Pacugio Italy

Review of Opera di Santa Croce

Santa Croce, rebuilt for the Franciscan order in 1...

Santa Croce, rebuilt for the Franciscan order in 1294 by Arnolfo di Cambio, is the burial place of the great and powerful of Florence: Michelangelo, Rossini, Macchiavelli and the Pisan Galileo Galilei, who was condemned by the Inquisition and who, therefore, he could not have a Christian burial until 1737, or 95 years after his death. There is also a memorial monument to Dante, but his sarcophagus is empty (he was buried in Ravenna after his exile from Florence). Santa Croce literally houses an immense artistic heritage: Gaddi's frescoes (1380) in the Cappella Maggiore tell the story of the "holy cross", while Giotto's beautiful frescoes in the Bardi and Peruzzi chapels illustrate scenes from the life of San Francesco and San Giovanni the Evangelist. An unusual relief, the Annunciation, in golden sandstone by Donatello, enriches the right nave of the basilica.