Kursaal & Ausonia

The Pazzi chapel, located in the “first cloister” of Santa Croce, is one of the most beautiful examples of Renaissance architecture.
Its ceiling was in very bad conditions (50 percent of it was chipped away during the centuries) and so the Opera di Santa Croce undertook a restoration that lasted for 9 months and cost euro 70.000.

The restoration has brought to light almost all of the original figures present in the scene and depicts the exact location of the stars and planets above Florence on July 4, 1442 (Experts believe that an astronomer helped for its execution).
Andrea Pazzi, whose wealth was second only to the Medici, commissioned Filippo Brunelleschi (around 1430, though the construction started around 1442) to build a chapter house in the monastery courtyard of Santa Croce. Brunelleschi based the Chapel on simple geometrical forms: the square and the circle.

Do not miss to appreciate and enjoy the wonderful Luca della Robbia’s decorations in glazed terracotta.