Skip-the-Line Tickets to Santa Croce Basilica Complex

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About the place

Santa Croce holds 250 tombs, Giotto's frescoes, and Brunelleschi's finest chapel. This ticket gets you into all of it without having to wait in the ticket queue.

Getting started

Present your ticket at the entrance on the north side of the basilica in Largo Bargellini. No counter exchange needed. Once inside, the complex is self-guided and yours to explore at your own pace. Plan for one to two hours to cover the main highlights.

What to expect

Basilica di Santa Croce

Florence's largest Franciscan church has been the burial place of the city's greatest minds since the 13th century. Step inside the vast Gothic nave and let the scale of it settle before you start to explore.

  • Walk the length of the nave and look down: the floor itself is a mosaic of tomb markers, each one a name from Florence's past.

  • Pause in front of the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli, set into the walls of the main nave. Each monument was designed by a different hand and reflects the era it was made in.

  • Spend time in the Bardi and Peruzzi Chapels, where Giotto painted two fresco cycles in the early 14th century. These are among the earliest surviving examples of naturalistic painting in Western art.

  • Cross to the cloister and enter Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel, completed in the 1470s. The proportions are deliberate and precise — it is one of the clearest examples of early Renaissance architecture in Florence.

  • Continue through to the Opera Museum, the crypt, and the Medici Chapel. All are covered under your ticket with nothing additional to pay.

Location
Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze, Piazza di Santa Croce, Florence, Metropolitan City of Florence, Italy

Highlights

  • Skip the ticket queue and walk straight into the world's largest Franciscan basilica. The full complex is yours to explore at your own pace.
  • Stand before Giotto's 14th-century frescoes in the Bardi and Peruzzi Chapels, among the finest surviving examples of pre-Renaissance painting in Italy.
  • Pay your respects at the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli: three of history's greatest minds, all buried within the same nave.
  • Wander through Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel, the cloisters, the crypt, and the Opera Museum. One ticket covers it all, with nothing extra to pay inside.
  • While admiring these masterpieces, do not forget to witness Pio Fedi’s Freedom of Poetry, a marble statue symbolizing freedom of expression. It is believed that Freedom of Poetry inspired the Statue of Liberty of New York!

Inclusions & Exclusions

InclusionsExclusions
  • Fast-track entry to the Basilica of Santa Croce
  • Access to Pazzi, Bardi and Peruzzi chapels
  • Access to tombs
  • Access to Refectory Museum (Cimabue's Cruxifix)
  • Live guide
  • Audio guide
  • Hotel transfers
  • Meals
  • Fast-track entry to the Basilica of Santa Croce
  • Access to Pazzi, Bardi and Peruzzi chapels
  • Access to tombs
  • Access to Refectory Museum (Cimabue's Cruxifix)
  • Live guide
  • Audio guide
  • Hotel transfers
  • Meals

Frequently Asked Questions

What's not allowed

  • Pets, except service animals

Accessibility

  • The basilica is wheelchair accessible.

Additional information

  • The average user takes about 50 minutes to tour the basilica independently, but visitors can stay for as long as they like till the closing time i.e. 5:30pm.

  • Since this is an active place of worship, visitors must dress respectfully before entry. Shoulders and knees must be covered.

Additional Information

This activity is non-refundable and cannot be cancelled. Variant-specific cancellation policies may apply.

Hotels near this place

Strada Spoiano 1, Florence, TO, Italy
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