Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sights
1
Museo Casa Buonarroti
MUSEUM
Though Michelangelo never lived in Casa Buonarotti, his heirs devoted some of the
artist's hard-earned wealth to the construction of this 17th-century
palazzo
(palace) to hon-
our his memory. The little museum contains frescoes of the artist's life and two of his most
important early works - the serene bas-relief
Madonna of the Stairs
(c 1491) and the un-
finished
Battle of the Centaurs
(c 1492).
(
055 24 17 52;
www.casabuonarroti.it
; Via Ghibellina 70;
adult/reduced €6.40/4.50; combined ticket with Basilica di Santa Croce €8.50;
10am-5pm Wed-Mon)
Understand
Calcio Storico
It might well have been conceived to accommodate congregation overspill from the basilica, but it was inevitable
that a space as vast and open as
Piazza di Santa Croce
would find other uses, too. Jousts and festivals have been
staged here since the 14th century, as have matches of
calcio storico
(
www.calciostoricofiorentino.it
), a tradition-
al sport that is a cross between football and rugby. This Florentine favourite pits 27 very burly men in brightly
coloured costumes who beat each other bloody (literally) as they try to move the ball up and down the pitch.
Sucker-punching and kicks to the head are forbidden, but few other rules apply - headbutting, punching, elbow-
ing and choking are allowed. Games are played on the square each year during Florence's Festa di San Giovanni
(June 24).
Look for the marble stone embedded in the wall below the gaily frescoed facade of Palazzo dell'Antella, on
the south side of Piazza di Santa Croce; it marks the halfway line on what is essentially one of the oldest football
pitches in the world.
2
Museo Horne
MUSEUM
One of the many eccentric Brits who made Florence home in the early 20th century, Her-
bert Percy Horne bought and renovated this Renaissance
palazzo
, then installed his eclect-
