Chiesa La Badia FiorentinaVia del ProconsoloMidday Prayer Tuesday-Saturdayat 12:30pmThe church was founded and endowed in 978 by the German princess Willa, widow of Umberto, Margrave of Tuscia (Tuscany). The slender bell tower (la badia) is a landmark in the Florentine skyline and used to call the artisans to work. It is the church that hosts Filippino Lippi’s Madonna Appearing to St. Bernard and where Boccaccio lectured on Dante’s Divine Comedy.Located in the heart of the city, La Badia Fiorentina has been home to the Fraternità Monastica di Gerusalemme since 1998. Tuesday through Saturday, the urban brothers and sisters sing midday prayer in four-part harmony, a cappella, and it is one of the most beautiful services we have attended. Midday prayer is of a Roman rite but draws on both Eastern and Western Christian tradition. If you can’t make midday prayer, they sing Mass every Sunday at 11:00am—both services will be etched in your memory forever.