Piazza Santa Croce in Florence
The splendid Basilica looks out onto this square, where historic Florentine soccer is played
Piazza Santa Croce, one of the main squares in Florence's historic center, gets its name from theBasilica of Santa Croce, which is located there and is one of the largest Franciscan churches in Italy.
The entire east side of the square is occupied by the Santa Croce Monumental Complex that, along with the Basilica, includes the Sacristy and the Novitiate, the two cloisters (large cloister and Brunelleschi cloister) with the Pazzi Chapel, the Cenacle and the Cerchi Chapel.
The Basilica of Santa Croce contains important works of art, created by artists of the caliber of Cimabue, Giotto, Taddeo and Agnolo Gaddi, Orcagna, Donatello, Rossellino, Brunelleschi, Bronzino, Vasari, Canova and Bartolini. Santa Croce is also known for being the burial place of the "Greats" (Galilei, Foscolo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli, to name a few).
On the south side of the piazza stands Palazzo dell’Antella, with a lively façade embellished with several paintings, depicting allegorical figures, cherubs, foliage, flowers and arabesques, which are set around a bust of Cosimo II de’ Medici. Particularly interesting, on the fourth tile from the left, is the copy of the sleeping Amorino by Caravaggio.
In front of the Basilica, on the left, there is a monument dedicated to Dante Alighieri by Enrico Pazzi, sculpted in 1865 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Dante’s birth. The fountain by Giuseppe Manetti was placed in front of palazzo Cocchi-Serristori in the 19th century, a remake from the baroque era.
Given its large size and standard shape, the piazza became the perfect place to hold popular competitions during the Renaissance, such as the Florentine Calcio Storico which is still played here today.
