Santa Croce district attractions

The sights, monuments, museums, and churches around Santa Croce in Florence

Santa Croce★★★

This big ol' Franciscan barn of a church sports Giotto frescoes, the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli, and (oddly enough) a fine leather school in the back... ... » more

Galleria Nazionale del Bargello, Firenze

What the Uffizi is to paintings, the Bargello is to sculpture: Donatello, Michelangelo, Giambologna, Ghiberti, Desiderio da Settignano, Agostino di Duccio, Vecchietta, Michelozzo, Luca della Robbia, and many more. ... » more

An antique astrolabe at the Museo Galileo della Scienza in Florence

Galileo Museum ★

Wonderful, often-overlooked museum dedicated to the history of scientific inquiry, especially its early flowering in Renaissance Italy—which is to say, there's a whole lot of Galileo memorabilia alongside equistiely crafted early scientific paraphenelia. If nothing else, a visit makes a great break from all that art... » more

Casa Buonarotti

A house once owned by Michelangelo's nephew and his descendents, now filled with a few of his earliest, teenaged works. Not a hugely important sight, but an interesting window into the development of the artist as a young man... » more

Piazza Santa Croce

The neighborhood square is flanked by the mighty Basilica di Santa Croce church and some lovely Renaissance-era buildings, including the frescoed Palazzo Antellesi... » more

Museo Horne

Of the city's several small once-private collections, the one formed by Englishman Herbert Percy Horne and left to Florence in his will has perhaps the best individual pieces. The best works are a St. Stephen by Giotto and Sienese mannerist Domenico Beccafumi's weirdly colored tondo of the Holy Family... » more

Sinagoga

The center of the 1,000-strong Jewish community in Florence is this imposing Moorish-Byzantine synagogue, built in the 1870s. In an effort to create a neo-Byzantine building, the architects ended up making it look rather like a church, complete with a dome, an apse, a pulpit, and a pipe organ.... » more

Tips & links

Florence tourist info

Via Cavour 1R
tel. +39-055-290-832
www.firenzeturismo.it

Around Santa Croce

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How long does Florence take?

Planning your day: Florence would well be worth a week, but you can still fit a lot into just a day or three.

To help you get the most out of your limited time in the Cradle of the Renaissance, here are some perfect itineraries, whether you have one, two, or three days to spend in Florence.

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