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The Medici Prophecy the Magical Circle of Sassetti Chapel

By mariogesu
Free cancellation available
The previous price was £44 and current price is £35 per adult

Features

  • Free cancellation available
  • 2h
  • Mobile voucher
  • Instant confirmation
  • Multiple languages

Overview

Discover the hidden secrets of Florence’s Renaissance on this unique journey into the Cappella Sassetti. Marvel at Ghirlandaio’s frescoes, which contain intricate messages and magical intentions crafted within the Medici circle. Enjoy exclusive access to the private sacristy and watch a specially created 15‑minute video personally created by your guide! It explores the chapel’s symbolic architecture and the political vision of Lorenzo il Magnifico. Guided by art historian Mario Gesù, learn how Francesco Sassetti — through Kabbalah, astrology, and humanist philosophy — shaped his chapel into a beacon of fortune for the Medici family.

Enjoy exclusive access to the private sacristy

The 15‑minute film is entirely conceived, filmed, and produced by your guide Mario Gesu. It offers an insider’s view on the chapel’s symbolic architecture and its hidden codes.

Uncover the influence of Kabbalah and astrology in Renaissance art

The group must be at least 4 people

Activity location

  • Column of Justice
    • Piazza Santa Trinita
    • 50123, Florence, Italy

Meeting/Redemption Point

  • Piazza Santa Trinita
    • 50123, Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Check availability

The Medici Prophecy the Magical Circle of Sassetti Chapel
  • Activity duration is 2 hours2h
    2h
  • English
Starting time: 16:00
Price details
£43.52
£34.82 x 1 Adult£34.82
Total
The previous price was £43.52 and current price is £34.82
20% off
Until Mon, 20 Apr

What's included, what's not

  • What's includedWhat's included
    expenses for the chapel’s lighting
  • What's includedWhat's included
    exclusive acces to Strozzi chapel
  • What's includedWhat's included
    whisper system

Know before you book

  • Wheelchair accessible
  • Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
  • Public transport options are available nearby
  • Transport options are wheelchair accessible
  • All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
  • Suitable for all physical fitness levels
  • In accordance with UK consumer law, activities services are not subject to the right of withdrawal. Supplier cancellation policy will apply.
  • This activity is provided by a professional trader (a party acting within their trade, business or profession).

Activity itinerary

Column of Justice

  • 5m
Meeting Point Tour Introduction & Guide Welcome

Basilica di Santa Trinita

  • 30m
we will explore the importance of the private family chapels, true status symbols of the Renaissance. These chapels were designed to proclaim a family’s social prestige, and only the wealthiest and most influential households could afford to own one. We will then begin to uncover the importance of the Sassetti Chapel and of the Sassetti family, who commissioned Ghirlandaio’s fresco cycle with the intention of honouring the Medici family that governed the city. Along the way, we will explore the storey of the Medici — a dynasty always at the forefront on every front. In banking, they invented the circular letter of credit, they were the first to use double‑entry bookkeeping, and they promoted artistic activity by channelling private funds to ensure, across the centuries, the enduring beauty of Florence. At the same time, they understood the magical power hidden within images — the idea that images could help bring desired events into reality, as in the case of the Sassetti Chapel.

Cappella Sassetti

  • 50m
  • Admission ticket included
The Medici Prophecy: The Magical Frescoes of the Sassetti Chapel A journey into the political imagination of Lorenzo the Magnificent. This tour explores the celebrated fresco cycle by Domenico Ghirlandaio in the Sassetti Chapel of Santa Trinita, revealing the hidden meanings embedded within a private Renaissance chapel. Francesco Sassetti — a Medici banker for three generations — conceived his funerary chapel as a prophetic wish, a visual talisman designed to predestine the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent to future success. Through the contemplation of astrological and kabbalistic principles, the chapel becomes a magical device, a symbolic engine meant to set destiny in motion. Astonishingly, the event it anticipates will occur 28 years later, fulfilling the prophecy and marking the rise of Medici power to its highest point. A storey of art, magic, and political vision — hidden in plain sight on the walls of a Renaissance masterpiece.

Basilica di Santa Trinita

  • 20m
  • Admission ticket included
Exclusive Access: The Strozzi Chapel Experience Within the refined quiet of the Strozzi Chapel — attributed to Brunelleschi and today the intimate sacristy of the basilica — guests are granted privileged access to a space normally hidden from view. Here, an exclusive short film, created by your expert guide, unveils the invisible architecture of meaning woven into the frescoes. Through high‑definition imagery and carefully crafted video sequences, the documentary reveals relationships between minute details that the eye alone could never fully grasp. A sophisticated narrative accompanies the viewing, illuminating the chapel’s symbolic language and decoding the layers of intention behind its Renaissance masterpieces. This is not simply a visit. It is an immersion into a world where art, intellect, and mystery converge — a rare encounter with Florence’s most discreet treasures.

Column of Justice

  • 15m
We come back where we began: The Column of Justice, A Medici Prophecy in Stone This symbolic monument, commissioned by Cosimo I 60 years after the Sassetti chapel, echoes the ancient Medici prophecy hidden behind the frescoes of the same chapel. Cosimo knew the storey of that prophecy — a vision that would come true years later, leading the Medici family to the height of its power. For this reason, he placed the Column of Justice exactly here, on the occasion of his son Francesco’s wedding: a gesture of good fortune, a way to extend to his heir the same auspicious power embodied in the Sassetti Chapel. A silent blessing in marble, a reminder that in Florence, symbols were never just symbols — they were political magic.

Location

Activity location

  • LOB_ACTIVITIESLOB_ACTIVITIES
    Column of Justice
    • Piazza Santa Trinita
    • 50123, Florence, Italy

Meeting/Redemption Point

  • PEOPLEPEOPLE
    Piazza Santa Trinita
    • 50123, Florence, Tuscany, Italy

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