Description
Piazza Santa Croce is one of the great squares in the center of Florence: a wide, regular rectangle dominated by the white neo-Gothic façade of the basilica of Santa Croce, with noble palaces on its sides.
For centuries it has been the Florentines' living room and playing field, and it still is every June, when the historic calcio is played here.
The east side belongs entirely to the basilica of Santa Croce, founded by the Franciscans and enriched by the great families of the neighborhood, the Bardi, the Peruzzi, the Alberti. Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli rest inside. Dante too was meant to be buried here, and a cenotaph was in fact made, but Ravenna, the last stop of his exile, always refused.
In front of the basilica, on the left, is the statue of Dante, by Enrico Pazzi, erected in 1865 for the six-hundredth anniversary of his birth. It used to stand in the middle of the square, and since 1968, after the flood, it has stood on the churchyard. Below, the shields of the main Italian cities.
The south and west sides are taken up by noble palaces; the north side has narrower, taller houses, some still medieval. On the side opposite the church there is a fountain, rebuilt in the 1800s on a Baroque one from 1673.
The square was created in the 1200s to hold the crowds listening to the Franciscans' sermons. Before that, there was an island here between two branches of the Arno, chosen by the friars precisely because it was isolated: it was reclaimed when the church grew.
The calcio storico, the costumed football of the city's quarters, has been played here since the Renaissance. February 1530: Florence is besieged by imperial troops and people are starving. The Florentines, in reply, organize a match in the square, in full view of the enemy hills, with musicians playing on the roof of the church.
A cannonball is fired by the besiegers. It flies over the heads of the musicians, lands beyond the church and does no damage, greeted by the jeers of the crowd.
Already in the 1300s and 1400s jousts and mounted tournaments were held here, like the one in 1469 for the engagement of Lorenzo de' Medici to Clarice Orsini and the joust of Giuliano de' Medici in 1475 in honor of Simonetta Vespucci, sung by Poliziano in the “Stanze per la giostra.”
Don't miss
• The façade of Santa Croce.
• The statue of Dante.
• The marble discs on the palaces.
• The Arno plaques on the Flood House.
Did you know?
• The match began when the “pallaio” threw the ball against a marble disc called the battipalla, set into the Palazzo dell'Antella in 1565: it marked the halfway line.
• On the Flood House two plaques mark how far the Arno rose in 1557 and in 1966.
• From 1865 to 1968 the matches stopped, because the statue of Dante occupied the middle of the square.
• In 1530 the players dressed in livery, to be seen by the enemy and to mock them.
For centuries it has been the Florentines' living room and playing field, and it still is every June, when the historic calcio is played here.
The east side belongs entirely to the basilica of Santa Croce, founded by the Franciscans and enriched by the great families of the neighborhood, the Bardi, the Peruzzi, the Alberti. Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli rest inside. Dante too was meant to be buried here, and a cenotaph was in fact made, but Ravenna, the last stop of his exile, always refused.
In front of the basilica, on the left, is the statue of Dante, by Enrico Pazzi, erected in 1865 for the six-hundredth anniversary of his birth. It used to stand in the middle of the square, and since 1968, after the flood, it has stood on the churchyard. Below, the shields of the main Italian cities.
The south and west sides are taken up by noble palaces; the north side has narrower, taller houses, some still medieval. On the side opposite the church there is a fountain, rebuilt in the 1800s on a Baroque one from 1673.
The square was created in the 1200s to hold the crowds listening to the Franciscans' sermons. Before that, there was an island here between two branches of the Arno, chosen by the friars precisely because it was isolated: it was reclaimed when the church grew.
The calcio storico, the costumed football of the city's quarters, has been played here since the Renaissance. February 1530: Florence is besieged by imperial troops and people are starving. The Florentines, in reply, organize a match in the square, in full view of the enemy hills, with musicians playing on the roof of the church.
A cannonball is fired by the besiegers. It flies over the heads of the musicians, lands beyond the church and does no damage, greeted by the jeers of the crowd.
Already in the 1300s and 1400s jousts and mounted tournaments were held here, like the one in 1469 for the engagement of Lorenzo de' Medici to Clarice Orsini and the joust of Giuliano de' Medici in 1475 in honor of Simonetta Vespucci, sung by Poliziano in the “Stanze per la giostra.”
Don't miss
• The façade of Santa Croce.
• The statue of Dante.
• The marble discs on the palaces.
• The Arno plaques on the Flood House.
Did you know?
• The match began when the “pallaio” threw the ball against a marble disc called the battipalla, set into the Palazzo dell'Antella in 1565: it marked the halfway line.
• On the Flood House two plaques mark how far the Arno rose in 1557 and in 1966.
• From 1865 to 1968 the matches stopped, because the statue of Dante occupied the middle of the square.
• In 1530 the players dressed in livery, to be seen by the enemy and to mock them.