Cathedrals of Florence and Milan

Friday, 13th January 2006 by

The Cathedral (Duomo) of Florence is officially called Santa Maria del Fiore and is the end result of years of work spanning various architectural styles. The original building was started by a sculptor in 1296, then Filippo Brunelleschi added the distinctive dome between 1420 and 1436 and finally the modern facade was added between 1867 and 1887. It is apparently the 3rd largest church in the world.

Duomo di Milano is the largest gothic cathedral in the world, a bit of a cheat as it comes somewhere nearer seventh in the list of largest churches in the world. Still, on full zoom it is pretty huge and has the added sightseeing bonus of the adjacent 'Piazza Del Duomo' (I think I can see tourists?) and the 'Galleria Vittorio Emanuele', a covered street just to the north (it looks like a dark cross).

Thanks: Massimo, Philip R, Giampaolo Bellavite, cristian contini, Valdo, Bennet Langlotz, Dave Lartigue, Yuval, Elliot Sather, Gian Giacomo, Ron Vogel, ITALIANO, Dee, Jack & Jay