Ex monastero domenicano di Santa Caterina
Villaggio La Brocchi · Borgo San Lorenzo · Firenze
The former Dominican monastery of Santa Caterina was authorized by a papal bull of Leo X on January 20, 1516. With the return of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, in 1818, it gradually resumed its normal life.
The sixteenth-century architecture preserves traces of the original imprint in the columns of the portico, in the foliated capitals and in the foliated imposts of the vestibule of the refectory. The cloister has a well and a loggia; in the church a raised choir was built. The great choir hosts an Annunciation from the second half of the sixteenth century and paintings on the Passion of Christ, including the Flagellation and the Coronation with thorns, dating to the seventeenth century. In the small church there is the Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine, executed by Michele Tosini in 1564; there are also ceramic lunettes from the Chini Manufacture and Robbian ceramics.
The monastery is a place of historical, religious and cultural significance for the Borgo San Lorenzo community; if restored and made accessible, it will convey part of its artistic and spiritual heritage.
