Basilica di San Miniato al Monte is situated at the top of the highest part in Florence, the Monte Alle Croci, which is overlooking the city of Florence and also the Piazzale Michelangelo. This is one of the most beautiful churches in Italy that is of Roman-like structure. This is said to be built in the name of St. Miniato or Minias. He was said to be an Armenian prince, who was a soldier and was serving a Roman emperor, Emperor Decius. He became a hermit and his being a Christian was being denounced when he became a hermit. He was then beheaded in front of the emperor and was said to have picked his head and walked towards the cave of Monte Alle Croci where he died, this is where this churched has been built.

This was built in 1018 by Bishop Hildebrand. The most famous of this basilica is its marbled façade where it has this mixture of the color green and white. There is a crypt inside the church which it has the bones of St. Minias and it is the oldest section of the church. The pulpit or the platform was made in 1207 and the apse has a mosaic design that dates back from 1297. The sacristy has a decoration of a life cycle of St. Benedict that is of a fresco, this was in 1387.

The Basilica di San Miniato al Monte is open daily, Mondays to Sundays from eight in the morning to twelve noon and then resumes at two thirty in the afternoon up to six in the evening. The monks that stay here in the basilica have their own shop and they sell here their locally produced liquors, tisanes, which is an herbal tea and honey. On the left of the basilica you will find a chapel, Cappella del Cardinale Portogallo and to the right you will find the Bishop’s Place that has been a convent, hospital and a residence for the priests and a place for the Jesuit. You can find this basilica just right up the Monte Alle Croci.