Overview
Florence Cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore) dominates the Piazza del Duomo in Florence, Tuscany. Arnolfo di Cambio began the Gothic basilica in 1296; the polychrome marble façade (green, white, pink) was completed in the 19th century in historicising style. The great challenge was roofing the octagonal crossing — 42 metres across — without buttresses.
Filippo Brunelleschi won the commission (1418) and built a double-shell dome between 1420 and 1436 using herringbone brick courses and horizontal chains, inventing lifting machines documented in his notebooks. Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari frescoed the interior of the drum with the Last Judgment (1572–79). Giotto's campanile stands beside the church; the Baptistery opposite with its bronze doors (including Ghiberti's "Gates of Paradise") predates the cathedral.
UNESCO lists the Historic Centre of Florence (1982). Climbing between Brunelleschi's dome shells remains a defining Florence experience. Pair with the Leaning Tower of Pisa for Tuscan Romanesque–Renaissance contrasts.