Florence’s Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore is an iconic monument that dominates the city’s skyline. Piazza del Duomo, the plaza where the cathedral, bell tower, museum, Santa Reparata, and baptistery sit, is a must-visit when exploring Florence. In addition to Piazza del Duomo’s striking beauty, there’s a lot of history to learn about at the various sites. Here, we’ll go over each site and cover details needed to plan a visit to these monuments.
Getting to Piazza del Duomo
Piazza del Duomo sits in the heart of Florence where there are many restaurants, hotels, shops, and other attractions around. So, it is commonly reached on foot.
The nearest major transport hub to Piazza del Duomo is Firenze Santa Maria Novella. Many buses and trains from the Florence region and beyond stop here. The station is less than a 15-minute walk from the plaza. There are also a few city buses that stop right around the plaza, including Olio Duomo, Oriuolo Duomo, Studio, and Roma Duomo that are served by lines C1 & C2. Check the transport website for more information on bus routes and schedules.
If driving your own car, note that parking options in the heart of Florence are limited and spots can fill up quickly. There are some areas where you can find street parking, as well as some paid parking garages that aren’t too far away, like Garage Oriuolo and Park2Go Duomo.
Tickets
There are a few different ticket options to consider depending on the monuments you want to visit.
- Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore: The cathedral is free to visit and visitors do not require a ticket or time slot reservation. This does not include access to the cathedral’s dome.
- Ghiberti Pass: €15 per adult. Covers entry to the baptistery, Opera Museum, and Santa Reparata. The pass is valid for 3 days from the selected date. You must visit the Santa Reparata on the date selected and reserve a Santa Reparata time slot only.
- Giotto Pass: €20 per adult. Covers entry to the bell tower, baptistery, Opera Museum, and Santa Reparata. The pass is valid for 3 days from the selected date. You must visit the bell tower on the date selected and reserve a bell tower time slot only.
- Brunelleschi Pass: €30 per adult. Covers entry to all monuments – the dome, bell tower, Bapitstry, Opera Museum, and Santa Reparata. The pass is valid for 3 days from the selected date. You must visit the dome on the date selected and reserve a dome time slot only.
There are other ticket options/discounts available for certain groups as well. Learn more about the options and buy tickets online here.
Each ticket grants one entry to each monument covered on the pass (you can’t visit the same monument multiple times). For some of the monuments, you must select a time slot. Your pass becomes valid the day of your selected time slot, but you can visit other monuments that didn’t require a time slot booking before that monument as long as you visit the same day it becomes valid.
For example, though your pass is valid for 3 consecutive days, you can’t visit the baptistery the day before your booked time slot to the dome. But if you have a dome time slot for 2pm, you can visit the baptistery at 11am that same day.
We’d recommend buying your tickets in advance. You can also buy them from the ticket office upon arrival, but you may have to wait in long ticketing lines and your entry isn’t guaranteed if tickets are sold out.
Regulations
At the entrances to the Piazza del Duomo monuments, visitors pass through a security check. Visitors cannot bring backpacks or large bags into any of the monuments. Umbrellas and tripods are also not permitted. You can leave such items at one of the cloakrooms; however, which one you should drop your belongings at depends on the item and the monument you’re visiting. Find more details in this regulation document.
Church-appropriate clothing must be worn to visit the cathedral and baptistery. Clothing that falls above the knee, bare shoulders, and flip-flops might get you turned away at the door.
Visiting the Piazza del Duomo Monument Complex
Visiting the sites of the Piazza del Duomo monument complex is one of the most popular things to do in Florence. From admiring the interesting architecture and learning the history to taking in the beautiful views over the city or visiting for spiritual purposes, there’s many reasons the Piazza del Duomo monuments are so popular.
Here’s a map of the complex:
Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore
Hours: Open Monday through Saturday from 10:15am – 3:45pm. Closed on Sunday and for celebrations.
The Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore is a stunning cathedral that had its first stone laid in 1296. The dome was finally completed and the church consecrated by Pope Eugenio in 1436. It features beautiful exterior detail with intricate carvings and designs made from white, red, and green marble. Santa Maria del Fiore is one of the biggest churches in the world!
