(#) refers to page numbers
(254)
I. St. Remigius, Apostle of France, was, in the pious opinion of that nation, born in 440. This information is based on the assertion of Pierre François Chifflet in his Notes on the life of St. Genevieve. Perhaps it was a year earlier, however, as that would line up with the calculations of Cardinal Baronio, who dated the Saint’s election as Bishop of Reims to 471, when Remigius was not yet twenty-two* years old. Nor do we believe that we can say that the Saint held the Bishopric for seventy years, as this would be the same error of Sigibert and others who wrote that he lived until 545. They did not observe that at the Council of Auvergne, celebrated in 541, Flavius, Bishop of Reims, is listed among the attendees. He was the successor of Romanus, who was the immediate successor of the Saint. There are many, many memorable things written about St. Remigius by Gregory of Tours, Sigibert, and by Baronio. The Saint’s greatest merit, which is certainly superior to any other praise, was his baptism of Clovis, King of the Franks, in 499. This event was marked by the solemnity of Heaven with miracles, as Baronio writes: ingentibus comitantibus signis, & prodigiis (it was accompanied by great signs and wonders).
II. Now we come to his church in Florence. By providing information about its foundation, I believe we can understand the reason that the Florentines consecrated this church to Remigius. I owe the credit for an old document to Stefano Rosselli, who says that he received it from Rector of the Church Carlo Carleschi, in which one reads that in the place where the church now stands there was once a hospital…
(255) …of the French nation that would lodge pilgrims who were traveling from France to Rome. This hospital was dedicated to S. Romeo. And the reason why the French were so distinguished in Florence with their own lodging place is easy to guess based on the benefits granted by Charlemagne to the Florentines. These benefits, if truth be told, are not as many as are claimed, yet the singular benevolence of this King towards Florence is certain. For this reason, the old writings and tongues of the common people refer to the current structure as the church of S. Romeo. This is also noted by Rosselli, who states that it is a corrupted word, or rather named after Romeo the Pilgrim, who went to Rome like many French pilgrims.
III. The Church of ‘S. Romeo’ became a Parish church, if I am not greatly mistaken, after the completion of the second city wall in 1078. Given that the space between the first and new wall became populated and the number of the city’s inhabitants multiplied, the church, which until then had been simply an oratory, was elevated to a parish. This extended the church’s jurisdiction along the Arno towards the south, and as far as the piers of the Rubaconte bridge. This is clarified in the testimony of D. Silvano Razzi in the Life of the Venerable Sister Apollonia Vol. 2, page 90, where he writes, “It was ordered that every feast day, the Parish Priest of S. Romeo should administer communion unto her, and thus it was done for the space of three years.” This comes from the Razzi delle Murate family, who, living on the second pier of the Rubaconte bridge, belonged to the common people of S. Remigio. We will discuss the vast boundaries of this parish in the “History of the Church of S. Jacopo tra’ Fossi” in connection with a long dispute and the compromise reached by Julius II, the Bishop of Florence, between the monks of S. Jacopo and the Rector of S. Remigio.
IV. But more valuable information about S. Romeo will be provided by the events of its patronage, which we will enumerate below. In the Archive of S. Felicita there is a book bound with boards that includes a deed of the donation of property made by Rolando, a Florentine Canon, to the Hospital of S. Giovanni in 1040. The document reads as follows: Item meam portionem de… (Likewise, I ask for my portion of…)
(256) …Ecclefia S. Remigii cum suis pertinentiis, que eft posit a prope Civitatem Flor. rog. Ser Florentinus Not (…the Church of S. Remigio with its appurtences, which is situated near the city of Florence. Recorded by Ser Florentinus, notary). And then there is Gisla, daughter of Rodulfo, who around 1060 donated the Church of S. Remigio to the monastery of S. Pier Maggiore. This donation was confirmed by Bishop Pietro in 1067 and noted in 1073 by Bishop Rinieri with two documents, both of which are reproduced in full by Ughelli in volume 3 of Italia Sacra, page 75, and which mention Rodulfo as owner of our church. However, the printed text mistakenly reads: Ecclesia Sancti Beningni (Church of St. Benignus), where it should have read: Sancti Remigii (St. Remigius). The document from the year 1073 is signed by Cardinal Tusculano Giovanni, Bishop Rinieri of Florence, Bishop Gottifredo of Perugia, and by the dignitaries and canons of the Florentine Chapter. The monastery remained in control of the church until around 1265, when the patronage of S. Remigio was transferred to the rich and powerful Bagnesi family. I have no documents to explain how they became the owners. However, I found in a book of the memoirs of Senator Giuliano Bagnesi that, in the same year, Ranieri de Bagno presented to the Bishop, as Rector of S. Remigio, the Cleric Tebalduccio, son of Tebaldo. I have copied the text below.
Magister Bonsignore Archipr. Flor. delegate, michi Notario Donusdeus ol: Filippi ad petitionem Domini Ranieri de Bagno, & pro hominibus Domus sue, ipse elegis in Ecclesiam S. Remigii Tebalduccium Clericum fil. Tebaldi in Dominum, & Rectorem dicte Ecclesie 1265. Ego Donusdeus Not. (Master Bonsignore, Archbishop of Florence, acting as delegate through me, Notary Donusdeus, son of Filippo, at the request of Lord Ranieri de Bagno, and for the men of his house, elected Tebalduccio, cleric, son of Tebaldo, as Lord and Rector of the said church in 1265. Thus say I, Donusdeus, Notary).
The patronage of the Bagnesi family lasted for a little less than a century. This is confirmed by a catalog in the Archiepiscopal Archive of the elected Rectors of S. Remigio, which begins in 1363 and continues until 1428. In 1428, it must be said that the right of appointment passed to the common people, where it remains to this day. I am inclined to believe that this last change occurred due to the abundant alms and the expenses incurred by many families of the parish to renovate the Church. Among these families are the Pepi, the Bagnesi, and the Alberti. These families all contributed greatly, and their coats of arms can now be seen on the walls and columns of the…
(257) …church. Also, in order to enlarge the piazza of the church, there was a house donated by Gherardo Aldighieri to Priest Corso, Rector of S. Remigio, according to a deed drawn up by Ser Piero di Ambrogio da Maiano in 1303. However, besides this Priest Corso, I must make a brief mention here of other illustrious Rectors. Firstly, in the Florentine Chapter, I find a Senior Priest Rector of S. Remigio, who is named as one of the arbitrators in the dispute between the Chapter and the Canonry in 1220 as rog. Ser Galitius Iud. Enrici Imp. Not. (Sir Galitius, Judge of the Emperor Henry. Notary). There too, in the year 1274, one reads of a Tebaldus Rector S. Remigii de Florentia (Tebaldo, Rector of S. Remigio of Florence), who with Tripaldo, the Florentine Archpriest, was made Collector decimarum deputatus a Ven. Viro D. Alcampo Preposito Pratensi Cappellano R. P. D. Octobuoni S. Adriani Diac. Cardinalis in Partibus Tuscie, & Maremme (Collector of tithes appointed by the Venerable Sir Alcampo, Rector of Prato, Chaplain of the Reverend Father Lord Octobuoni, Cardinal Deacon of S. Adriani in parts of Tuscany and the Maremma). And in 1392, in the Gabella tax records, there is a Messer Andrea, Prior of S. Remigio, who drew up the following document:
Presb. Andreas Prior, seu Rector Ecclesie S. Remigii de Flor. pro Presbytero Deodato Rectore Cappellanie SS. Jacobi, & Laurentii site in dicta Ecclesia, cum licentia R. P. Domini Honufrìi Episcopi Floren. locavit & concessit ad fictum Antonio Francisci de Certaldo pop. S. Felicis in Piazza, & Domine Leonore Uxori sue vita durante dumtaxat ipsorum, bona, videlicet
Priest Andreas, Prior or Rector of the church of S Remigio of Florence, acting on behalf of the priest Deodatus, Rector of the chaplaincy of Saints James and Lawrence, located in the said church, with the permission of the Reverend Father Lord Honofrius, Bishop of Florence, leased and granted at rent to Antonio, son of Francesco, of Certaldo, parishioner of San Felice in the Piazza, and to Lady Leonora, his wife, for the duration of their lives only, certain goods, namely:
A farm with houses in the village of S. Alessandro a Giogoli, as recorded by Ser Gio: di Neri da Castel Franco. In 1461, in the records of the Charterhouse of Florence, the name of the Rector Angiolo di Biagio appears. He, along with the aforementioned rectors, made an exchange of land that was drawn up by Ser Domenico di Antonio di Giovanni da Figline on the 12th of August. In the Life of the Venerable Sister Maria Bagnesi, Father Raffaello Remucci, Rector of S. Remigio, is highly praised for guiding this great soul. Also worthy of eternal memory is Pietro Falconcini, who was the first to resume the title of Prior after Archbishop Altoviti transferred the title of the Priory from S. Piero Scheraggio to this church in 1568. In 1589, this Prior arranged the consecration of this church, which took place on the Sunday after Epiphany and was performed by Archbishop and Cardinal Alessandro de’ Medici. A plaque…
