In 1219 twelve Dominican friars led by Fra Giovanni da Salerno came from Bologna and two years later obtained as their Florentine dwelling the church of Santa Maria delle Vigne, outside the city walls.
The much larger church we see today was begun in 1279 to a design by two Dominican converses, Fra Sisto and Fra Ristoro, and was almost concluded with its adjacent convent by the middle of the 14th century.
Its internal structure resembles that of Cistercian gothic churches, the nave being separated from the aisles by wide bays and covered with gothic vaulting. Among the first works of art to reach the church was Duccio’s Maestà (1285), known as the ‘Rucellai Madonna’, which is now in the Uffizi; the Crucifix documented inside the church in 1312 was painted by the young Giotto.
The major 14th-century decorative schemes that have come down to us date from the years after the Plague of 1348. In the left transept, between 1350 and 1357, Nardo di Cione frescoed the walls of the Strozzi Chapel with the Last Judgement, Hell, and Paradise; the stained glass is also by Nardo. On the altar the panel, signed and dated 1357, with Christ giving the Keys to St Peter and a book to St Thomas Aquinas, with the Madonna, St John the Baptist and other Saints, and its predella, are the work of Nardo’s brother, Andrea di Cione, known as Orcagna (signed and dated 1357). Between 1367 and 1369 Andrea di Bonaiuto frescoed the convent’s chapter room, known as the ‘Spanish Chapel’: on the altar wall are the scenes of the Passion, Crucifixion and Descent of Christ into Limbo; on the entrance wall are Scenes from the life and miracles of St Peter Martyr; the right-hand wall has an Allegory of the Church Militant and Triumphant, and the left-hand wall the Triumph of St Thomas Aquinas. The segments of the vault have the Resurrection, Ascension, Barque of St Peter and Pentecost.

The renaissance style was introduced into Santa Maria Novella with Masaccio’s celebrated fresco of the Trinity with the Madonna, St John the Evangelist and two patrons (1427). Filippo Brunelleschi’s wooden Crucifix in the Gondi Chapel was intended, according to Vasari, as a response to the vigorous naturalism of Donatello’s version in Santa Croce. In 1439 Santa Maria Novella was the scene of the Council of Florence, convoked to bring about the reunion of the Greek and Latin Churches. Pope Eugenius IV stayed for many months, and it was a brilliant moment in the convent’s history. Subsequently Paolo Uccello painted Scenes from the life of Noah in the Green Cloister, and Leon Battista Alberti completed the church’s façade in 1470. Towards the end of the 15th century two important fresco cycles were painted for the church by Domenico Ghirlandaio and Filippino Lippi.
In 1485 Giovanni Tornabuoni commissioned from Ghirlandaio frescoes and stained glass for the chapel of the high altar, with Scenes from the life of the Virgin and Scenes from the life of the Baptist, filled with figures from the upper-class Florentine society of the time.
Quite different was the chapel of Filippo Strozzi, decorated with frescoes and stained glass by Filippino Lippi and finished in 1502. The side walls illustrate scenes from the Life of St Philip and the Life of St John the Evangelist, while on the end wall the chiaroscuro painting provides a monumental setting for the tomb of Filippo Strozzi by Benedeto da Maiano (1495). In 1565 Santa Maria Novella was subjected to a programme of restoration ordered by Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici and directed by Giorgio Vasari.
Part of this scheme was the Gaddi Chapel, rebuilt by Giovanni Antonio Dosio in 1577. It was frescoed by Alessandro Allori with scenes from the Life of St Jerome and Virtues, and has an altarpiece by Agnolo Bronzino of Jesus raising the daughter of Jairus.
Among the most important pictorial witnesses between the late 16th and early 17th century is the fresco cycle in the Great Cloister of Santa Maria Novella, with scenes from the Lives of Christ and the Dominican Saints. The artists included Santi di Tito, Alessandro Allori, Cigoli, and others. From the south side of the Cloister one gained access to the old pharmacy and perfumery, which is today reached from Via della Scala.

The Cloisters

The first cloister on the right of the doorway is the so-called Chiostro verde (Green cloister) with strong yet harmonious proportions. It takes its name from the frescoes originally painted in "green clay" by many artists of early 15th century including Paolo Uccello (1397-1475), one of the greatest Florentine Renaissance masters, who painted here some of his best works like the Flood and the Sacrifice of Noah.
The cloister gives access to the Refectory (and from here to the Large Cloister decorated at the end of the 16th century) and to the Cappellone degli Spagnoli. In the 16th century this was the chapter house and was given this name because of meetings held in this location by the Spanish followers of Eleonora da Toledo, the wife of Cosimo I. This large section of the building still preserves the complex frescoes by Andrea di Bonaiuto (mid-14th century), which exalt the work of the Dominicans, to whom the church belonged. The fresco representing the Church militant features the cathedral in the background or rather the original project of Arnolfo for the Cathedral of Florence.
The Chiostro verde also gives access to the Chiostrino dei morti and the Strozzi Chapel, decorated with 14th century frescoes.