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Brunelleschi’s red-tiled dome and Giotto’s bell tower above Florence at dusk.
Seen from the Michelangelo hill at dusk. Photo: Petar Milošević, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Place · Cathedral

Florence Cathedral

Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower, begun in 1296 and crowned by Brunelleschi’s dome, completed by 1436.

Location
Florence, Italy
Building
Cathedral (archdiocesan see); minor basilica
Tradition
Roman Catholic
Religious use
In use as the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Florence.
Official website
Florence Cathedral

Map Building location: Apple Maps · Google Maps — the building, not a confirmed visitor entrance.

The cathedral, with its baptistery and Giotto’s campanile, stands at the centre of Florence. Its dome, engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi, is still the largest masonry dome ever built.

In the Atlas

Each paragraph says whether it is documented history, a tradition handed down, or disputed.

  • Documented

    It was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design by Arnolfo di Cambio, on the site of the earlier cathedral of Santa Reparata, and was completed by 1436 with Brunelleschi’s dome.

  • Documented

    Its polychrome marble west front is a nineteenth-century Gothic Revival work by Emilio De Fabris.

Reference draft. The statements were checked against the general reference sources below, read in a build session (Wikipedia at a recorded revision, and Wikidata). They have not yet been checked against scholarly or primary sources.

  • Reference work · Read in a build session

    Florence Cathedral — Wikipedia (English)

    Read on 28 Oct 2026 at revision 1380679501, fetched by the research workflow (research/fetched/places/florence-cathedral/wikipedia.txt). A general reference work, not a scholarly source; the statements here were checked against it.

  • Reference work · Read in a build session

    Wikidata item Q191739 (Florence Cathedral) — Wikidata

    Read on 28 Oct 2026: instance of, religion, diocese, coordinates and official website.