Basilica di San Lorenzo, Florence

The Basilica di San Lorenzo is the church before you, a major Catholic church in Florence and a landmark of Renaissance architecture. Filippo Brunelleschi directed its design, with work beginning in 1421, although the building continued to change after his death. Its unfinished exterior is part of the story: Michelangelo prepared a design for a marble façade, but that façade was never built.

The plain surface makes the church’s interior feel even more significant. San Lorenzo was consecrated in 393 AD and served as Florence’s cathedral for 300 years. It later became the parish church of the Medici, and the basilica contains the burial places of the family’s principal members, from Cosimo the Elder through Cosimo III.

The square, domed Old Sacristy opens from the south transept; Brunelleschi designed it, and it is the only part of the present church completed during his lifetime. Across the church, Michelangelo’s New Sacristy holds Medici tombs and preserves a project he never finished. As you look at the nave, follow the rhythm of the columns, arches, and pilasters.

Their measured arrangement expresses the mathematical clarity that made San Lorenzo a milestone in Renaissance architecture. The complex gathers Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Donatello, and the Medici in one unusually concentrated setting.