9 Best Churches In Florence To Visit

The main churches in Florence stand apart from their counterparts around Italy.  The white and black marble facades are a bit of a Tuscan trademark, but what lies behind them is just as striking.

Spend a few hours exploring Florence’s churches, and you’ll find treasures from the Romanesque period to the Renaissance, one of the finest cycles of medieval frescoes in Europe and the tomb of one of the most famous dynasties of the Middle Ages.

In this guide I show you the best churches in Florence, what to see in each, when they’re open, how to get to them and whether or not you need tickets to visit them.

Florence Cathedral – Duomo di Santa Maria del Fiore

The Duomo of Florence, the Cathedral of St Mary of the Flower,  is one of the most recognizable churches in Europe and the world. Its dome by Filippo Brunelleschi, and the Campanile by pre-Renaissance polymath Giotto da Bondone, dominate the skyline of Florence, which has scarcely changed in six centuries.

You sometimes find churches that are fairly simple from outside, only to surprise you with a wealth of decoration within. With the Duomo in Florence, the opposite is the case. After all that dazzling marble outside, most of the interior (with the exception of the dome) is bare, empty and surprisingly dull.

I often love simple ancient Romanesque churches with minimal decoration, but here, it seems incongruous.  I remember a conversation with a couple from Yorkshire in northern England when in first visited in the late 1990s. “It’s like they haven’t unpacked since they moved in,” remarked the wife. “Aye, more like they probably ran out of money after blowing it all on the outside,” ventured her husband.

However, it’s not entirely bare, with one of the largest collections of medieval stained glass in Italy, and the tombs of some of the leading figures of the Renaissance, including Brunelleschi and Giotto, and important figures from Florentine history including St Zenobius, the first bishop of Florence.

If your legs are up to it, I suggest climbing both the Campanile and dome – especially the former. The views are stupendous.  The Campanile is the taller of the two, a short sharp slog up over 440 steps, but it’s immensely worth it. You are rewarded with amazing views of the rest of the Duomo and dome all the way up, and from the viewing gallery at the top there’s a superb view over the rest of the city.

Santa Croce – the Church of the Holy Cross  – is one of the most famous churches in Florence. It’s the principal Franciscan church in the city, and a kind of Florentine Pantheon, the burial place of many famous figures from Florence’s history.

The Basilica was begun in 1294, but it wasn’t completed and consecrated until 1443, an epic 149 years later.  It’s believed to be the largest Franciscan church in the world, and the cavernous nave is enormous and seemingly empty. But don’t be put off – you’ll find everything of interest along the side aisles, in the church’s many chapels.

It’s sometimes nicknamed ‘The Pantheon of Florence’ because so many prominent people from its history are buried there, including Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei and the immensely influential political writer Niccolo Machiavelli. There are also memorials to other Florentines and Tuscans who were buried elsewhere including Dante Alighieri (who was exiled and buried in Ravenna), Leonardo da Vinci (buried in the Loire Valley in France) and Guglielmo Marconi (buried at his birthplace near Bologna).

Santa Croce also has an impressive array of artworks, including frescoes in two chapels by Giotto da Bondone, sculptures by Donatello and frescoes by Taddeo Gaddi and Agnolo Gaddi.

The classic Florentine marble façade was added in the 19^th century, having previously left bare and blank for centuries.

Opening times – Santa Croce is open daily between 9.30 am and 5.30 pm Monday to Saturday, and 12.30 to 5.45 pm on Sundays and holidays.

Tickets – the standard Santa Croce entrance ticket with audio guide is €14 – without the audio it’s €10. Otherwise this Santa Croce guided tour  gives you the full lowdown on this remarkable church

Santa Maria Novella

Santa Maria Novella (New St Mary’s) was founded in 1420, the oldest of the great basilicas in Florence. It was founded by the Dominican Order, who started building it in the late 13^th century.  The name may be familiar to many visitors to Florence, who would have passed through the city’s main station nearby, which is named after the church.

The church has a classic marble Florentine façade, the work of Leon Battista Alberti, who also designed another Renaissance masterpiece, the Templo Malatestiana in Rimini. The church front includes part of the original Gothic façade, which blends beautifully with Alberti’s additional work.

