Florence › Places and landmarks
Giotto’s Bell Tower
Campanile di Giotto
The slender bell tower beside the cathedral, clad in white, green and pink marble.
The painter Giotto designed the bell tower and began it in 1334; after his death Andrea Pisano and Francesco Talenti finished it, some 85 metres tall. Like the cathedral it is clad in white marble from Carrara, green from Prato and pink from the Maremma.
Its 414 steps have no lift, but the view from the top takes in the dome face to face.
More in Florence
DuomoFlorence’s cathedral, crowned by Brunelleschi’s dome, still the largest brick dome ever built.
BaptisteryThe octagonal baptistery with Ghiberti’s bronze doors, which Michelangelo called the Gates of Paradise.
Piazza della SignoriaThe square of the Palazzo Vecchio, with a copy of Michelangelo’s David at its door.
Palazzo VecchioFlorence’s fortress-like town hall since 1299, with its tall tower off to one side.
Loggia dei LanziAn open arcade on the square, full of statues, among them Cellini’s Perseus with the head of Medusa.
UffiziThe Medici’s offices turned into one of the world’s great museums, with Botticelli’s Birth of Venus.
Ponte VecchioThe bridge of goldsmiths over the Arno, the only one the retreating Germans left standing in 1944.
Piazza della RepubblicaWhere the Roman forum was, now a square with a carousel and old cafés under a triumphal arch.
Santa CroceThe great Franciscan church where Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli are buried.
Santa Maria NovellaThe Dominican church with its white and green marble front by Alberti, by the station that bears its name.
Il PorcellinoThe bronze boar at the Mercato Nuovo: rub its nose and you will come back to Florence.
Bistecca alla fiorentinaA huge T-bone steak, grilled over coals and served rare, by the kilo.