Private Guided Visit Florence's Santa Croce Basilica and Ancient Leather School

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. Santa Croce Basilica is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture with a façade clad in polychrome marble. This is the ancient church in which the Franciscan friars chose to set up and begin treating pelts and leather and meditate in peace in a place that was, at that time, located outside the city walls. We will admire, from close up, the beautiful frescoes by Giotto and Agnolo Gaddi, the “Crucifix” and “Annunciation” by Donatello and the world-famous funerary monuments and tombs of illustrious figures from the past such as Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli. Next, we will enter the elegant “Brunelleschi Cloister” bordered by columns carved from pure stone, and then pass into the fourteenth-century “Ancient Cloister” at the end of which lies the beautiful “Pazzi Chapel”, a sublime example of Renaissance harmony, also the work of Brunelleschi.

   1 h

2. After visiting the Basilica and cloisters, there will be a chance to visit a workshop that goes back to the 13th century, when the Franciscan monks first settled in this area on the banks of the river Arno. The earliest hide and leather working activity was established here, where the large quantities of water required for leather processing are freely available. The Franciscan monks of the Santa Croce monastery dedicated their efforts to this activity, and their leather-working techniques have been preserved over the centuries by the master craftsmen who still work in the delightful old workshops at the School of Leather (except on Saturday and Sunday), which you will be visiting; an extraordinary Renaissance workshop adjacent to the Basilica, where history, tradition and exceptional quality are combined to produce authentic Florentine craftwork. A real "top must see” amazing place.

   30 min

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

Ratings come from 19 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Know before you go

How it compares in Florence

• Its from-price is 47% below the median of the 249 city tours we list in Florence.
• It is shorter than most of them.
• By number of reviews it ranks 51 of 249.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Florence

Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance, gathers masterpieces of art and architecture into a compact city of stone streets beside the Arno.

The Duomo, with Brunelleschi's great red-brick dome, Giotto's bell tower and the Baptistery's gilded doors, marks the centre of town. A few streets away, Piazza della Signoria and the Palazzo Vecchio face a loggia full of sculpture, and the Uffizi Gallery holds Botticelli, Leonardo and Raphael. Michelangelo's David stands in the Galleria dell'Accademia.

Top-ranked sights in Florence: Piazza della Signoria, Uffizi Galleries (Gallerie degli Uffizi), Florence Duomo (Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore).

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