Santa Croce, Florence


	Santa Croce As a Franciscan preaching church, the proportions of Santa Croce are vast and open, horizontal rather than soaring. Nonetheless, the interior is majestic, with its colorfully painted timber roof and exquisite altar and stained-glass chancel framed by a triumphal arch. The church contains burials of illustrious Florentines, such as Michelangelo, Ghiberti, Galileo, and Machiavelli. To the right of the chancel are the best that remain of Giotto's frescoes. First, in the Bardi Chapel, are Scenes from the Life of St. Francis, (1315) and to the right, in the Peruzzi Chapel, Scenes from the Lives of the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist. Santa Croce's cloisters are also open to view (fee). In addition to a number of weathered frescoes is the fine bronze St. Louis of Toulouse by Donatello. Accessed through the cloisters is the serene Pazzi Chapel designed by Brunelleschi. Address: Piazza di Santa Croce Florence Italy Telephone: +39 (55) 24-46-19