The Santa Croce Church is located a few blocks to the east of most of the well-known sights of Florence. Its construction began in 1294, and continued for the next century-and-a-half. It has a white façade which wasn't added until the 19th Century. It was added at that time by the Jewish architect Niccolo Matas, who somehow got away with featuring a prominent Star of David near the top. He was denied burial inside the church, though, instead being buried under the porch.

Santa Croce is the largest Franciscan church in the world and features many chapels with impressive frescoes, some by Giotto. There is a museum in the former refectory building (dining hall) with additional artworks. But the church is probably best known for the people buried in it. A few of the eternal residents are Michelangelo, Galileo, Ghiberti, Machiavelli and Rossini. There are also monuments to many prominent Italians who aren't buried there, such as Dante, da Vinci, Raphael and Marconi.

To get to Santa Croce from the Duomo, we headed south down the Via dei Calzaiuoli (the Street of the Many Vowels), hung a left at the Piazza della Signoria (more on this piazza later) and continued on to the church. The piazza in front of the church was for some reason filled with scaffolding, denying us a good view of the church's front. The entrance was on the north side of the church, where we paid our money and went in.






Photography wasn't forbidden in the church, and we found much to take pictures of. A fair amount was hidden from our view, though, as scaffolding being used for restoration work blocked much of the south side of the church (including Machiavelli's tomb) and the main altar area behind the main altarpiece.






From the church we walked over to the museum and looked at the artworks displayed there.




There were photographs taken during a terrible flood that struck Florence in 1966, as well as a well-known artwork (a 1288 crucifix by Cimabue) damaged during the flood. Many artworks were damaged throughout the city, and restoration continues to the present day.

From the museum we walked through a cloister with a nice view of the 19th Century campanile and the 15th Century Pazzi Chapel (partly designed by Brunelleschi) and exited back into the Piazza di Santa Croce.

By this time, we were ready for lunch and we went looking for a restaurant. We were going to need energy for our next destination, the famous Uffizi Gallery.