Piazza del Duomo in Florence is a bustling square at the heart of the historic center. Besides the Duomo, you can visit the Baptistery, the Museum of Duomo, and the Bell Tower, all of which require tickets, however.

Now, to the more practical matter, i.e., the tickets. As I told you before, Duomo itself is the only monument on the piazza you can visit for free - but not the adjacent monuments, nor the famous dome. To visit other monuments (the Dome, the Bell Tower, the construction of which was overseen by Giotto, hence its name - Campanile di Giotto, the Baptistery, the Museum of Duomo, and Santa Reparata) can only be visited by buying one of the three types of passes, each of them valid for 3 consecutive days. The Brunelleschi pass is the one offering you a complete experience and comes with a price of 30€ for a full pass and 12€ for children aged 7-14 (kids under 6 come for free). Then, there’s the Giotto Pass, which includes everything except for the Dome, and will cost you 20€ for a full ticket and 7€ for a reduced one. Lastly, there’s a Ghiberti Pass, which excludes both, the Dome and the Bell Tower, and costs 15€ and 5€ accordingly. Here you can find more detailed information on each pass and book yours (I highly recommend you buy the tickets from the official websites to save money - some intermediary websites will offer you the tickets that will allow you to avoid the lines but, in reality, you will book your entry slot in most cases, so there’s no need to overpay). Also, keep in mind that the cathedral is closed to visitors on Sundays and religious festivities as it is reserved for mass celebrations.

A quick curious fact about the baptistery (because I’m so in awe of the Duomo that I can talk about it forever - but I don’t want to overlook the other amazing monuments of the piazza!). The Baptistery stands on the place of an ancient Roman temple dedicated to Mars, the god of war and the patron of ancient Florence. On one of the sides of the Baptistery (the one facing Via Roma), you can find a bas-relief depicting a naval battle. There’s a hypothesis that the bas-relief in reality is an ancient Roman sarcophagus, put inside the wall to commemorate the Roman origins of the city! Can you find it? Let’s make a little challenge of it: if you manage to find the sarcophagus, snap a picture of it, post it to Instagram, and tag @dramatically.expatic so that I know you’ve passed the quest!