The interior is just as compelling. The first surprise is the vast nave, an incredible 100 metres long. The second is the astonishing collection of art in the building. These include the pulpit and a Crucifixion sculpture by Filippo Brunelleschi, The Holy Trinity by Masaccio and as series of frescoes by Domenico Ghirlandaio in the Tornabuoni Chapel.

The Chapels and two Cloisters constitute the Santa Maria Novella Museum. The work that most impressed me in the church is the series of 14^th-century frescoes in the Spanish Chapel by Andrea di Bonaiuto. One of these depicts St Dominic, founder of the Order that built the church.

Tickets – you can book the combined church and museum tickets here.

San Miniato al Monte

San Miniato is one of the lesser-known churches in Florence, hidden away up the hill a ten-minute walk beyond the tourist honeypot of Piazzale Michelangelo. The whole feeling changes as you climb the hill to this elevated spot, with its superb view over the Renaissance city, and without the crowds just down the hill.

The view is wondrous, but the main reason for this short climb is the exquisite church.  Much of it was completed in the late 11^th and early 12^th centuries, including the extraordinary black and white marble façade which is believed to have been built around 1090.

The church is dedicated to an early Armenian martyr, St Minas (sometimes called St Minias). His bones are said to have been interred in the high altar of the church, but there’s a possibility that they may have been moved elsewhere.

Also look out for the beautiful apse mosaic from the late 13^th century, and the magnificent marble tomb of Cardinal James of Lusitania, also known as the Cardinale del Portogallo.

As you leave, take some time to look around the stunning Monumental; Cemetery which surrounds the church. There are some outstanding tombs, including the one pictured of a mother looking down on her young children.

Getting there: Bus 12 stops close by, at Galileo San Miniato. Otherwise, ikt’s less than a 10-minute walk from the famous viewpoint at Piazzale Michelangelo.

San Lorenzo is best-known for the two Cappelle Medicee (Medici Chapels), which house the tombs of all the most prominent Medici rulers, from the first ruler Cosimo to the last of the Medici, Gian Gastone I. The main chapel is the Cappella dei Principi (Princes’ Chapel), where the majority of the Grand Dukes are buried. Other prominent Medici including Lorenzo are interred in the Sagrestia Nuova (New Sacristy), where you can see the sublime Medici Madonna sculpture by Michelangelo on the altar.

Michelangelo also contributed two other superb statues in the New Sacristy. He was also asked to design a new marble façade for the church, but this never came to fruition. Instead, the bare brick façade remains just as it was when he would have seen it over 500 years ago.

Tickets – you can book your entry to the Medici Chapels here. The Chapels are also part of the Bargello Museum combination ticket, which also includes the Orsanmichele church, Bargello Museum and two other sites – this costs just €21 and is valid for three days.

Orsanmichele

You could be forgiven for thinking that Orsanmichele doesn’t look like a church. When I first sought it out in the late ‘90s, I walked past it three or four times, questioning my map-reading ability, before catching a glimpse of a sign telling me what this austere secular-looking building was.

The 14^th-century building housing this former church – it’s now a Museum – was originally a grain market. By the late 14^th century the building was converted into a church serving the main guilds in Florence, which included merchants, bankers, craftsmen, weavers and doctors. Each guild was represented by a statue of its patron saint around the outside of the church.

Most of the original sculptures can now be seen in the Orsanmichele Museum, upstairs from the church, which occupies the ground floor. It’s a wonderful example of Florentine Gothic architecture, with some beautiful painted vaults from the 1390s. Also don’t miss the stunning marble tabernacle by Andrea l’Orcagna. Built to house a Madonna and Child by Bernardo Daddi.  

The Church and Museum are open every day of the week except Tuesdays, with early closing at 1.30 pm on Sundays.

The Orsanmichele can be visited on the same Bargello Museum combination ticket as the Medici Chapels in San Lorenzo Basilica and the Bargello itself.

Tickets – individual entry to the Orsanmichele is €8.00.