The Duomo: Brunelleschi's Dome, the Three Passes and the Free Cathedral

As of October 2026, only one part of Florence’s Duomo is free: the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, open Monday to Saturday from 10:15 am to 3:45 pm. Everything else in Piazza del Duomo, Brunelleschi’s dome included, is sold by the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore on one of three passes. There are no tickets for a single monument and no ticket for the dome alone.

The three passes in 2026

• Brunelleschi Pass, €30 (€12 for ages 7 to 14): the dome, Giotto’s Bell Tower, the Opera del Duomo Museum, the Baptistery and Santa Reparata.
• Giotto Pass, €20 (€7): the Bell Tower, the Museum, the Baptistery and Santa Reparata.
• Ghiberti Pass, €15 (€5): the Museum, the Baptistery and Santa Reparata.

Each pass is valid for 3 calendar days from midnight of the visit day you choose, with one entry to each monument, and the Brunelleschi Pass must start on the day of your dome climb. Children up to 6 go free. From 15, everyone pays the full price, and there is no reduction for ages 18 to 25. Students can buy the Ghiberti Pass for €5 at the ticket office on showing a student card, but not online. The other way up is the Opera’s own guided dome tour, €50 a person for up to 10 people, Monday to Saturday at 3:15 pm, with the other monuments included.

The dome slot

Every climb needs a time slot, booked in the visitor’s name, that cannot be changed or cancelled once issued. Since 1 March 2025 the Opera has also required an identity document with the ticket at the climb. It says the availability shown online is final, with nothing extra at the ticket office. Its view of queue-jumping is plain: “There is not, nor will there be, a ‘skip the line’ service, precisely because booking the time-slot is already a service aimed at avoiding queues.” Outside sellers of “skip the line” products for the Cathedral or the other monuments, it adds, are not authorised.

The climb is 463 steps with no lift and takes about 45 minutes. The Opera strongly discourages it for people with heart conditions, vertigo or claustrophobia and for pregnant women, and under-18s may not climb without an adult. The stair runs between the dome’s two shells, and the dome is more than 45 metres across inside. Nicom Tours’ listing says the climb passes close to the Last Judgement frescoes by Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari. You enter at the Porta della Mandorla, on the north side of the Cathedral.

Dome slots run Monday to Friday from 8:15 am, with the last at 6:45 pm; on Saturdays from 8:15 am to a last slot at 4:30 pm; and on Sundays and public holidays from 12:45 pm to 4:30 pm.

The Cathedral, free

Entry to the Cathedral needs no ticket. It is closed to visitors on Sundays and during religious celebrations, and the Opera turns away bare shoulders, legs uncovered above the knee, flip-flops and hats. Without a ticket you go in by the facade; pass holders use the Porta del Campanile, which the Opera calls the crypt entrance. The Opera calls Santa Maria del Fiore one of the largest churches in the world, 153 metres long and 90 metres high from the floor to the base of the lantern. Its first stone was laid on 8 September 1296, and it was consecrated on 25 March 1436, once the dome was complete. Because the Cathedral is free, the Opera describes any “skip the line” ticket for it as a misleading offer.

The Bell Tower, the Baptistery, the Museum and Santa Reparata

Giotto’s Bell Tower has 414 steps and no lift, and is open every day from 8:15 am to a last slot at 6:45 pm. A restoration of about four years began in March 2026; the top terrace stays open, though the Opera warns that the views may be partly reduced. The Baptistery opens daily from 8:30 am to 7:30 pm, its vault mosaics are hidden by restoration, and its entrance is now the South Door. The Opera del Duomo Museum opens daily from 8:30 am to 7 pm except on the first Tuesday of each month, and the Opera suggests about 90 minutes for it. The ancient basilica of Santa Reparata needs about 30.

November 2026

The Bell Tower closes for maintenance on 9-13 November 2026, and the dome on 16-20 November. The Museum is also closed on Tuesday 3 November and Tuesday 1 December, the first Tuesdays, and the Baptistery closes at 1:30 pm on Sunday 1 November. Every monument closes on 25 December, 1 January and Easter Sunday.

Who should climb, and who should not

The climb suits anyone fit for 463 steps who wants the view from the top and the inside of the dome’s structure. If stairs, heights or tight spaces are a problem, the Cathedral costs nothing, and the Ghiberti Pass covers the Museum, the Baptistery and Santa Reparata without a climb. Families should know that the Opera charges full price from 15, and that one of the guided tours below does not take children under 7.

How long to allow

The Opera’s own estimates are about 45 minutes for the dome, 90 for the Museum and 30 for Santa Reparata, before the Bell Tower and the Baptistery. A pass lasts three days, so there is no need to do everything at once. Of the guided tours listed here, Walks in town’s plans about three hours with the climb, and Towns of Italy’s about an hour and a half.

The ticket on this page, and two guided tours

The ticket on this page is Nicom Tours’ Brunelleschi’s Dome Climb Entry Ticket & Duomo, from $73 as of October 2026 and rated 4.4 from 6,214 reviews. It includes the timed dome climb, the 3-day complex pass with the Bell Tower, the Museum, Santa Reparata and the Baptistery, and the POP GUIDE audio app; a live guide comes only with the option that includes one. You exchange the voucher for physical tickets at the operator’s meeting point, so check its address on your booking confirmation. It is not suitable for people over 70, people with mobility impairments, respiratory issues or claustrophobia, or wheelchair users, and bags and backpacks are not allowed. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before.

All three products on this page come from operators on the Opera’s published list of authorised partners for 2026: Nicom Tours, Walks in town and Towns of Italy.

If you want to climb the dome at your own pace and spread the rest of the pass over three days, this is the ticket to book.

See dates for the dome climb →

Walks in town’s guided Duomo tour (from $122, 4.8 from 444 reviews) gives you a guide for the Baptistery, the Museum and the Cathedral’s exterior, then the dome on your own at the end, about an hour more. It includes 3-day access to the Cathedral interior, the crypt and the Bell Tower, though from 1 January 2027 the Bell Tower and the crypt will no longer be included. Guides speak English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese or Russian, and the meeting point depends on the option you book. It is not suitable for pregnant women or for people with claustrophobia, vertigo or a fear of heights.

Towns of Italy’s first-entry tour (from $162, 4.8 from 185 reviews) meets its tour leader in front of the Cathedral’s main entrance at daybreak. By its listing, the small group goes in with the Cathedral’s Key Holder before public opening, spends 30 minutes inside with a licensed English-speaking guide, and then climbs the dome. Children under 7 are not allowed, shoulders and knees must be covered, and it runs in all weather.

To see the David on the same day, the David and Accademia page lists its timed entry and two guided visits; none of them enters the Duomo complex, so the dome slot stays a separate booking here.