The Basilica di San Lorenzo Is The Oldest Church in Florence

One of Florence's largest cathedrals, the Basilica di San Lorenzo (Basilica of St. Lawrence) is located in the heart of the city's major market district and serves as the final resting place for all the important Medici family members from Cosimo il Vecchio to Cosimo III. It was dedicated in 393 while it was still outside the city walls, making it one of numerous churches that make the claim to be the oldest in Florence. Before the bishop's official seat was moved to Santa Reparata, it served as the city's cathedral for three centuries.

The Medici family's parish church was called San Lorenzo. Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici offered to fund a new church in 1419 to replace the existing Romanesque reconstruction from the 11th century. It was commissioned to be designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, the most prominent Renaissance architect of the first half of the 15th century, but the structure wasn't finished until after his passing. The cathedral is a part of a larger monastic complex that also includes the Laurentian Library by Michelangelo, the New Sacristy based on Michelangelo's ideas, the Medici Chapels by Matteo Nigetti, and the Old Sacristy by Brunelleschi, with interior decorating and sculpture by Donatello.