Monastery of Saint Ursula, Catholic monastery in Florence, Italy

The Monastery of Saint Ursula is a monastic complex in Florence built around an inner courtyard with stone walls and small garden areas. The complex contains a chapel, living quarters, and work spaces laid out according to the standard medieval floor plan of a religious house.

Founded in 1309 as a small female monastery dependent on San Lorenzo, it was enlarged around 1320 and again in the late 14th century. Benedictine nuns lived there until 1435, when Franciscans replaced them. Suppressed by the French in the early 19th century, it became a tobacco factory in 1810 after renovations by Bartolomeo Silvestri, later housing university offices and a Guardia di Finanza barracks.

The complex is named after Saint Ursula, to whom the small female monastery was dedicated when it was founded in 1309 as a satellite of San Lorenzo. Lisa Gherardini, the probable model for Leonardo's Mona Lisa, spent her widowhood here near her daughter Marietta, a nun at Sant'Orsola. Since 2012 the outer walls between via Guelfa and via Sant'Orsola have carried Czech artist Vaclav Pisvejc's installation of facsimile American dollar bills.

The complex occupies a block between via Sant'Orsola, via Guelfa, via Panicale and via Taddea, a short walk from San Lorenzo. It is not open as a monument: after decades of scaffolding and sealed openings, access has only come through temporary openings and cultural initiatives. Look for the outer walls between via Guelfa and via Sant'Orsola.

Archaeological digs in 2011–2012 located a multiple-burial chest along the south-west edge of the church nave, holding three skeletons, one probably female. It is the tomb identified as that of Lisa Gherardini, widow of Francesco del Giocondo and probable model for Leonardo's Mona Lisa, who lived her last years near her daughter Marietta, a nun at Sant'Orsola. DNA comparison with her children, buried in the Cappella dei Martiri at the Santissima Annunziata, is still ongoing.