Florence Duomo

Florence laid the first stone on 8 September 1296, on the site of an older church called Santa Reparata. Arnolfo di Cambio drew the first plan. In the 1350s Francesco Talenti made it larger, and the city ended up with a building whose crossing was too wide for any known way of roofing it.

The problem waited until 1420, when Filippo Brunelleschi, a goldsmith by training, started work on 7 August. He built two shells, one inside the other, and laid the bricks in a herringbone pattern so each ring held itself up as it rose. No timber frame supported it from the ground. The dome is 45.5 metres across inside. The church was consecrated on 25 March 1436, and work on the dome was completed that August.

The bell tower beside it was begun by Giotto in 1334 and finished by Francesco Talenti in 1359. The front came last. Arnolfo's half-built façade was taken down in 1587 and the wall stayed bare for almost 300 years. The marble front you see today was designed by Emilio De Fabris and unveiled in 1887. The cathedral sits in the historic centre of Florence, listed by UNESCO in 1982.

The inside surprises people because it is so plain after the patterned outside. The nave is long and almost bare. Look for Paolo Uccello's clock above the main door, which runs on a 24-hour dial, and his painted horseman on the left wall. Under the dome, Vasari and Zuccari's Last Judgement covers about 3,600 square metres with some 700 figures. Free entry gets you the nave only, after a security queue. A short guided visit takes about 30 minutes.

Below the floor is Santa Reparata, the remains of the church that stood here first, with Brunelleschi's tomb. It needs a pass.

The dome climb is 463 steps, with no lift. The stairs run between the two shells, and halfway up you walk along a gallery right under the fresco before the last steep, narrow stretch to the top. Allow about 45 minutes. The bell tower is 414 steps to a terrace 84.7 metres up, and it is the place to photograph the dome itself.

Across the square, the Baptistery's bronze doors are copies. Ghiberti's original Gates of Paradise are in the Opera del Duomo Museum, together with Michelangelo's Pietà Bandini, which he carved for his own tomb.

The cathedral opens at 10:15 from Monday to Saturday and lets the last visitors in at 3:45 pm. It is closed on Sundays and during religious celebrations, so check the calendar before you plan a visit around it. The free queue is shortest at opening time, or in the last hour. By late morning in summer it can wrap around the side of the church, in full sun.

Dome slots run from 8:15 in the morning. The first slot of the day and the last ones are the least crowded on the stairs. In summer, slots can sell out weeks ahead.

November and January to March are the quietest months. In 2026 the bell tower closes for maintenance from 9 to 13 November and the dome from 16 to 20 November.