Church of St. James Zebedee on Arno (Chiesa di San Jacopo Soprarno)

On the left bank of the Arno, in the area of San Jacopo (about 200 meters upstream from the Ponte Vecchio Bridge), there is a church named after the Apostle Jacob Zebedeeev (Italian Giacomo il Maggiore, in the Florentine dialect of San Jacopo).

The church is probably built around the 10th – 11th centuries, in the Romanesque style. The existence of the church in 1078 is documented. In the Middle Ages, the church became famous for the fact that its abbot in the middle of the 13th century organized a regatta (Palio dei Navicelli), along a half-kilometer route from Ponte Vecchio to the dam of St. Rose (Pescaia di Santa Rosa), which still runs today. In the 14th century, the church was the seat of the Society of St. James, characterized by strict internal discipline.

In the 16th century, a Romanesque portico was added, in 1660 a bell tower was added to the church (architect Gerardo Silvani). In the early 18th century, the church was rebuilt in three naves. In the interior of the church there are frescoes of the vault by Pierre Dandini (“Saint James”), frescoes by Niccolo Lapi (“Moses”), frescoes of the dome of Matteo Bonecki (“Madonna”) and Agostino Veracini (“Saint Francis of Assisi”).

The church now belongs to the Greek community of Florence. The people of Florence affectionately refer to this church as “la chiesa col culo in Arno” because the apse of the church overlooks the river and is often flooded during floods.