Duomo Museum & Baptistry: Cathedral Complex & Bell Tower

This tour was absolutely incredible and one of the highlights of our trip! Our tour guide was fantastic—extremely knowledgeable, passionate, and engaging. She patiently answered every question we had. Her enthusiasm made the experience enjoyable and memorable. The climb to the top of the bell tower was unforgettable and rewarded us with breathtaking views of the Duomo and the city of Florence. We learned so much, had an amazing time, and would highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Florence!

This was an amazing tour! My wife and I were the only ones on the tour, and Rafael, our tour guide was fantastic and incredibly knowledgeable about not only elements of the tour, but of Italy, and Florence overall.

I have been to Florence multiple times, but have not visited the Duomo Museum until now. I was very impressed with our guide, Rosa’s knowledge. I highly recommend this tour!

The Duomo Museum gives you an insight into how the Duomo was built. It has models that show the tools and the material used to build the Duomo. There are also short movies that go into the history of the constructions. From the top floor of the Museum, one gets a good view of the Dome of the Duomo itself. On the dome, you can see the cracks that have developed over the years. The museum also includes painting and sculptures by famous artist from Italy. The baptistry is a unique building which has a dome that is unique. Inside the Baptistry, one gets to see the brillance of the people who built this entire complex.

I did not get the opportunity to use this tour group because they cancelled on me the week of my trip. I was unable to book a similar tour because everything else was already booked by the time this was cancelled. The reviews seem to have other people with similar experiences.

I am the owner of these places , I wanted to create a magical place where people can disconnect and recharge in a quiet place surrounded by nature , a real cozy little cocoon , having spent the first night in this adorable little nest: mission accomplished!

Our guide was wonderful. We had a very windy and cool day but she just kept going. She was very knowledgeable. We a;lso enjoyed our walk to the top of the Dome.

The Dome climb is awesome. The Baptistry Museum tour is good if you are into that stuff, but I was not. The tour's meeting location was frazzling as it was labelled as 2 distinctly DIFFERENT spots on opposite ends of the Duomo ("39 Duomo plaza" and "in front of the golden baptistry doors"). I arrived 15mins early and I ran around trying to find the person with the "flag", who ultimatley was holding it not on a high, easily seen pole, but in front of her at waist height in a busy crowd and then I ended up being semi-politely criticized for being late. This frustrating start likely contributed to me failing to enjoy the museum. Fyi - the "museum" is baptistry ancient pieces, the baptistry itself is another building, and the Duomo itself is another separate edifice. This was not clear at the time. This tour does NOT go into the main Duomo, it only goes to the museum, the baptistry, and the duomo DOME. The church that is the duomo was bypassed completely and never discussed.

If you’re into frescoes, the baptistery is fresco heaven! Located only about 50 yards west of the cathedral, this octagonal building dates back to the 5th century, with alterations in the 11th and 13th centuries. The great doors you see now are replicas, the originals being in the Museo del Opera del Duomo. The doors are of bronze, with detailed casting of biblical scenes. The south door is by Pisano and the other two by Ghiberti and other artists. The interior is decorated with some of the most splendid mosaics in world art. The apse was the first area to be decorated, from as early as 1202. The dome was decorated from the top down during the 13th century. The most recent renovation was at the end of the 19th century, but now the 10 million tiles are being restored again. This means that currently visitors cannot see the actual mosaics. You have to make do with photographically produced canvases that hang in front of them while conservationists work. The Museo del Opera del Duomo is located next to the cathedral bag-drop opposite the east end. It is worth spending a couple of hours there, as it contains many of the original treasures of the cathedral, baptistery and campanile; such as the ancient doors from the baptistery, a statue of Santa Reparata from the early cathedral, decorative panels from Giotto’s campanile. There is a life-size model of the Romanesque font of the cathedral before the 14th century building; Michelangelo’s Pieta intended for his own tomb; an incredible silver altar; two carved stone singing galleries; Donatello’s austere wood St Mary Magdalene penitent; and a useful presentation on how Brunelleschi’s fabulous dome, modelled on the baptistery, was made.

The place of the duomo is splendid. Unfortunately the interior of the baptistery is under construction and of course the superb dome is not visible, nevertheless no reduction...florence (and its monuments) is a manna and sometimes quite abusive. The sublime doors are copies, beautiful, but the real ones are in the duomo museum. This museum is also a splendor, to be visited absolutely.