The Duomo of Florence is dedicated to Santa Maria del Fiore or St. Mary of the Flowers, the flower being the Florentine lily.   It was begun by Arnolfo di Cambio in 1296 and finished by Brunelleschi in 1436. Inside are preserved works by Paolo Uccello, Andrea del Castagno. (paintings and stained glass windows). The interior of the cupola, recently restored, was frescoed by Vasari and Zuccari with a large, impressive Last Judgment.

Thanks to its beauty the cupola become the symbol if the city. The upper windows, so very lovely, may have been visible on your entering in the Piazza, with Brunelleschi's warm dome high in the sky beside them, but that was not to diminish the effect of the first sight of the whole. Duomo and campanile make as fair a couple as ever builders brought together: the immense comfortable church so solidly set upon the earth, and at its side this delicate, slender marble creature, all gaiety and lightness, which as surely springs from roots within the earth. 

The interior of the Duomo is so unexpected that one has the feeling of having entered, by some extraordinary chance, the wrong building. Outside it was so garish with its colored marbles, under the southern sky; outside, too, one's ears were filled with all the shattering noises in which Florence is an adept; and then, one step and behold nothing but vast and silent gloom. This surprise is the more emphatic if one happens already to have been in the Baptistery. For the Baptistery is also colored marble without, yet within it is colored marble and mosaic too: there is no disparity; whereas in the Duomo the walls have a Northern grey and the columns are brown. Austerity and immensity join forces.  The emptiness of the Duomo is another of its charms. Nothing is allowed to impair the vista as you stand by the western entrance: the floor has no chairs; the great columns rise from it in the gloom as if they, too, were rooted. The walls, too, are bare, save for a few tablets. 

Next to the Duomo is the "Campanile di Giotto", the bell-tower begun by Giotto in 1334  and completed by Andrea Pisano in 1359. It is rich in bas-reliefs , allegorical figures and statues. It is 85 m high and climbing the 414 steps  visitors can reach the top and enjoy the view from the panoramic terrace.  

 Must see:

• The beautiful facade made from pink, green and white marble, recalling the colors of Italian flag. It looks different throughout the day, as the light changes.
• Sculptures and frescoes, by Paolo Uccello, Andrea del Castagno, Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari (the Last Judgment in the cupola)
• The Sacristy preserving Luca della Robbia's lunettes and some lovely inlaid cupboards by Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano (1463-65),
• The picture of Dante in the left aisle, painted by  Domenico di Michelino hundred and sixty-three years after his banishment from the city. In this picture Dante stands between the Inferno and a concentrated Florence in which portions of the Duomo, the Signoria, the Badia, the Bargello, and Or San Michele are visible. Behind him is Paradise. In his hand is the "Divine Comedy".
• Near the Dante picture in the left aisle are two Donatellos.