The museum was inaugurated in 1999 and is housed in the premises adjacent to the shrine of Santa Verdiana, the principal place of worship in Castelfiorentino dedicated to the patron saint.

In the museum, there are works of art of a very high standard that testify to the local artistic history, which was particularly linked to Florence’s, since from the beginning of the 12th century Florence had dominion over the ancient fief of Castelfiorentino, which was an important political outpost situated on the border with Siena.

The collection includes numerous paintings, illuminated codices and more than one hundred pieces of silver and vestments, altar cloths and holy vessels made over five centuries. The works come from churches or ancient religious societies around Castelfiorentino, which came to Santa Verdiana after the suppression of some religious orders or to safeguard their preservation.

Among the most important masterpieces are to bepointed out: a Madonna with Child attributed to Cimabue, a splendid panel from the end of the 1200’s, for which the critics have theorized Duccio di Buoninsegna as the alternative artist; another tempera on a panel representing the Madonna with Child, painted in the second decade of the 1300’s by Giotto’s best pupil, Taddeo Gaddi and, by the same painter, a polyptych with the Madonna enthroned with Child and four saints.

Renaissance painting is represented by various works: such as the Visitation between the Saints Jacopo and Stephen by Alesso di Benozzo, son of the celebrated Benozzo Gozzoli, or the Madonna enthroned with Child and Saints Sebastian and Francis by Francesco Granacci.

The group of 14th century antiphonaries, illuminated by important artists of the Florentine School active in the workshops of Pacino di Bonaguida or Jacopo del Casentino are of great value. The rich collection of vestments, altar cloths and holy vessels offers an ample repertory of exemplars, starting in the 15th century with the valuable astylar crosses, etched or gilded in copper, up to the chalices and monstrances from the Baroque age to the 1800’s.

essential bibliography

Museo di Santa Verdiana a Castelfiorentino. Guida alla visita del museo e alla scoperta del territorio.
A cura di Rosanna Caterina Proto Pisani. Firenze, Edizioni Polistampa, 2006

Una via dell'arte in Toscana: il sistema museale della Valdelsa Fiorentina
AA.VV., Firenze, Editore: Edizioni Cooperativa Firenze 2000, 2001

Il Museo di Santa Verdiana a Castelfiorentino
AA.VV., Firenze, Editore: Becocci/Scala, 1999