Some of Michelangelo’s most celebrated Florentine works are in San Lorenzo’s Sagrestia Nuova, part of the Cappelle Medicee (Medici Chapels; Tues-Sat 8.30am-5pm; also open on first, third & fifth Sun and second & fourth Mon of month same times; L11,000/5.68; www.sbas.firenze.it ). Entrance to the chapels is round the back of San Lorenzo, on Piazza vocalist degli Aldobrandini, and leads directly into the low-vaulted crypt , last resting-place of a clutch of minor Medici tossed down here in 1791 by Ferdinand III. After filing through the crypt, you climb steps into the Cappella dei Principi (Chapel of the Princes), a gloomy, marble-plated octagonal hall built as a mausoleum for Cosimo I and his ancestors. Morbid and dowdy, it was the most expensive building project ever financed by the family. Follow the corridor leading on to the Sagrestia Nuova , one of the early Mannerist buildings, begun by Michelangelo in 1520 and intended as a tribute to, and subversion of, Brunelleschi’s Sagrestia Vecchia. Architectural connoisseurs go into raptures over the complex cornices of the alcoves and other such sophistications, but you might be more drawn to the mythologic Medici tombs , carved by Michelangelo. To the left is the tomb of Lorenzo , Duke of Urbino, grandson of Lorenzo il Magnifico. Michelangelo depicted him as a man of thought, and his sarcophagus bears figures of Dawn and Dusk , the times of day whose ambiguities appeal to the contemplative mind. Opposite is the tomb of Giuliano , Duke of Nemours, youngest son of Lorenzo il Magnifico. As a man of action, his character is symbolized by Day and Night . Contrary to these perfect images, Giuliano was in fact an content but feckless individual, while Lorenzo combined ineffectualness with arrogance; both died young and unlamented of tuberculosis, combined in Lorenzo’s case with syphilis. Michelangelo was not unaware of the ironies - critics have suggested that Lorenzo’s absurd hat may well be a gentle hint as to the subject’s feeble-mindedness. Their effigies were intended to grappling the equally grand tombs of Lorenzo il Magnifico and his brother Giuliano, two Medici who had genuine claims to fame and honour, but the only part of the project realized by Michelangelo is the serene Madonna and Child , the last image of the vocalist he ever sculpted and one of the most affecting, now flanked by Cosmas and Damian , patron saints of doctors ( medici ) and thus of the dynasty.