Basilica di Santa Croce

The Basilica di Santa Croce.

The Basilica di Santa Croce (Basilica of the Holy Cross) was the principal Franciscan church in Florence. It was in the cloiser of the church that Ezio Auditore da Firenze performed his first murder: the killing of Uberto Alberti during an unveiling of Verocchio's newest works.

Database Entry

The largest Franciscan church in the world, the Basilica di Santa Croce contains frescos by Giotto and a chapel in the cloister designed by Filippo Brunelleschi that is considered one of the masterpieces of Renaissance architecture.

According to St. Francis and the Franciscans' reading of the Bible, Christ told his followers to take on a vow of poverty: "And he said to them: Take nothing for your journey; neither staff, nor scrip, nor bread, nor money; neither have two coats". So, how did a sect of Catholicism that held a vow of poverty as one of its core values own such a posh church?

Well, in 1322 the Pope declared that the Franciscans' vow of poverty was illegal, that Christ had, in fact, owned property and wanted his followers to own property. This meant, of course, that the Franciscans were forced to collect money and land which would in turn go to the Pope, proving that Biblical interpretation can be surprisingly profitable (especially if you're the Pope).

Trivia

• Although in the Assassin's Creed universe the final resting place of Niccolò Machiavelli is not known, in real life he was entombed in Santa Croce.