Piazza del Duomo

The city’s religious centre consists of the Cathedral and Baptistery complex and the two squares around them, Piazza del Duomo and Piazza San Giovanni. In Roman and early medieval Florence this area lay at the edge of the settlement. From the eleventh century, as the city expanded, it became a focal point. The decisive moment came in the late thirteenth century, when Florence decided to rebuild the Cathedral of Santa Reparata on a larger scale befitting its growing power. The new proportions Arnolfo di Cambio established for the façade defined the relationship between cathedral and baptistery. The space between them became a true square, hosting the city’s most important occasions. Construction of the new Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and Giotto’s Bell Tower continued throughout the fourteenth century, ending only in the fifteenth with Brunelleschi’s Dome. Nineteenth-century works culminating in the cathedral’s monumental façade completed this long transformation. A visit to the Opera del Duomo Museum is essential to understand the complex fully and see many of its original works. On the bell-tower side of the square is the interesting Misericordia Museum, belonging to one of Italy’s oldest charitable institutions. The square retains its role as a natural setting for major moments in city life. Each year it hosts important Florentine traditions, including the spectacular Scoppio del Carro, the Explosion of the Cart, on Easter Sunday morning.