Arnolfo’s cloister

The first cloister has been attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio hence the name.
It was planned together with the refectory when the building of the complex started: this is testified by the use of thin octagonal pilasters with waterleaf capital, preferred to the use of columns.
The cloister was divided into two parts by a building that intersected the church and joined the refectory (in the Eighteenth century view of Santa Croce on display at Opera Museum it is indicated with letter D).

As many funeral monuments were placed against the central part of this building the cloister was called “cloister of the dead”.

In 1869 the central part of the building was pulled down followed by destruction of the part facing the square in 1870.
This was rebuilt in the shape that recalls the structure of the fourteenth century raised porch.

The cemetery became a garden surrounded by many cypress trees; here is the statue representing God the Father Blessing carved by the sculptor Baccio Bandinelli in 1556, originally made for the Cathedral of Florence and moved in Santa Croce in 1843.

Brunelleschi’s cloister

An elegant portal adorned by the centrally placed coat of arms of Spinelli family leads to the second cloister which takes the name from Filippo Brunelleschi although the artist had died before it was finished in 1453 and the completion of the works probably was by Bernardo Rossellino.
The work was commissioned by Tommaso Spinelli, rich banker who almost certainly asked Rossellino to design his house in Santa Croce district (nowadays at civic number 10 of Borgo Santa Croce).
The lowest part of the porch rests on columns made of “pietra serena” (a typical local stone) and is covered by cross vaults, the upper part is composed of slim columns bearing a trabeation; the arches are decorated with rounded coat of arms of Spinelli family.

This cloister witnessed numerous events in long centuries of its existence: in 1933 it became the venue of the sacred representation Il mistero di Santa Uliva, directed by Jacques Copeau in occasion of the first festival of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (music was by Mario Castelnuovo Tedesco); in 2001 Ridley Scott filmed in this same cloister some of the scenes of the movie Hannibal.

The ancient cloister

The smallest cloister of Santa Croce is known as the ancient cloister because it is connected to the second phase of the building of Santa Croce dated post 1250s.
It is the heart of the Franciscan complex, surrounded by the walls of Baroncelli and Pazzi chapels, of the friary and the Novitiate’s corridor.

The bell tower overlooks this hidden space.