One of the places we loved the most while in Florence was Florence Cathedral. It is utterly amazing and unlike any other due to the fact that it is clad entirely in marble.
It also has a beautiful terracotta domed roof, and it is referred to as il Duomo !
The colours and workmanship in the marble are just incredible - and it is a complete work of art to look at. Work started on it in 1296, and wasnt completed until 1436 !
There isnt an angle or space on the cathedral that isnt stunning.
There are three main buildings - the cathederal, Giotto's Campanile (above) and the Baptistery. All of them have the same beautiful marble.
The pic above shows some of the work on the campanile - and the carvings go into fine detail. Its possible to climb both the campanile and the dome - but tickets were sold out while we were there.
The Baptistery is a little different. It reminds me of a biscuit tin, or maybe a teapot without a spout ! However, it is just as beautiful.
It does not have quite the same colours as the cathedral and campanile, but its still a work of art.
As can be seen from the pic taken from the city view point above, the cathedral dominates the Florence sky line, along with the tower from the Palazzo Vecchio (to the left). You can also see the campanile quite clearly.
There are always a lot of crowds around the cathederal (no surprise) and its quite nice with street vendors, street performers, artists and the like, as can be seen above.
You can get inside the cathedral itself for free. There was about a 15min queue, but to be honest, the inside just does not compare to the outside. Inside its quite plain by the standard of Italian cathedrals.
When in the centre of Florence, you can see the cathedral from different places and streets, and it just sort of looms out above everything else - its quite cool to see !
Its one of those places that when in Florence, going to see it once, just isn't enough. We went multiple times, including at night.
And interestingly there are quite a number of other religious buildings in Florence that are also clad in marble, mostly just on the front - so it must have been a local thing !
We loved it - it really is like no other building we've seen, and worth visiting Florence just to see it (although Florence has many other fantastic things to see while there too). I cant recommend it enough if architecture is your thing.
