Renaissance Heart

Brunelleschi's dome, completed in 1436, remains the largest masonry dome ever constructed — 45 meters in diameter and built without scaffolding using an innovative herringbone brick pattern. The cathedral took 140 years to build (1296-1436). The exterior marble cladding in white, green, and pink is from Carrara, Prato, and Maremma quarries. Inside, Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari's Last Judgment fresco covers 3,600 square meters of the dome interior. The lantern atop the dome was Brunelleschi's final work — he died before it was finished. A total of 463 steps lead to the top.

Book the dome climb online in advance — it includes passage through the interior fresco just meters from the painted surface. Giotto's Bell Tower next door has fewer steps and arguably better views.

One of the oldest buildings in Florence, dating to the 4th-5th century, though the current octagonal structure is from the 11th century. Dante was baptized here, as was every Florentine until the 19th century. The East Doors, created by Lorenzo Ghiberti between 1425 and 1452, were called 'the Gates of Paradise' by Michelangelo — ten gilded bronze panels depicting Old Testament scenes with revolutionary use of perspective. The competition for the North Doors in 1401 between Ghiberti and Brunelleschi is often cited as the event that launched the Italian Renaissance.

The doors you see are reproductions — the originals are in the Opera del Duomo Museum across the square. The interior's 13th-century Byzantine mosaic ceiling is stunning and often overlooked.