The Basilica of Santa Maria delle Grazie is set in Piazza Masaccio, in the middle of San Giovanni Valdarno's centre. It houses an important Museum of Sacred Art that exhibits a work by the illustrious Beato Angelico. The construction of the building dates to the XV century and it went through two important restoration works at the end of the XVI century and after the Second World War.

The Basilica was built in 1484 to keep a precious XIV-century painting depicting the Virgin Mary. The miracle of "Monna Tancia" was attributed to this work. The event relates to the 1479's plague that flagellated the Valdarno after its occupation by the Pope Sixtus IV's troops. According to tradition, a child, who had lost his mother and father, was saved by his grandmother. After she prayed the Virgin Mary represented in the painting, she was able to feed the child with the milk that prodigiously came out of her breasts.
The inhabitants of San Giovanni raised the church as a sign of devotion to the sacred effigy, that immediately became an object of worship, and titled it to Santa Maria delle Grazie. Unfortunately, a fire irreparably compromised part of its original structure one century later, and this required remarkable restoration works that finished in 1596. The construction of the high altar carried out by Bernardo Buontalenti dates back to this period. To its left, there are the frescoes depicting the miracle that are attributed to one of Perugino's pupils.
In 1864, the Museum of Sacred Art was born. Its main goal is to collect all the most precious works kept in the parishes in the territory of San Giovanni. In 1929, the church was raised to the status of Basilica. In 1986, the Basilica became the "Santuario Mariano" after it went through the Second World War's destruction and after it was subjected to new restoration works (its chapel has been completely reconstructed).
The Museum's collection catalogue has recently been modified. Even if the Museum has returned the triptych by Giovanni del Biondo to the church of San Lorenza, it has been enriched with the "Annunciazione", an inestimable work carried out in 1430 by Beato Angelico. This painting is exhibited in the first room. In the second room, there are other XV-century works realized by the Florentine School, while in the third room there are XVII-century paintings, among which there are the "San Lorenzo" and the "San Giovanni Battista" by Gregorio Pagani.