Santa Croce
Florence, Firenze, Italy

Santa Croce church and piazza appearing out of the travel purgatory of Borgo dei Greci street, just 2 minutes walk from Piazza Signoria.

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Piazza Santa Croce is Firenze's favourite big-time party place.

This piazza is where Florentines have been posing, punching and partying for hundreds of years, be it jousting tournaments, horse races or victory celebrations. As well as the sort of football games that David Beckham never considered...

Calcio Storico Fiorentino. Azzurri vs Rossi battling it out in a sand covered Piazza Santa Croce.
©Lorenzo Noccioli.

The world famous and brutal Calcio Fiorentino (aka Calcio Storico) football matches still take place here every year in June. Each teams fields 27 players in traditional costume and both hands and feet are permitted, as is head-butting, punching and choking. See a tourist video of the Calcio Storico in 2006.

Michelangelo Buonarroti's grave (1564/1574) in the Basilica di Santa Croce, Florence.
© Giovanni Dall'Orto.

The Basilica of Santa Croce's claim to fame is the number of celebrated figures either buried or memorialised there, including Dante, Galileo, Niccolo Machiavelli, Rossini and Marconi. This is the largest Franciscan church in the world, containing sixteen chapels, many decorated with frescoes by Giotto.

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Firenze, Florenz