Despite its central importance, the baptistry is completely dwarfed by the Duomo, or cathedral. It was built in the 1290's by a fairly lazy architect. It's a massive place built with a huge dome over the center of the cross. Problem is the lazy architect didn't know how to build the dome, so he just left a huge hole in the middle after building the rest of the church and moved on to another project. Then the loser of the bronze door competition from the previous post, Brunelleschi, came to the rescue. Suicidal after the loss of the bronze door, he took up the dome task with gusto, notwithstanding that he had no architectural training. But somehow, from studying books and other churches, he figured out how to build the world's biggest unsupported dome, and his dome is certainly more deeply etched in every tourist's mind than the little bronze door.

The church is quite a statement, and I think a beautiful one, although most art historians think it over the top and a bit of a shambles. It also doesn't look like a church, and it's got much less religious art and symbolism than almost any other church. Its most famous priest was Savanarola, who in the late 15th century was a crazy fundamentalist, railing about the sinners and condemning everyone to hell. Things came to a head when he ordered the whole city to assemble in the plaza and burn all their ball gowns, musical instruments, paintings, jewelry etc., which they dutifully did. (This is the Bonfire of the Vanities, if you're wondering where that expression came from.) After they destroyed their entire cultural heritage, though, they had second thoughts, and decided to burn him as well.