La Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore is one of the symbols of Florence and it is also the third largest church in the world, dopo Saint Peter in Rome and San Paolo in London. Its construction took more than a century and many artists contributed to making the church a masterpiece stylistically unique. The Cathedral, the dome, the baptistery, the bell tower and the crypt are now part of the Great Cathedral Museum and can be visited with a single ticket.
The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore
The Florentine lordship ordered the construction of Santa Maria del Fiore and the first stone was laid the8 September 1296. The initial project was of Arnolfo di Cambio, but after his death the works slowed down considerably. In 1334 the Wool Guild appointed master builder Giotto, who carried out the construction of the bell tower until 1337. Andrea Pisano placeholder image the work begun by Giotto continued until 1348, the year of the terrible plague that decimated the population of Florence. From 1349 to 1359, Francesco Talenti work continued on the monuments in Piazza del Duomo, completing the bell tower together with John of Lapo Ghini. From 1378 to 1421 the Cathedral began to take its present form: the naves, tribunes and probably also the drum of the dome were completed. On 25 March 1436, at the time of the consecration by Pope Eugene IV, the Cathedral was the largest in Europe.
The most recent interventions
Between 1871 and 1884 Emilio DeFabris and his collaborators completed the façade of the church by resuming it Gothic style of the '300 Florentine of the bell tower. Moreover, since 1974, thanks to the excavation campaign begun in 1965, it is also possible to visit the crypt of the Cathedral.
The Crypt of Santa Reparata
The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore rises on the foundations of an early Christian church dedicated to Santa Reparata, very similar to the Church of Sant'Apollinare a Ravenna. The remains of the ancient cathedral represent the first testimony of Christianity in Florence and can now be visited in the crypt of Santa Maria del Fiore. On the floor, decorated with a beautiful polychrome mosaic, there are the 14 names of the donors of Latin origin who financed the commission. Furthermore, several tombstones have emerged from the excavations, including that of Filippo Brunelleschi, creator of the dome.
Brunelleschi's Dome
The construction of the Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore took place between the 1418 and the 1434 about project Filippo Brunelleschi. It is still today the largest masonry dome ever built, a true masterpiece that for centuries has resisted the elements of time and earthquakes. The secret of its solidity lies in the self-supporting double vaulted structure. In fact, the internal dome, 2 meters thick and built with an arrangement of bricks in a herringbone pattern, has a load-bearing function. The external one, lighter, ends with a lantern, built after Brunelleschi's death in 1446. Inside, the drum of the dome houses the largest area decorated with frescoes: 3600 square meters, which portray some scenes of the Judgement painted between 1572 and 1579 by Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari.
Giotto's bell tower
As already mentioned, between 1334 and 1337, it was Giotto who carried out the work on the bell tower. Although today the monument does not respect the artist's original project, it still takes his name and is one testimony of the Florentine Gothic architecture of the '300 with the precious coating of white, red and green marble. The bell tower has a square base, is 84,7 meters high and 15 meters wide and to reach the panoramic terrace you have to climb 400 steps.
The Baptistery of San Giovanni
Next to Santa Maria del Fiore stands one of the oldest churches in Florence: the Baptistery of San Giovanni, which takes its name from the square of the same name. The Baptistery has very ancient origins, dates back to the IV-V century, and was subsequently enlarged. Inside, tourists are amazed admiring the precious golden mosaic of the dome, dating back to the thirteenth century, which portrays a huge Christ and some scenes of the Last Judgment.
