On November 17, Santa Croce and TF launched a crowdfunding campaign to restore the loggia of the Pazzi Chapel—an area in front of the chapel, open on three sides with a series of arches.
The medieval and the modern merge in this ambitious project to raise 95,000 dollars in just 31 days using the world’s largest crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter: in fact, this is the first ever Kickstarter campaign by a major Florentine cultural institution to raise funds for a restoration.
Has a place ever cried out to your soul? Shaken you to your very core? The staff of The Florentine has been moved recently, to tears and to the point of experiencing heart palpitations, dizziness and confusion. Yes, we can confirm that Stendhal syndrome does exist.
The reason for this emotional outpouring is the Basilica of Santa Croce. In recent weeks, Santa Croce has become our home away from home as we have spent time in the company of illustrious souls like Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli, down in the basement surveying the storages, up on ethereal ledges peering down into the nave, and sky-high among pigeons and owls in the bell tower. We have revelled in the myths and legends of this 700-year-old Florentine jewel. We have fallen in love with the ‘Temple of Italian Glories’ and, in particular, we have gone (borderline) crazy for the Pazzi Chapel.
This chapel was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and is considered one of the high points of Renaissance architecture. Visiting it as a group, we were struck by how we seem to instinctively comprehend this space and feel calm in it. It’s hard to explain why this empty, geometric and quite starkly grey-and-white chapel appeals to us. But magic happens here: quite regularly, people, solo or in groups, come in here and sing. Pure sound rings out, for seconds or minutes, then stops and the silence returns. Witnessing this the other day elicited an indescribable sensation.
Out of this love, a partnership has been born. Opera di Santa Croce and The Florentine will be joining hands over the next few months to convey the wealth of culture, past and present, contained in the ‘time machine’ that is Florence’s beloved place of worship.
So, we invite you to join the crowd in our collective rapture for one of Florence’s best-loved landmarks. Take part and back this project today on Kickstarter.
