Tornabuoni Chapel Religious Site

Address: Basilica di Santa Maria Novella, Piazza di Santa Maria Novella 18, 50123 Firenze FI, Italy

Website: https://www.smn.it/

Hours: Mon-Sat 9:00am-7:00pm, Sun 1:00pm-7:00pm (hours vary seasonally)

Admission: Included with entrance to Basilica di Santa Maria Novella (approx. €7-€10; concessions available)

The Tornabuoni Chapel is a chapel within Florence’s Santa Maria Novella church decorated with a celebrated fresco cycle by Domenico Ghirlandaio and his workshop. The decoration is a major example of Florentine Renaissance painting and was a high-profile family commission.

The chapel interior is dominated by wall frescoes depicting biblical scenes and donor portraits, rendered with attention to contemporary Florentine detail and portraiture. The work is often studied for its composition and the way it integrates patrons into sacred narrative scenes.

The frescoes were commissioned in the late 15th century by the Tornabuoni family and executed by Ghirlandaio’s workshop, which was active in Florence at that time. Since completion the chapel has been preserved within Santa Maria Novella and continues to attract interest from students of Renaissance art.

The chapel sits inside Santa Maria Novella, a principal Dominican church in central Florence, and is reached via the church’s nave and side chapels.

• Major frescoes: Contains a major fresco cycle by Domenico Ghirlandaio and his workshop, commissioned by the Tornabuoni family in the late 15th century.

The chapel is inside Basilica di Santa Maria Novella, a five-minute walk from the Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence. From the station, exit onto Piazza della Stazione and walk west along Via degli Avelli to Piazza Santa Maria Novella.

• Enter through the church's main ticketed entrance (Piazza Santa Maria Novella) rather than the side doors to ensure access to the chapels and the Tornabuoni frescoes.
• Spend time reading the donor portraits in the Tornabuoni Chapel - Ghirlandaio painted members of the Tornabuoni and Medici families with surprising specificity.
• Head there in the late afternoon when light from the west windows softens the frescoes; mid-day crowds are worst.