Firenze	Prato	Pistoia	Lucca	Versilia
Pisa	Siena	Arezzo	Golf	Wellness

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The sixteenth-century frieze in glazed ceramic, a brightly coloured “ribbon” that decorates the open gallery of the old Ceppo Hospital is one of the symbols of the city. The bas-relief with seven great panels illustrates the Seven Works of Mercy with crowded scenes portraying figures with strongly characterised gestures and faces. The creator of the first six scenes is Santi Buglioni from Florence, a descendent of Benedetto Buglioni, who accomplished the lunette above the doorway of the nearby oratorio with the Coronation of the Virgin in blue and white glazed terracotta. However, the panel that shows the scene Giving the thirsty a drink, the end one to the right of the façade, was added by Filippo Paladini, probably because the original was lost, fragments of which are preserved in the Surgical Instruments Hall inside the Hospital.
In the pendentives of the arches the decoration also includes medallions by Giovanni della Robbia, an illustrious representative of the famous dynasty of Florentine artists; three of them show scenes dedicated to the Virgin and others show the coats of arms of the Florentine hospital, the Ceppo, the Medici family and the city of Pistoia.
We can follow a perfect “della Robbia” itinerary through the city’s streets that takes us to the old church of San Giovanni Fuorcivitas, where the white ceramic group, of extraordinary formal refinement, is preserved, portraying the Visitation, with the Madonna and Saint Elisabeth in a tender embrace.
It is the oldest work in glazed terracotta by Luca della Robbia, one of the most illustrious protagonists of fifteenth- century Florence. Whereas his nephew Andrea created the lunette with the Madonna and Child and Angels on the central doorway, with the relative intrados decorated with lacunars and swags, under the open gallery in the Cathedral.