Piazza Santa Croce: Sermons, Football and a Painted Palace
Why is it significant?
Step into the vast rectangle of Piazza Santa Croce. At its far end shines the white, green and pink marble front of the basilica, and on your right, along the south side, a long palace facade is covered from top to bottom in faded frescoes.
Key Facts
| Place | Piazza Santa Croce: Sermons, Football and a Painted Palace |
|---|---|
| Address | Piazza di Santa Croce, 50122 Firenze FI, Italy |
| Geo Coordinates | 43.76890, 11.26060 |
| Part of Walk | Dante's Florence: Beatrice, Exile and the Empty Tomb of Santa Croce |
| Generated | Generated |
Step into the vast rectangle of Piazza Santa Croce. At its far end shines the white, green and pink marble front of the basilica, and on your right, along the south side, a long palace facade is covered from top to bottom in faded frescoes.
The Franciscans laid out this enormous space for one purpose: crowds. Their friars preached to thousands in the open air, and in the 1420s the most famous preacher of the age, Bernardino of Siena, held the square spellbound. Listeners wrote his sermons down as he spoke, and they survive as some of the liveliest Italian prose of the century, full of jokes, scoldings and scenes from daily life.
In June the square changes completely. Sand is spread over the paving, stands go up, and the four historic quarters of Florence fight it out at calcio storico, Florentine football in Renaissance costume: the Blues of Santa Croce, the Whites of Santo Spirito, the Reds of Santa Maria Novella and the Greens of San Giovanni, twenty-seven players a side, with the final on the 24th of June, the feast of the city's patron saint. It looks like rugby mixed with a street fight. In February 1530, with the city under siege, Florentines played a match right here to show the enemy camp how little they cared. And in 1580 the nobleman Giovanni de' Bardi published a little book setting out the rules of the game.
Look at that frescoed facade, Palazzo dell'Antella. It was painted around 1620 by a team of artists, the story goes, in a matter of weeks. Set into its wall is a marble disc dated 1565, which marks the halfway line of the playing field. So the oldest football pitch marking in Florence is on a palace.
In November 1966 floodwater filled this square to several metres, and small plaques on the surrounding buildings still mark how high it rose, often above your head. Now cross towards the basilica. On the left side of its steps, a stern marble Dante is waiting for you.