Firenze: Santa Croce e Da Vinci Code

So, it's kind of coincidental that the same time I'm over in Italy, the Da Vinci Code movie is coming out. They were playing the movie in the theatre in English for some select showings, so we got to see it! I hadn't read the book, but it was a neat experience. The inside of the theatre was beautiful, like a stage theatre would be. That same day we went to see Santa Croce, which is another church in Florence. Out of all the churches in Florence, including the Cathedral, if you had to pick only one to see, I would pick Santa Croce. It has a chapel that is very simple and was designed by Brunelleschi, but most interestingly, it is where Michelangelo is buried, Machiavelli, Dante, Galileo and a whole bunch of other really famous/really rich Florentines! And their tombs are beautiful works of art as well. This was by far my favourite site in Florence! There is an interesting story about Galileo's tomb. You see, since he was a scientist, and the Church had a problem with some of his heliocentric views, they didn't want to allow him to be buried in Santa Croce like a respected Catholic citizen. However, Galileo had an apprentice that wanted him to be honored. He couldn't get it to happen. Years later, his son, or grandson, one of them, finally got it to happen. When they went to exhume the body, they found that there was a female body in the tomb with him that no one knew about. Galileo had a daughter whom he was very close to and had preceeded him in death. It seems that because his apprentice couldn't get him an honorable burial, he found a way to let him rest with his daughter. To this day she rests with him in his tomb, even though her name is not represented with him.