Santa Felicita

Complement your study of Florentine painting with a guided visit to the Church of Santa Felicita, home to a hidden jewel of the Early Mannerist movement. Located near the Ponte Vecchio, this seemingly unassuming church holds the Capponi Chapel, where you will find Jacopo da Pontormo's radical and emotionally charged masterpiece, the "Deposition from the Cross" (1525–28). This work breaks with the High Renaissance's harmonious ideals, employing an otherworldly palette, elongated figures, and an ethereal, weightless composition that defies gravity. The visit will not only explore this iconic altarpiece but also the chapel's other frescoes by Pontormo, including the "Annunciation," and a view of the special balcony from the Vasari Corridor from which the Medici family could attend mass unobserved. This visit will provide invaluable insight into the dramatic shift in artistic sensibility from the classical balance of the High Renaissance to the expressive and intellectual complexity of Mannerism.