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Duomo Complex Tour: Access Hidden Terraces and Uncover Florence's Secrets from a Unique Perspective
4.4
339 Ratings
Firenze
Uncover the secrets of Florence’s Duomo Complex on a unique tour. Access hidden terraces, admire the aerial panorama, and climb to the top of the Dome. Skip the lines and explore Giotto’s Bell Tower, Giovanni’s Baptistery, and Museo dell’Opera del Duomo with 72-hour full-access passes.
Duration:
2 hours
Cancellation:
1 day
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Highlights
- Florence - Meet your expert, monolingual tour guide for an enchanting walk towards the Florence Duomo. You will be welcomed by the imposing red, white, and green marbled Duomo Complex: the Cathedral, Bell Tower, Baptistery, and Dome.
- Duomo - Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore - Your licensed guide for Santa Maria del Fiore will go into vivid detail about the church and its fascinating history. You will learn why, unlike many others in Italy, the Florentines decided to keep the inside of Santa Maria del Fiore stark, with less decorations and elaborate frescoes.
Discover the stories behind the cathedral’s artwork, until you reach the front and look up - it is Brunelleschi’s dome. The frescoed dome is truly breathtaking! As the highlight of Santa Maria del Fiore, you will be eager to see it upclose…
Follow your guide up a small set of stairs to the “hidden terrace.” A guard will unlock the door, and you will have complete access to a secret balcony. Admire panoramic views of Florence from above, as well as incredible access to the best photo spot right next to the dome. You will walk back in through a secret room of old statues which were previously placed outside of the Cathedral. The tour will last about an hour.
- Cupola del Brunelleschi - At this point, your guided tour will end. You will skip the line and climb to the very top of the dome! Climb a small set of stairs, which lead to a balcony directly beside the dome’s frescoes. Vasari’s frescoes will be within hands-reach, and you will be able to admire the detail with a new appreciation. Then, you will reach another set of spiral staircases. Climb up, and you will reach the most beautiful view of Florence you can imagine… at the very top of Brunelleschi’s Dome! Enjoy taking some unforgettable photos, then relax on one of the benches and admire the view. You can see the entire Florence skyline! Even some of the largest churches in Florence and fortresses in the hills look small in comparison to the view from above. Whenever you are ready to complete your time at the Florence Duomo, you can head down the steps and exit. This is a once in a lifetime experience where you can see the Cathedral and Dome from a completely different perspective.
What's Included
- Guided tour of the Cathedral with exceptional access to Duomo North terrace
- Skip-the-line and reserved access to Brunelleschi’s Dome
- Expert guidance from a professional tour guide
- Exclusive admittance to the central nave of the Cathedral
- 72-hour full access pass to the Duomo Complex, including Giotto’s Bell Tower, the Baptistery, and Opera del Duomo Museum
- Skip-the-line access to the iconic Florence Cathedral
What's Not Included
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Cathedral tour if you select the 4.15 pm shift. A Duomo Museum guided tour will be offered instead
Additional Information
Experience the enchanting overhead view and unravel the mysteries of the Duomo from a unique vantage point. Seize this exclusive opportunity to feast your eyes on Florence’s panorama from the 32-metre-high terrace of the Duomo and scale to the summit of the Dome! Through this tour, you will also get 72 hours of unrestricted admittance with fast-pass entry to all sections of the Duomo Complex: Giotto’s Bell Tower, Giovanni’s Baptistery and Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. Use the rest of your time in Florence to leisurely explore the city’s foremost monuments.
- Good walking shoes are recommended
- A dress code is required to enter places of worship and selected museums. No shorts or sleeveless tops allowed. Knees and shoulders MUST be covered for both men and women. You may risk refused entry if you fail to comply with these dress requirements
- Please note the number of steps to reach the top of each monument: Terraces: 153 - Terraces + Brunelleschi’s Dome: 153 + 310 from the Terraces
- Kindly note that starting from 1st May 2023 bulky backpacks and bags will no longer be allowed inside the Dome and Terraces to ensure the safety and security of all visitors.
- This activity is not allowed for children under 7 years of age
- Kindly note that 4.15 PM tour departure does not include the visit of the cathedral: a guided tour of the Opera del Duomo museum or the Baptistry (on tuesdays) will be offered instead.
Location
Via Camillo Cavour, 12
Via Camillo Cavour
Please find number 12 "Black" Via Camillo Cavour which is the easiest number to find and then walk to nearby CIAOFLORENCE SALES OFFICE - Ciao Florence Sales Office - Via Cavour, 36 "RED".
