Ascent Of The Duomo Cupola

We spent more than a week in Florence in June, 2011, and I blogged fairly extensively about it all then. Of course, we are visiting many of the same sights now that we visited in 2011, and before that, too, and, of course, I am taking many of the same pix that I took in 2011. But I won't post them again. I am going to try, heroically, to stick just to new stuff, new things we did, new angles, etc. Bear with me. If you want to see fuller coverage, in this blog, of such things as the Duomo, go directly to the June, 2011 posts.

Thursday we spent primarily at the Duomo, the cathedral, its Baptistry, and Giotto's Tower, the campanile. Old friends that I'd visit every day if I could. For new experiences, we climbed the dome and cupola, Brunelleschi's triumph, enjoyed the views both inside and outside, and then briefly toured the still-a-work-in-progress Duomo museum.

Just for review, it's the big dome in the middle

You climb up about 300 steps of Medieval spiraling staircase
(the total is somewhat shy of 500) and then emerge inside the
great dome, at its base, looking up into Vasari's incredible
Last Judgment and its oculus with those people hanging in

Up close and personal with these much larger-than-life
figures

And then you're climbing up further, now
between the inner and outer domes

And then, quicker than you can say "hoop stress" 10,000
times, you're on top of the great 15th century cupola (on
top of the 13th century cathedral), in the lantern, gripping
the handrail, thinking about the 37,000 tons of material
constituting the dome, reflecting on the fact that a
dome of this height and size had not been attempted in a
milennium...and ...taking in the sights...Bargello
there on the left, Palazzo Vecchio on the right...and the
Uffizi...and...

Santa Croce

San Miniato, where we were the night before

Santa Maria Novella

San Lorenzo

Looking down to the nave and to Giotto's campanile

Us, taken by a nice lady from Indianapolis