Imparerò Italiano: 2014 - April 3: Piazza del Duomo, pt 1

On Thursdays we do cultural things and this outing was to the Piazza del Duomo. We visited the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiori (Saint Mary of the Flowers), the crypt (better known as the excavations of Santa Reparata), and the Baptistery. From there, we were free to explore on our own.

Here are a few pictures of the Cathedral. Photography is difficult as the structures are HUGE!

The main doors on the outside...

...and on the inside. (The dark vertical rectangle below the clock)

The alter...

...and the dome.

Down to the excavations.

This area used to be the ancient Cathedral of Santa Reparata, itself built on Roman houses in the 5th century, AD. In the mid-1300's, Santa Reparata was 'crumbling with age' and replaced by Santa Maria del Fiori. The city fathers wanted an enormous church, to rival any of the Tuscan cities of Pisa and Siena.

The Baptistery is under renovation and surrounded by scaffolding. Here is a picture of the outside, as seen from my journey to the top of the bell tower.

The Baptistery of San Giovanni is the oldest building in the piazza, believed to have been a pagan temple, later 'converted' to Christian use.

Thumbs up, or thumbs down. (Heaven or Hell)

Next, I tackle the bell tower. I initially thought I'd try to count the steps, but I had to concentrate on climbing them instead.

These were the easy ones...

This is the area just above where the bells were held. You can still see some of the hardware that the ropes ran through.

One of the bells...

...and with a person in the picture to give it some scale. Like everything else, it's HUGE. I can only imagine how it got up here, especially as the 'windows' don't seem large enough. Maybe it was brought up a little at a time, as the original construction progressed.