(258) …on the side door commemorates this sacred ceremony and many other gifts that were bestowed upon the priory of S. Remigio by the Falconcini family.
V. The Church is in the form of a basilica with three naves and with pointed arches in the Gothic style, and it is said that the architects Fra Sisto and Fra Ristoro copied the beautiful Church of S. Maria Novella in its design. In the vault there are some old paintings made by skilled masters. Vasari writes that the vault toward the main door was painted by Angiolo Gaddi, and he also mentions some paintings by Jacone and Zanobi Strozzi made for this Church, which I have not been able to find. A panel by Giottino is in the Sacristy, where the Annunciation painted by Orcagna is also located. Upon entering the church, on the right, one encounters the Bagnesi chapel with a painting of the Annunciation by Francesco Morosini, a disciple of Fidani. In a second chapel, belonging to the Fabbrini family, also called ‘degli Aranci’ (orange trees), Domenico Martinelli painted the Marriage of Saint Joseph with the Blessed Virgin Mary. The talented artist expressed with beautiful attitude the envy of the enraged Jew who, upon observing the flowering staff of St. Joseph, impatiently breaks his own. The third chapel belongs to the Beccuti family and has a panel by Sagrestani, where he painted the Virgin Mary and some Saints with excellent coloring. The High Altar of the church is in the Roman style, freestanding, with beautiful innovative features. And since there had been a choir in the middle of the church that was later removed, the aforementioned Bagnesi family had a well-designed stairway built leading to the High Altar that takes up the entire width of the Church. They also sponsored the building of a stone pulpit.
VI. Resuming our visit from the entrance, on the left the first chapel to be observed belongs to the Buini, a very honored family. The family is distinguished by privileges granted by the Dukes of Milan, as can be read in a document from Francesco Sforza: ‘To the Noble Lionardo Buini, a member of our household, 18 October 1446.’ And it is signed: Nicomedus dictus Tancredini Secr. (Nicomedus, called Tancredini, Secretary). And in this chapel, there is a panel of St. Sebastian made by Francesco Morosini. In the second chapel, which…
(259) …belongs to the Fiaschi, there is a devotional Crucifix in relief. There is also the chapel of the Totti with a panel of St. Leonard painted by the aforementioned artist, which merits praise for the beautiful arrangement of many prisoners, who, showing their chains to the Saint, commend themselves unto him. There is a cabinet high up on the wall in which precious relics are kept, including a bone of St. Remigius, the venerated bishop. Finally, we come to the chapel formerly belonging to Dante Aldighieri, and later to the Gaddi Family, where there is a panel of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. This poetic design was outlined by Jacopo da Empoli at the expense of Niccolò Gaddi, who, in his will—which was drawn up by Ser Andrea Andreini of Florence in 1591—commanded that a panel of the Immaculate Conception be made for this chapel, and that one hundred florins be spent on it. He also noted that the design should be inspired by Dante’s Paradiso, which can be seen in the work as Mary takes on an ecstatic air among Angels with two Saintly Doctors at her feet. What Dante wrote about Mary can be read in Canto 23 of the Paradiso, where he writes the following:
Avea sovra di noi l’ interna riva
Tanto distante, che la sua parvenza
Là, dove i’ era, ancor non mi appariva;
Però non ebber gli occhi miei potenza
Di seguitar la coronata fiamma,
Che si levò appresso sua semenza.
