Santa Croce, an "extraordinary" enhancement pact

The agreement between FEC, Municipality, Franciscans and the Opera: looking towards the post-pandemic.

A new pact for the enhancement of the Santa Croce monumental complex was signed recently between the Municipality of Florence, the Fund for Religious Buildings (FEC) of the Ministry of the Interior, the Franciscan friars and the Opera di Santa Croce. This is an "extraordinary" agreement that takes into consideration future times and the post-pandemic emphasizing a unity of intent between all the owners of the different areas within the Complex and the Opera, that for centuries has been entrusted with the mission of protection and enhancement.

Participating in the signing of the agreement were the director of the Culture sector of the Municipality, Gabriella Farsi, the central director for cult and administration of the Fund for Religious Buildings, Fabrizio Gallo, the minister of the San Francesco Italian province, Father Francesco Lenti, the rector of the basilica, Father Giancarlo Corsini and the chairman of the Opera di Santa Croce, Cristina Acidini. The Prefect of Florence, Valerio Valenti, was also present. The Secretary General of the Opera, Stefano Filipponi, the surveyor Stefano Morandi and Calogero Ragusa from the Florence Prefecture intervened in the definition of the agreement.

The pact looks towards a new time and puts the unity and uniqueness of the monumental complex in the foreground, to better help the public understand the extraordinary interweaving of spirituality, art and history that characterizes Santa Croce and the significance of its spaces inextricably linked to the Franciscan message. The agreement defines a shared management that opens on a perspective of a nine-year commitment (in the previous agreement it was five years) and that entrusts the Opera with the responsibility of managing all the articulated spaces that make up the monumental complex.