The church of Santa Maria Novella was designed by two Dominican friars, in 1360 and completed under direction of Jacopo Talenti.
Santa Maria Novella gets its name from the original 9th century church found on the same site Santa Maria delle Vigne, and "Novella" means "new", therefore the new Santa Maria. Between 1456 and 1470, the architect Leone Battista Alberti designed the upper part of the inlaid black and white marble façade, beautiful, which was done in harmony with the already existing part of the façade.
The church includes a cloister and chapter house and an exquisite collection of art and funerary monuments found in the various chapels inside. The chapels include the Filippo Strozzi Chapel, containing many exquisite frescoes, the Gondi Chapel containing the famous wooden crucifix by Brunelleschi, the Strozzi di Mantova Chapel containing frescoes inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy, the Della Pura Chapel, the Rucellai Chapel which holds the tomb of Paolo Rucellai, the Bardi Chapel, the Spanish Chapel once the former Chapterhouse, and the Sacristy which holds a masterpiece of Giotto; the enormous painted Crucifix with the Madonna and John the Evangelist. Since the origins of Santa Maria Novella in the mid 1200's, the church has seen many additions and improvements done by various famous architects like Giorgio Vasari who in 1567 performed the first total remodeling of the church with other improvements done as late as 1858.
The Piazza, located in front of the church was once used for chariot races from1563 up until the late 19th century and it has two obelisks, designed by the sculptor Giambologna in 1608 and set on bronze tortoises, that marked the starting and finishing points.