Santa Croce is known for being the Temple of the Italian Glories, a Florentine Pantheon housing the tombs of famous Italians among whom Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Galileo. This would be enough to convince anyone to pay a visit to the church, but once you get there, you will find out that it has much more to offer.
The magnificent gothic church of today, was constructed during the 14th century for the Franciscan friars, who had already settled down here in the early 1200s.
Thanks to the wealthy Florentine medieval bankers’ donations, Santa Croce is housing one of the most important collections of 14th century frescoes in Florence and Italy, painted by Giotto and his followers.
During time the church was further enriched with works of art by various Renaissance artists, like for example Donatello. Brunelleschi, the architect who built the dome on Florence’s Cathedral, is well represented here too through the chapel he designed for the Pazzi family, a beautiful example of early Renaissance architecture. Further changes are taking place during the Counterreformation and up until the 19th century when many funeral monuments were made inside the church.
The small museum is housed in part of the friars’ convent and includes the big refectory, the friars’ dining hall, where you’ll be able to get an idea of the damages caused in this area of the city during the last flood in Florence in 1966. The famous crucifix by Cimabue, symbol of this tragic event, is exposed in the church area.
The complex of Santa Croce is a real time machine which will allow you to travel through 700 years of Florence’s history.