On the ground floor of the square building the 13th-century arches that had originally been open, forming the loggia-style grain market, were walled up.

The second floor was devoted to offices, while the third housed one of the city's municipal grain storehouses, maintained to withstand famine or siege.

[1] As early as 1339 the main guilds had each been assigned a space between the arches to make a framed niche, with a statue of their patron saint in it.

Inside the church is Andrea Orcagna's bejeweled Gothic Tabernacle (1355–59) encasing a repainting by Bernardo Daddi's of an older icon of the "Madonna and Child".

[3] Orsanmichele's statuary is a relic of the fierce devotion and pride of Florentine trades, and a reminder that great art often arises out of a competitive climate.