Santa Maria Novella Basilica

Before you rises the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella. For the Dominicans, it played much the same role that Santa Croce did for the Franciscans: their great church in Florence and the spiritual and artistic showcase of their order.Construction began in 1246. Blending Florentine Gothic architecture with Cistercian influences, the basilica has a graceful, understated silhouette crowned by a bell tower that rises nearly seventy metres into the sky. But it is the façade that immediately captures your attention. Clad in white and green marble, it follows a Florentine tradition that you may already have noticed elsewhere in the city. Designed by the Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti between 1458 and 1470, it was commissioned by the wealthy merchant Giovanni Rucellai, whose family coat of arms can still be seen alongside those of other powerful Florentine dynasties buried here.Step inside, and you'll find what feels like a museum of Florentine art, spanning the 13th to the 16th century. Among its many treasures is a large painted crucifix created by Giotto around 1290, one of the artist's earliest known works.Although Giotto is best remembered as a painter, his name is inseparable from Florence for another reason: he designed the cathedral's famous bell tower, whose elegant silhouette dominates Piazza del Duomo.As the city's oldest basilica, Santa Maria Novella remains one of Florence's most iconic landmarks.