This small cloister forms the entrance to the chapel of the Confraternity of the Disciplinati of St John the Baptist, known as the Cloister of the Scalzo, founded in 1376.
At various intervals between 1509 and 1526, the great Florentine artist Andrea del Sarto painted the walls with frescoes depicting Scenes from the life of St John the Baptist and the Virtues, except for two episodes which were painted by Franciabigio.