Duomo

Lonely Planet review

This is the holy centre of Florence and once the site of the town's Roman temple. As the city emerged to become the dominant power in medieval Tuscany, it lavished money and genius on this piazza, a place for Florence to beat its chest proudly and show the world its greatness.

You'll probably have already spotted Brunelleschi's sloping, red-tiled dome from afar, but when you first come upon the Duomo (cathedral) from the crowded streets around the Piazza, you will doubtless be taken aback by the ordered vivacity of its pink, white and green marble facade. Brunelleschi won a public competition to design the enormous dome, the first of its kind since antiquity. Although now severely cracked and under restoration, it remains a remarkable achievement of design.

The great temple's full name is Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore and it is the world's fourth-largest cathedral. It was begun in 1296 by Arnolfo di Cambio and took almost 150 years to complete. It is 153m (502ft) long and 38m (125ft) wide, except the transept, which extends to 90m (295ft). The cathedral it replaced, dedicated to Santa Reparata, fitted into an area extending less than halfway down from the entrance to the transept.