Piazza Santa Croce is the popular and artistic heart of Florence. The area once was an island formed by two arms of the Arno that separated near Piazza Beccaria. The area was reclaimed a century later the Franciscans created here their cathedral in mid 13th century.
The square used to be surrounded by wooden fences that marked permanently the area of Historic Football, but at the end of the Eighteenth century they were removed in favor of the pillars and stone benches that are still in place today. The south and west sides of the square are occupied by noble palaces. The north side has a series of less important medieval buildings.
The Basilica of Santa Croce looms unmistakably on the east side of the square, with its neo-Gothic facade built in the Nineteenth century. Today, the cathedral of Santa Croce is especially famous as the burial place of many celebrities and Italian artists like Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, among the many and most famous. Dante Alighieri should have been buried here but the city of Ravenna, where he died in exile, always opposed resistance to returning the poet to his native city. The statue of Dante on the left of the facade was placed in 1865.
The perimetral buildings create a scenic effect. Those on the south side have the characteristic protruding top floors supported by inclined pillars (called sporte), a forerunner of loggias.
Cocchi-Dusseldorfer Palace
Among the most original buildings of the square stands the Cocchi-Düsseldorfer Palace, opposite the basilica, it is a cube-shaped building with an elegant facade, the result of transformations during various ages.
Dell’Antella Palace
On the south side stands the long facade of the Dell’Antella Palace, the result of successive enlargements repeated over time that merged into a single structure adjacent dwellings. The windows of the facade are closer to one another the more it approaches the basilica in order to give the prospective illusion of greater size.
The large square of Santa Croce right from the beginning was the scene of celebrations and popular events in Florence. In particular, since the Fourteenth century and especially in the Fifteenth century, horseback tournaments took place here.
Since the square is very large and regularly shaped, in the Renaissance period it became the ideal place for knightly jousts, festivals, performances and popular competitions as Calcio in Costume, or Historic Football, which is still held each year in June. From 1865 to 1978 the football was interrupted because at the center of the square was placed the statue of Dante Alighieri, then moved to the current location after the flood that in 1966 hit Florence.
The square is still sometimes used for concerts, special events, like Patti Smith’s 2009 concert. In August 2006 Roberto Benigni read the Divine Comedy over a 13 evenings period under the severe sight of Dante’s statue.
Where is Piazza Santa Croce in Florence?
View Santa Croce Square in Florence in a larger map
Start discussion »
Leave a Reply