Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore

2012-03-19T20:42:21Z

74.199.0.248: /* Beat a Cheat */

{{Era|AC2|Embers}}
{{WP-REAL|Florence Cathedral}}
{{WPlocations}}
{{Revamp}}
{{Landmarks Infobox
|image = 4604132759_3ef2f165ca.jpg|270px
|description = Florence's largest and most famous cathedral.
|location = [[San Giovanni District]], [[Florence]], [[Italy]]
|dateconstructed = 1296 C.E. - 1887 C.E.
|functions = Church
|features = [[Assassin Tomb|Assassin's Tomb]]
|appearance = ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]''
|events =
|commissioner =
}}The [[Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore]] (English: ''Basilica of Saint Mary of The Flower''), commonly called the ''Duomo'' (English: ''Cathedral''), was the largest cathedral located in the [[Italy|Italian]] city of [[Florence]].

==History==
===Construction===
One of Italy's largest churches, and the largest landmark in Florence, Santa Maria del Fiore is considered by many to be the first masterpiece of Renaissance architecture.

Although the church was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio in 1296, the dome was not started until the beginning of the 15th Century. With Cambio long dead, none of the architects at that time had any idea how to construct such an enormous structure, since the use of buttresses was forbidden in Florence and mortar took several days to set.

But all was not lost. In an amazing comeback story, Filippo Brunelleschi, an architect who had been defeated in an earlier bid to design the Baptistery doors, won the competition to build the dome. He beat out Lorenzo Ghiberti, the same artist he had lost to before.

Brunelleschi invented machines to hoist the bricks needed for the dome up to the workers and was able to construct the entire dome without using centering (a support structure to hold the dome in place while bricks were laid). Containing over 4 million bricks, the dome was completed in 1436.

The lantern was added after Brunelleschi's death in 1446, and supposedly contains holy relics.

===Beat a Cheat===
In 1476, [[Ezio Auditore da Firenze|Ezio Auditore]] beat up his sister [[Claudia Auditore da Firenze|Claudia]]'s cheating boyfriend [[Duccio de Luca]] near the Basilica.

===Pazzi Conspiracy===
In 1478, it was here that [[Lorenzo de' Medici]] and his brother, [[Giuliano de' Medici|Giuliano]], were attacked whilst attending High Mass, two years after [[Giovanni Auditore da Firenze|Giovanni Auditore]]'s [[Auditore execution|death]] marked the outbreak of the [[Pazzi Conspiracy]]. At the time, construction of the basilica was almost complete, though the front face had not yet been finished.

==Trivia==

*The Santa Maria del Fiore is the tallest point in Florence, and in [[Italy]] in ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'', though it was still scaled down for the game.
*Missing from in front of the main entrance to the church is the Battistero di San Giovanni, which was built several hundred years before the events of the game.
*The facade is depicted in game as being partially incomplete, which is historically correct, but the design of the facade under construction matches the current one, which was not built until the 1800s. The original facade was never completed, and was dismantled in 1587.
*A [[feather]] is located at its pinnacle height.
*The church's side-tower, [[Giotto's Campanile]] contains the tallest [[View Points|viewpoint]] in ''Assassin's Creed II''.
*The church is only accessible by entering the [[Assassin's Tombs|Assassin's Tomb]] of [[Iltani]].
*In ''[[Assassin's Creed: Embers]]'', [[Ezio Auditore]] died of a heart attack in 1524, on a bench located just outside the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore.

==Source==

*''Assassin's Creed II''

{{ACII}}
[[Category:Florence]]
[[Category:Landmarks]]
[[Category:Churches]]
[[Category:Assassin Tombs]]

Assassin's Creed Wiki - User contributions [en-gb]

Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore