Florentine Steak - Florence, Italy

The Church of Santa Croce

St. Francis

It was not our first visit to Florence. But at that time we were short of time and the weather was bad.
Now we had enough time and decided to follow the route described in the "Mornings in Florence" by John Ruskin. That means that we carefully and slowly inspected the churches of Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella and Santa Maria del Fiore.

The amazing church of Santa Croce was built by Franciscan missionaries for their parish. Architect Arnolfo di Cambio has designed this basilica as a T-shaped (early Egyptian Christian) cross.

The Church Interior

Mendicant orders of Franciscans and Dominicans were oriented in their activities to the outside world, to the city and charity. People gathered daily in the church and in the square outside the church.
According to Ruskin, the church acquired most of the jewelry and paintings not before the mores have changed and became less severe.

Initially, the decoration of the church was in strict accordance with the postulate of St. Francis, the founder of the Franciscan order, that one must be poor and has to work without looking for pleasures.
But, in my opinion, the basic feeling of space in the church has not changed, despite there are here many decorated tombs.

Annunciation by Donatello

Frescoes by Giotto

The Franciscans have tried to involve broad layers of population in religion, including poor and uneducated people.
(In contrast to the Dominicans, whose activities were focused on the educated strata of the population.)

Therefore, when designing a church - and Santa Croce is not an exception - the Franciscans have tried to simplify the perception of themes of the Old and New Testament, to illustrate them by means of painting and sculpture.

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