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23-572: The palazzo was built by the Mozzi family between 1260 and 1273 as a fortification for the Ponte alle Grazie . The prominent Mozzi family had been persecuted in the past for its Guelph leanings. The palace in the 13th and 14th-centuries hosted prominent visitors to Florence such as Pope Gregory X , Robert, Duke of Anjou , and the Duke of Athens at the palazzo. This may have been due to its protected location, outside of

46-667: Is present in the church include (for funerary monuments see below): Once present in the church's Medici Chapel, but now split between the Florentine Galleries and the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum in Milan, is a polyptych by Lorenzo di Niccolò , whilst the Novitiate Altarpiece by Filippo Lippi and a predella by Pesellino was painted for the church's Novitiate Chapel. The basilica became popular with Florentines as

69-574: The Arno River flooded much of Florence, including Santa Croce. The water entered the church bringing mud, pollution and heating oil. The damage to buildings and art treasures was severe, taking several decades to repair. Today the former dormitory of the Franciscan friars houses the Scuola del Cuoio (Leather School). Visitors can watch as artisans craft purses, wallets, and other leather goods which are sold in

92-487: The Counter-Reformation and the interior of this area was rebuilt by Giorgio Vasari . As a result, there was damage to the church's decoration and most of the altars previously located on the screen were lost. The Bardi Chapel which contained a cycle of frescoes of the life of St Francis was plastered over, at the behest of Cosimo I , and Vasari placed some new altars against the walls, causing considerable damage to

115-661: The Holy Cross') is a minor basilica and the principal Franciscan church of Florence , Italy . It is situated on the Piazza di Santa Croce , about 800 metres southeast of the Duomo , on what was once marshland beyond the city walls. Being the burial place of notable Italians, including those from the Italian Renaissance such as Michelangelo , Galileo , and Machiavelli , as well as the poet Foscolo , political philosopher Gentile and

138-550: The Mozzi family, the palace fell into disrepair, and was bought in 1880 by the Princess Vanda Carolath von Beuthen, then in 1913, by Stefano Bardini. The palace served as a gallery for the objects he had for sale, and a studio for his restorers. His will in 1922, required his heirs to convert his remaining collection into a cultural institution. However, feuding of heirs retarded any progress towards this purpose until 1996, when

161-570: The adjacent shop. The basilica has been undergoing a multi-year restoration program with assistance from Italy's civil protection agency. On 20 October 2017, the property was closed to visitors due to falling masonry which caused the death of a tourist from Spain. The basilica was closed temporarily during a survey of the stability of the church. The Italian Ministry of Culture said that "there will be an investigation by magistrates to understand how this dramatic fact happened and whether there are responsibilities over maintenance." Artists whose work

184-522: The advancing Allied forces in World War II . Following the end of the War, a competition was held to create a new design for a replacement bridge. The winning design, the work of a group formed of architects including Giovanni Michelucci , Edoardo Said, Edoardo Detti , Riccardo Gizdolich and Danilo Know and an engineer, Piero Melucci, feature four slender piers with thin arches between them. The new bridge

207-738: The bank, leaving the seven arch structure seen in a 17th-century print on this page. This landfill widened the street of Piazza dei Mozzi, which leads to the Palazzo Mozzi . On the city side was a small oratory with an icon of the Madonna Alle Grazie , which also gave the bridge its name. Structures were erected at each of the pylons, and remained there till a widening of the road, to make way for railway track. These structures initially were either chapels, once dedicated to Saints Catherine of Alexandria, Barbara, and Lawrence; or erected as huts for female hermits or Romite . These women, wishing to avoid

230-560: The building exhibits the Corsi collection that comprises some works from the 12th to the 19th centuries, donated by Mrs. Carobbi, the widow of Corsi, in 1938. 43°45′52.81″N 11°15′28.77″E  /  43.7646694°N 11.2579917°E  / 43.7646694; 11.2579917 Ponte alle Grazie Ponte alle Grazie is a bridge, reconstructed after 1945, over the Arno River in Florence , region of Tuscany, Italy . The original bridge

253-465: The city center, near the Porta San Niccolo . The palazzo was modified in the 14th century to a Renaissance house. The site changed hands during the 1500s, and the Mozzi family repossessed the site by 1551. During the 1700s and early 1800s, the palace was refurbished by the architect Gasparo Maria Paoletti , including the additions of some frescoes (1778) on the first floor. With the extinction of

