The climb is broken into 3 sections. First, you climb to a lower gallery (directly below the stained glass windows), then to an upper gallery (directly above the stained glass windows), and then up to the cupola.
A few flights up, there is a small room with some statues that have been rescued from the facade. They were very dirty.
The nave, seen from the lower gallery.
I have no idea what kind of crazy person would go out on that little ledge, but there is a door and steps to get there. The door was quite thoroughly locked.
The frescoes on the dome.
Huge wooden beams. The beam in the middle was something like 16-18 inches thick.
The design of these steps did not induce in me a great deal of confidence regarding the engineering skills of Brunelleschi. In some places, these were the stairs up and down. Supposedly, it get pretty crowded in here, which sounds miserable and smelly. On the plus side, the very final set of steps is very steep so, if you get stuck behind a girl in a skirt, at least you get a nice look at her bum on the way up. I was there first thing in the morning, so it was nice and cool, and not crowded at all.
The steps up and over the dome.
Looking down over the roof of the dome.
Because of the pedestrians, skinny streets, and lack of traffic, the city center has a "small town" feel. In reality, Florence is pretty freaking huge.
Giotto's Campanile.
The Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens.
Jogging down very long spiral staircase = dizzy. This also shows how the stair were built, which I thought was pretty neat. Each segment contains not just a step, but also part of the central column and part of the exterior wall.
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