Italy 2016
Il Duomo
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Galleria dell'Accademia

Florence - Around the City

Uffizi gallery

Piazza del Duomo ("Cathedral Square") is located in the heart of the historic center of Florence.
It is one of the most visited places in Europe, and in the world; here we can find the Florence Cathedral with the
 Cupola del Brunelleschi, Giotto's Campanile, the Florence Baptistery, the Loggia del Bigallo, the Opera del
Duomo Museum, and the Arcivescovile and Canonici's palace. The precise geometric design of the cathedral in
polychrome marble makes the photos of the buildings look almost like cardboard cut-outs. The west zone
of this square is called San Giovanni square.

Approaching Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral from Via dei Cerratani. It was the largest building in medieval Europe, and is the fourth largest church in Europe; its length is 153 m (501.97 ft) and its height is 116 m (380.58 ft).

The baptistry, cathedral, and bell tower.

Colorful umbrellas brighten the scene on a cloudy, wet day.

This façade was the collective work of several artists, among them Andrea Orcagna and Taddeo Gaddi. This original façade was completed in only its lower portion and then left unfinished. It was dismantled in 1587-1588 by the Medici court architect Bernardo Buontalenti, ordered by Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici, as it appeared totally outmoded in Renaissance times.  In 1864, a competition held to design a new façade was won by Emilio De Fabris (1808–1883) in 1871. Work began in 1876 and was completed in 1887. This neo-gothic façade in white, green and red marble forms a harmonious entity with the cathedral, Giotto's bell tower and the Baptistery.

On top of the façade is a series of niches with the twelve Apostles, and in the middle, the Madonna with Child.

The mosaics in the lunettes above the doors were designed by Niccolò Barabino. This one is over the north door of the facade.

The center door's lunete contains Christ enthroned with Mary and John the Baptist.

The Plaza at Night

The top three levels of the bell tower were built by Francesco Talenti, Master of the Works from 1348 to 1359. Each level is larger than the lower one and extends beyond it in every dimension such that their difference in size exactly counters the effect of perspective. As a result, the top three levels of the tower, when seen from below, look exactly equal in size.

The Baptistery is one of the oldest buildings in the city, constructed between 1059 and 1128 in the Florentine Romanesque style.

East doors of the Baptristery, or Gates of Paradise, by Lorenzo Ghiberti.  The panels are included in a richly decorated gilt framework of foliage and fruit, many statuettes of prophets and 24 busts. The two central busts are portraits of the artist and of his father, Bartolomeo Ghiberti.

Detail, David cutting off the head of goliath.

Inside the Basilica del Santa Maria de Fiore

The Gothic interior is vast and gives an empty impression. The relative bareness of the church corresponds with the austerity of religious life, as preached by Girolamo Savonarola.

Floor mosaics.

The Last Judgement - painted ceiling of the dome of the cathedral.

Orsanmichele - "Kitchen Garden of St. Michael",  from the contraction in Tuscan dialect of the Italian
word orto (garden) - is a church. The building was constructed on the site of the kitchen garden of the monastery
of San Michele, which is now gone.  Located on the Via Calzaiuoli, midway between Piazza del Duomo and
Plaza della Signoria, the church was originally built as a grain market in 1337 . Between 1380 and 1404, it
was converted into a church used as the chapel of Florence's powerful craft and trade guilds.  Late in the 14th
century, the guilds were charged by the city to commission statues of their patron saints to embellish the
facades of the church. The sculptures seen today are copies, the originals having been removed to various museums.

St John the Evangilist - Arte della Seta, silk merchants - on the left, and St. John the Baptist - Arte di Calimala, The Guild of Merchants of Calimala - on the right, occupy the corner of the building.  The canopied niche on the left contains the Madonna of the Rose - Medici e Speziali, doctors and apothecaries.  The niche to the right contains Christ and St. Thomas - Tribunale di Mercanzia, merchants.

Christ and St. Thomas.

Back to Italy 2016 Index

Galleria dell'Accademia

Florence - Around the City

Uffizi gallery