If we go back now, into the church itself, we can visit some of the principal monuments to Italy's illustrious dead, monuments erected here between the 15th and 20th centuries.

Beginning from the main door, the first tomb you see on the right wall is that of Michelangelo, designed in 1570 by his friend and follower, Giorgio Vasari, in the form of a bust of the great artist. Positioned in front of the sarcophagus are three allegorical figures representing Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.
The neo-classical memorial celebrating Dante is not his tomb, as the poet died in 1321 in exile in Ravenna and was buried there. After this, we see the tomb of Vittorio Alfieri, the celebrated playwright, which Antonio Canova completed in 1810 and which depicts a weeping Italia.
Innocenzo Spinazzi sculpted the next memorial, a 17th century monument to the glory of Machiavelli, with the allegorical figure of Diplomacy. The celebrated phrase engraved here says "tanto nomini nullam par elogium", meaning that no eulogy is equal to this name, meaning Machiavelli.
A splendid 15th century tomb is next, that of Leonardo Bruni, historian, humanist and Chancellor of the Florentine Republic, who came from Arezzo. This is a sober structure in the shape of a small temple, with the sarcophagus showing an image of the deceased man located below. The design was created by the accomplished sculptor, Bernardo Rossellino, and it became the model for many other Renaissance tombs.
Indeed the monument to the famous composer and musician, Gioacchino Rossini, who died in Paris in 1868, not only draws inspiration from Bruni's tomb but sets out to copy it.
After this follows the simple 20th century memorial to Ugo Foscolo, the great Italian poet who, in his poem named "I Sepolcri"-the Tombs- celebrated the funeral urns of the powerful in precisely this church, Santa Croce, and the universal values of compassion and remembrance. Coming back towards the main door, on the other wall, we find the tomb of another statesman from Arezzo, Carlo Marsupini, who was Secretary to the Florentine Republic. The work is by Desiderio Settignano, who drew inspiration from the monument we saw before, the monument to Leonardo Bruni. This tomb is noteworthy for its more delicate ornamentation, especially the work on the sarcophagus.
After this, you will find the 18th century polychrome marble memorial to Galileo whose bust is between two allegorical figure, Astronomy and Geometry.