By the end of the 13th century the ambitious republic of the town of Florence thought about a new church with much more prestige than the current Santa Reparata. Arnolfo di Cambio got appointd for the job.[br]The government approved a typical gotic plan with nave, side aisles, transept and crossing, but with gigantic dimensions as e.g. a lenght of 153 m. It's just while standing high above the nave at the foot of the dome you get the right experience of the dimesion of the chruch.

But the most ambitious part of the plan was of course the octogonal dome that was planned above the crossing.

In the midst of the 14th century the building proes stopped. The form and the dimensions of the dome were fixed, but nobody had just an idea how to realise such a great dome. Between 1410 and 1413 the drum was built (the octogonal prisma to support the dome), but again no-one could think of a solution for the dome.