Florence: Duomo Complex Guided Tour w/Cupola Entry Tickets

Explore the key landmarks on this comprehensive tour of the Duomo Complex in Florence. This tour gives you the opportunity to fully explore all elements of the Duomo Complex. Once you've met with our guide, the guide will take you on a tour of the Piazza del Duomo and explain to you about the fascinating religious center. After seeing the Duomo from all sides of the square you will access to the octagonal Baptistery of St. John in Florence. The guide will show you that the Baptistery is renowned for its magnificent golden mosaic ceiling and striking bronze doors famously called the Gates of Paradise. Later you will visit the magnificent Duomo Museum in Florence. The museum houses over 700 Middle-Age and Renaissance masterpieces, including Michelangelo's Pietà Bandini. It also has incredible masterpieces like the gates of the Baptistery, Donatello’s sculptures, and the original dome’s wooden scaffoldings. The guide will also show you some of the most famous works of art done by Michelangelo and Donatello. As your tour comes to a halt, your guide will drop you off at the entrance to the Cupola Dome a showstopper but the only way to see the inside of the dome up close and enjoy the extraordinary view of Florence is to climb its 463 steps (there is no elevator). Cupola which was designed and built by Filippo Brunelleschi has tight corridors to climb your way up (and down). This is because the workmen who built the cathedral for maintenance were never thought of as being open to the public. On the dome's interior, you can admire Giorgio Vasari's frescoes of the Last Judgment (1572-9) up close with an interesting explanation of the frescoes on your way up to the top. Look down and on the base, just above the drum, you'll see that Baccio D'Angelo began adding a balcony in 1507 and how one of the eight sides was unfinished, and to this day the other seven sides remain rough brick! Once you climb to the top of the Cupola, you will be enchanted by the panoramic view of the Florence city in front of your eyes. After you visit the Cupola with your pre-reserved timed ticket, you have the chance to also visit the interior of the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral, and Santa Reparata and to climb Giotto's Bell Tower at your own pace and time. Enrich your tour with optional additions: • Wine Tasting: If you have a special love for all that is Italian, add a Tuscan wine tasting to your experience. Spend time with a wine expert and taste different Tuscany wines while enjoying a platter of Tuscan Appetizers.