Situated on the corner of the piazza of the Duomo and via Calzaioli, the mid-14th century Loggia del Bigallo has been a small museum since 1904. Even from outside, you can admire the frescoed building, but heading inside will give you a chance to see the much deteriorated but famous fresco of the Madonna della Misericordia, an image of the Virgin Mary with her cape encompassing her devotees (in this case the entire city) who are surrounded underneath and around her. The Bigallo Madonna is depicted with the oldest known view of Florence, from 1352.

Its two arched bays are richly applied with bas-reliefs of prophets, angels, the Virtues, a Christ giving the benediction and an Ecce Homo. In 1697, the arches were immured in order to provide more space for the oratory that is attached to the loggia; the masonry was removed in 1889, revealing the long-hidden decoration. Bifore windows pierce the walls of the floor above, which was originally richly frescoed, and three tabernacles, the work of Filippo di Cristofano, 1412, enframe the Madonna and Child, Saint Lucy and Saint Peter Martyr, patron of the brotherhood. The mid-14th century statues were installed here when the two confraternities joined in 1425.
Since 1998 the Loggia del Bigallo has been run by the Museo of the Opera del Duomo. Its beginnings, however, were as the main seat of the Misericordia, a catholic confraternity founded in Florence in the 13th century to help those in need, which at the time consisted of mostly people affected by the Plague.

The Madonna of Mercy, painted by the Bernardo Daddi school in 1342, is one of the most important keys for unlocking the vocation and for deepening the meaning of Florence. The Madonna wears a crown like that of the Empress Matilda, with the saving Tau in blood, and it is she who protects the city with the weapons of the acts of mercy as Jesus had listed them in the Gospel, these acts being given in the medallions of her mantle that contain these words.
The fresco, painted on a wall of the Room of the Captains, is the oldest known representation of Florence, showing its mediaeval towers and monuments, including the Baptistery and an interesting view of the Cathedral during the construction of Santa Maria del Fiore. The old cathedral of Santa Reparata was still standing so that here we can pick out its saddle roof, two belltowers and lateral single light windows. Parts of Giotto's Belltower and the facade of Santa Maria del Fiore, as it had been conceived and left by Arnolfo at the time of his death in 1302, can also be seen.

'Two recently published documents have revealed the former presence of an important fourteenth-century fresco cycle that included ten scenes of the Virgin Mary. They covered portions of the currently whitewashed walls on the ground-floor level, against which the museum's collection is now displayed. Their loss is unfortunate for a number of reasons, not least because these paintings probably demonstrated the inventive powers of their creator, Jacopo di Cione -- a major figure in Florentine late-Trecento art -- at the moment he emerged as an independent master and before his ingenuity began to flag. More than that, however, they point to the curious fact that, to date, there has been no attempt to understand -- as   far as one can -- what would seem to be the underlying assumption tying together a large percentage of the collection.' [2]

Art in Tuscany | Madonna della Misericordia | Madonna of Mercy