Chiesa di Santa Margherita dei Cerchi

Dedicated to Saint Margaret of Antioch, with reference to the Cerchi family, who held the patronage since 1353, the small Church dates back to the 1032. The facade is "hut", in blocks of stone, and has a portal with bezel round arch, surmounted by a gabled roof. The interior has a nave, the square apse ends with a barrel vault with frescoes, at the center of which is the stone altar and the altarpiece depicting the "Madonna Enthroned with Saints" by Lorenzo di Bicci (XIV-XV century). The Church of St. Margaret, also known as the "Dante's Church", is a place of pilgrimage for lovers, as a meeting place between the Poet and Beatrice Portinari, his unrequited love, who here paid homage to the graves of her relatives (the father and the nurse). The story of their meeting in St. Margaret is depicted in a famous Pre-Raphaelite painting of the nineteenth century, to the right of the entrance. According to tradition, the same Beatrice would be buried in this place, and her alleged tombstone welcomes requests of love and notes left by visitors. Today, the Church is home to the "Worshipful Company of Cooks", whose patron is St. Paschal Baylon, inventor of eggnog.