The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore was the major church in Florence in the Renaissance period, but it was a building which was largely built in the fourteenth century (thus pre-dating the Renaissance). The origins go back to the Middle Ages, when Italian cities competed to build larger and greater cathedrals. Pisa began its cathedral in 1063, and Siena built its cathedral by around 1260 (Giovanni Pisano later designed the facade). In the late thirteenth century, Florence began work on its own, new cathedral to replace the smaller church of Santa Reparata which had stood in the city center in front of the Baptistery of San Giovanni.
Florence was a wealthy medieval city on account of its textile trade, and Florentines of this time thought of themselves as a city similar to that of ancient Rome. They therefore decided that in order to compete with other Tuscan cities, they would build the grandest church in the regions. They wanted it to be able to fit all 100,000 people who lived in the city, which would have been an enormous structure in any period of history. Although they fell short of this goal (they were only able to fit about 30,000 people in the final church), they managed to create an extraordinary building for their great city. Arnolfo di Cambio was hired as the first architect of the church, construction of which began in or around 1296.
The exterior is notable for the geometric patterning of its revetment (face), made from encrusted marble. It mimics the Tuscan Romanesque style of the revetment on the baptistery, which can also be seen on the Florentine church of San Miniato. It should be noted that the facade of the cathedral does not date to the Renaissance, but instead to the nineteenth century. Unlike in countries to the north, facades in Italy were considered to be lesser in importance and were put on at the end – and in this case, several centuries after the rest of the church was already built. We can also see how the revetment...