The following is a seven-stop tour of Florence to explore key Easter scenes as interpreted by some of the great masters.

The tour starts at the former convent in Via di San Salvi, just outside the city centre, where amongst other fine artworks, there is a fabulous fresco of the Last Supper (1526–27) by Andrea del Sarto, the “faultless painter”, on one of the walls of the refectory.

Legend has it that even the troops who broke in during the siege of 1530 were bowled over by the beauty of Andrea del Sarto’s masterpiece and did not dare touch it.

Florence has a wealth of cenacoli (frescoed refectories), for which there is a special itinerary on our site.

But if you do not have time to visit other depictions of the Last Supper in the city, the next stage of the tour is a visit to see the Passion of Christ by Beato Angelico in the Pilgrim’s Hospice of the Museum of San Marco, which also houses other works by the artist, including the more well-known Crucifixion.

In the Church of Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi, in Borgo Pinti, there is a wonderful Crucifixion by Perugino. Exploiting the preexisting architecture of the nave and two side aisles, the artist painted a landscape divided into three scenes: in the centre there is Christ on the Cross being worshipped by a penitent Mary Magdalene, on the left the Virgin Mary and Saint Bernard and on the right Saint John the Evangelist and Saint Benedict.

The fourth stop on the tour is near Ponte Vecchio, in the Church of Santa Felicita, situated in a piazza of the same name. Inside, in a chapel designed by Brunelleschi, there is a splendid Deposition from the Cross by Pontormo. A masterpiece of Mannerism, it stands out for its bright colours and the intense emotion on the faces of the figures.

The fifth stop on the itinerary is to see Michelangelo’s sublime Pietà in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo.

Unlike the more celebrated youthful Pietà in Saint Peter’s in Rome, this work expresses all the human and religious suffering of an artist who was an old man when he executed it, as can be seen from the large male figure (Joseph of Arimathea or Nicodemus) that dominates the work and appears to be a self-portrait of Michelangelo himself.

Dissatisfied by the result, Michelangelo took a hammer to it, though he then regretting doing so and helped to restore the sculpture.

In the Church of Santissima Annunziata there is a fine Resurrection of Christ (1548–52) by Bronzino; the figure of the resurrected Christ is surrounded by the bodies of the guards on the ground and by angels who are pushing the rock away from the entrance to the tomb.

The final stop on this “Easter” itinerary is in the Baptistery of Saint John, situated in the religious heart of the city. Standing out on the vault of the baptistery, richly decorated with mosaics, is the figure of Christ in Glory, attributable to Coppo di Marcovaldo.

 This is the centrepiece of a rich and varied iconography with angels, devils, saints and sinners, and depicts the Last Judgement.