The churches of Florence

A list of the top churches in Florence, Italy

Duomo (Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore) ★★★

Renaissance frescoes, della Robbia sculptures, Uccello frescoes, and the chance to climb between the onion-like layers of Brunelleschi's Dome, an ingenious feat of engineering that rewards the effort with a city panorama from the top...

Piazza del Duomo/Piazza San Giovanni; tel. +39-055-230-2885; www.operaduomo.firenze.it

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The medieval mosaics in the Florence Batistero di San Giovanni. (Photo by Ricardo André Frantz)

Baptistery ★★★

Glittering mosaics inside, and three sets of giant bronze doors, two of which—designed by Lorenzo Ghiberti—are held by many art historians to be the first true works of the Renaissance and which were so beautifully sculpted they were nicknamed "The Gates of Paradise" by none of than Michelangelo himself...

Piazza del Duomo/Piazza San Giovanni; tel. +39-055-230-2885; www.operaduomo.firenze.it

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Santa Croce ★★★

This big ol' Franciscan barn of a church sports Giotto frescoes, the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli, and a fine leather school in the back...

Piazza Santa Croce 16; tel. +39-055-246-6105 or 055-244-619; www.santacroceopera.it

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Santa Maria Novella ★★

A church containing some of the seminal works of the early Renaissance, including Masaccio's Trinità fresco, the first use of true perspective in Western art...

Piazza S. Maria Novella; tel. +39-055-215-918; www.chiesasantamarianovella.it

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Detail of Masaccio's Expulsion from the Garden in the Brancacci Chapel of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence

Santa Maria della Carmine ★★

The church's Brancacci Chapel—painted by Masolino and, more importantly, by his innovative student Masaccio—is where a young Michelangelo came to study great art...

Piazza del Carmine 14; tel. +39-055-238-2195; museicivicifiorentini.comune.fi.it

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San Lorenzo ★

The Medici's home church was decorated with works by the family sculptor, Donatello, and its library's staircase is a wonderful example of Michelangelo's felicitous and playful architecture. A separate entrance by the back of the church leads to the "Chapel of the Princes," containing Medici tombs, several decorated with statues by Michelangelo

Piazza S. Lorenzo; tel. +39-055-264-5184 or+39-055-214-042; www.operamedicealaurenziana.it

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Ognissanti ★

Ghirlandaio frescoes, a long-lost Giotto Crucifix, and the final resting places of both Botticelli and his Birth of Venus muse, Simonetta Vespucci (as well as the man after whom America was named). Wow. Founded in 1256 by the Umiliati, a wool-weaving sect of the Benedictines whose trade helped establish this area as a textile district, the present Ognissanti was rebuilt by its new Franciscan owners in the 17th century... » more

San Miniato al Monte ★

Florence's only real Romanesque church—with a beautiful facade and a wondrous, moving space inside—perches atop a hill amid greenery in the Oltrarno. For every 10,000 people who say "Oo! Look at that pretty church up there!" and snap a photo of it, maybe one bothers making his way up here to see it up close. Their loss. (Oh, and no matter what the movie showed, it was a vista across the Arno to this church that was the "view" discussed in EM Foster's famous book, "A Room with View.")...

Via Monte alla Croci/Via delle Porte Sante 34; tel. +39-055-234-2731; www.sanminiatoalmonte.it

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Santa Trìnita ★

This was the first Gothic church in Florence, built in 1250–58, perhaps by Nicola Pisano (but likely by a lesser-known artist), and best-known for the richness of its Renaissance frescoes—especially the courtly works by Domenico Ghirlandaio in the Sassetti Chapel—nominally of religious events, but populated by parades of contemporary figures (including Lorenzo de' Medici and his kids) in scenes reproducing faithfully the squares and streets of late 15th century Florence...

Piazza S. Trìnita; tel. +39-055-216-912

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San Marco ★

The church of San Marco itself is no great shakes—dark and moody, with only a few minor works—but the attached monastery was decorated by its most illustrious resident, the great Renaissance monk and painter Fra' Angelico. It was also later the base of operations for ruling theocrat Girolamo "The Mad Monk" Savonarola...

Piazza San Marco 3;tel. +39-055-238-8608; www.polomuseale.firenze.it

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The nave of the church of SS. Annunziata and its Chapel of the Annunciation in Florence. (Photo by Richard Mortel)

Santissima Annunziata ★

Founded in 1250, this church near the northern edge of the tourist center was rebuilt in 1444-81 by Michelozzo and completed by Leon Battista Alberti, two of the greatest architects of the Renaissance, and decorated by some of the most important Mannerist artists of the High Renaissance...

