Piazza di Santa Croce, Florence

Piazza di Santa Croce is a broad Florentine square shaped by the basilica that gives it its name. The church before you is also a remarkable place of burial: Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, and many other prominent Italians lie here, earning Santa Croce its title as the Temple of Italian Glories. Its chapels contain frescoes by Giotto and artists from his workshop, while tombs and cenotaphs fill the interior with a powerful record of Italian culture.

Look toward the marble Monument to Dante beside the basilica. Enrico Pazzi created it, and the statue dates from 1865. Dante was not buried here: Ravenna refused to surrender his remains, so Santa Croce has a cenotaph instead.

In 2006, Roberto Benigni recited the Divine Comedy beside this statue. The long Palazzo dell’Antella forms the southern edge of the square, with a façade decorated under Giovanni da San Giovanni. Palazzo Cocchi-Serristori stands across from the basilica; Giuliano da Sangallo rebuilt it in the late 15th century, and a 19th-century fountain marks its façade.

Each June, sand covers the square for Calcio Fiorentino, a forceful historic game in which boxing and wrestling are allowed. This open space still carries both the solemn memory of its burials and the energy of public spectacle.