Bell Tower and Baptistry

The bell tower of Florence Cathedral is considered to be the most beautiful in Italy. I climbed to the top without Mark today as he is still under the weather.

Although called Giotto’s tower, he died three years after building had begun and work was continued by Andrea Pisano, Alberto Arnoldi and Francesco Talenti, who is praised for his design of the large openings near the top, which give the tower a light feel.

The bell tower is slightly shorter than the dome (85m to the dome’s 114m) and has slightly fewer steps to climb (414 compared to 463 in the dome) but the views are just as good. You can also see the surroundings from four levels compared to the Dome’s one level. However, if you miss out the dome, you miss out on the frescoes inside the dome too.

The baptistry, built between 1059 and 1128, is one of the oldest buildings in the city. It used to be rumoured that it was Roman in origin, but this has been found not to be the case, although some of the stones were taken from earlier buildings.

The baptistry is best known for its bronze doors, in particular a set by Lorenzo Ghiberti, based on stories from the Old Testament and referred to by Michelangelo as ‘Gates of Paradise.’

The panels that I photographed today are only copies. The originals were substituted in 1990 and since then have undergone restoration after accumulating at least four centuries’ worth of dirt and grime. Some of the originals are on view in the Duomo Museum, which I am hoping to get along to tomorrow.

The mosaics inside the Baptistry are magnificent, but I would have preferred the mosaic artists from the thirteenth century to have placed them lower down, where they could be viewed more easily.

To build an octagonal baptistery was fairly usual at the time. Apparently the eight comes from the six days of creation + one day of rest + a day of re-creation after the act of baptism.