Borgo Ognissanti
At the beginning of the twelfth century, near the beginning
of the era of the "comuni", Borgo Ognissanti was located
outside the city wall (see the city plan in this time). A low-lying
area divided by water channels, it was a natural and appropriate
location considering the waste of the numerous leather tanneries.
The consequent damage to the waters of the river was minimal where
from here the water carried out to sea. By the fourteenth century,
the area had been incorporated within the city walls (see the
city plan in this time). Of the leather workers of Borgo Ognissanti,
historian Piero Bargellini recalls Sandro di Mariano Filipepi,
called Botticello or Botticelli.
It is in this marshy area, it is enough to think of the nearby
street still called via del Pantano (Marsh Street), that the brothers
of the Umiliati and the other woollen
cloth makers had chosen the right place for the quantity of water
necessary in the manufacture of wool. It is probably to them that
the name of the street should be attributed: Ognissanti from that
of the convent's church, dedicated to San Salvatore and Mary,
Queen of all Saints.
The origin of the street was therefore poor but industrious
and destined to become an artery of primary importance due to
its vicinity to the bridge of Carraia (called this because of
its continuous passage of carriages loaded with bales of wool),
and not far from the city gate to Prato where the livestock market
was located.
Borgo Ognissanti and its illustrious inhabitants: Sandro Botticelli
and the Vespucci family
If some places seem more appropriate than others to picking
up the thread of history, Borgo Ognissanti certainly owes this characteristic
to its artisan connotation, to the alacritous fervour of its wool,
leather, and silk shops. Further, it was close to the river, with
boat easy landings and perhaps especially, for finding itself
in the "basin" of the city. The artisans chose this
area to ease restrictions and complaints which at that time were
already being heard against those who dumped the waste products
of their work (leather tanning bleaching cloth, etc.) in the Arno
river. In this climate of the quarter's growth, only recently
enclosed within the city walls, important co-ordinates cross which
appear the work of knowing hands, used to designing the destinies
of man.
The painter Sandro Filipepi, a.k.a. Botticelli (1445-1510)
is certainly one of the most illustrious inhabitants of Borgo Ognissanti.
In his time, the Vespucci hospital (the hospital which passed
on to the followers of San Giovanni di Dio at the end of the XVI
Century) was already established. Let's go in order however and
say a few words about Sandro, son of a leather worker of Borgo Ognissanti,
and known to history as Botticelli, the name which he took from
Giovanni, his older brother.
It is interesting to note in a fiscal report of 1458, that
Sandro of Mariano Filipepi, at the time of 13 years is described
thus: "he just reads, and he's sickly". Botticelli seems
to have owed his fortune to his ill health as a youngster which
gave him the possibility to leave his father's workshop and cultivate
his own interests; his physical frailty became a strength of expression.
Young Sandro went to Fra Filippo Lippi's workshop and then, from
1463 to 1470 to that of Verrocchio. But Sandro was also under
the influence of a certain Baldovinetti and of Antonio del Pollaiolo.
The greatest interpreter of the cultural environment of the
Medici era, it is said that Botticelli knew how to give to his
figures a spiritual and moral content. Florence preserves many
of his works and others are present in other cities. Botticelli
was rather prolific; for example, in 1481, he was in Rome working
on several paintings for the Sistine Chapel. In that same year
he was also in Florence working on the fresco of the Annunciation
for the Church of S. Martino alla Scala, in his own quarter of
Santa Maria Novella behind Borgo Ognissanti. Speaking of frescoes,
his first work of this sort is of Saint Augustine in the Church
of Ognissanti, his own church. Ognissanti is also the great artist's
burial place as a burial marker attests which is located in the
chapel of Saint Peter of Alcantara.
