Palazzo al Canto di Sant'Anna

History and description

This is a large palazzo that on Via Fiesolana shows seven axes on three floors, with the central doorway surmounted by a balcony, the result of a late 19th century renovation carried out on a block of pre-existing houses. On Via de' Pepi, the façade is organised in nine axes on four floors, with the ground floor of great elevation, marked in the centre by a fine doorway framed by stone ashlars, raised from the street level by three steps and defended by two parachutes, denoting a value that is today scarcely perceptible due to the façade's poor condition.

The building is mentioned by Gabriella Orefice as an example, in the Santa Croce district, of "...a successful operation of transformation of the ancient, dilapidated blocks of flats into a dignified building for bourgeois use, with innovative features compared to the recurring Florentine typologies, particularly if one considers the narrow and deep courtyard, in axis with the entrance portal, along which long balconies supported by corbels develop". The same building is also mentioned in Bargellini and Guarnieri's stradario for the courtyard mentioned earlier, called 'chiostrino' with paintings of religious subjects. In reality, the paintings are found in the entrance hall on the Via Fiesolana side and are related to a late 16th century taste, with scenes of the Genesis between grotesques. In the central panel is a representation of Faith, and in the side panels the Creation of Eve and the Withdrawal of the waters of the universal flood. Such subjects would suggest the presence in antiquity of a religious institute, perhaps dedicated to St. Anne, whose tabernacle existed not far away, giving its name to the nearby Canto di Sant'Anna.