The Duomo of Florence, Italy

The Florence Cathedral, or Duomo of Florence (Not referring to the large Dome at the top of the Basilica, but actually a general term for cathedrals in Italy, e.g. Domus or House of God), is a an amazing site, and a must-see on any trip to Florence. I would say that the visit rivals that of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, since you can literally climb to the top of the Dome, viewing the painted Dome up close, and taking panoramic views of the whole city of Florence.

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The trip is actually to three different buildings, the climb up the dome, and down to the Museum below the cathedral. The Cathedral is a visit similar to other Basilicas/Cathedrals, where you walk around. The real cool visits are climbing up the Dome, as well as the climb up the free standing bell tower, Giotto's Campanile.

The first climb up the Dome shows you the internal Dome. You can look down at the cathedral and up at the amazing dome!

Down there are some plexi-glass protectors that obstruct the view a little, but not so bad.

Above you can see the magnificent fresco painted on the internal part of the dome, depicting the last judgement.

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You can really get up close to the fresco, which took 11 years to paint.

You can see some of the great creepiness of the Capital Sins and Hell:

Three main artists worked on the fresco, supported with many aids.

You can see an octagonal oculus of the brick dome as well.

Then you go up some more stairs to get to the top of the dome...

It's important to not write on the walls...

Huai danmen! Central country people are so bad!

You can see some teasers as you climb!

Eventually it starts to get rounded and you see bricks!

It's pretty cool to be able to climb up these things...

A port-hole for when the river Arno periodically floods...

You finally get up some curvy stairs...

And you can see the whole of Florence!!!

You can see the bell tower:

The Basilica of Santa Croce and the Palazzo Vecchio are in the distance:

The Basilica of Santa Croce with it's marble facade:

Also the Santa Maria Novella and the Basilica of San Lorenzo to the west.

The Santa Maria Novella is both a train station and cathedral:

Towards the Old Palace and the Piazza della Signoria:

You are pretty free at the top:

As you come back down you can see a small exhibit on how the dome was built:

They didn't use a wood support structure of this dome, which was a first in Italy.

You have a full 24 hrs to see all of the five sites, the Cathedral, The Dome, The Bell Tower, The Museum and the Baptistery. The next most inspiring is up the bell tower, Giotto's Campanile.

Up the bell tower you can get some nice shots of the dome and cathedral:

It's made of impressive polychrome marble:

Also you can see some creepy heights:

Less high than the dome, you can get some shots of the city at different perspectives:

The tiled roofs are quite pretty:

Here's the palazzo Vecchio tower:

You can also see details of the basilica:

And look down as you stand on a grid:

The dome is quite beautiful from here:

You can also enter the cathedral and museum. The cathedral visit is similar to other cathedrals (unless you know something about the art, but we didn't research anything beforehand, so for us it wasn't as exciting as the breathtaking views of the dome and the campanile.