Santa Maria del Fiore is one of the largest churches in the world: its plan is composed of a basilica with three naves, which is inserted into a presbytery area dominated by the large octagon of the immense dome, in which three apses open, each composed of five sunburst chapels. The Cathedral is 153 meters long, 90 meters wide at the crosspiece and 92 meters high from the floor to the dome lantern. The dedication to Santa Maria del Fiore is a clear allusion to the name of the city, "Florentia", and its emblem, the "lily".The first stone of the new cathedral was laid on 8 September 1296, and the task of erecting it was entrusted to Arnolfo di Cambio. Arnolfo's project was similar in shape but smaller in size than the current building, which instead corresponds to the expansion developed by Francesco Talenti starting from the mid-fourteenth century. The church was consecrated by Pope Eugene IV on 25 March 1436, when the dome was completed. The external walls are covered in white, red and green marble with geometric figures and stylized flowers. The sides are decorated with four elegant mullioned windows, eight circular windows and four monumental portals richly decorated with sculptures.The façade is a 19th century neo-Gothic masterpiece, designed by Emilio De Fabris and decorated by the best Tuscan artists of the time it replaced a previous wall decoration from the end of the seventeenth century, after the front had been left uncovered by the demolition of the ancient and unfinished medieval façade begun by Arnolfo.

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