Complex of San Lorenzo: Basilica and Medici Chapels
Private tour: the complex of San Lorenzo in Florence
The San Lorenzo Basilica and the Medici Chapels
Tour with private guide – Exclusive service!
Duration: around 3 hours
Frequency: everyday from Tuesday to Saturday, except the New Year’s Eve, Christmas and 1st May.
Starting time of the tour: from 08:30 to 3pm. From the 1st of November to the 31st of March the tour is available with a starting time among 08:30 and 12:00.
Description of the itinerary: our tour begins in San Lorenzo Square, the statue of Giovanni dale Bande Nere at the side of the Basilica introduce us to the big protagonists of this tour: the Medici family. Thanks to this family we can admire a huge number of works of art by entering in just two building, works realized by the world known artists Brunelleschi, Donatello and Michelangelo. The unfinished façade does not justify the inner beauty on the project of Brunelleschi. The architect wanted to express with architecture the new concept of renaissance, which makes a great sense of harmony immediately perceivable. In the middle of the basilica we find two pulpits, realized by Donatello for the visit of Leone X in Florence. They have been restored, giving back the original beauty.
On the left transept, a door carved of the 15th century leads to the old sacristy (Sagresia Vecchia), which Giovanni de’ Bicci chose as his own chapel. The conception of the space is very simple and here it will be possible to admire the numerous embellishments realized by Donatello.
Going back towards the cloister there is a door that leads to the underground (that is open just for exhibitions) where we find the majestic sepulchre of Cosimo il Vecchio, enclosed in a rectangular pillar that sustain the presbytery of the church. Next to it, the sepulchral gravestone of Donatello, the artist attached to the Medici family. Following our visit, here’s the moment to enter into the Medici Chapels. We enter into the Prince Chapel, wanted by Cosimo I. This is the symbol of the self-aggrandizement of the Medici family. After we visited the treasure of San Lorenzo, placed in two little vans at the two sides of the altar, we follow to the New Sacristy. This incredible building was commissioned to Michelangelo and it is the only one place in Italy where six works of this incredible artist are preserved.
Children: children under 6 years old not accomplished participate at the tour for free and do not need to be signalled in the reservation form. Children and young people from 6 to 18 years old participate at the tour with a reduced price, please select 6-17 years old price.
Price includes: guide service of 3 hours with an authorized guide and entrance tickets for the San Lorenzo Basilica and Medici Chapels.
Groups: for groups of 20 participants and more please send an e-mail to info@italy-travels.it to request a customized estimate.
Our guides
Italy Travels tour guides staff is represented by licensed guides of great experience and high level of professionalism, competence and excellence on their job. All Italy Travels guides are authorized by the provincial administration of Florence and most of them are art historians and teachers in art subjects.
All private tours organized by Italy Travels always include pre-reserved museum tickets when museum tours are included in the tour itinerary. In this way visitors avoid waisting time waiting in line in front of museums ticket offices.
