---
node: spot_florence_florence_cathedral
type: spot
slug: florence_cathedral
destination: dest_florence
title: "Florence Cathedral"
lead: "Santa Maria del Fiore carries the largest masonry dome ever built, raised by Brunelleschi between 1420 and 1436 without the centring everyone assumed was necessary. The cathedral had stood open to the sky for over a century waiting for someone to solve it."
published: 2026-08-12
updated: 2026-08-12
image_file: spot_florence_florence_cathedral.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Florence_Cathedral_seen_from_Piazzale_Michelangelo_night_dllu.jpg"
image_author: "Dllu"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

## Overview

Brunelleschi's answer was two shells with a herringbone brick pattern that locked each ring as it was laid, so the dome supported itself as it rose. The exterior marble front is nineteenth century; the fabric behind it is fourteenth. Giotto's campanile stands beside it and the octagonal Baptistery in front, whose east doors Michelangelo is said to have called the Gates of Paradise.

## Highlights

The dome climb is 463 steps between the two shells, timed-ticket only and not for the claustrophobic; the campanile is a similar height, less crowded, and gives you the dome in the view. One combined ticket covers dome, campanile, baptistery, crypt and museum, valid three days. The museum holds the original Gates of Paradise panels and Donatello's Magdalene.