Montespertoli – Sacred Art Museum

Via San Piero in Mercato 233, San Piero in Mercato - Montespertoli
tel. +39 0571 606068
www.comune.montespertoli.fi.it

Opening hours:
Temporarily closed

We need to say it right away: the museum is located in a magical place. The atmosphere of these hills is unparalleled, and the works of art we are going to find are magnificent. Let's take a short walk to get to the avenue of cypress trees that will lead us to the entrance. We are out of town, but we are equally fully immersed in the Renaissance.

Filippo Lippi welcomes us in person. Let's not ask him about the Madonna with Child that is waiting for us on the inside, but about his adventurous life. He became a monk out of necessity, and he was a refined artist who, for this reason, was protected by the Medici. He became a reference point, so much so that with his name he overshadowed his Madonna with Child and angels of the Uffizi, which since then was called the lippina. He painted so many beautiful Madonnas. Filippo also met many women and, being a lover of feminine beauty, he ended up quitting the religious life and getting married. Filippino, his son, takes his father's baton and achieves excellence too.

Here the ancient via Francigena and via Volterrana cross and this explains the richness and variety of the works of art of the museum; the precious gemellion, a high French manufacture plate that was used for washing hands during the Eucharist. We just need to list the names of the artists present in the museum to understand the importance of the collections that are preserved here: Lippo di Benivieni, Cenni di Francesco, Andrea di Giusto, Neri di Bicci, Filippo di Antonio Filippelli, Bicci di Lorenzo, the workshop of Andrea Della Robbia and, as we already mentioned, Filippo Lippi. There are many works from the Sienese school. The masterpieces of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are prestigious: Domenico Frilli Croci, Francesco Lupicini, Francesco Curradi, Niccolò Bambini, Antonio Pucci. Paintings stand alongside a heritage of silverware, liturgical vestments, and fine sacred jewelry.

But leaving the museum, let's not forget to say goodbye to Filippo, who stayed outside, maybe looking for the inspiration for his next Madonna in some woman passing by.