San Giorgio alla Costa

San Giorgio alla Costa, historically known as dei Santi Giorgio e Massimiliano dello Spirito Santo, is a small historical church in the Oltrarno district of central Florence. Situated on the steep slope of via Costa San Giorgio running uphill from the Ponte Vecchio to the Forte di Belvedere, the church originated as one of the principal priories of medieval Florence. Its significance is rooted in its deep history, which predates the year 1000, and its association with major artistic commissions, including an early altarpiece by the young Giotto and an Annunciation by Alesso Baldovinetti. After decades of closure and institutional repurposing, the site has recently undergone extensive restoration to preserve its rare Florentine Rococo interior.

The site originally hosted three small churches dedicated to Saint George, Saint Sigismund, and Saint Mamilian, with the church of San Giorgio predating the year 1000. A convent was added shortly after Giotto completed his altarpiece, and this cloistered house was enlarged and completely renovated during the fifteenth century. Control of the complex passed through several religious orders: the Canons of Sant'Andrea a Mosciano, the Dominicans of Fiesole (established by a 1435 papal bull from Pope Eugene IV), and the Silvestrines, who were transferred from San Marco through the intervention of Cosimo de' Medici the Elder. As the Silvestrine order declined, the monastery came under the Vallombrosans dependent on the Abbey of San Salvi. In 1520, at the behest of Lucrezia de' Medici, daughter of Lorenzo il Magnifico, a new convent dedicated to the Holy Spirit was built and entrusted to Vallombrosan nuns from Santa Verdiana. The monastery was further enlarged in the sixteenth century, aided by a legacy from Simone Zati. The convent was ultimately suppressed during the Napoleonic reforms in 1808. Between 1926 and 1933, the former monastic buildings were converted into the Caserma Vittorio Veneto, training medical officers and pharmacist-chemists for the Military School of Health, a function it maintained until 1998, after which the complex fell into abandonment.

The artistic heritage of San Giorgio alla Costa is defined by significant Renaissance commissions originally created for the church and its convent, though the most important works have since been dispersed to Florentine museums for preservation. The scope of these former holdings reflects the changing monastic orders and their devotional needs, ranging from early Renaissance altarpieces to later seventeenth-century devotional paintings. In addition to the paintings, the church historically housed important liturgical furnishings and musical instruments, including an early pipe organ built in 1527 by Onofrio Zeffirini, which was later transferred to the church of Santa Felicita in 1771.

The church presents a single nave introduced by a broad endonarthex, which is topped by the nuns' choir, marked by a carved grating designed by Jacopo Pini. Between 1705 and 1708, the architect Giovanni Battista Foggini comprehensively renovated the church in a Rococo style. The interior decoration features stuccoes by Giovanni Battista Ciceri, a vault painting of Saint George in Glory by Alessandro Gherardini, and an oval over the high altar depicting the Descent of the Holy Spirit by Anton Domenico Gabbiani, all executed to Foggini's designs. Tommaso Redi's painting of Saint Benedict Resurrecting a Child dates to roughly the same period. Externally, the complex features a lateral portal and a bell tower. In 1954, the removal of exterior plaster revealed a well-preserved medieval coursed brick facing, known as filaretto, underneath.

Located on the steep via Costa San Giorgio in the Oltrarno district of Florence, the church is a Roman Catholic parish entrusted to the clergy of the Archdiocese of Florence. Due to severe structural damage to the roof, the church was closed for approximately 35 years. During this period, from 2017 and prior, the Romanian Orthodox Church used an annexed room for services. Following a three-year restoration sponsored by the Fondazione Gianmaria Buccellati and Fondazione CR Firenze, which contributed 274,000 euros to the project, the main church reopened in 2018. The restoration cleaned the heavy dust and repainting from the stucco and marble decorations and installed a modern lighting system. The broader former monastic complex was acquired by a private buyer, and the municipal government has approved a plan to rehabilitate the site, allocating portions for public spaces, gardens, an auditorium, and an outdoor theater, while the remainder is designated for a luxury hotel, though the final disposition of the property remains under negotiation.