Florence Cathedral, or II Duomo di Firenze, in Italian, is the largest brick dome ever constructed. It was nicknamed the Duomo because of the giant octagonal dome on its east end.
Located in Florence, Italy, it is in the heart of the city, and known for creating the Renaissance.
The area that the Florence Cathedral is built in also includes a separate building for baptisms and a bell tower.
Baptisms still occur in the Baptistry of Florence, but you need to know the right people to get your baby baptized there.
The doors of the Baptistry of Florence are actually the Gates of Paradise. They were created by Lorenzo Ghiberti around 1425 and 1452.
Michelangelo Buonarroti named the doors the Gates of Paradise because of how beautiful they strike you when you see them.
The doors show stories from the Old Testament. The scenes are as follows: Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham, Jacob and Esau, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, and Solomon and Sheba.
During World War II, the doors were taken apart and hidden from the bombings. In 1990 it was replaced with a copy for safe keeping.
The doors show the art of deep space and show the three-dimensional and two-dimensional plane.
The dome was started in 1296 by Arnolfo di Cambio, and completed in 1436 by Filippo Brunelleschi.
It took over two centuries for this cathedral to be finished. For almost an entire century, the east end of the church was covered with unstable material as a makeshift roof.
With the outside of the dome made of polychrome marble panels, it gives the church and dome a gothic style. It attracts the eye of any visitor due to the massive size, but also because it has a pattern that stands out from anything like it in Florence.
This octagonal shape of the dome was challenging to architects. Architects and engineers of the Renaissance wanted to go back to the simple designs of their Roman past, so they went to the drawing board to figure out this magnificent structure that stands tall out of the city.
Filippo Brunelleschi had a great idea to make the Duomo into two domes. The inner dome is composed of sandstone and marble. On the outer dome, it is made out of brick and mortar.
This idea helped to solve some of the problems of trying to figure out the octagonal shape.
The crazy part about building the dome is that it was constructed without any supports underneath it.
Moving into the Duomo, you step into the Cathedral and start the steep hike all the way up.
Make sure to wear active clothing because it is a challenging hike and in tight spaces. Try to limit your bag to a small purse or tote. Big backpacks make it hard to maneuver through the small passages.
One of the main attractions of this Cathedral is of the ceiling by Giorgio Vasari. Vasari’s Last Judgement is located underneath the dome of the Florence Cathedral. It was Cosimo I de’ Medici who had the idea to paint the interior of the dome.
Vasari was influenced by Michelangelo because he loved Michelangelo’s style and incorporated that into the ceiling.
Each of the sections of the top of the ceiling are decorated with the four following themes: an angelic chorus with the instruments of the Passion; a series of Saints; a triad of figures representing a Gift of the Holy Ghost; and a region of Hell dominated by Sin.
You can see God on a cloud watching down on the cathedral.
Visitors can get close to the ceiling when walking the steps up to the Duomo. Being able to be so close and getting an overview of the Duomo helps to keep the structure in perspective. The work and thought that went into this building is just magnificent.
Vasari died after only finished a third of the work. He left behind sketches and drawing of the other segments of the dome that had not been painted yet. Some of his sketches and drawings were not finished, but his plans were laid out for the rest of the work.
Two months after Vasari’s death, Francesco I de’Medici decided to get an artist from Urbino. The artist he got was Federico Zuccari, who completed the work left behind from Vasari.
Federico Zuccari did not love Vasari’s style, so he changed up the masterpiece to what it is today.
Tickets are for sale to use for 72 hours that include the Baptistry, the Cathedral and the bell tower. It is nice to have a lot of time to accomplish all the climbing because the Duomo has 463 steps and Giotto’s bell tower has 414 steps.
Louis, a worker at the bottom before entering the Cathedral, said this is a must if you are visiting Florence.
“Climbing the Duomo is something you can check off your bucket list,” Louis said.
Today, visitors can climb all the way to the top of the Duomo to have the best view of Florence.
Once you get to the top, you realize the climb was definitely worth it and you can see everything in Florence and more. Soaking in the view of this wonderful city can hopefully make you feel alive in this historic place.
Valerie from Oregon is vacationing in Spain, but took the trip down to Florence just to see the Duomo.
“This is an opportunity I could not pass while in Europe,” Valerie said. “Being able to climb these stairs makes you feel like you are a part of the history of this amazing city.”
The ideas behind this beautiful architecture helped to pave the way for more difficult buildings and inspired so many other designers and architects.
Make sure to grab your tickets to climb the steep steps all the way to the top of the Duomo because each time slot fills up pretty quickly.
“The climb is a little challenging, but finally making it to the top is the most spectacular experience you can get,” Louis said.
