Jan.

20

In Florence: The Duomo

This post is for my sister-in-law who continues to ask me to share more photos from my travels. The reason why I haven’t shown tons of photos is because of…laziness. Going through all of my digital images and editing them takes alot of time, but since she’s ask me nicely (love you, S!), last weekend I started going through the images and today I am sharing one of the most spectacular sacred spaces I’ve seen in Italy.

The Cattedrale Santa Maria del Fiore (Saint Mary of the Flower) sits in the center of Florence and is the highlight of the Firenze skyline. The Renaissance cathedral actually consists of three-parts: the octagon baptistery, the slender campanile and the Duomo.

I continue to believe that you learn the most about another country through its people, their food and their sacred spaces and Italy has no shortage of interesting people, scrumptious food and incredibly maintained world heritage sites like the Duomo.

The Duomo was built beginning in 1296, can you believe that?! This octagonal dome was designed by architect Brunelleschi and is the largest masonry dome in the world.

For you architecture buffs, the Duomo was built using slabs of white, pink and green marble and features stained glass windows, the work of Renaissance architects like Donatello and Ucello who painted the heads of prophets on the Duomo clock, and frescos showing the life of Jesus from the Annuciation to the Miracle of the Pentecost. You’ll also see saints like Matthew, Mark, Luke and John on the exterior. Once inside, there are more frescoes like The Last Judgement and a depiction of Dante’s Divine Comedy.