Duomo Complex & Florence Walking Tour with 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 the fascinating religious center. After seeing the Duomo from all sides of the square you will access 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 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). On the dome's interior, you can admire Giorgio Vasari's frescoes of the Last Judgement (1572-9) up close with an interesting explanation of the frescoes on your way up to the top. 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. Later in the afternoon, meet the guide in front of the Hard Rock Cafe to start the walking tour. Receive insight into the history of this Renaissance city and how this incredible cultural movement of the Renaissance transformed not only Florence but eventually the rest of Europe. Begin with Piazza Della Republica, the main square of Florence, before heading straight to the Piazza Della Duomo. While passing the Duomo Square, the guide will lead you straight through the old buildings and some of the historical landmarks of Florence to Palazzo Vecchio, where you will see the Sculpture of David by Michelangelo. Afterward, as you walk past the Palazzo Vecchio, the guide will talk you through the Uffizi Gallery, one of the greatest museums in the world, before you reach the most famous old bridge of Florence known as Ponte Vecchio. Your next stop is at Palazzo Pitti, the enormous palace of Florence's largest architectural monuments of Filippo Brunelleschi. As you walk through the narrow roads of this ancient city with lots of hidden treasures, the guide will answer all the curious secrets of the city.