Basilica della Madonna dell'Umiltà

Pistoia


For anyone familiar with Florence, it is impossible not to notice the bright red–tiled dome of this 15th-century backstreet church, built by Ventura Vitoni to house the Madonna of Humility (1350), a fresco said to have shed real tears in 1498, following which it became an object of devout worship. In 1563 Giorgio Vasari was commissioned to build a domed roof for the church – which he did, designing it as an exact (albeit smaller) imitation of the magnificent cupola crowning Florence's duomo.

Inside, admire the miraculous fresco behind the high altar.


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