The largest Franciscan church in the world, a wonderful example of Italian Gothic.

Made even more precious by the frescoes of Giotto and his school, it is also the Pantheon of "Italie Glorie" for the excellent tombs kept inside.

Have you ever heard of Stendhal Syndrome? The physical discomfort you feel when you see works of art that are so beautiful that you faint? This syndrome originated at S. Croce, and the first person to suffer from it was the French scholar Stendhal, who fainted in the 19th century while inside the church, overcome by too much beauty.

And to think that when the basilica was founded by the Franciscans in the 13th century, this area was one of the most unhealthy and inhospitable in Florence!

Today the basilica of S. Croce, with its 19th-century polychrome marble façade, is one of the largest and most important churches in Florence.

Inside are frescoes by Giotto, in the Bardi and Peruzzi chapels, as well as Agnolo Gaddi and other important 14th-century artists. S. Croce owes part of its fame also to the tombs that are found inside (over 200): Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli just to name a few and, not by chance, it is also known as the "Pantheon of the Italians".

The basilica of Santa Croce, still the largest Franciscan church in the world, is a majestic complex that, in addition to the church, includes the Sacristy, with Cimabue's crucifix damaged during the 1966 flood; two cloisters, one of which overlooks the Pazzi Chapel, a masterpiece of Renaissance architecture designed by Filippo Brunelleschi; and the museum in the spaces that once housed the refectory of the Franciscan friars.