The Duomo: the medieval core
The dome that taught the Renaissance how to build, the Baptistery doors, and the street down to Orsanmichele. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Battistero di San Giovanni
Start with the oldest thing here — the octagonal *Battistero*, eleventh-century, the building Dante was christened in. Walk round to the east doors, Ghiberti's gilded panels Michelangelo called the Gates of Paradise. The ones in place are copies; the originals are in the museum, but the copies are good enough to stop you for ten minutes.

2. Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore
The cathedral itself, banded in green, white and pink marble. The nave is free but the queue is long; you don't have to go in to feel the scale. Walk the full length of the south side along Via dei Servi side to take the size of it whole.

3. Brunelleschi's dome
Round the east end for the *cupola* — the largest masonry dome ever raised, built without a centring frame because nobody knew how, so Brunelleschi invented the method as he went. If you've booked and have the legs, the 463 steps between the two shells end at the lantern and the best view in Tuscany.

4. Campanile di Giotto
Giotto's bell tower, started 1334 — the same marble bands, squared off where the dome curves. The climb is 414 steps and, contrarian view, the better one: you look straight across at the dome rather than standing on it. Go up here if you only climb once.

5. Via dei Calzaiuoli
The wide flagstoned street the Medici cut as the spine between cathedral and government. Walk down it slowly — it's the medieval high street, now polished shopfronts, but the line is eight centuries old. It delivers you to the next stop without a single turn.

6. Orsanmichele
A grain market turned church, its outer niches ringed with statues the guilds commissioned — Donatello's St George among them (a copy; the original is in the Bargello). Look up at the niches from the street; the upper-floor museum opens limited days, so treat it as a bonus, not a plan.

The Duomo: the medieval core