46 MAY/JUNE 2022
T
he Florence Cathedral is, without
doubt, one of the great feats of Re-
naissance engineering. The cathe-
dral is dedicated to Santa Maria del
Fiore (St. Mary of the Flower), a ref-
erence to the lily, Florence’s emblem. Its iconic
and ingenious dome, which architect Filippo
Brunelleschi completed in 1436, brought to frui-
tion a project that had begun 140 years earlier.
It was sculptor and architect Arnolfo di Cam-
bio who came up with the initial plans for a new
cathedral in Florence in 1296, to be built over the
existing Cathedral of Santa Reparata, alongside
the ancient octagonal baptistery. He worked in
the Italian Gothic style, incorporating elements
of late Gothic and emerging Renaissance de-
sign. But when he died in 1310, work on the ca-
thedral came to a halt. Then, in the 1330s, the
Opera del Duomo, the institution in charge of
the building works, was taken over by the wool
guild, the dominant group in Florentine politics,
who put up the funds to continue building the
great cathedral. A string of eminent architects
filled the role of capomaestro (master builder) in
the years to come. The master painter Giotto
was appointed to the role in 1334, and began the
construction of the freestanding bell tower that
now bears his name.
The first great wave of the Black Death hit
Florence in 1348, killing between 45 and 75 per-
cent of the population. Construction on the
cathedral, overseen in that dark period by the
FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI, RELIEF PORTRAIT. EARLY 1500S, CATHEDRAL OF
SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE, FLORENCE, ITALY ALINA
RI^ A
RCH
IVES
/GE
TTY
IMA
GES
SCALA, FLORENCE
