The Basilica of Santa Croce
The Basilica of Santa Croce is the Franciscan church that served as Florence's pantheon: Michelangelo and Galileo are buried here; Machiavelli has a monument; Dante is commemorated (his actual tomb is in Ravenna, which refused to return him). The Giotto frescoes in the Bardi and Peruzzi chapels are the most significant paintings in the building — damaged by a flood in 1966 and restored with extraordinary skill. The first chapel to the right of the high altar, the Cappella dei Pazzi, is Brunelleschi at his most geometrically precise. Entry costs a small admission fee; the cloister is included.
The Leather School
The Scuola del Cuoio operates inside the Franciscan convent attached to Santa Croce — an institution established after the Second World War to teach leather craft to war orphans, now one of the few places in Florence where you can watch artisans making shoes, belts, and bags by hand in the traditional Florentine manner. The school sells directly from the workshop at prices that reflect actual craft; the work is unmistakably different from the mass-produced leather sold in the market stalls outside. Entry is free, and the craftspeople expect to be watched.
The Neighbourhood and Its Bars
Beyond the basilica, Santa Croce is a student and young-professional neighbourhood with some of the city's most interesting small bars. Enoteca dei Giraldi, a wine bar with exposed stone walls and a handwritten list of Tuscan producers, is the neighbourhood benchmark. The area around Piazza dei Ciompi — a small antiques market on the last Sunday of each month — offers the Florence that predates the tourist economy: print sellers, restoration specialists, bookshops with narrow aisles.
The Piazza on Match Days
Piazza di Santa Croce hosts the Calcio Storico Fiorentino in June — the most violent sport played by people in 16th-century costume anywhere in Europe. This version of football, played in the sand, has almost no rules and generates wounds that would be illegal in any other context. The three matches of the June tournament draw the entire city to the square. On ordinary days the piazza is calmer: a place to sit, watch the façade, and eat a gelato from Gelateria dei Neri on the south side, which is among the best in Florence.
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