The Big Dawg

Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo hung out in Florence, but really,
the Big Dawg was Brunelleschi.

The massive Duomo in the center of the city sat without a dome (or shall we say duome) for 150 years until Fillipo figured out how to engineer it in the early 1400s.

So now, thanks to Brunelleschi, The Duomo has a lid on top, and it roughly measures the size of...um....Connecticut.

 

Like they say, it's hard to miss it.

Brunelleschi constructed the dome like two eggshells, one nesting inside the other.  Then he capped it with a lantern.

You can wind upward between the shells to the lantern any day you feel like getting up early, standing in line, and climbing 431 steps.

Orthopedic footwear not pictured.

And here is the biggest thing:

Ok, yeah, we took a selfie at the top.
 Everybody did.

At the end of THAT day you can consume all the bread, red wine, and pasta that you could possibly want.

View from the lantern early this morning.   Really.  Wow.