Florence Cathedral

This grand building has received alterations frequently, ever since it was first constructed. As tastes and fashions have changed, so the interior has been reconfigured.

Naturally there has also been a considerable amount of restoration work over the centuries in order to enable this building to remain one of the most visited tourist attractions in all of Tuscany. The exterior walls are decorated in the same way as the neightbouring Battistero di San Giovanni and Giotto's Bell Tower, with bands of marble in different colours. The colours used were made up of Carrara (white), Prato (green), Siena (red) and Lavenza. Giotto was behind the earlier choices in his campanile and has also been attributed with the original design for the exterior of the cathedral itself.

Giotto himself would later be laid to rest at this prestigious location and now lays alongside several other notable names who were afforded the same honour, namely:

• Zenobius of Florence
• Conrad II of Italy
• Giovanni Benelli
• Filippo Brunelleschi
• Pope Nicholas II
• Pope Stephen IX
• John Hawkwood

Furthermore, again strengthening Giotto's connection to this building and the neighbouring campanile are the busts of him which were completed by Benedetto da Maiano and remain on display in the cathedral itself.