Piazza SS. Annunziata; tel. +39-055-266-181; annunziata.xoom.it

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Santo Spirito ★

The blank brick non-facade hides a perfection of Brunelleschian architecture inside, along with some fine altarpieces...

Piazza Santo Spirito 24–2; tel. +39-055-287-043; www.basilicasantospirito.it

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Orsanmichele ★

This former granary—which, given its location halfway down the historic center's major street, you'll keep passing as you criss-cross Florence—is ringed by (replica) statues of saints by Donatello, Ghiberti, and Verrocchio, and contains a massive and gorgeous gothic altar by Andrea Orcagna...

Via Calzaiuoli at Via de' Lamberti; tel. +39-055-294-883; www.uffizi.firenze.it

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Cenacolo di Sant'Apollonia ★

This masterful Last Supper by Andrea del Castagno dates back to 1450. So few people know about this location resulting in no lines at this former convent and no crowds. Walk right up and ring the doorbell... » more

Badia Fiorentina

Florence's only pointy bell tower rises above a Benedictine abbey and Gothic church where Dante once gazed longingly at his Beatrice. The interior has an uninspired baroque overlay, but there are also tombs sculpted by Mina da Fiesole and Bernardo Rossellino, a painting by Giorgio Vasari, several nice but ruinous frescoes by Nardo di Cione, and Filippino Lippi's 1485 Madonna Appearing to St. Bernard. Lovely Renaissance cloisters...

Via del Proconsolo at Via Dante Alighieri; tel. +39-055-264-402

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Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi

The chapter house houses 13th-century church's hidden main prize, a wall-filling fresco of the Crucifixion and Saints (1493–96) by Perugino, grand master of the Umbrian school. The interior, remodeled in the 17th and early 18th centuries, represents the high baroque at its restrained best...» more

San Felice

A tiny Gothic church just south of the Pitti Palace sports a High Renaissance facade by Michelozzo (1457) and a Crucifixion over the high altar recently attributed to Giotto. Also peek at the remnants of Niccolò Gerini's early 15th-century Pietà fresco over the first altar on the right... » more

A detail from Pontormo's Descent from the Cross (1526–28) in the church of Santa Felicita, Florence.

Santa Felícita

This little church was probably the second to be established in the city, the first edition of it rising in the late 4th century. The current version was built in the 1730s. The star works are in the first chapel on your right, paintings by mannerist master Pontormo (1525–27). The Deposition and frescoed Annunciation are rife with his garish color palette of oranges, pinks, golds, lime greens, and sky blues...

Piazza Santa Felícita ; tel. +39-055-213-018; www.santafelicita.com

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San Domenico

This country church on the road to Fiesole was where the future master Fra' Angelic first put on monk's robes and picked up paintbrushes. It retains several Angelico masterpieces as well as works by Lorenzo di Credi...

Via San Domenico/Piazza San Domenico 4; tel. +39-055-59-230; sandomenicodifiesole.op.org

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Sinagoga

The center of the 1,000-strong Jewish community in Florence is this imposing Moorish-Byzantine synagogue, built in the 1870s. In an effort to create a neo-Byzantine building, the architects ended up making it look rather like a church, complete with a dome, an apse, a pulpit, and a pipe organ.... » more

Santa Margherita de' Cerchi

This tiny, spare medieval church with several Dante associations has a lovely altarpiece of the Madonna Enthroned with Four Saints by Neri di Bicci and regularly hosts music concerts... » more

Tips & links

Get ready to pay

Sadly, of the four major churches in Florence—The Cathedral, Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella, and San Lorenzo—only the Duomo is now free.

And, sadly, Florence is one of those odd Italian cities where the cathedral is not actually the most interesting church in town (sure, its satellite sites are—the Baptistery, Brunelleschi's dome, Giotto's bell tower, the Duomo Museum—but all of those charge admission).

Attending Mass in Florence

Every church page will list the hours you can attend mass, vespers, Gregorian chant, and other scheduled services. This is not only for the benefit of religiously-minded visitors, but for everybody—Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and non-believer alike.

You travel to experience the local culture, no? Well, Italy is a deeply Catholic country (heck, it's the Catholic country), and while most modern Italians are fairly non-observant in their daily lives and may only attend church on major holidays, religion and the church still exert a huge influence on Italy's culture and, obviously, its history.

Attending services at least once on your visit is as much a cultural experience as attending a soccer match, taking a cooking class, participating in a festival, or watching an Italian variety show on TV (four other activities I highly recommend).

Florence church tours

Take a guided tour of Florence's great churches with one of our partners:

How long does Florence take?

Planning your day: Florence would well be worth a week, but you can still fit a lot into just a day or three.

To help you get the most out of your limited time in the Cradle of the Renaissance, here are some perfect itineraries, whether you have one, two, or three days to spend in Florence.

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