Florence’s churches, true architectural jewels built according to the dictates of their age, house many treasures of painting and architecture and have themselves become symbols of beauty and harmony of form. The most important and best-known sacred building is the church of Santa Maria del Fiore, in Piazza del Duomo, the fourth-largest church in Europe, on top of which towers Brunelleschi’s immense cupola, an authentic masterpiece of architecture and engineering of the age.
The facade was re-covered in the late nineteenth century and, although the decoration contains some excessive mannerism, it integrates well with the rest of the decoration of Giotto’s bell tower and the baptistery opposite, creating a sense of amazement for tourists. We suggest you go to the top of the cupola for a unique view of the city, where you can see the outlines of other important churches, such as Santa Maria Novella, inside which are frescoes by Masaccio, Paolo Uccello, Filippino Lippi and Domenico Ghirlandaio, which can be viewed after passing through Leon Battista Alberti’s facade, a Renaissance masterpiece of harmony and proportion.
Near Palazzo Pitti is the Chiesa del Carmine where, in the Brancacci Chapel, Masaccio and Masolino’s famous frescoes are preserved, perhaps the most tangible testimony of the artistic revolution that was beginning in Florence, a move from the Gothic school to the stylistic elements of the Renaissance. Strolling through the city streets, you will have the chance to admire the Chiesa di Santa Trinita, the first Gothic church in Florence, founded by the Vallumbrosan Order and the Basilica of San Miniato al Monte, which is situated in one of the highest points in the city and offers visitors over eight hundred years of history and spirituality to admire.