Museum of Sacred Art at the Collegiate Church of San Lorenzo in Montevarchi
On display, priceless reliquaries and the masterpiece of the Della Robbia Temple
The Museum of Sacred Art at the Collegiate Church of San Lorenzo in Montevarchi is housed in the rooms adjacent to the church and offers documentation on the figurative arts that flourished in the town, particularly the pieces commissioned by the Fraternita del Sacro Latte, or Confraternity of the Holy Milk, an institution connected with the Church of San Lorenzo.
The objects come from the Collegiate Church of San Lorenzo and the Church of Sant’Andrea a Cennano. These include priceless illuminated manuscripts and liturgical décor, like a polished silver cross form the 1500s made in Benvenuto Cellini’s workshop, but also the goldworking masterpiece of the Reliquary of the Holy Milk, dating to the 1600s.
The most important artwork is the Della Robbia Temple, a masterpiece from the late 15th century, reconstructed to how it was inside the church before it was disassembled in the early 18th century. The temple holds the relic of Mary’s milk, a drop of crystalized milk that fell from the lips of baby Jesus during his flight into Egypt.
Here, you can also admire a relief by Della Robbia depicting the delivery of the reliquary and a 16th-century processional cross by the Florentine goldsmith Piero di Martino Spigliati.
Info: museidelvaldarno.it
