Florence Cathdedral (Duomo) and Campanile
Florence Cathdedral (Duomo or Santa Maria del Fiore) façade and Campanile. At 276 ft. (85 m), it is a bit shorter than the Dome.
"The Campanile, or bell-tower, begun by Giotto in 1334-36, carried on after his death by Andrea Pisano and Franc. Talenti, and completed in 1387, a square structure 276 ft. in height, is regarded as one of the finest existing works of the kind. It consists of four stories, richly decorated with coloured marble. The windows, which increase in size with the different stories, are enriched with beautiful tracery in the Italian Gothic style".--Baedeker 1906.
Historic Centre of Florence. UNESCO World Heritage. Inscribed in 1982.
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Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the city-states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI establis... ... read more 
