On Nuns and Nunneries

Abstract One day in April 1575, the citizens of Florence witnessed a great ceremony: seven young novices made their solemn profession of vows in the convent of San Giovannino of the military order of the Knights of Malta. A large female community located along Via San Gallo, not far from the Duomo, San Giovannino mainly hosted the daughters of the aristocracy, some of whom came from the ruling Medici family. The seven girls walked into the church in pairs while singers and musicians performed the traditional ‘Come Thou Brides of Christ ’, and then headed toward the altar of the church where they received the black veil and habit before the father superior of the convent. Great numbers of patrician men and women, as well as the girls’ families and the local clergy, participated in these splendid celebrations, orchestrated by the nuns as memorable occasions which maximized their public visibility and presence in the city.