Florence was closed to non-Roman Catholic churches until the Grand Duke of Tuscany was exiled in 1849. Only then did the Tuscan parliament pass legislation permitting churches of other denominations. The local ex-patriate American community organized their own church, and the parish achieved official recognition in 1867. The beautiful building we now occupy was designed as the last work of an English architect, prominent in the Gothic Revival of the late 19th Century. The land was purchased in 1907 for $12,822 while church construction, the organ and other furnishings totalled $66,556. The church was closed during World War II, but was not heavily damaged. It was reopened in 1947, a time when the American community in Florence included Bernard Berenson, Sinclair Lewis, and the M.I.T. inventor Philip Baldwin. In November 1966 the Arno River flooded, rising to a height of 12 feet in some of Florence's museums and monuments, and doing devastating damage. Water and fuel oil flooded the parish hall under the church and reached the window sills of the rectory. While historically the church provided a place of worship and community for English-speaking people, today it embraces and welcomes its Italian neighbors. There are now regular services in Italian and a weekly study group for Italians interested in Anglicanism.