We visited the cathedral the day after we had visited all of the other monuments. This was because we wanted to visit near open and we had arrived mid-morning from Rome the day before and spent the afternoon visiting the other monuments. It isn’t open early, so many people had arrived before 10am, and the line wound around the building. Luckily, the line does move fairly quickly. We had a glimpse of the cathedral the day before when we entered the building to climb the dome, but we enjoyed walking around the interior a bit more.
The Cathedral Dome
Hours: Open Monday through Friday from 8:15am – 6:45pm (this is the last time slot), Saturday from 8:15am – 4:30pm (the last time slot), and Sunday from 12:45pm – 4:30pm (the last time slot).
The cathedral’s dome was added around 1420 and was designed by the famous Brunelleschi. It is the largest masonry cupola in the world with an external diameter of 55 meters (180 feet).
Before visiting, note that the dome is only accessible by climbing 463 steps up a narrow stairway. There is no lift. The views from the top are stunning. We enjoyed walking around the dome platform to admire Florence from all angles.
Giotto’s Bell Tower
Hours: Open daily from 8:15am – 6:45pm (this is the last available time slot).
In 1334, Giotto (a famous artist) was tasked with the design of the bell tower. He died just a couple years later and therefore did not see it complete. Two others took on the task of completing the tower, which was finally finished in 1359.
To reach the top of the tower, there are another 414 steps to climb. There are a couple levels you can take a break at to admire the views and see the huge bells. The bells chimed while we were up there – it was pretty cool to see them in motion and to hear them ringing out over the whole city.
As we hung out at the top, the sun was beginning to set and a gold blanket covered Florence. It really was so beautiful! We enjoyed looking over the tower from the dome that we had climbed just before, and now enjoyed admiring the massive dome from the tower.
Opera Museum
Hours: Open daily from 8:30am – 7:00pm, except the first Tuesday of each month when the museum is closed.
The Opera del Duomo museum sits in a building behind the cathedral. The museum was founded in the 1890s. Exhibits highlight the history of the monuments and contain historical design elements and works by Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, and other icons. We spent almost two hours in here and found the history and art interesting.
Santa Reparata
Hours: Open Monday through Saturday from 10:15am – 4pm and Sunday from 1:30pm – 4pm.
Below the floors of the current cathedral, archaeologists discovered the ancient Santa Reparata basilica during their discovery efforts beginning in the 1960s. The Santa Reparata was one of the first Christian temples in the Florence region, experts estimating that it was built in the early 400s CE.
When you go down the stairs, you’ll see the foundations of this historic basilica, as well as what remains of intricate mosaic flooring. There are also some artifacts on display and Brunelleschi’s tomb lies down there.
Baptistery
Hours: Open daily from 8:30am – 7:30pm, except the first Sunday of each month when it closes at 1:30pm.
The Baptistery of St. John sits just across the entrance to the cathedral. It is far older than the cathedral itself, being consecrated in 1059. Experts suspect that a pagan temple stood here even before the construction of the monument we see today.
The exterior is adorned with the same white, red, and green marble design as the cathedral and bell tower. But the inside holds just as much beauty, with incredible mosaics on display inside.
Extra Notes on Visiting the Piazza Del Duomo Monuments
Timing your Ticket: If you plan to buy one of the passes, make sure you look at your visiting dates and look at the website for any updates on hours and closures. You may have to adjust your plans accordingly. For example, one of the monuments was closing for renovations during our visit, so we made sure our Brunelleschi Pass overlapped with the day it was open and made time to visit that monument before the closure.
The Lines: With this being one of the most popular things to do in Florence, expect lines. On a weekday in February, we encountered long lines at some attractions. Even if you reserved a time slot, we’d recommend arriving a bit early because there will likely be a line of others who reserved a time slot as well. For the cathedral, we’d recommend arriving before it opens. We arrived 30 minutes before the cathedral opened and the line already was winding around the building.
Dress Accordingly: In addition to having to wear church-appropriate clothing to visit some of the sites, we’d recommend wearing comfortable shoes if you plan to go up the tower or dome. You’ll be climbing a lot of steps! Depending on the time of year, we’d recommend some layers as well. Being there near sundown in February, it was a bit windy and chilly outside at the top, but as we were climbing the stairs, we got really warm.
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