English Cemetery, Florence, Protestant cemetery and religious museum in Piazzale Donatello, Florence, Italy.
The English Cemetery is a burial ground and religious museum situated on an oval-shaped hill in the Piazzale Donatello area. It holds approximately 1,400 graves with marble monuments displaying inscriptions written in multiple languages and scripts from different parts of the world.
The Swiss Evangelical Reformed Church founded this burial ground in 1827 after acquiring the land from Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany. It became a resting place for Protestants living in Florence who came from abroad and could not be buried elsewhere in the city.
The cemetery holds burial places of writers and artists who made Florence their home in the 1800s. Names carved on the stones show how this ground became an important resting place for Protestants from across Europe and beyond.
The cemetery welcomes visitors on Monday mornings and Tuesday through Friday afternoons. Guided tours are available to help explain the stories behind the graves and their connection to the city.
The cemetery holds the graves of Beatrice Shakespeare and Edward Claude Shakespeare Clench, believed to be the last known descendants of William Shakespeare. This rare connection to the playwright's family line makes the ground special for those interested in literary history.
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