Monastero delle Murate, Benedictine monastery on Via Ghibellina in Florence, Italy
Monastero delle Murate is a former monastery in the historic center of Florence, made up of several stone buildings arranged around inner courtyards. The complex has vaulted corridors, thick walls, and stone staircases connecting its different levels.
The community traces back to 1370, when twelve women began a religious life in a small shelter near the Arno. They moved to a larger complex in 1424, and in the 1800s the monastery was dissolved and converted into a prison.
The name Le Murate, meaning "the walled-in ones", recalls the community of women who once lived enclosed in bridge pillars over the Arno. Today the site is used as apartments, restaurants, and event spaces, so visitors experience this layered history simply by walking through the courtyards.
The building has been converted into apartments, restaurants, and event spaces, so you can enter parts of it without buying a ticket. Some areas are private residences, but the courtyards are generally open to anyone passing through during the day.
Before moving to the current site, the nuns lived in cells built into the pillars of the Ponte alle Grazie, a bridge over the Arno. Living inside a bridge is what gave the community its name, which has survived long after the original cells disappeared.
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