The Cathedral That Took Five Centuries

In 1296, workers in Florence laid the first stone of what would become the Duomo — the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. The original architect, Arnolfo di Cambio, never saw it finished. Neither did Giotto, who designed the bell tower. Generation after generation of masons, artists, and engineers poured their lives into that structure. German stonecutters worked beside Tuscan painters.…