Basilica of Santa Croce
Florence's great Franciscan church, with Giotto frescoes, Renaissance tombs and Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel.
Work on the Franciscan basilica of Santa Croce began in 1294, traditionally under Arnolfo di Cambio, and the church was largely finished by 1385, though it was consecrated only in 1443. It is the largest Franciscan church in the world: a wide, austere nave of pointed arches on octagonal piers, roofed in open timber rather than vaulting, in keeping with the order's preference for plain building. The polychrome marble front facing the square is much later, designed by Niccolò Matas and completed in 1863.
The chapels around the high altar hold fresco cycles by Giotto and his followers, including the Stories of Saint Francis in the Bardi Chapel, whose restoration was completed in 2026. From the fifteenth century onwards the church became a burial place for distinguished Florentines, so that it is often called the temple of Italian glories: Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli and Rossini are commemorated here. The monumental complex also takes in two cloisters, the refectory and Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel.
Highlights
- Giotto's Stories of Saint Francis in the Bardi Chapel, restored in 2026
- Tombs and memorials to Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli and Rossini
- Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel in the first cloister
- Refectory with Taddeo Gaddi's Tree of Life and Cimabue's Crucifix
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