Located in Piazza San Giovanni beside the Duomo and Giotto's belltower, the Baptistry is one of the oldest buildings in the city. Some say it was built in the eleventh century; some even say it dates to the fifth century, the site of a Romanesque building. Its octagonal shape is outlined by white and green marble strips and pillars with horizontal bands. On the upper part, three arches per side outline the window frames on each side; above stands the attic from the thirteenth century, supporting the pyramid-shaped covering. The precious bronze doors are famous. The oldest is the South Door, by Andrea Pisano (1330-36), which is divided into 28 finely-sculpted panels. The North Door, also divided into 28 panels, was completed by Lorenzo Ghiberti and illustrious collaborators such as Donatello, Paolo Uccello and Masolino (1403-24). The East Door, called "of Paradise" because Michelangelo referred to it in this way, is Ghiberti's most famous work, completed with the help of Michelozzo, Gozzoli and others (1424-52). The interior of the Baptistry, which is rather austere, is paved in marble flooring decorated with fine inlay. The dome is entirely covered with precious Byzantine mosaics from the thirteenth and fourteenth century. Numerous works of art are housed here, including some by Donatello and Michelozzo.

The ancient church was consecrated in 393 by Ambrogio, bishop of Milan. It assumed its Romanesque shape around the year 1000, was then rebuilt as it appears today by Brunelleschi around the middle of the fifteenth century, and was finished by his student Antonio Manetti.
Two pulpits by Donatello, an elegant marble tabernacle by Desiderio da Settignano, plus works by Bronzino, Sogliano, Filippo Lippi and Rosso Fiorentino make the basilica especially precious. Beside the church stands the splendid Old Sacristy, designed by Brunelleschi in 1420 and decorated by Donatello, and also the New Sacristy, built by Michelangelo in 1524 as a funerary chapel for the Medici family.
The New Sacristy, together with the baroque Chapel of the Princes, planned by Matteo Nigetti, constitute the Museum of the Medici Chapels. To the left of the church one finds the Medici-Laurenziani Library, planned by Michelangelo to conserve the copious collection of ancient manuscripts that belonged to the Medici.

The gothic basilica of Santa Croce, built between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries according to the plans of Arnolfo di Cambio, has a grandious and austere appearance.
It is well known because some of the most famous Italians in history are buried here. Among the most important monuments are the tomb of the Alfieri, built by Canova; that of Leonardo Bruni, by Rossellino; and that of Carlotta Bonaparte, by Bartolini.
The interior is enhanced by radious frescoes painted at the beginning of the fourteenth century by Giotto and his pupil Taddeo Gaddi. Incorporated in the cloister next to the church is the Pazzi Chapel by Brunelleschi, a masterwork of Renaissance architecture. The other monastic buildings around the cloister house the Museum of the Works of Santa Croce, of great interest for the celebrated art that it contains: the Crucifix of Cimabue, the frescoes of Taddeo Gaddi and Andrea Orcagna, and the large golden bronze of San Lodovico of Tolosa, the work of Donatello in 1423.