E come fantolin’, ch’ in ver la mamme
Tende le braccia, poichè il latte prese,
Per l’ animo ch’ inſin di fuor s’ infiamma.
Ciascun di quei candori in sù si stese
Con la sua fiamma si, che l’ alto affetto,
Ch’ elli aveano a Maria, mi fu palese.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow translation:
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, trans. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Paradiso, Canto 23. Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1867. Accessed January 2, 2026. Dante Lab: The Next-Gen Reader. Dartmouth College. https://dantelab.dartmouth.edu/reader?reader%5Bcantica%5D=3&reader%5Bcanto%5D=23
Extended over us its inner border,
So very distant, that the semblance of it
There where I was not yet
appeared to me.
Therefore mine eyes did not possess the power
Of following the incoronated flame,
Which mounted upward near to its own seed
And as a little child, that towards its mother
Stretches its arms, when it the milk has taken,
Through impulse kindled into outward flame,
Each of those gleams of whiteness upward reached
So with its summit, that the deep affection
They had for Mary was revealed to me.
Additional simple translation:
Above us was the inner bank
So distant in its appearance
From where I was I did not see it
So my eyes had no power
To follow the crowned flame
That rose from its source
And like a child, who toward its mother
Stretches its arms after taking the mother’s milk
Because the spirit within is kindled outward
Each of those bright lights extends upward
With its own flame, and that great affection
They held for Mary was shown to me
VII. In continuing the description of the chapels, it is notable that they are all made of stone in the Corinthian order, which Antommaria Fabbrini, Superintendent of the Gallery of His Highness, had brought from Rome. And on the first column on the right-hand side upon entering, in addition to the coat of arms of the Pepi, one sees on a…
(260) …small square stone tablet these words: Sep. di Piero del Bene Pepi & filiorum. (Burial place of Piero del Bene Pepi and his sons). On the column opposite this, there is another sepulchral marble with worn letters. And, beneath the pulpit, a marble tablet is seen standing against the wall. This reads:
HIC IACET CORPVS CAROCII FILII D. IACOBI DE ALBERTIS MILITIS FLORENTINI QVI OBIIT PANORMI DIE VII. SEPTEMBRIS MCCCLXXI. LATVM FVIT HVC DIE XI. FEBRVARII. MCCCLXXIII. CVIVS ANIMA REQVIESCAT IN PACE.
Here lies the body of Carocio, son of Sir Jacopo de’ Alberti, Florentine Knight, who died at Palermo on the seventh day of September, 1371. He was brought here on the eleventh day of February 1373. May his soul rest in peace.
And in the chapel of the Annunciation of the Bagnesi there is the following inscription:
D. O. M.
HOC SACELLVM A MAIORIBVS OLIM EXTRVCTVM ET A CATHERINA RAINERIA CHRISTOPHORI BAGNESI VXORE POSTEA EXORNATUM DOTEQVE AVCTVM IVLIANVS SENATOR ET ZANOBIVS BAGNESI SIMONIS FILII AD HVIVS TEMPLI DECOREM IN AVGVSTIOREM HANC FORMAM REDIGENDVM CVRARVNT FAMILIAE INSIGNIBVS RESTITVTIS AN. SAL. MDCXXIX.
To God, the best and greatest.
This chapel, originally built by our ancestors and later adorned and expanded with a dowry by Caterina Raineria, wife of Cristoforo Bagnesi, was restored to a more magnificent form by Julianus, senator, and Zanobi Bagnesi, son of Simone, with the family’s insignia reinstated to honor the family’s legacy in the year of salvation 1629.