The Florence Cathedral, or Duomo of Florence (Not referring to the large Dome at the top of the Basilica, but actually a general term for cathedrals in Italy, e.g. Domus or House of God), is a an amazing site, and a must-see on any trip to Florence. I would say that the visit rivals that of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, since you can literally climb to the top of the Dome, viewing the painted Dome up close, and taking panoramic views of the whole city of Florence.





The trip is actually to three different buildings, the climb up the dome, and down to the Museum below the cathedral. The Cathedral is a visit similar to other Basilicas/Cathedrals, where you walk around. The real cool visits are climbing up the Dome, as well as the climb up the free standing bell tower, Giotto's Campanile.

The first climb up the Dome shows you the internal Dome. You can look down at the cathedral and up at the amazing dome!

Down there are some plexi-glass protectors that obstruct the view a little, but not so bad.

Above you can see the magnificent fresco painted on the internal part of the dome, depicting the last judgement.





Then you go up some more stairs to get to the top of the dome...





You can see some teasers as you climb!

It's pretty cool to be able to climb up these things...





It's important to not write on the walls...Huai danmen! Central country people are so bad!Eventually it starts to get rounded and you see bricks!A port-hole for when the river Arno periodically floods...You finally get up some curvy stairs...

And you can see the whole of Florence!!!

Also the Santa Maria Novella and the Basilica of San Lorenzo to the west.

Towards the Old Palace and the Piazza della Signoria:

As you come back down you can see a small exhibit on how the dome was built:

Up the bell tower you can get some nice shots of the dome and cathedral:



The whitewashed walls seem plain compared to the dome and marble polychrome exterior:

You can get some perspective snaps of the internal dome, farther away:

There are lots of stained-glass windows:

It's hard to even read what the letters are!



Also there is the baptistery that you can see at the Duomo, but unfortunately it was closed for construction during fall 2014 when we were there.



I hope you enjoyed this post! Follow me to see more-- next week we're going to the picturesque villages of the Cinque Terre (21st of Jan. 2015)!





Consider following my posts on Facebook, it would make my day! I try to post once a week... next week, I'm making a post about the Cinque Terre!You can really get up close to the fresco, which took 11 years to paint.You can see some of the great creepiness of the Capital Sins and Hell:Three main artists worked on the fresco, supported with many aids.You can see an octagonal oculus of the brick dome as well.You can see the bell tower:The Basilica of Santa Croce and the Palazzo Vecchio are in the distance:The Basilica of Santa Croce with it's marble facade:The Santa Maria Novella is both a train station and cathedral:You are pretty free at the top:They didn't use a wood support structure of this dome, which was a first in Italy.You have a full 24 hrs to see all of the five sites, the Cathedral, The Dome, The Bell Tower, The Museum and the Baptistery. The next most inspiring is up the bell tower, Giotto's Campanile.It's made of impressive polychrome marble:Also you can see some creepy heights:Less high than the dome, you can get some shots of the city at different perspectives:The tiled roofs are quite pretty:Here's the palazzo Vecchio tower:You can also see details of the basilica:And look down as you stand on a grid:The dome is quite beautiful from here:You can also enter the cathedral and museum. The cathedral visit is similar to other cathedrals (unless you know something about the art, but we didn't research anything beforehand, so for us it wasn't as exciting as the breathtaking views of the dome and the campanile.Impressive details abound:The clock is interesting since it goes the full 24 hrs in one spin.Downstairs you can see the museum:There you can see some of the recovered older parts of the cathedral that were built upon.There are some impressive tiled floors:Some tombstones are possible to view, but in general the museum was still under construction as of fall 2014.