...È stata, per questo, uno dei luoghi deputati dalla storia nazionale "a fare gli italiani, fatta l'Italia".
Numerose le "tracce dell'Unità d'Italia in Santa Croce", nei monumenti (segnalati da apposite didascalie) che ricordano
personaggi che hanno avuto un importante ruolo nella nascita del nuovo Stato.
In parallel with the spiritual and religious events that have accompanied Santa Croce since its foundation, the basilica has also embodied and borne witness to the history of a community, a new municipality: the Florentine Republic.
It eventually earned the sobriquet of "temple of Italian glories" and became a strong symbol of the identity, values and principles of a newly united Italy.
History itself appeared to choose it as one of the crucial places where, "now that Italy has been forged, we must forge the Italian people".
The unification of Italy has left its mark on many of the monuments in Santa Croce (identified by special captions),
commemorating figures whose memory may have faded today but who nevertheless played leading roles in the birth of the new country.