Basilica di Santa Croce, Florence

First glimpse of the gleaming facade. Photo Graeme Churchard.


The harmonious facade of Santa Croce. Photo © Paradoxplace.com.


Interior of Santa Croce, looking towards the apse. Photo Aaron Logan.

 
Nave looking west (by Graeme Churchard); apse and high altar (GFDL).


The beautiful high altar, filled with art masterpieces. Photo Miles Berry.

 
Tombs of Machiavelli (GFDL) and Michelangelo (by Graeme Churchard).


Refectory at Santa Croce with great mural. Photo © Paradoxplace.com.

Location map and aerial view of Santa Croce. For a larger view,
see our Florence Map or get our free Google Earth download.

The Basilica di Santa Croce (Basilica of the Holy Cross) is the principal Franciscan church of Florence, Italy. Situated on the Piazza Santa Croce to the east of the Duomo, it is best known for its Florentine artwork and its tombs of illustrious dead, including Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli.

History

Legend has it that Santa Croce was founded by St Francis himself. The current church was probably begun in 1294, possibly by Arnolfo di Cambio, and paid for by some of the city's wealthiest families.

In 1439 the Council of Florence, which attempted to heal the schism between Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches, was held at Santa Croce.

In 1560, the choir screen was removed and the interior rebuilt by Giorgio Vasari, who damaged the church's decoration in the process. The neo-Gothic facade only dates from 1857-1863 and the campanile was built in 1842.

What to See

Santa Croce is a vast church. Its most notable features are its 16 chapels, many of them decorated with frescoes by Giotto and his pupils, and its funerary monuments.

In the Primo Chiostro, the main cloister, is the Cappella dei Pazzi, built as the chapter house by Filippo Brunelleschi between 1442 and 1446 and finally completed in the 1470s.

The Museo dell'Opera di Santa Croce is housed mainly in the refectory, also off the cloister. A monument to Florence Nightingale stands in the cloister, in the city in which she was born and after which she was named. Brunelleschi also built the inner cloister, completed in 1453.

Artists whose work is present in the church include:

• Benedetto da Maiano (pulpit; doors to Cappella dei Pazzi, with his brother Giuliano)
• Antonio Canova (Alfieri's monument)
• Cimabue (Crucifixion, badly damaged by the 1966 flood and now in the refectory)
• Andrea della Robbia (altarpiece in Cappella Medici)
• Luca della Robbia (decoration of Cappella dei Pazzi)
• Desiderio da Settignano (Marsuppini's tomb; frieze in Cappella dei Pazzi)
• Donatello (relief of the Annunciation on the south wall; crucifix in the lefthand Cappella Bardi; St Louis of Toulouse in the refectory, originally made for the Orsanmichele)
• Agnolo Gaddi (frescoes in Cappella Castellani and chancel; stained glass in chancel)
• Taddeo Gaddi (frescoes in Cappella Baroncelli; Crucifixion in the sacristy; Last Supper in the refectory, considered his best work)
• Giotto (frescoes in Cappella Peruzzi and righthand Cappella Bardi; possibly Coronation of the Virgin, altarpiece in Cappella Baroncelli)
• Giovanni da Milano (frescoes in Cappella Rinuccini)
• Masso di Banco (frescoes in Cappella Bardi di Vernio)
• Henry Moore (statue of a warrior in the Primo Chiostro)
• Andrea Orcagna (frescoes largely disappeared during Vasari's remodelling, but some fragments remain in the refectory)
• Antonio Rossellino (relief of the Madonna del Latte in the south aisle)
• Bernardo Rossellino (Bruni's tomb)
• Santi di Tito (Supper at Emmaus and Resurrection, altarpieces in the north aisle)
• Giorgio Vasari (Michelangelo's tomb)
• Domenico Veneziana (SS John and Francis in the refectory)

Tombs and monuments in Santa Croce include those to:

• Leon Battista Alberti (15th century architect and artistic theorist)
• Vittorio Alfieri (18th century poet and dramatist)
• Eugenio Barsanti (co-inventor of the internal combustion engine)
• Charlotte Bonaparte (daughter of Joseph Bonaparte)
• Leonardo Bruni (15th century chancellor of the Republic, scholar and historian)
• Dante (actually buried in Ravenna)
• Ugo Foscolo (19th century poet)
• Galileo
• Giovanni Gentile (20th century philosopher)
• Lorenzo Ghiberti
• Vittorio Ghiberti
• Niccolò Machiavelli
• Carlo Marsuppini (15th century chancellor of the Republic)
• Michelangelo Buonarroti
• Raffaello Morgheni (19th century engraver)
• Gioacchino Rossini

Quick Facts

Article Sources

1. Personal visit (May 5, 2008).
2. Wikipedia

More Information

• Santa Croce - Frommer's Attraction Review
• Santa Croce - Fodor's Online Travel Guide
• The Cathedral - Florence Art Guide
• Santa Croce - IgoUgo user reviews
• Santa Croce - Virtual Tourist user reviews
• Florence Hotels - HotelTravel.com

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