Boutique Hotel near Basilica di Santa Croce

The Temple of Italian Glory

The Basilica of Santa Croce is the great Franciscan church of Florence and one of the most extraordinary funerary buildings in Europe. Inside lie Michelangelo Buonarroti, Galileo Galilei, Niccolò Machiavelli, Gioachino Rossini, Vittorio Alfieri, Ugo Foscolo, Giovanni Gentile, and almost three hundred other Italian artists, scientists, writers, and statesmen. It was Foscolo himself, in his 1807 poem 'Dei Sepolcri', who gave the basilica the name by which Italians still call it: 'Tempio dell'Itale Glorie' — the Temple of Italian Glory. To walk down the central nave is to walk past the tomb of the man who carved the David and the man who looked through a telescope and saw the moons of Jupiter, separated by no more than a few steps. The basilica was begun in 1294, traditionally attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio and completed in 1442, with the neo-Gothic marble facade added by Niccolò Matas in 1863. From Relais La Capricciosa, the walk to Santa Croce takes twelve minutes through some of the most atmospheric streets of the centro storico.

Giotto in the Bardi and Peruzzi Chapels

Beyond its tombs, Santa Croce holds frescoes that transformed the course of European painting. The Bardi Chapel and the Peruzzi Chapel, both opening off the right transept beside the high altar, were frescoed by Giotto di Bondone in the 1320s with scenes from the lives of Saint Francis and Saint John the Evangelist. In these chapels, Giotto perfected the use of architectural settings to create the illusion of depth, gave human figures a weight and emotional gravity that medieval painting had never achieved, and laid the foundations for everything that the Renaissance would later build. The frescoes were whitewashed in the eighteenth century and only partially recovered during nineteenth-century restorations, but what survives is still among the most important works in the history of Western art. Beside Giotto's chapels, the Baroncelli Chapel was frescoed by his pupil Taddeo Gaddi between 1328 and 1338, with the first known nocturnal scene in European painting — the Annunciation to the Shepherds illuminated by an angel.

Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel

Through the right side of the basilica you reach the first of two cloisters, and in the second cloister stands the Pazzi Chapel, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi from around 1429 onward and completed after his death. The chapel is one of the foundational works of Renaissance architecture: a small, square chapel topped by a dome, with grey pietra serena pilasters dividing the white plaster walls into a perfectly proportioned grid that anticipates everything Brunelleschi would later attempt at the Cathedral. The terracotta tondi of the apostles set into the walls were sculpted by Luca della Robbia. To enter the Pazzi Chapel after the dim, painted vastness of the basilica is to experience the moment in 1429 when European architecture suddenly remembered that proportion, harmony, and clarity were available as tools. The chapel is reached through the basilica complex and is included in the standard admission ticket.

Donatello's Crucifix and Annunciation

Santa Croce holds two of Donatello's greatest works, both standing only steps apart. In the Bardi di Vernio Chapel of the left transept hangs the wooden Crucifix that Donatello carved in the early 1410s — the work that, according to Giorgio Vasari, his friend Brunelleschi judged 'a peasant on the cross' and answered with his own Santa Maria Novella Crucifix in noble idealism. Whether or not the anecdote is true, the two crucifixes can still be compared by visitors who walk the seven minutes between the two basilicas. On the right wall of the nave, the Cavalcanti Annunciation in carved pietra serena and gold is Donatello's masterpiece of the early 1430s — the angel and the Virgin frozen in a moment of profound courtesy and surprise, framed by classical pilasters of his own design. Our Art Concierge prepares Donatello itineraries that combine Santa Croce with the Bargello and Orsanmichele.

The Walking Route: Via Porta Rossa to Santa Croce

The twelve-minute walk from Relais La Capricciosa to Santa Croce is a journey through medieval and early Renaissance Florence. Leave our entrance at number 23, turn right onto Via Porta Rossa, and walk south to Via Por Santa Maria. Cross diagonally toward Piazza del Pesce and continue east on Borgo Santi Apostoli, one of the oldest streets of the centre. The narrow lane bends gently and opens at the foot of Borgo dei Greci. Follow Borgo dei Greci as it climbs slightly past medieval tower-houses and small artisan shops, then turn left into Via Anguillara. After three more minutes the street opens into Piazza Santa Croce. The basilica rises ahead, its tricoloured marble facade dominating the vast piazza. The entire walk is on flat, pedestrianised stone, requires no transport, and takes twelve unhurried minutes. The piazza is one of the few large open spaces in the centro storico, and arriving on foot from Via Porta Rossa allows you to appreciate the basilica's sudden scale.

The Calcio Storico and the Leather School

Piazza Santa Croce has two further faces that distinguish it from any other Florentine square. Every June, the piazza is covered in sand and hosts the Calcio Storico Fiorentino — the historic football match between the four quarters of the city, played in sixteenth-century costume by twenty-seven men per side with rules that have changed remarkably little since 1530. The semi-finals and final draw vast crowds in late June; the noise, the costumes, the medieval banners, and the sheer physical violence of the match are unforgettable. Inside the basilica cloister, the Scuola del Cuoio — the Leather School — has operated continuously since 1950, when Franciscan friars and Florentine leather-working families established the school to teach the craft to war orphans. Visitors can watch leather artisans at work, purchase bags, wallets, and gloves made by hand, and have pieces personalised with gold leaf. Our Art Concierge arranges private workshops at the school for guests interested in trying their hand at the trade.

Why a Slower Visit to Santa Croce Rewards You

Santa Croce is one of the few places in Florence where rushing is a genuine mistake. The basilica is so dense with tombs, frescoes, sculpted altars, and architectural moments that a single visit can give only a partial sense of its scope. The advantage of staying twelve minutes away at Relais La Capricciosa is that Santa Croce can become a destination you return to: a morning for Giotto's frescoes, a different afternoon for the tombs and the cloister, a final visit for the Pazzi Chapel alone. Each return reveals connections that a single tour cannot. The piazza outside is itself worth a slow visit — the medieval and Renaissance palazzi that line it, the wine windows still visible in the stone facades, the bars where Florentines have an aperitivo on summer evenings. From Via Porta Rossa, this corner of Florence is close enough to become a familiar part of your stay.