Atop a hill on the south side of the Arno river, the lovely 11th century San Miniato Church overlooks Firenze and offers a wonderful view of the city.

The church is named for St. Minias who, according to legend, was beheaded on the banks of the Arno river in A.D. 250 and then picked up his head and walked to the site of the church where he died.  His remains are buried in the church.  The outside of the church is beautiful green and white marble.

The inside of the church is beautiful.

We were able to walk around the different parts of the church.  Just as I finished dropping some coins in the offering box in the Sacristy, a priest in white robes rang a bell and rushed in to the room to put on his vestments.  Those of us in the room left and waited outside until he was finished.  He was about ten minutes late to start the service, so he flew in and out pretty quickly.  It was interesting to listen to his chanting the first part of the service.

The church is surrounded by a huge 19th century cemetery.  We were only able to explore part of it because it closed at 6:00.

Walking back to our apartment, we passed the shop/museum of Alessandro Dari, master in jewelry arts, sculptor and musician.  His work was amazing.  We saw rings that had castles on top of them.