Italy Travel & Hotel Guide

It was some time in the seventh century when the seat of the Bishop of Florence was transferred from San Lorenzo to the ancient church that stood on the site of the Duomo . In the thirteenth century, it was decided that a new cathedral was required, to reflect more accurately the wealth of the city and to place the Pisans and Sienese in their place. Arnolfo di Cambio , entrusted with the project in 1294, designed a massive vaulted basilica focused on a domed tribune embraced by three polygonal tribunes. He died eight years later, but by 1418 everything was in place to bear the weight of the dome which he had envisaged as the church’s crown. The conception was magnificent: the dome was to span a distance of nearly 42m and rise from a base some 54m above the floor of the nave. It was to be the largest dome ever constructed - but nobody had yet worked out how to build the thing. A committee of the masons’ guild was set up to ponder the problem, and it was to them that Filippo Brunelleschi presented himself. Some seventeen years before, in 1401, Brunelleschi had been defeated by Ghiberti in the competition to design the Baptistry doors , and had spent the intervening time studying classical structure and developing new theories of engineering. He won the commission on condition that he work jointly with Ghiberti - a partnership that did not last long (though Ghiberti’s contribution to the project was probably more significant than his colleague ever admitted). The key to the dome’s success was the construction of two shells: a light outer shell about one metre thick, and an inner shell four times thicker. Brunelleschi’s genius was to lay the brickwork in a herringbone pattern in cantilevered rings, thus allowing the massively heavy dome to support itself as it grew, without the use of scaffolding. On March 25, 1436 - Annunciation Day, and the Florentine New Year - the completion of the dome was marked by the papal consecration of the cathedral.

The duomo’s overblown and pernickety main facade is a nineteenth-century imitation of a Gothic front, its marble cladding quarried from the same sources as the first builders used - white stone from Carrara , red from the Maremma, green from Prato. The south side is the oldest part, but the most captivating adornment is the Porta della Mandorla , on the north side. This takes its study from the almond-shaped frame that contains the relief of The Assumption of the Virgin , sculpted by Nanni di Banco around 1420. Note that limited numbers of people are permitted inside the duomo at any one time, and long queues often form outside. If you can, come early.

Category: Florence - Firenze