San Felice church, Gothic church in Oltrarno, Florence, Italy.
San Felice church stands on piazza San Felice at the corner of via Mazzetta in the Oltrarno. Its right flank along via Mazzetta shows exposed stone with the remains of tall pointed-arch windows, while the 1457-1460 facade of smooth pietraforte blocks carries a portal with a semicircular tympanum and three windows above. Inside, a single nave is divided in two: eight Doric columns support the nuns' raised choir in four bays, then the space continues under timber trusses to three presbytery chapels.
Documented from 1066, the church was reconsecrated in 1221 and passed to the Camaldolese around 1413. A remodelling attributed to Michelozzo produced the facade of 1457–1460, the main chapel and the bell gable. In 1557 Dominican nuns from San Pietro Martire moved in, and a raised choir on eight columns was completed in 1590.
The church displays multiple artistic treasures, including a 1308 crucifix attributed to Giotto and a Last Supper fresco by Matteo Rosselli from 1614.
The church is open during weekday hours split into two time windows in the morning and afternoon for visitor access. Weekend hours differ from weekday schedules, so it is worth checking current opening times before planning your visit.
During the feast of the Annunciation, San Felice hosted theatrical machinery with costumed children; Filippo Brunelleschi designed a Paradise apparatus for the church around 1430, as recorded by Vasari. The church also sheltered women fleeing abusive husbands.
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