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276-587: The complex became public property, as a part of government suppression of most religious houses, following the wars that gained Italian independence and unity. Among the 19th-century restorations, the 16th-century altars and plaster were removed from the Bardi Chapel, revealing Giotto's frescoes of the Life of St Francis, which include the Death of St. Francis . This painting, missing sections where an altar had been attached to

299-518: The composer Rossini , it is also known as the Temple of the Italian Glories ( Tempio dell'Itale Glorie ). The basilica is the largest Franciscan church in the world. Its most notable features are its sixteen chapels , many of them decorated with frescoes by Giotto and his pupils, and its tombs and cenotaphs . Legend says that Santa Croce was founded by St Francis himself. The construction of

322-503: The current church, to replace an older building, was begun on 12 May 1294, possibly by Arnolfo di Cambio , and paid for by some of the city's wealthiest families. It was consecrated in 1442 by Pope Eugene IV . The building's design reflects the austere approach of the Franciscans. The floorplan is an Egyptian or Tau cross (a symbol of St Francis), 115 metres in length with a nave and two aisles separated by lines of octagonal columns. To

345-439: The frescoes. The bell tower was built in 1842, replacing an earlier one damaged by lightning. The neo-Gothic marble façade dates from 1857 to 1863. The Jewish architect Niccolò Matas from Ancona designed the church's façade, working a prominent Star of David into the composition. Matas had wanted to be buried with his peers but because he was Jewish, he was buried under the threshold and honoured with an inscription. In 1866,

368-459: The palace was acquired by the Commune. The palace façade has been restored to how it was expected to resemble in the 13th century. The main façade has a coat of arms of Mozzi with a Cross of Toulouse. The interior contains architectural elements including portals from various city structures dismembered during the 19th-century Risanamiento of the city. The State of Italy currently owns the palazzo. It

391-490: The scandals of some of the nunneries in the city, were said to have immured themselves here, receiving their food from passersby through small slots. These hermitages were ultimately cleared and the remaining women moved to a convent near Santa Croce , renamed the Murate , or Immured . The houses became dwellings until cleared in the 1870s. In August 1944, the bridge was destroyed by the retreating Germans as they withdrew before

414-530: The south of the church was a convent , some of whose buildings remain. The Primo Chiostro, the main cloister , houses the Cappella dei Pazzi , built as the chapter house , completed in the 1470s. Filippo Brunelleschi (who had designed and executed the dome of the Duomo) was involved in its design which has remained rigorously simple and unadorned. In 1560, the choir screen was removed as part of changes arising from

437-400: The wall, was heavily restored in the 19th century. These restorations were later removed to reveal those areas which are definitively Giotto's, leaving portions of the painting missing. The Museo dell'Opera di Santa Croce is housed mainly in the refectory , also off the cloister. A monument to Florence Nightingale stands in the cloister, in the city in which she was born and after which she

460-656: Was called Ponte di Rubaconte after the name of the podestà Rubaconte da Mandello who had commissioned construction in 1237, making it older than the Ponte Vecchio . It was rebuilt in 1345 with nine arches, making it the longest in Florence. Giorgio Vasari attributed the design to an architect by the name of Lapo Tedesco , the architect of the Bargello . In 1346, two of the arches in the Oltrarno neighborhood were filled up to extend

483-582: Was closed in 1999 for nearly a decade of restoration and re-opened in April 2009 to host the Bardini Museum (Museo Bardini). In the 16th century , a plot of land was purchased behind the palazzo and was used to grow an olive grove. The grove was transformed into the Giardino Bardini in the 19th century when the palazzo was purchased by Stefano Bardini. Among the works on display are: The second floor of

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506-533: Was completed in 1953. While the new design is harmonious with the surrounding city, its modern design and construction materials do not mirror the shape of the prior bridge. 43°45′59″N 11°15′30″E  /  43.766286°N 11.258277°E  / 43.766286; 11.258277 This article about a bridge in Italy is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Santa Croce, Florence The Basilica di Santa Croce ( Italian for 'Basilica of

529-754: Was named. Brunelleschi also built the inner cloister, completed in 1453. In 1940, during the safe hiding of various works during World War II , Ugo Procacci noticed the Badia Polyptych being carried out of the church. He reasoned that this had been removed from the Badia Fiorentina during the Napoleonic occupation and accidentally re-installed in Santa Croce. Between 1958 and 1961, Leonetto Tintori removed layers of whitewash and overpaint from Giotto's Peruzzi Chapel scenes to reveal his original work. In 1966,

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