The story of this place
The largest Franciscan church in the world, consecrated in 1442, Santa Croce became the pantheon of Italian genius. Some 300 tombs line its floor and walls, including those of Michelangelo (who died in Rome in 1564 but was smuggled back to Florence), Galileo, Machiavelli, and the composer Rossini; Dante has a monument here though he lies in exile at Ravenna. Giotto frescoed two chapels in the early 14th century, transforming Western painting. In 1966 the catastrophic Arno flood submerged the church under water and mud, damaging Cimabue's great Crucifix—an event that mobilised the world's 'Mud Angels' to rescue Florence's art. Stendhal reportedly felt faint with emotion here, giving the name to 'Stendhal Syndrome.'