Badia of Sante Flora and Lucilla
The construction of the church has had several phases, starting from the Gothic one to a single nave of 1278. In 1315 the monastery was also rebuilt. The “ Croce ” painted by Segna di Bonaventura can be dated to 1319. In 1489 the cloister designed by Giuliano da Maiano was built. The fresco with San Lorenzo by Bartolomeo della Gatta dates back to the fifteenth century, dated 1476.
The church has been completely transformed on a project of Giorgio Vasari starting from 1565. The works lasted until the seventeenth century and in 1650 the bell tower was built. The church has three naves composed of spans of identical size, square ones are central and rectangular ones are lateral.
The presbytery is dominated by the monumental complex of the altar built by Giorgio Vasari for the chapel of his family in the pieve di Santa Maria in 1563 and transported here in 1865.
Masterpiece of baroque artifice is the fake cupola painted on canvas by Andrea Pozzo in 1702 and placed above the main altar. Inside the church there is also a ciborium, probably by Benedetto da Maiano.
The baptismal font, of hexagonal shape and with panels representing Stories of Saint John the Baptist, by Giovanni d’Agostino (1332-1333) is also from the 14th century. Great works of transformation of the church were made by Giorgio Vasari in 1560 . From existing documents, it is certain that the remains of Giorgio Vasari and his wife Nicolosa de Bacci, placed together in an urn, rest inside the tomb that is under the floor inside the church of Santa Maria Assunta.
The main altar was replaced by the family altar, today it is located in the abbey of the Saints Flora and Lucilla .