Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence

The Duomo is Florence’s cathedral, dedicated to Saint Mary of the Flower, and this vast church took shape over generations. Its construction began in 1296 and reached completion in 1436, with Filippo Brunelleschi responsible for the dome. The building’s exterior combines panels of white, green, and pink marble, while the elaborate façade visible here was created by Emilio De Fabris in 1887.

Along the façade, notice how the coloured stone forms a measured pattern around the portals, windows, and sculpted details. The project began with Arnolfo di Cambio, and Giotto, Andrea Pisano, Francesco Talenti, and Brunelleschi each contributed to its development. The cathedral rises from the site of Santa Reparata, an earlier church whose remains lie beneath this building.

Its plan is shaped as a Latin cross, with broad aisles and pointed arches leading toward the immense crossing. Brunelleschi’s dome remains the largest masonry dome ever constructed, reaching a height of 114.5 metres. Inside, the dome carries an immense fresco surface measuring 3,600 square metres, painted by Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari between 1572 and 1579. The result is a church where a long, interrupted building history becomes visible in stone, structure, and scale.