A half day in the Oltrarno: the Brancacci Chapel, Santo Spirito and the Fondazione Romano

Where the Oltrarno is

Oltrarno means 'beyond the Arno'. It is the district of Florence on the south bank of the river, and it contains part of the historic centre, including Santo Spirito, the Pitti Palace, the Belvedere fort and Piazzale Michelangelo. The Carmine and Santo Spirito sit in its western half, a few minutes apart.

For centuries this was the city's working quarter, of artisans, small workshops and the people who staffed the great houses across the river. It has changed fast in recent years, but it still feels more lived-in than the streets around the Duomo, and its squares fill with residents as much as visitors in the evening.

Getting to the Carmine

Piazza del Carmine is in the western Oltrarno. From Ponte Vecchio it is about 15 minutes on foot, heading west along the south bank by way of Santo Spirito. From Santa Maria Novella station, allow about 20 minutes and cross the river at Ponte alla Carraia, the nearest bridge to the square.

If you prefer a taxi, ask for Piazza del Carmine. The square is broad and partly used for parking, so it is an easy drop-off point. The narrow streets around it are better walked than driven.

Allow a margin. Your chapel ticket is for a fixed entry time, and the museum does not change tickets once booked. It is better to arrive early and spend ten minutes in the square than to arrive at the cloister door late.

Santa Maria del Carmine

The church was founded by Carmelite friars from Pisa, and building began in 1268. It was enlarged in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and later remodelled in the Baroque style. In 1771 a fire destroyed the interior of the church, which was rebuilt in the following decade. The front was never faced in marble and is still bare rough stone.

The Brancacci Chapel and the sacristy came through the fire. The Corsini Chapel, built in 1675–83 for the Carmelite saint Andrea Corsini, lost some of the colour of Luca Giordano's 1682 dome frescoes to it and was later restored. The Brancacci visit, though, is a separate museum: you enter from the cloister at Piazza del Carmine 14, not from the church.

The convent itself has had a hard history. Besides the fire, the 1966 Arno flood damaged its cloisters, and many of the frescoes around them survive only in fragments.

The chapel visit

The chapel admits groups of up to 30 people for up to 30 minutes, at the entry time on your ticket. Online entry times run from 10:15 to 15:45, and on Sunday from 13:15 to 15:45; the chapel is closed on Tuesday. Arrive at the cloister a few minutes before your time and go straight to the gate with your e-ticket.

Thirty minutes is enough if you have read about the frescoes beforehand. Our scene-by-scene guide and our guide to the Tribute Money are written to be read on the way there.

Santo Spirito

From the Carmine, walk east for a few minutes to Piazza Santo Spirito. The Augustinian friars were given the land here in 1250, and the square in front of the church was cleared in 1301. The present basilica, built to Brunelleschi's design, is one of the great interiors of the Renaissance: a long, calm grey-and-white nave of stone columns, 97 metres from end to end.

Santo Spirito was also a centre of learning. Boccaccio's circle met here, and when he died in 1375 he left his library to the convent. The square itself is the heart of the western Oltrarno: trees, a fountain, café tables, and in the evening a crowd of people from the neighbourhood.

The Fondazione Salvatore Romano

Beside the basilica, at Piazza Santo Spirito 29, is the old refectory of the Santo Spirito convent, one of the two oldest monastic refectories still standing in Florence. Its end wall is covered by a fourteenth-century fresco by Andrea Orcagna and his workshop: a Crucifixion above, and the remains of a Last Supper below.

In 1946 the antique dealer Salvatore Romano gave the city his collection of sculpture, architectural fragments and detached frescoes, ranging from the Roman era to the sixteenth century, and it is still arranged in the dramatic layout he designed. It includes works by Tino di Camaino and Donatello.

The Fondazione opens on Saturday and Monday from 11:00 to 17:00 and on Sunday from 13:00 to 17:00, with last entry 30 minutes before closing. On those three days the museum sells the Brancacci Chapel only as a combined ticket with the Fondazione, so if you visit the chapel from Saturday to Monday, the Fondazione is already included. You choose the chapel time and can see the Fondazione at any time it is open that day.

Putting it in order

On a weekday, Wednesday to Friday, the chapel is the anchor. A morning entry time works well: see the chapel, walk to Santo Spirito, and finish with lunch around the square. On those days the Fondazione is not part of the ticket.

From Saturday to Monday, use the combined ticket fully. On Saturday or Monday, take an entry time at the chapel in the late morning, then walk to Santo Spirito and visit the Fondazione before it closes at 17:00. On Sunday, when both open at 13:00, take an early-afternoon chapel time and go to the refectory afterwards. The walk between the two is short.

Avoid Tuesday, when the chapel is closed, and remember that the first Sunday of each month is not sold online. If you want the Pitti Palace or the Boboli Gardens on the same day, they are a short walk south-east of Santo Spirito; give the chapel the morning and the palace the afternoon.

The walk, step by step

Start at Piazza del Carmine, a few minutes before your chapel time, and enter through the cloister door at number 14. After your half hour, leave the square by its eastern side and walk towards Piazza Santo Spirito. It is a matter of a few minutes through the narrow streets of the old quarter, and you will see the bell tower of Santo Spirito ahead of you before you reach the square.

At Santo Spirito, look at the plain church front from the far end of the square, under the trees, then go inside if it is open for visitors. The Fondazione Salvatore Romano is beside the basilica at number 29. From Saturday to Monday, your chapel ticket covers it the same day; on other days it is not part of the ticket.

From Santo Spirito the river is a short walk north. Ponte Santa Trinita, first built in 1252, was the bridge that made this part of the Oltrarno easy to reach from the city centre in the first place, and it is still the most direct way back to the Duomo side.

Choosing your day

Tuesday is out: the chapel is closed. The first Sunday of each month is not sold online, so we cannot book it. Otherwise, the choice of day decides whether the Fondazione Salvatore Romano comes with your ticket.

On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the chapel stands alone, and you can take an entry time from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. On Monday and Saturday the chapel opens at 10:00 and the Fondazione at 11:00, so a late-morning chapel time leads straight on to the refectory. On Sunday both open at 13:00, and the chapel's online entry times start at 13:15.

Popular entry times fill first. If your date is not on sale yet, because the museum releases dates in blocks, our waiting list holds it at no cost until we can book.

If you have more time

The Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens are a short walk south-east of Santo Spirito, and the two together fill a day: the chapel and Santo Spirito in the morning, the palace and gardens in the afternoon. Further east along the south bank, the climb to Piazzale Michelangelo gives the classic view back over the city.

For many visitors, though, the best use of extra time in the western Oltrarno is simply to stay put. Sit in Piazza Santo Spirito, wander the streets between the two churches, and let the half hour in the chapel settle.

Food, rest and practicalities

There is no café in the chapel. Piazza Santo Spirito and the streets around it have plenty of places to eat and drink, and the square is a good place to sit after the chapel.

If you are visiting from Saturday to Monday and want both museums, plan to eat between them rather than before: the chapel's entry times are fixed, while the Fondazione can be seen any time it is open that day. On a hot afternoon the shade of the trees in Piazza Santo Spirito is welcome after the walk.

Only guide dogs and certified assistance dogs may enter the Florence civic museums. Carry the ID or certificate that your fare requires: it is checked with your ticket at the gate. Children under 12 must visit with an adult.