Florence Cathedral
— — the dome the city is built around.
Not only on a wall.
“The cathedral that gave Florence its skyline. Brunelleschi's brick dome rose above the city in 1436 and has stayed the largest of its kind ever built, the rib pattern still visible from every rooftop in the centre. The marble facade is green and white and rose, the Baptistery sits across the square, and Giotto's bell tower keeps the third corner. The square is loud most of the day, and very quiet at first light.
Florence Cathedral, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Santa Maria del Fiore stands at the centre of Florence, in Piazza del Duomo, the seat of the Archdiocese of Florence. Construction began in 1296 to a design by Arnolfo di Cambio and continued for nearly 150 years, finishing when Filippo Brunelleschi closed the dome in 1436. The cathedral complex includes the Baptistery of San Giovanni, with Ghiberti's gilded Gates of Paradise, and Giotto's Campanile. The polychrome marble facade, in white from Carrara, green from Prato, and red from the Maremma, was completed in 1887.
Brunelleschi's dome remains the largest brick dome ever built, a span of 45.5 metres and a total height to the gilded lantern of 114.5 metres. He raised it without a centring frame, in a double shell of more than four million bricks laid in a herringbone pattern that locked each course as it climbed. The technique was a recovery of Roman engineering thought lost since the Pantheon. Visitors can still climb the 463 steps between the two shells to the lantern.
The cathedral itself is free to enter, with timed entry to manage crowds. A combined ticket from the Opera del Duomo covers the dome climb, the Baptistery, the Campanile, and the museum at Piazza del Duomo 9. Reservation is required for the dome and slots fill weeks ahead in summer. The complex is closed to tourist visits on Sunday mornings during Mass. The plaza is busiest from late morning through the afternoon, and first light is the quiet window.