Santa Croce Church - private tour in Florence

Start your tour by meeting your guide at your hotel if it’s located in the center of Florence.In this 2 hour tour you will discover the Basilica of Santa Croce,one of the most famous Florentine churches to see the frescoes by Cimabue and Giotto and tombs and Memorial of many important italian persons like

Michelangelo,

Rossini,

Macchiavelli and

Galileo Galilei,

At the beginning Santa Croce housed the graves of the families living in the district; then, in the fifteenth century, became the guardian of the memory of illustrious Florentines by hosting the tombs of the Chancellors of the Republic Leonardo Bruni and Carlo Marsuppini.

The monument dedicated to Michelangelo built in 1564 and the one made for Galileo later on, inspired Ugo Foscolo who, in thepoem entitled

I Sepolcri written in 1807, calls Santa Croce "the Temple of the Italian glories", marking its change from Pantheon of the town of Florence to Pantheon of the Italians.

There are sixteen family chapels that help compose the Santa Croce Basilica, considered the largest Franciscan church in the world and legend tells us that that Santa Croce was founded by St Francis himself. Well-to-do families typically had chapels built and decorated in their honor and dedicated to a favorite saint.

Very important is Cappella Pazzi by Brunelleschi.