Santa Maria del Fiore: The Cathedral That Took 140 Years to Build

The Florence Cathedral is so omnipresent in the city’s skyline that locals stop seeing it. Tourists stop seeing it differently: they photograph it from the piazza, check it off the list, and leave without going up. That’s a mistake with real costs, because the dome climb is one of the best tourist experiences in Italy and the museum below the building holds Michelangelo’s late Pieta and Donatello’s Penitent Magdalene, neither of which appear in the guidebook summaries as prominently as they should.

The marble facade of the cathedral itself, green, white, and pink Carrara marble laid in geometric patterns, requires a full circuit of the exterior to appreciate. Most visitors see two sides. Walk all four; the east and north facades are less photographed and just as extraordinary.

The Dome Climb

Climbing Brunelleschi’s dome is the essential Florence experience. The 463 steps include a section where you walk the gallery between the inner and outer shells, looking down at the nave floor through a gap that feels inadequate for the altitude. The fresco covering the inner dome is Vasari’s Last Judgement, 3,600 square metres; from the nave below it looks intricate but abstract, and from the gallery it becomes individual figures at a scale that is genuinely arresting.

From the lantern at the top, the views over Florence are excellent: the Arno winding west, Fiesole in the hills, and enough rooftops to understand the city’s scale and layout.

Tickets cannot be purchased at the dome on the day; book online in advance through the Opera del Duomo website. The combined ticket (around €30) covers the dome, Giotto’s Campanile, the Baptistery, the crypt, and the Santa Reparata underground excavation. Spread these across two visits rather than trying to rush all of them in one day. Same-week availability disappears by early April; book at least three days ahead in spring and summer.

The Campanile

Giotto’s bell tower offers a better photographic vantage of the dome than the dome itself provides. The climb is 414 steps. The view from the top gives a direct line of sight to the dome’s drum and lantern that most dome photographs don’t achieve. It has shorter queues than the dome, which is one argument for doing it first to scope the timing.

The Baptistery

The octagonal Baptistery predates the cathedral by several centuries. Dante was baptised here. The interior has Byzantine mosaics on the ceiling illustrating Genesis, the life of John the Baptist, and the Last Judgement; the scale and quality are extraordinary and often rushed past by visitors heading for the Uffizi. The east doors (the “Gates of Paradise,” so named by Michelangelo) visible in the piazza are reproductions; the originals are in the adjacent museum, which is included in the combined ticket and consistently undervisited.

Where to Eat

The immediate vicinity of the Piazza del Duomo is a tourist trap and should be treated as such. Walk two streets in any direction and prices drop.

Trattoria Mario on Via Rosina (near the San Lorenzo market) opens for lunch only, cash only, shared tables. Loud, cramped, serving Florentine cooking at prices that feel implausible by Italian tourist standards. The ribollita and the lampredotto (tripe sandwich) are both worth the experience. Arrive before noon or expect a wait.

Il Latini on Via Palchetti is boisterous, family-run, and seats strangers at long shared tables for Tuscan food at set prices. This sounds gimmicky and actually works.

The Mercato Centrale’s upstairs food hall on Via dell’Ariento is reliable for lunch at reasonable prices without the proximity-to-landmark markup.

The Oltrarno District

South of the Arno, the Oltrarno is where Florentines actually live and eat. Cross the Ponte Vecchio and walk five minutes into Via Maggio or Via dei Serragli: quieter streets, restaurants priced for locals, and a workshop culture of leather craftsmen, framers, and restorers still genuinely present. The Boboli Gardens behind Palazzo Pitti are worth a slow afternoon. The Piazzale Michelangelo overlook above the Oltrarno gives the best panorama of Florence and the dome together.

The cathedral is free to enter. Opening hours run approximately 10:00 to 16:30, with extended hours in summer; check the Opera del Duomo website. The square is heavily crowded from mid-morning: arrive at opening or after 16:00 for manageable conditions and better light on the marble.