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Florence and its territory
The Cathedral of Florence
The Cathedral of Florence, or the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, is the result of work carried out by various artists over the centuries.
It was designed at the end of the thirteenth century by Arnolfo di Cambio; Filippo Brunelleschi created the dome in Renaissance style and the façade dates back to the late 19th century.
The building was then enriched with two sacristies, a sixteenth-century marble floor and frescoes by Paolo Uccello and Andrea del Castagno. The Cathedral was dedicated to Santa Maria del Fiore in 1412 and was built over the previous one dedicated to Santa Reparata which existed until it was demolished in 1375; in the archaeological area under the Cathedral, the remains of this Cathedral with two bell towers, much smaller in size than today, are still visible today.
In 1293the Florentine Republic decided to replace the already existing cathedral of Santa Reparata with a more sumptuous one and all the citizens were obliged to leave a sum in their will for the “factory” of the Cathedral.
Di Cambio worked on the project for only 6 years, from 1926 to 1302 (the year of his death). Although the trend of the moment was Gothic, Di Cambio conceived a Basilica with 3 naves that flowed into the main altar. Arnolfo created 2 spans and the new façade.
Upon his death, Giotto was commissioned to build the bell tower; Andrea Pisano, author of the southern door of the Baptistery, took over from him until 1348, the year of the arrival of the plague which halved the population.
From 1349 to ’59 the task passed to Francesco Talenti who completed the bell tower and prepared a new project: the central nave will be divided into square bays, while the two lateral ones will be rectangular.
Around 1370 the construction was almost finished and the apse project was also well underway. In 1375 Santa Reparata was definitively demolished: the Duomo of S. Maria del Fiore was ready to be the new cathedral of Florence.
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