The Chiesa di Orsanmichele (“church of the orchard of St. Michael”), named after the monastery of St. Michael surrounded by orchards that was once present in the area, has a structure resembling a palace rather than a church. In fact, before becoming a religious building dedicated to the arts and crafts, as represented by the statues and frescoes there present, it was designed and used as a grain market with its elegant loggia.
Its past related to trade thus explains certain mysterious openings: holes in the columns that are still visible and served for the stocking and preservation of the cereals.
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