Buildings

S. Miniato tra le Torri a

San Miniato tra le Torri was an ancient parish church located in the heart of medieval Florence, within the city’s earliest circuit of walls and among the houses and towers of some of its oldest and most powerful families, including the Lamberti, Buondelmonti, Strozzi, Sassetti, and Minerbetti. Writing in the mid-seventeenth century, Stefano Rosselli considered the church one of Florence’s most ancient foundations. Although he rejected a tradition that attributed its consecration to Pope Pelagius in 507, he pointed to the church’s location at the center of the oldest part of the city as evidence of its antiquity.

Rosselli also suggested that the church may have acquired its name, “San Miniato tra le Torri,” from the many family towers that once surrounded it. Over the centuries its patronage passed through the hands of several prominent Florentine families, most notably the Strozzi, before being divided among other lineages and charitable institutions. According to Rosselli, the church’s rectors traditionally honored the patrons each year on the feast of Saint Minias with ceremonial gifts, a custom later replaced by the presentation of wax torches bearing the saint’s image and the patrons’ coats of arms.