Basilica di Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Santa Maria Novella is a Dominican basilica whose long building history joins medieval craft with Renaissance design. Its construction began around 1290, continued for almost 200 years, and the church was consecrated in 1420. The façade presents geometric marble patterning in white and green; Leon Battista Alberti designed its upper portion, completed in 1470.

The architects associated with the building include Jacopo Passavanti, Leon Battista Alberti, and Fra' Ristoro da Campi. Look at the great circular window, the layered marble panels, and the sweeping scrolls that link the broad lower structure to the narrower upper section. Those scrolls were an innovative solution to that change in width and later became widely influential in Italian church design.

Inside, the vast nave measures 100 metres, and its black-and-white ribs and pointed arches create a striking rhythm. Two artworks make this church essential: Giotto's Crucifix changed the representation of Christ on the cross for two centuries, while Masaccio's Holy Trinity introduced linear perspective in a monumental Renaissance painting. The basilica forms part of a World Heritage Site, and its interior also contains funerary chapels financed by wealthy Florentine families.