Orsanmichele: A Medieval Ecclesial and Commerce Building

In this installment of ‘Larger Than Life: Architecture Through the Ages,’ we visit a Florentine market that became a church after the occurrence of miracles.

Orsanmichele was designed primarily as a secular building with a chapel inside. At 131 feet tall, the building features three uniform floors. Walls are made of a pietraforte, a local variety of sandstone. Their rough and rusticated appearance was a deliberate stylistic choice popular in the 14th century. The third-floor windows feature biforas, or windows divided by a column and topped with a pointed arch. stefano cellai/Shutterstock

Built on a piazza in the heart of Florence, Italy’s civic and religious center, the Osanmichele is an exquisite example of the late Italian Gothic style. The communal building and church rank among the city’s famed architectural masterpieces. It also shares a forgotten medieval history.

The site originally contained an oratory dedicated to San Michele in Orto (St. Michael in the Garden), believed to date back to the 8th century. The building was demolished in the 13th century and rebuilt as a loggia (covered gallery) for the city’s grain market. However, the commerce building soon became a pilgrimage site when miracles were attributed to a painted image of the Virgin on a pillar.