coats of arms of families from the Oltrarno area, and a bust of the Carmelite mathematician Giuliano Ristori da Prato.

During the Secret Florence Festival, which is one of the most important project of the Florentine Summer, once a year Musicus Concentus offers a sunset concert inside the cloister. This event allows residents, citizens and tourists to rediscover it in a different light. In the Festival’s past editions a lot of musicians performed, including Peter Broderick, Ernst Reijseger and Wim Mertens.