Basilica di Santa Croce
The Basilica di Santa Croce, attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio, was built from 1294 to 1442. In the Florentine gothic style, it is planned as an Egyptian cross, with an open timber roof. On entering the Basilica, our attention is immediately drawn to the east end, where the tall narrow stained glass windows pierce the walls beneath the vaulting.
Several of the great Florentine families, including the Bardi, the Peruzzi, the Alberti, the Pulci, the Tosinghi and the Rinuccini, acquired the patronage of chapels in Santa Croce, thereby assuming the honour of decorating and furnishing them.
From the mid-14th century the walls of the aisles and the Sacristy were frescoed by Andrea Orcagna and Agnolo Gaddi.
In the following century Santa Croce received some important architectural additions. In 1429 Andrea de’ Pazzi undertook the construction of the Pazzi Chapel, which was designed and begun by Filippo Brunelleschi, but not completed until long after his death. It is one of the most harmonious buildings of the Florentine Renaissance, and is decorated not by frescoes but by glazed terracotta roundels, made by Luca della Robbia and his followers.
The Chapel of the Noviciate, which Michelozzo built around 1445 for Cosimo de’ Medici, has a glazed terracotta altarpiece by Andrea della Robbia.
It is significant that Santa Croce, which was to become the resting-place of so many great Italians, has the first truly renaissance funerary monument.
Michelangelo, who died in Rome in 1564, was buried here beneath a monument designed by Giorgio Vasari. Michelangelo’s tomb served as the model for others, such as the tomb of Galileo, died in 1642, which monument was made by Giovanni Battista Foggini.