One of the Renaissance's great masterpieces, the Duomo's cupola was built between 1420 and 1436. Filippo Brunelleschi, taking inspiration from the Pantheon in Rome, designed a distinctive octagonal form of inner and outer concentric domes that rests on the drum of the cathedral rather than the roof itself. Over four million bricks were used to construct it, all of them laid in consecutive rings according to a vertical herringbone pattern. The final product is 91m high and 45.5m wide.
The climb up the spiral staircase is relatively steep, and should not be attempted if you are claustrophobic. Make sure to pause when you reach the balustrade at the base of the dome, which gives an aerial view of the octagonal coro (choir) of the cathedral below and the seven round stained-glass windows (by Donatello, Andrea del Castagno, Paolo Uccello and Lorenzo Ghiberti) that pierce the octagonal drum.
Look up and you'll see flamboyant late 16th-century frescoes by Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari, depicting the Giudizio Universale (Last Judgement).
As you climb, snapshots of Florence can be spied through small windows. The final leg – a straight, somewhat hazardous flight up the curve of the inner dome – rewards with an unforgettable 360-degree panorama of one of Europe's most beautiful cities.
