Duomo

Begun in 1296 by Sienese architect Arnolfo di Cambio, the world’s fourth-largest cathedral took almost 150 years to complete. Behind the Gothic welter of its white, green and red marble facade (actually a 19th-century re-creation), the interior of the city’s cathedral is surprisingly Spartan, as most of its treasures have been moved to the adjacent Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. However, the vast and soaring space still houses masterpieces such as Uccello’s portrait of Sir John Hawkwood and Michelino’s fresco Dante e I Suoi Mondi (Dante and His Worlds). The gorgeously geometric marble paving is best appreciated when climbing up to Brunelleschi’s cupola del duomo (cathedral dome). A stairway near the main entrance of the cathedral leads down to the crypt, where archaeologists have uncovered the foundations of the 5th-century church that once occupied this site, as well as even older Roman artefacts.