Santa Croce’s most celebrated attractions have been hived off to form the separate, and little-explored, Museo dell’Opera di Santa Croce , entered to the right of the main steps of the church (March-Oct Mon, Tues & Thurs-Sun 10am-7pm; rest of year closes 6pm; L8000/¬4.13). Standing at the far end of the Primo Chiostro , a peaceful expanse of grass hard up against the church wall, is one of Florence’s architectural gems, Brunelleschi’s Cappella dei Pazzi . If one building could be said to typify the spirit of the primeval Renaissance, this is it. Brunelleschi designed the chapel in the 1430s and worked on it between 1442 and 1446, though it was only completed after his death. The building is geometrically perfect without seeming pedantic, and is exemplary in the way its decorative detail harmonizes with the design. The polychrome lining of the portico’s shallow cupola is by Luca della Robbia , as is the tondo of St Andrew over the door; inside, Luca also produced the blue-and-white tondi of the Apostles . As you exit the chapel, to your left hides Santa Croce’s spacious Secondo Chiostro , also by Brunelleschi, and perhaps the most peaceful spot in the centre of Florence (although restoration means access is often restricted). A building between the two houses a dilapidated Crucifixion by Cimabue on the right wall, which has become the emblem of the havoc caused by the 1966 flood - six metres of filthy water surged into the church, tearing the artwork from its mounting. Also in this room are Taddeo Gaddi’s fresco of the Last Supper and Crucifixion and Donatello ’s enormous gilded St Louis of Toulouse , prefabricated for Orsanmichele.