Santa Margherita de' Cerchi

A tiny medieval church with several Dante associations

Chiesa di Santa Margherita de' Cerchi
Via Santa Margherita

Santa Marghertia de' Cerchi tours
• Context: Dante's Florence

Sights nearby
Dante's "House" [museum]
* Badia [church]
** Bargello [museum]
Orsanmichele [church]
*** Piazza della Signoria [square]
** Palazzo Vecchio [palace/museum]
*** Uffizi [museum]
*** Duomo group [church & museum]

Where to eat nearby
Casa di Dante [meal]
* Alle Murate [meal]
** Le Mossacce [meal]
* L'Antico Trippaio [snack]
*** I Fratellini [snack]
* Acqua Al 2 [meal]
Vecchia Firenze [meal]
*** La Giostra [meal]

Hotels nearby
Grand Hotel Cavour [premier]
Borghese Palace Art Hotel [premier]
Albergo Firenze [cheap]
Hotel Santa Croce [super-cheap/cheap]
Baglioni Hotel Bernini Palace [premier]
Galigai Tower [cheap/moderate]
» More hotels near S. Margherita

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The church of Santa Margherita de' Cerchi in Florence
Santa Margherita de' Cerchi. (Photo by Javier Carro)Though the Badia was the big church in the neighborhood, most folks worshipped at Santa Margherita de' Cerchi, founded in the 12th century and just up the block from the Dante Museum.

This wonderfully spare medieval church has a lovely altarpiece of the Madonna Enthroned with Four Saints by Neri di Bicci, and regularly hosts music concerts (it also pipes music through the speakers for much of the day, so you can hear it before you see it). However, it is most significant as the site where the stories of the two women in Dante's life cross.

Santa Margherita is where Dante married Gemma Donati in 1295.

It was also the Portinari family church, where the chaste and courtly love of Dante's life, Beatrice Portinari, prayed and it is where she is buried.

Beatrice (pronounced in Italian bay-ah-TREE-chay) met Dante precisely twice—age age 8 and again at 17—and it is unclear if she knew anything of Dante other than that he was another kids from the neighborhood. She was married to another man at the age of 21, and died at the age of 24. This allows her ghost to reside in Heaven and serve Dante as guide in Paradiso, the third book in his poetic masterpiece Divine Comedy. Full story

The doors are almost always open, so you can pop in to see Beatrice's simple grave.

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This material was last updated January 2011. All information was accurate at the time.

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