You will understand clearly this address description once you are in Florence
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.4
(339 Ratings)
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Edward_s
Jul 22, 2024
Excellent tour of the Duomo - Excellent guide! We very much enjoyed the tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable and gave a lot of great information in a very fun way.
Review provided by Viator
Hemalathab2024
Jun 25, 2024
Very enjoyable tour - Very well timed - easy to find , small group , loved the access to the terraces and the history thrown in - would definitely recommend
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Christina_f
Jun 8, 2024
Great! - Great!! Optional to go up the stairs. Booked it last minute and had a great time! It’s guided up to the terrace (150 steps) then you are free from there. Tickets are good for 72 hours if you want to come back or go to crypt/museum.
Review provided by Viator
Kathy_h
Jun 6, 2024
Great climb with views of Florence - Organized tour operator with a sweet and knowledgeable guide. Climbing the Duomo was so fun and the views were awesome. Getting a close up view of the paintings on the dome was incredible. Ticket also includes baptistry and bell tower if you want to climb more later!
Review provided by Viator
Nancy_c
Jun 2, 2024
Duomo in Florence - Maria was wonderful giving us great background information and pictures of how things were. Thank you!
Review provided by Viator
Cynthia_c
May 26, 2024
Great tour with a great guide! - Our guide was Giacomo and he was excellent! Very knowledgeable and a really good sense of humor while telling stories about the history of the complex and the personalities involved. He kept very good track of his group in crowded areas and made sure everyone was together before moving on to another location. The Duomo Complex was one site that my husband hadn't heard much about and wondered if it was worth yet another tour during our trip. I told him I had heard that it was pretty amazing and we should try it. I'm so glad we did - it's absolutely gorgeous everywhere you look and I would call it a "don't miss" site! Also, don't skip the adjacent Duomo museum - it's well worth a visit.
Review provided by Viator
Jessica_z
May 23, 2024
Great tour - Giacomo was a great tour guide! Engaging and knowledgable. Be prepared for lots of steps! We really enjoyed the whole experience
Review provided by Viator
Brian_s
Jun 20, 2024
Love SkipTheLines…Not Sure We Saw All That Was Promised - Our tour guide was great. Very spirited and seemingly knowledgeable. It’s always a toss up though with guides who are multilingual whether they can “capture the drama” of a 2nd language (English for us) or are still at the level where they are regularly employing unusual phrasing or words to satisfy the thought they are trying to convey and it ends up being such a word salad that it makes you zone out..
What I mean is that even though the information was interesting, the tour guide’s words were sometimes a smattering of translated info that, though the usage was technically acceptable , it was too easy to tune out.
After 3 out of our 4 tours so far being like this on this trip via Viator, I do wonder whether these companies would do better to hand their tour guides a script? I accept that my kids will be bored, but even my wife and I who love this stuff sort of drifted.
Other than that, the complex was amazing! Our guide did seem to dial in when it came to the paintings in the dome as this the whole family found easy to folllow and kind of cool.
As for the hidden terraces, we were puzzled about why this was advertised as we were shown no secret sections. There was one upper level room in which instead of looking through a gate we were allowed in to see 8 statues (the story being it was a mystery as to how they had been placed there and by whom. (But again, we may have missed part of that story as that nugget of info was the tail end of it.)
The tour ended before letting us up into the dome (this was to be continued on our own unescorted by any guide) but we were told we could get into the crypt on our own with the tickets. By the time we had gone up and down the three tiers of the dome (and waited on the stairways to clear so we could proceed 15 minutes later), we weren’t sure we were ready to search out the entrance to the crypt so we called it a day.
Bear in mind this is late June and it is rather hot and super crowded so this may have played a part in us not seeing these hidden rooms? But our guide was gone before we realized the tour was missing some elements.
Anyhow, we got in to see the complex quickly. The dome had some waits (1-way only stairs at certain points)..
But Skip the line tickets always seem worth it. Just wish there was a way to utilize otherwise intelligent and very well informed tour guides who aren’t yet “landing the point” of sentences due to their sometimes lesser experience with English.
Again, this was in super crowded June so it may be a better tour when our guide doesn’t have to battle with the competing masses of humanity all trying to get in.
Review provided by Viator
Britta_c
Jun 17, 2024
Dome climb - The climb into the dome and the cupola was hard but amazing. I was disappointed that the tour didn’t include the crypt but was a separate unguided trip.
Review provided by Viator
Huey_n
Jul 2, 2024
Below average tour - 1- the meeting point was too confusing. It has 2 different addresses.
2- the tour was too simple and short of information. About 30 to 40 minutes with the tour guide and the rest are on your own climbing the roof top
“ not worth the money “
Review provided by Viator
