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Piazza Santa Croce
Calcio Storico ceremonies on Piazza Santa Croce, Florence, Italy (cc)
Photo: Lorenzo Noccioli
Piazza Santa Croce
Piazza Santa Croce, which lies just off Via dei Pepi, which in turn goes off Via Pietrapiana, is the much-loved site of the Calcio Storico Florentino ("Historic Florentine Football") which dates from the Middle Ages and is accompanied by costumed revelry and events. The piazza is also an important port of call on the trail of Florentine churches.
Chiesa di Santa Croce (Piazza Santa Croce)
This Franciscan basilica grew into its current size under the careful plans of Arnolfo di Cambio from the end of the 13th century, when the modest chapel that originally stood on its spot was enlarged into the glorious edifice you see today. It wasn’t until the 19th century that the façade and campanile were added. Although neither the sides nor the back were completed, the stunning, although rather unconvincing, Neo-Gothic front gives a good idea of the intended effect. During the 15th century it was the final resting place of Florence’s most distinguished residents and more than 250 tombstones line the floor of the church with grander monuments marking the spot of the more famous artists and writers buried here – Michelangelo (first chapel on the right with tomb designed by Vasari), Dante (farther along to the right, although not actually buried here), Galileo (opposite) and Machiavelli (the fourth chapel on the right and the most visited). You should also head into the Bardi and Peruzzi chapels to visit Giotto’s radiant frescoes depicting Scenes from the Life of St Francis in the former and Scenes from the Life of St John the Baptist in the latter. The showpiece of the museum, to which your ticket also includes entry, is Cimabue’s wooden crucifix. It still manages to retain its original splendor despite damage from the 1966 flood that ravaged the Santa Croce quarter. But there are also detached frescoes by Taddeo Gaddi (The Last Supper and the huge Tree of the Cross) and by Orcagna, as well as one of Brunelleschi’s best but unfortunately uncompleted works, the Pazzi Chapel with terracotta décor by Luca della Robbia.
From the piazza, through the well-preserved medieval streets once frequented by Dante and Boccaccio, you should already have sighted the tower of your next port of call; the Bargello. For your quickest means of arrival, take Via dell’Anguillara and then a right up Via del Proconsolo.
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