The bell towers of Florence, sublime visions to reach the sublime

On tiptoe to the most sacred peaks, those from where the city speaks directly to the sky

For millennia, mankind was unable to touch the heavens. Its imagination had transformed it into nine marvellous, concentric, musical spheres: yet another gift of the universal spiritual harmony created by God. And while it was once towering obelisks that seemed to challenge the gods, the towers and bell towers soon became a stairway to the Empyrean. This is how this ascent to the heavens took on the twisting and encircling form of a spiral, and from the narrow windows, climbers could see the red of the city transformed into a New Jerusalem.
Architects, sublime engineers, built with their eyes to the heavens, without ever losing sight of their roots here on earth.

The amazing view of the Duomo from Palazzo Vecchio’s 95-meter-high Arnolfo TowerThe Badia Fiorentina affords a view of the polychrome marbles of Giotto’s bell tower, whose 398 steps lead to the topBadia Fiorentina was originally a Benedictine abbey, today it is located downtown, while other four abbeys surrounded FlorenceSanta Croce’s bell tower is over 78 meters high, it was built in 1847 and designed by Gaetano BaccaniThe cathedral of Santa Croce is a masterwork of the Gothic style in Italy and has been home to the Franciscan order for nearly eight centuriesA view of the city from Santa Maria del Fiore, a masterwork by Brunelleschi completed in 1436Santa Maria del Fiore, today’s third largest church in Europe, was the world’s largest church in the 1400sSan Niccolò Tower is the city’s only gate that preserved its original height and offers such a unique view