HOW ARRIVE TO SANTA CROCE:
Exit from your Home in Palace room and go toward the city center, after 230 meters. turn left onto Via della Colonna, after 330 meters. turn right on Borgo Pinti, after 130 meters. turn left on Via dei Pillars, after 30 meters. turn right into Via Fiesolana, after 260 meters. continues in Via Giuseppe Verdi, after 270 meters. turn left onto Piazza di Santa Croce.

HISTORY OF SANTA CROCE:
The Basilica is the largest Franciscan church in the world. Its most notable features are its sixteen chapels, many of them decorated with frescoes by Giotto and his pupils, and its tombs and cenotaphs.

Legend says that Santa Croce was founded by St Francis himself. The construction of the current church, to replace an older building, was begun on 12th May 1294[1], possibly by Arnolfo di Cambio, and paid for by some of the city's wealthiest families. It was consecrated in 1442 by Pope Eugene IV. The building's design reflects the austere approach of the Franciscans. The floorplan is an Egyptian or Tau cross (a symbol of St Francis), 115 metres in length with a nave and two aisles separated by lines of octagonal columns. To the south of the church was a convent, some of whose buildings remain.

In the Primo Chiostro, the main cloister, there is the Cappella dei Pazzi, built as the chapter house between 1442 and 1446 and finally completed in the 1470s. Filippo Brunelleschi (who had designed and executed the dome of the Duomo) was involved in its design which has remained rigorously simple and unadorned.

In 1560, the choir screen was removed as part of changes arising from the Counter-Reformation and the interior rebuilt by Giorgio Vasari. As a result, there was damage to the church's decoration and most of the altars previously located on the screen were lost.

The campanile was built in 1842, replacing an earlier one damaged by lightning. The neo-Gothic marble façade, by Nicolò Matas, dates from 1857-1863.

In 1866, the complex became public property, as a part of government suppression of most religious houses, following the wars that gained Italian independence and unity.

The Museo dell'Opera di Santa Croce is housed mainly in the refectory, also off the cloister. A monument to Florence Nightingale stands in the cloister, in the city in which she was born and after which she was named. Brunelleschi also built the inner cloister, completed in 1453.

In 1966, the Arno River flooded much of Florence, including Santa Croce. The water entered the church bringing mud, pollution and heating oil. The damage to buildings and art treasures was severe, taking several decades to repair.

Today the former dormitory of the Franciscan Friars houses the Scuola del Cuoio (Leather School)[1]. Visitors can watch as artisans craft purses, wallets, and other leather goods which are sold in the adjacent shop.


INFORMATIONS ABOUT SANTA CROCE:
Hours: weekdays from 9.30 AM to 5.30 PM and on Sundays from 1.00 PM to 5.30 PM. Last admission at 5.00 PM. Closed January 1, the day of Easter, June 13 (St. Anthony), October 4 (St. Francis), 25 and December 26 and during the matches of Football History Fiorentino held in Piazza Santa Croce for celebrations of St. John, in June.

Tickets: full 5.00 euros, reduced boys from 11 to 18 years old and groups of more than 15 persons 3.00 euros and free for children under 11 years old, tourist guides authorized tour authorised card exposed, the disabled and their escorts ( an accompanist for disabled), residents in the province of Florence with valid ID.