In the church of Ognissanti we also find remnants of the Vespucci
family's past. Their story intermingles with that of the Hospitaller
Order of San Giovanni di Dio, the leader being a native of Portugal
and active in Spain. Perhaps only by chance, but we can't help
to note that the Hospitaller Order ended up occupying a hospital
founded by a Vespucci, one certain Simone, great uncle to Amerigo
(1451-1512), merchant and agent, as it seems of the Medici bank
in Seville. From 1499 and 1500 in the service of Spain, Amerigo,
together with Alonso de Ojeda discovered the mouth of the Amazon
river after having anchored in French Guyana on their way to Cape
S. Rocco.
The Church of Ognissanti in Borgo Ognissanti still has a statue
inlaid in "pietra serena" with two frescoes, early works
of Domenico Ghirlandaio. One represents the Madonna della Misericordia
and the Vespucci family, together with Saint Antonino under the
protective mantle of Mary. The family emblem appear on the sides
of the altar. Three other branches of the Vespucci family had
their own altars in the rest of the church. One branch, the Nastagio,
owned an altar a short distance from the choir on the right side.
It was probably they who commissioned the previously mentioned
Botticelli fresco of Saint Augustine.
The Church of Ognissanti is located in Borgo Ognissanti in Florence,
in the heart of Tuscany, the point of contact between memories
which connect the universal art of Botticelli, the international
fame of the Vespucci and names and places (Spain, the convent
of Ognissanti) the brothers of the Hospitaller Order of San Giovanni
di Dio, working for the support of the sick throughout the world.
The convent of the Umiliati of Borgo Ognissanti
The Order of the Umiliati of the 13th century and originating
in Lombardy grew powerful in the fight against heresy. Florence,
(just to give co-ordinates for a better understanding of the event)
recognised two companies, initiated for "defending the faith":
the Society of Novella of Santa Maria, later called Misericordia,
whose work has continued to this day and that of the Captains
of Bigallo, who looked over the health care activities of the
hospitals up to and through the 18th century.
The Umiliati, lay-people of both sexes, living like religious
folk in poverty and humility, moved to Florence upon invitation
of Bishop Ardingo Trotti (not by chance from Pavia in Lombardy)
in 1239 and they established themselves in the area now known
as Novoli in the Cistercian monastery of San Donato a Torri "in
Polverosa". Skilled in the production of wool of which Florence
at the time was rated best for quality and production, these people
took the opportunity granted to them by the bishop in 1251 to
move to the area of the Chapel of Santa Lucia on the "Prato
d'Ognissanti" an area rich in water, necessary for the working
of woollen cloth.
In 1278 they had become highly esteemed for the construction
of a small portico along the Arno river and for a number of houses
for the artisans, many of them in this part of the city.
In 1359 they saw to the construction of another convent in
Montughi.
The Umiliati remained in Borgo Ognissanti until 1561. With the
demise of the heretics and the change in the artisan's focus from
wool to silk the Umiliati decided to leave the convent. Their
place was filled by the friars minor of Saint Francis and the
Umiliati moved on to the convent of Saint Catherine where the
Franciscans had formerly resided. Upon arrival in Ognissanti,
the new residents began the restoration of the church and convent.
Borgo Ognissanti, detta così per essere al suo sorgere
fuori della cerchia muraria del XII secolo, la prima dell'epoca
comunale ( vedi schema della pianta cittadina a quest'epoca),
occupava ancora nel XIV e XV secolo, quando era ormai inclusa
nella seconda ed ultima cerchia ( vedi schema della pianta della
città al 1284 ), un terreno basso, solcato da fossi nei
quali sfociavano i rifiuti dei numerosi conciatori di pelli che
trovavano giustamente luogo in questa parte a valle, per così
dire, della città dove minore era il danno portato alle
acque del fiume che da qui in poi si avviavano al mare. Tra i
" galigai " della zona di Borgo Ognissanti, lo storico
Piero Bargellini ricorda Sandro di Mariano Filipepi detto Botticello
o Botticelli .
(Last updated: Tuesday 26 September 1995)
Copyright © 1995 by Associazione San Giovanni di Dio
Borgo Ognissanti, 1:00 p.m. Monday, 19 June 1995. Photo Bruscoli