MORNING BIRD TRAIL

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The Cathedral of Florence, Santa Maria del Fiore, is the most well-known landmark in Florence. It is probably the building that you think about when someone talks about Florence. The cathedral is known for its beautiful marble facade and its amazing brick octagonal dome.

The Santa Maria del Fiore’s dome is still one of the biggest brick domes of the world and was constructed at the peak of the Florentine renaissance.

Because of all these facts, it is natural that you wish to climb it when you go to Florence since it is one of the top things to do in the city. So, are you wondering how it’s like to climb this masterpiece? Here you can find everything about how it’s like to climb it.

Overview

• A bit of history
• Location and reservation
• The climb

A bit of History

The Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral was built between 1296 and 1436, with periods of quick construction, and periods when the construction stopped. The dome itself took 14 years to be finished and, for a long time, no one knew how would this cupola be built.

In the summer of 1420, Filipo Brunelleschi, after an architectural competition with the objective to construct the cupola, proposed to build a Dome without the help of formwork which had never been done until then. This was possible because each masonry ring was completed in succession, with techniques that secure the bricks in place.

This dome consists of two layers, connected by masonry joining elements that start at the octagonal base and continue until the top level of the cupola.

Location and reservation

This amazing architectural artwork is located in the heart of Florence, in Duomo Square. Around this square, you can appreciate the architecture of Florence and the unique facade of the cathedral as well as visit various monuments belonging to the complex of the Opera de Santa Maria dei Fiore, such as the Giotto Campanile and the Baptistery.

To climb the Duomo you must reserve a time slot (and, of course, have a valid ticket). You can choose it either online or at the ticket offices that you can find around the square (you can find about where exactly these are located here). I went to Florence in February and there were no lines to buy or choose the slot. However, in high season that probably isn’t true. To choose the slot in person, you purchase the ticket in the ticket office and then you use that ticket in a machine in the same building to choose your slot.

The climb

The climb until the top level of the Duomo consists of 463 steps and quite tight corridors. These corridors were used by the workers while they were constructing the cupola. As a result, these corridors weren’t made for public use, which means that they are not so pretty as the rest, but they sure are interesting and full of history.

The route is different for the people that are going up and for those going back down almost everywhere. As a result, you won’t find people going in the opposite way like what happens when you climb Giotto’s Bell Tower. 

The climb starts at the left side of the cathedral and finishes at the right side, behind the bell tower. While you are going up or down, closer to the ground you’ll find levels with sculptures and information about the cathedral.

After that, you’ll get to the base of the Duomo itself and you’ll be able to walk outside, right beneath the cupola’s frescos and look at them closely.

The balcony where you walk is tight, so maybe you’ll spend less time looking at the paintings as you wish, because the people behind may really want to climb up and not stay there looking at the paintings.

These frescos were a request of Cosimo I de Medici. They were started by Giorgio Vasari and finished by Federico Zuccari and other collaborators, after the death of the first artist. This means that parts of the paintings have slightly different styles.

After going around the octagonal dome, the fun part begins… the corridors tighten more and you begin to walk between the two cupolas. Inside the architectural masterpiece of Brunelleschi, you’ll be able to observe and touch this ancient construction.

After a more or less horizontal walk (with a few stairs) you’ll have to climb the slightly scary stairs, located in the smaller dome. These stairs are quite steep, however, at this point, you are really close to the outside world. You are now climbing above the frescos that you’ve seen below, but don’t think too much about that. You are so close to having a wonderful 360º view from the city.

This is a really interesting climb to one of the biggest achievements of the renaissance human being. However, this climb may not be for you, in particular, if you are afraid of enclosed spaces, or if you have any problem ascending stairs. Both the Duomo and the Campanile have many stairs to climb and quite tight spaces to walk, so even if the views and the experience are worth it, please keep this in mind when you are choosing what activities to do in Florence.

Overall, this experience is very worth it and will make you appreciate all the history and the work of the renaissance men to construct one of Europe’s masterpieces.

If you want to know what else you can see and do in Florence, you can read all about it in the Ultimate Guide to Florence.

Another idea is to go to Florence as part of a Tuscany road trip. If you are interested in doing this adventure, you can start inspiring yourself in this two-week itinerary of a road trip around Tuscany that starts (and finishes) in Florence.

In case you are wondering, all these pictures were taking with the following equipment:

• Canon EOS 90d
• Samsung SD card
• Canon EF 50mm F1.8 STM
• Canon EF-S 55-250mm F/4-5.6 is STM
• Canon  EF-S 10-18mm F/4.5-5.6 IS STM
• K&F Concept K-Serie 67mm ND Filter
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G

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