The large arches used to create these bays meant that the church was much more open between its nave and side aisles, and visually the side aisles appear to be somewhat shallow. One of the notable features here is the size of the bays, which are quite a bit larger than the size of those found in Gothic churches being build in the thirteenth century to the north. Flying buttresses were also called for in the original plan, but they were later scrapped. Inside, the original plan originally called for a timber truss roof, but in the mid-1300s this was changed to a ribbed groin vault. Interior of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence. It is altogether separate from the rest of the church, which was typical in Italy at the time but which was different from the integrated tower-in-facade approach in countries to the north. The campanile, which was designed by Giotto in 1334, was built to look like it came in sections.

We can also see how the revetment was carried over into the campanile (bell tower) which stands next to the cathedral. Unlike in countries to the north, facades in Italy were considered to be lesser in importance and were put on at the end вЂ“ and in this case, several centuries after the rest of the church was already built. It should be noted that the facade of the cathedral does not date to the Renaissance, but instead to the nineteenth century. It mimics the Tuscan Romanesque style of the revetment on the baptistery, which can also be seen on the Florentine church of San Miniato. The exterior is notable for the geometric patterning of its revetment (face), made from encrusted marble. Arnolfo di Cambio was hired as the first architect of the church, construction of which began in or around 1296. Although they fell short of this goal (they were only able to fit about 30,000 people in the final church), they managed to create an extraordinary building for their great city. They wanted it to be able to fit all 100,000 people who lived in the city, which would have been an enormous structure in any period of history. They therefore decided that in order to compete with other Tuscan cities, they would build the grandest church in the regions. In the late thirteenth century, Florence began work on its own, new cathedral to replace the smaller church of Santa Reparata which had stood in the city center in front of the Baptistery of San Giovanni.ДЇlorence was a wealthy medieval city on account of its textile trade, and Florentines of this time thought of themselves as a city similar to that of ancient Rome. Pisa began its cathedral in 1063, and Siena built its cathedral by around 1260 (Giovanni Pisano later designed the facade).

The origins go back to the Middle Ages, when Italian cities competed to build larger and greater cathedrals. The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore was the major church in Florence in the Renaissance period, but it was a building which was largely built in the fourteenth century (thus pre-dating the Renaissance).

Santa maria