Duomo

The painter Giotto designed its sturdy bell tower in 1334. The third pair of these doors, by Lorenzo Ghiberti, were of such rare beauty that Michelangelo named them the "Gates of Paradise".

The cathedral of Florence itself had been begun in the Gothic style by Arnolfo di Cambio in 1296. But in 1366 the City of Florence, following the advice of certain painters and sculptors, decided that the Gothic should no longer be used and that all the world should follow Roman forms, including an octagonal dome 42 metres in span to be built at the east end of the nave.