Guided Tour of the Museo dell'OPERA DEL DUOMO, Florence

After a pleasant stroll around Cathedral Square, let your official guide take you on a tour of the museum’s interior, and finally take in the original works. The most famous artists are here: Giotto, Andrea Pisano, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Michelangelo… and many others.

Following the last flood in 1966, most of the works that used to decorate the city’s religious centre are now housed in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. In 2015, the museum was enlarged and completely transformed into a modern and magnificent venue, giving visitors a better understanding of the history of this complex. The richness of its collections makes it one of the world’s leading museums of medieval and Renaissance sculpture.

The ancient façade of the Cathedral and the original bronze doors of the Baptistery.

The guided tour focuses on the ground floor of the museum, a spectacular, light-filled room in which the old façade of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, demolished in 1587, has been reconstructed, along with the original statues by Arnolfo di Cambio, created in the early 14th century. The result is surprising and theatrical.

Opposite the façade are the original bronze doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni. The most famous of these is the East door, known as the “Gate of Paradise”, made by the goldsmith Lorenzo Ghiberti between 1425 and 1452. To complete this masterpiece of the Florentine Renaissance, Ghiberti devoted twenty-seven years of his life, sixteen of which were spent on gilding alone. Next door, the South Door by Andrea Pisano, and the North Door, again by Ghiberti.

Michelangelo and Donatello

Smaller, more intimate rooms allow visitors to appreciate the spirituality of the works of Michelangelo and Donatello. A truly meditative experience!

Michelangelo’s Pietà, one of his last works, is moving. It was originally intended to decorate his own tomb. It seems that the artist identified with the figure of Nicodemus, recognised as a self-portrait.

Donatello’s wooden Mary Magdalene is an impressive statue, sculpted at the end of the artist’s career. The penitent Magdalene is depicted as an old woman with long hair, her hands trembling as she tries to join them together in prayer. The work is undoubtedly one of Donatello’s most dramatic.

The Dome by the architect Filippo Brunelleschi

One section of the museum (on the first floor) is completely dedicated to the construction of the Dome, with a 3D video and models by the architect Filippo Brunelleschi. The Dome was built in just 16 years, between 1420 and 1436, using highly innovative engineering techniques. Brunelleschi travelled to Rome several times, where he had the opportunity to study at close quarters the building techniques of the ancient Romans. Nevertheless, it was his exceptional talent for construction that enabled him to build his masterpiece. It was the largest and highest dome of its time. Leon Battista Alberti, the great architectural theorist of the 15th century, wrote: “a structure so great, rising above the heavens, large enough to shelter all the inhabitants of Tuscany in its shadow”. After several centuries, the Duomo still commands the admiration of Florentines.

After visiting the Cathedral Museum, I recommend climbing up to the Dome, in the space between two domes.

You can still climb the stairs (463 steps!) and walk through the corridors that Brunelleschi and his workers used while they worked. It’s a real climb to reach the panoramic balcony, 90 metres high. What a view!