Basilica of Santa Croce

In Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence, we visited Baroncelli Chapel, Pazzi Chapel, the Sacristy, and Refectory.

If you recall Giotto is famous for designing and building Florence Cathedral and Belltower.

This fresco is Proto-Renaissance. Thus in contrast with Medieval Art, you see an early attempt to show three-dimensional perspective and emotion.

Pazzi Chapel features splendid arches and domes, was designed by Brunelleschi, a goldsmith-turned-architect who also designed and built the Dome atop Florence Cathedral.

Pazzi were wealthy and powerful Bankers in Florence who became famous for their role in the Pazzi Conspiracy in which Giuliano de Medici was assassinated in Florence Cathedral right in the middle of High Mass.

Cimabue’s Crucifix, by Cimabue, an early attempt at three-dimensionality and emotion, is another example of Proto-Renaissance art from the 13th Century, and was damaged in the Arno Flood of 1966.

Tree of the Cross and Last Supper, by Taddeo Gaddi (a pupil of Giotto), is a 1300 square foot fresco hanging in the Refectory (dining hall).

St Francis kneels beneath the Cross, and experiences a Stigmata, or sympathetic crucifixion wounds. Below, is the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with his Apostles.