Going up from Florence towards the beautiful heights of Fiesole there are two buildings that are easy to miss. Yet they contain much that is of beauty. One of them is the Badia Fiesolana which stands by a very steep road. We almost saw it a couple of weeks ago. I say ‘almost’ since the Badia is in the midst of a thorough refurbishment and was completely covered by scaffolding and plastic sheeting. This is what the unfinished façade should normally look like.

The second building of note is half way up the main road to Fiesole and is the convent of San Domenico.  We were always passing it but finally decided to stop. Just as we were approaching the building the front door closed and was locked. I made what I thought would be a vain attempt to see if anyone would open it for us. I gave two knocks and the door opened. We asked the elderly gentleman who unfastened it for us whether it would be possible to have a look at a painting I knew was housed in the church. He very kindly obliged and I was set thinking ‘He seems very trusting. What if we were thieves? “I was somewhat taken back at its lack of security especially as Italy continues to suffer considerable depredation of its artisti treasures. However, I could not resist the invitation to see the picture.

I was struck by the fantastic entrance stairway into the convent:

We entered the church, which was redone in the seventeenth century in baroque style,

I almost immediately gazed upon the painting which is by Fra Angelico, and represents one of his most significant works: the Madonna and Child with Saints Thomas Aquinas, Barnabas, Dominic and Peter Martyr dating from 1425. Interestingly the usual golden background that Fra Angelico used for most of his paintings was here replaced by a landscape painted by someone a hundred years after the original picture had been completed.

The convent of San Domenico in the locality of San Domenico, Fiesole, is a Dominican monastery founded in 1406. It was founded on the initiative of Giovanni Dominici and the bishop of Fiesole Jacopo Altoviti, both of whom were Dominican friars of Santa Maria Novella, one of Florence’s two great gothic friary churches, the other being Santa Croce which belongs to the Franciscan order.

It was, therefore, the second Dominican convent in the Florentine area before the construction of the convent of San Marco in Florence, where the friars moved towards the middle of the fifteenth century and where Fra Angelico painted some of his sublimest frescoes. I have described these masterworks in my post at https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2017/01/18/a-museum-all-to-myself-in-florence/

The elderly gentleman who opened the door for us turned out to one of the convent’s Dominican friars and showed us round the rest of the building where there are also two wonderful Beato Angelico frescoes: a large crucifixion:

And a Madonna and child together with its sinopia (background sketch):

The front portico, by Matteo Nigetti, was financed by the Medici Neofiti family, a family of converted Jews who was protected by the Medici and who had the identical coat of arms by concession.

Outside the convent is a fountain which supplied refreshing waters to a variety of ancient and modern personages as its inscriptions relate:

We are so glad that we finally decided to stop at San Domenico and not pass it by!