Despite its prominent location, the historic church dedicated to San Michele, which is situated at the end of via Tornabuoni on the Piazza degli Antinori, is sometimes overlooked. The church’s name has roots in the Lombard era. But the Florentine aristocracy of the seventeenth century valued it highly.
On August 22, 1604, the first stone was consecrated in front of Alessandro Marzi Medici, the bishop of Fiesole. Under the direction of Teatino Anselmo Cangiano, Matteo Nigetti, the Medici family’s favorite architect, oversaw the construction of the works that his successor Gherardo Silvani and his son Pier Francesco finished in 1648. Ancient Romanesque forms were lost in the current structure.
Giovanni Foggini, a Florentine sculptor who had just returned from Rome, was given the task of decorating the facade, especially the sculpture section.
The Medici family established a school for Florentine artists to learn the Baroque style at Palazzo Madama (Academy Grand Ducal of Rome), their Roman residence. Foggini and a few associates created the Carrara marble statues that adorn the exterior between 1688 and 1693.
