The facade of this Brunelleschi church, smack on one of Florence's most atmospheric piazzas, is the striking backdrop for weekend flea markets and open-air concerts in summer. Inside, 38 semicircular chapels line the basilica's length and gray pietra forte Corinthian columns inject monumental grandeur. Artworks include Domenico di Zanobi's Madonna of the Relief (1485) in which the Madonna wards off a little red devil with a club in Cappella Velutti, and Filippino Lippi's Madonna with Child and Saints (1493–94) in Cappella Nerli. Closed Wednesday.
The main altar, beneath the central dome, is a voluptuous baroque flourish, rather out of place in Brunelleschi's characteristically spare interior.
Don't miss the door next to Capella Segni in the left aisle leading to the sacristy, where you'll find a poignant wooden crucifix attributed by some experts to Michelangelo. Michelangelo used to visit the hospital inside the neighboring monastery at night to study the anatomy of corpses yet to be buried, hence his donation of the exquisitely sculptured Christ, or so the story goes.
