Florence Cathedral: Tickets and How to Visit
Book the dome, skip nothing else in the complex, and buy every ticket through the official site, never a reseller. Santa Maria del Fiore’s dome, the largest brick dome ever built, only opens up via one specific pass, and resellers around the piazza mark the same timed slot up 40-80%. Here’s the tier that actually gets you up top, and what the other two skip.
The three passes, compared
| Pass | Price (adult) | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Brunelleschi Pass | 30 EUR (12 EUR ages 7-14) | Dome climb (one timed slot) + Campanile + Baptistery + crypt + museum, valid 3 days |
| Giotto Pass | 20 EUR (7 EUR ages 7-14) | Campanile + Baptistery + crypt + museum, no dome |
| Ghiberti Pass | 15 EUR (5 EUR ages 7-14) | Baptistery + crypt + museum only, no tower climbs |
Which pass should you actually buy?
The Brunelleschi Pass, every time, unless the 463 steps up a narrow spiral walkway are a genuine problem for you physically. It’s the only tier that includes the dome, and once you’ve climbed it the Campanile, Baptistery, crypt and museum are already included for the next three days at no extra cost. The Giotto and Ghiberti passes only make sense if the dome slot you wanted is sold out and you’d rather see something than nothing. Book directly at tickets.duomo.firenze.it , where you pick the dome time slot first since it’s the only fixed element, everything else in the pass is flexible across your three days. A guided dome climb ticket on GetYourGuide is worth it if you’d rather not navigate the official booking calendar yourself.
The dome climb: what 463 steps actually feels like
You climb between the dome’s inner and outer shells on a narrow spiraling walkway, no lift, 30-40 minutes up and 15 down. Partway up, at the base of the drum, Vasari and Zuccari’s Last Judgement fresco is close enough to see individual brushstrokes, a view you don’t get from the cathedral floor. At the top, the lantern delivers a full 360-degree view over the city and the Arno valley, with Fiesole visible in the hills on clear days. The Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore’s own dome page covers the current entry rules in full. Once a dome slot is booked it cannot be changed, so don’t lock it in before the rest of that day’s plan is firm.
Giotto’s Campanile: the view the dome climb can’t give you
The Campanile is 414 steps, easier to book than the dome and genuinely less crowded, and it shows you something the dome climb structurally can’t: the dome itself, from outside. The relief carvings on the lower sections, by Pisano and Luca della Robbia, reward a slow look on the way up before the stairs take over your attention completely.
Is the cathedral nave free to enter?
Yes, the nave itself is separate from the three ticketed passes and typically free, though a time-slot reservation for crowd control has been used in some years, so check the current rule on site before you queue. What the free entry doesn’t get you is the dome or the Campanile, both of which need one of the three passes above.
Baptistery and the real Gates of Paradise
The bronze doors facing the cathedral’s west facade are a high-quality replica of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise, cast 1425-1452. The originals live in the Opera del Duomo Museum, 200 meters away, alongside Michelangelo’s unfinished Bandini Pieta and Donatello’s wooden Mary Magdalene, and the museum is the least-visited, best-value stop in the whole complex. Budget 90 minutes there if you only planned to glance at it.
Where to eat near the Duomo
The streets within 200 meters of the cathedral are tourist-priced and mostly forgettable. Walk 10 minutes northwest to Mercato Centrale on Via dell’Ariento instead: Nerbone, on the ground floor since 1872, does a lampredotto sandwich for EUR 4.50, and the upstairs food hall runs EUR 8-15 a plate with far more variety. For gelato, skip the Instagram-pile cones near the cathedral and walk to Gelateria dei Neri on Via dei Neri, small honest portions from EUR 2.50.
Staying near the Duomo puts every pass’s starting point on your doorstep; compare current rates for the neighborhood on Booking.com before you book elsewhere and add a 15-minute walk to every early dome slot. Our Florence travel guide covers the rest of the city core, and the 2-day itinerary shows exactly where this complex fits into a tight schedule.