Hand-made jewellery on display at La Maison de La Sireneuse fashion and accessories store.

©Jo-Ann Titmarsh/Lonely Planet


Inside the duomo a stairway near the main entrance in the nave leads down to the gift shop and crypt where excavations between 1965 and 1974 unearthed parts of the 5th-century Chiesa di Santa Reparata that originally stood on the site. Should you be visiting the cathedral monuments on Sunday (when the crypt is closed), know your combined duomo ticket is valid 72 hours.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Campanile

0.02 MILES

The 414-step climb up the cathedral's 85m-tall campanile, begun by Giotto in 1334, rewards with staggering city views. The first tier of bas-reliefs…

2. Cupola del Brunelleschi

0.03 MILES

A Renaissance masterpiece, the duomo's cupola – 91m high and 45.5m wide – was built between 1420 and 1436. Filippo Brunelleschi, taking inspiration from…

3. Duomo

0.05 MILES

Florence's duomo is the city's most iconic landmark. Capped by Filippo Brunelleschi's red-tiled cupola, it's a staggering construction whose breathtaking…

4. Battistero di San Giovanni

0.05 MILES

This 11th-century baptistry – the oldest religious building on the vast cathedral square – is a Romanesque, octagonal-striped structure of white-and-green…

5. Museo dell’Opera del Duomo

0.08 MILES

This awe-inspiring story of how the duomo and its cupola came to life is told in this well-executed museum. Among its sacred and liturgical treasures are…

6. Chiesa di Santa Margherita

0.13 MILES

Dante fans will like to know that it was in this tiny 11th-century church, in the poet's old stomping ground, that he is said to have first espied his…

7. Museo Casa di Dante

0.14 MILES

The Dante House Museum was built in 1910 above the foundations of Dante's dwelling. Up the road, 11th-century Chiesa di Santa Margherita, nicknamed …

8. Palazzo Medici-Riccardi

0.14 MILES

Cosimo the Elder entrusted Michelozzo with the design of the family's town house in 1444. The result was this palace, a blueprint that influenced the…