Cappella Pazzi is the best place to learn everything about majolica, the famous Italian artistic technique. Surely, when heading to Florence, you have heard something about the relief ceramics that appeared during the Renaissance.
It was Italian masters who elevated this craft to an art form, and the Florentine ones became its trendsetters. One of these masters was the outstanding sculptor Luca della Robbia. His creations adorn Cappella Pazzi, built in 1423 by the architect Brunelleschi in the courtyard of Santa Croce church.
The 13 medallions decorating the piers of the chapel will give you a complete idea of colored relief majolica as a characteristic feature of the Early Renaissance. There is a similar interior in the old sacristy of San Lorenzo church, but photography is prohibited there, so take the opportunity and photograph genuine authentic majolica.
The architect Filippo Brunelleschi was the trendsetter of architectural "fashion" in the Early Renaissance. In particular, the chapel, which is the jewel of his work, established domed structures for churches and public spaces in Italian Renaissance architecture.
These two names - Brunelleschi and della Robbia - turned the chapel, once built as a private prayer house for the aristocratic Pazzi family, into a work of art that entered all architecture textbooks.
