Tours / Basilica of Santa Croce Group Tour: the mausoleum of the Italic Glories

Group tour of the Basilica of Santa Croce is an unmissable wonder of the city of Florence, this guided tour is a must to get to know its essence

It is loved all over the world, sung by poets and rich in works of art from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. In this basilica rest the great personalities who have given clear fame to our Italy all over the world.

Who doesn't know Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei and Machiavelli?

The tombs of these great characters are located right here, in Santa Croce. They rest in peace in large monumental tombs in the central nave of the Basilica.
To contribute to the fame of this Basilica there is also much more: the cenotaph of Dante Alighieri, or his funeral monument, the wonderful sepulcher of Vittorio Alfieri, poet tombeur de femmes, to whom

Antonio Canova sculpted one of the most impressive tombs of the Gallery of the Great Italians. And many other tombs, more or less monumental, which house great artists such as Lorenzo Ghiberti and his son Vittorio, the creators of the fifteenth-century Gates of Paradise in the Baptistery of Florence.

And in Santa Croce rest the remains of the nineteenth-century poet Ugo Foscolo, who wrote the poem “I Sepolcri”, a hymn to the Basilica of Santa Croce and to the Italic Glories buried there. The famous poem accompanied and still accompanies entire generations of Italian students to the final exams.

This precious Franciscan basilica is the largest in the world, so go ahead: we will get lost in the meanders of the small and large chapels, with frescoes by Giotto and statues by Donatello, we will be amazed by the beauty of the Sacristy and the Chapel of the Novitiate of the Medici family.

All the great Florentine families wanted a monumental chapel in Santa Croce, to mark their social status. Among them also the Pazzi family, bitter enemies of the Medici family, who owned the largest chapel in the Basilica, built by Filippo Brunelleschi, Donatello and Luca della Robbia.

If you really want to get to know Florence and its people, this two-hour guided tour in the Basilica of Santa Croce will allow you to reach your goal!

Passionate advice from Florence experts: don't miss it!

Read our article to learn more about Florence: https://www.madeoftuscany.it/florence-and-surroundings/