Basilica di Santa Croce

Behind an opulent candy-coloured facade (actually a 19th-century neo-Gothic addition), the nave of this Gothic church, built between 1294 and 1385, is surprisingly austere. EM Forster described the interior as ‘barnlike’, because of the timber, A-frame–style ceiling and general lack of finery. But lurking in the transept is a series of chapels brightly decked out with masterly fresco cycles. Unfortunately, only parts of Giotto’s cycle depicting the life of St Francis survive. Those by his loyal pupil Taddeo Gaddi are in much better shape, as are Taddi’s Last Supper in the refectory – considered his masterpiece – and his Crucifixion in the sacristy. The basilica also serves as a kind of Florentine pantheon, including the tombs of Michelangelo, sculpted by Giorgio Vasari, and Galileo Galilei, and an empty monument to Dante (who is buried in Ravenna, where he died in exile). Don’t miss Brunelleschi’s Cappella de’ Pazzi in the cloister to the right of the church. Its geometric harmony and exquisite terracotta medallions of the apostles by Luca della Robbia make it one of the great achievements of Renaissance architecture. Finally, the church’s small museum harbours a Crucifixion by Cimabue, Donatello’s gilded bronze statue St Louis of Toulouse (1424), and Taddeo Gaddi’s fresco of the Ultima Cena (Last Supper; 1333).