Duomo (Cathedral)
Florence · IT
Why visit: Brunelleschi's dome — the engineering puzzle that launched the Renaissance.
Brunelleschi's terracotta dome rises over the cathedral.
On the map
Piazza del Duomo, 50122 Firenze FI
Brunelleschi's impossible dome
The Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore was started in 1296. By 1418 the nave was finished but no one knew how to build a dome wide enough to close it — until Filippo Brunelleschi won an open competition with a herringbone-brick design that didn't need conventional scaffolding. The 45 m-wide dome was completed in 1436 — still the world's largest brick dome and the engineering achievement that opened the Italian Renaissance.
What's free, what costs money
Entry to the cathedral nave is free — but the queue is hour-long and there is honestly little to see inside (most of the art moved to the Opera del Duomo museum in 1891). The paid combo (€30) includes the dome climb (463 steps), the Baptistery, Giotto's Campanile (414 steps), the crypt, and the Opera del Duomo Museum — book online with a timed slot for the dome. Allow 3 hours for the full combo.
Climb the dome or the bell tower?
Both peak at 84 m. The dome climb brings you inside Brunelleschi's structure — you walk between the two shells and pass within touching distance of Vasari's 1572 fresco of the Last Judgement. The Campanile is structurally easier (fewer narrow passages) and offers the better photo of the dome itself. First-time visitors should climb the dome; the Campanile is the better choice on a return visit. Both close 30 min before sunset.
