It is a manuscript on display that reminds us of the mass celebrated on Christmas Eve 1944, by Monsignor Iosia, only for the allies who had contributed to the liberation of Florence. Instead, it was March 2, 1100 when Matilda of Canossa (1046 – 1115) issued the “Proclamation on the assets of Campiano” on display today. Guido Guerra II, Matilde's adoptive son, had donated the properties of the church of Campiano, near Barberino di Mugello, to the Chapter of the Cathedral of Florence. Despite the donation, the properties were the object of disputes and Matilda of Canossa with this proclamation definitively attributed them to the Chapter. In the notarial deeds of 26 and 29 June 1257, signed by Brunetto Latini (Florence, circa 1220 – 1294-1295), notary and writer, it is attested that the debts contracted by the Chapter were also to be paid by loans: 94 pounds provided by the two brothers Adimario and Berlengherio (one of whom was a canon of the Chapter). Pope Alexander IV had asked the Bishops for economic and military collaboration to fight a crusade against the Saracens in Puglia. The Bishop of Florence, John II, who also had his own militia, had imposed on the Florentine clergy to make a financial contribution and the Chapter had to contract huge debts to find the resources. Another manuscript visible to the public is the breve (document drawn up by a notary) signed by Pietro Bembo (1470 – 1547), chancellor or abbreviator of Pope Leo X, dated 30 January 1517, with which the Pope “imposes excommunication on those who steal precious stones from the mitre” donated by him to the Chapter (now preserved in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo) and offered to the Mother of God and destined to increase her cult in Santa Maria del Fiore. It is the first day of 1517, when Pope Leo X, after attending mass in the Cathedral of Florence, donates a “mitre of such beauty and adorned with so many pearls, balas, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds and rubies that, according to the public canonical books, it was worth more than ten thousand scusi”. Unfortunately, on the same day, a mitre jingle was lost and attempts to find it were in vain. Despite the Pope's brief in 1528, after the expulsion of the Medici from the city the year before, the canons were forced to hand over the precious stones of the mitre to the Signoria who needed them to finance their war activities. Among the manuscripts on display is a booklet of income and expenditure for the school for poor girls that the Chapter had opened in January 1885 in the Torre degli Amieri. The recently discovered document is being studied. Education was entrusted to the Dominican nuns and in addition the Chapter offered the girls a soup a day. The manuscript shows that some of the noble Florentine families, in particular the Marquises Gerini, contributed financially to the school which was closed on 4 July 1889 because the Municipality had decided to demolish the Torre degli Amieri.

Open to the public until December 30th from Monday to Friday, from 9.00 to 13. On December 24th, 25th and 26th 2024, the exhibition will be closed. Free admission.

Guided tours of the exhibition and the chapter house are available on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 14.30pm to 17.30pm, by booking at segreteria.capitolo@duomofirenze.it