Discover Commenda di Sant'Eufrosino, Volpaia

The commenda di Sant'Eufrosino is a sacred building at Volpaia, a frazione of Radda in Chianti. It is commonly called La Commenda because it was originally tied to a commenda — a benefice of various farms — and the church-tower is dedicated to Sant'Eufrosino, evangeliser of the Chianti.

In 1443 ser Pietro di ser Lorenzo della Volpaia obtained permission from Pope Eugene IV to build a chapel in the castle of Volpaia dedicated to Sant'Eufrosino, whose cult was then very much alive — in the same period the sanctuary dedicated to him near Panzano in Chianti was also renewed. The chapel was built as a sign of gratitude to the pontiff, who had granted ser Pietro permission to enter the Order of St John of Jerusalem.

It was annexed to a pre-existing hospital belonging to that same Hospitaller order. Construction lasted some decades and concluded after 1460.

It is a National Monument, declared so in 1982, and the record calls it the most important episode of Renaissance architecture in the Chianti.

The type is the early Florentine Renaissance hall chapel. The plan refers back to the chapels of the first Florentine Renaissance, especially the sacristy and the Cappella Pucci of the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata in Florence.

The authorship is a style, not a name. The layout and structure are Quattrocento and typically Michelozzian in inspiration, but the derivations from Michelozzo are interpreted in a manner close to Giuliano da Maiano. No architect is documented.

Outside: a simple facade under a pediment recalling Michelozzo's at Santa Maria delle Grazie, Pistoia. The broken-line tympanum of the portal is eighteenth-century, not original. The masonry is a sasso accapezzato, which argues it was meant to be rendered. The rear elevation is notably tall.

Inside: two square bays and a hidden chancel. A single aula divided by a transverse arch and closed by a square scarsella invisible from outside — enclosed by the sacristy and by a stair rising to an upper room, entered through two small symmetrical doors beside the arch. Sail vaults throughout, over both bays and over the choir chapel.

The order is carried in pietra serena. Fluted pilasters with Corinthian capitals support the chapel arch, carved with garlands; the central arch carries lumachelle; floral motifs recur in the springing corbels of the vaults. Window surrounds are moulded but plain, and the choir doors are framed in pietra serena under an egg-and-dart corbel.

Everything about it is urban architecture in a hamlet, which is why the record singles it out from everything else in the district.

It was paid for by one man and permitted by a pope. The licence came from Eugene IV in 1443; the patron, ser Pietro di ser Lorenzo della Volpaia, built it in gratitude for being admitted to the Hospitaller order, and endowed it with a commenda — a benefice of several farms — whose income supported it. The Volpaia article records that ser Pietro invested Fra Bartolomeo Canigiani, a Hospitaller knight, with that benefice.

It took roughly two decades. Construction lasted some decades and concluded after 1460; the building is dated 1443–1460.

The exterior stone was never the finish. The facade is built a sasso accapezzato — roughly trimmed stone — and for that reason was probably meant originally to be plastered. What is visible now is therefore not what was intended.

The interior finish is pietra serena, and that is the expense. Fluted pilasters, Corinthian capitals, carved garlands and lumachelle, floral springing corbels, moulded window surrounds and egg-and-dart over the doors: a complete architectural order in dressed grey sandstone, which in a hamlet of this size is a conspicuous investment.

Later centuries rebuilt and then un-rebuilt it. Baroque adaptation in the early seventeenth century; half-abandonment in the early eighteenth; restoration at that century's end; and in the second half of the nineteenth, a reinstatement of the original Renaissance style. The eighteenth-century portal tympanum is the main visible survivor of the intervening taste.

Why is it called a commenda?

Because it was tied to a commenda — a benefice of several farms — instituted in 1443 by ser Piero della Volpaia, who invested a Hospitaller knight, Fra Bartolomeo Canigiani, with it.

When was it built?

Begun in 1443 by permission of Pope Eugene IV and concluded after 1460.

Is it really the best Renaissance building in the Chianti?

That is what the record says: the most important episode of Renaissance architecture in the Chianti. It has been a National Monument since 1982.

Who designed it?

No architect is documented. Its plan and structure are Michelozzian in inspiration, interpreted in a style close to Giuliano da Maiano, and its pediment recalls Michelozzo's at Santa Maria delle Grazie in Pistoia.

Where is the Cosimo Rosselli?

In Florence. The 1480 Madonna and Child between Saints Eufrosino and John the Baptist left when the church was deconsecrated in 1932 and is at the national centre for Renaissance studies, in Palazzo Strozzi.

Can I go in?

Nobody publishes hours or an admission charge, so this page does not say that you can. The facade and the square are public.

Why does the church look taller from behind?

Because it is. The rear part of the building is notably developed in height, and the square chancel is hidden inside the volume of the sacristy and a stair to an upper room.