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Baptistry
The Baptistry (daily: mid-March to Sept 9am-7.30pm; Oct 9am-6pm; Nov to mid-March 10am-1pm & 2.30-5pm; L3000/¬1.55; www.operaduomo.it )–> is unusual in being placed beneath the main body of the duomo; it is on Piazza San Giovanni, reached by steps which curl around the back of the duomo. The chapter responsible for the font (1417-30) must have had a good sense of what was happening in Florence at the time, for they commissioned panels by Ghiberti ( Baptism of Christ and John in Prison ), local sculptor Jacopo della Quercia ( The Angel Announcing the Baptist’s Birth ), and a superbly dramatic Herod’s Feast by Donatello . The lavishly frescoed walls, largely by Vecchietta, almost overshadow the font.