The Chapel of St. Nicholas in the Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata has been restored to its original splendor. The project began in October 2021, was completed in January 2023, and formally presented June 2023 with Deputy Mayor and Councillor for Culture Alessia Bettini, Friends of Florence President Simonetta Brandolini d’Adda, and the restoration experts in attendance.
Friends of Florence and the Santissima Annunziata Complex
Before restoring the Chapel of St. Nicholas, Friends of Florence has been actively supporting other projects in the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata complex. Since 2011, the Foundation has contributed to the conservation of various works of art both in the convent and in the Basilica proper. The first projects in process between 2010 and 2012 concerned Andrea del Sarto’s fresco depicting the Madonna with the Sack in the main cloister and the Crucified Christ and six bronze reliefs with Stories from the Passion made by Giambologna for his funerary chapel.
Also in Giambologna’s chapel, in 2016 Friends of Florence funded the restoration of a panel depicting the Madonna of Succour attributed to Bernardo Daddi. That same year, through the Friends of Florence’s annual Salone dell’Arte e del Restauro di Firenze award, the Foundation supported the restoration of a wood Christ by Antonio of Francesco da Sangallo in the Chapel of St. Luke. Restoration of the entire Cloister of the Vows (Chiostrino dei Voti) was completed in 2017, and the Chapel of St. Luke was restored by Friends of Florence in the midst of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
