The millennial parish church of St. Giovanni Maggiore, which retains its remarkable bell tower and a splendid marble ambo from its original 12th-century structure, is significantly altered on the inside, where numerous works by the Chini family can be admired. As early as 1843, Pietro Alessio Chini painted the ceiling of the central nave, depicting the Baptism of Christ, framed by a beautiful motif with artificial perspective consoles, a refined vegetable festoon, and other grotesque, plant-like decorations. The decoration of the money-bag (the apsidal basin) and possibly the chapel at the head of the left nave are also attributed to Pietro Alessio. These works were commissioned by the then parish priest, Alessandro Magnani, and represent one of Pietro Alessio’s most significant contributions, showcasing his position within the academic milieu of mid-19th-century Florence, while also revealing his creative and imaginative decorative talent.
The ceiling of the church is also adorned with artificial coffers featuring rosettes, created by Dino Chini. Subsequently, during another restoration in 1912, led by the engineer Niccolò Niccolai and Galileo Chini, and executed by Dino Chini, the church’s walls were covered with tiles designed to mimic a marble cladding. In addition to this, Dino Chini also retouched some of the existing artworks, including the Baptism of Christ, as well as painting the aforementioned monochromatic artificial coffers on the ceiling of the central nave. He also worked on the architectural facades, in a Renaissance style, and on the geometric decorations of the two side altars, as well as the geometric designs beneath the arch of the baptismal font chapel.
The decoration of the tombstone dedicated to the fallen soldiers, crowned by a beautiful painted vegetable festoon that cascades down the sides, and the artificial drapery decoration with two coats of arms, one dated 1930, placed on the left side behind the main altar, can also be attributed to Dino Chini. The San Lorenzo Furnaces also provided the small ceramic crosses inside the tondos applied to the walls and pillars, and perhaps even the panels for the Via Crucis and the stoup on the left.
The windows of the naves are fitted with polychromatic stained-glass windows featuring splendid neo-Renaissance decorations, framing the coats of arms of some of the most distinguished families of the area, alongside those of Pope Pius X, Cardinal Mistrangelo, Archbishop of Florence at the time, and the local Company of the Holy Sacrament.
Qui la galleria delle opere dei Chini all’interno della chiesa (Foto: Marta Magherini) 
The undeniable high quality of the design of these windows suggests the involvement of Galileo Chini, who must have prepared the designs some time before the 1912 interventions, as by that year, he was already in Siam, working on the royal palace in Bangkok.
Two additional stained-glass windows may also be attributed to the Fornaci. The first, depicting the Angelus Dei, is located in a small room accessed from the right side of the presbytery. The second, located in the bricked-up window on the rear wall of the presbytery, appears to bear the Savoia coat of arms and that of Pope Pius XI, possibly in commemoration of the Lateran Treaty between the State and the Church signed in 1929.
On the same wall, two large memorial plaques were embedded in 1919, commemorating the fallen of the Great War, for which the Chini factory created the ceramic components. Beneath the left plaque, there is another small round plaque with a ceramic vegetable festoon. Outside, beneath the bright loggia, next to the central door, is the commemorative plaque for the seventh centenary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi (1926), created by Augusto Chini.
Scheda di Marco Pinelli, foto di Marta Magherini
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