I arrived in Florence to see a very tall and wide church that I was not expecting to see, the doumo. Part of the church was supported a very large dome, a feet of genius at the time it was built. The architects even studied the pantheon for inspiration. The roof of the dome is what was the most amazing. It The whole thing was painted magnificently of heaven, and below a Dante’s inferno like image. The lower outer edges were painted in dark blacks, reds, and grey colors. Bodies are twisted into all types of positions as demons and hellfire throw them all about, some fight, some roll over.

In the middle of all this, there is a calm spot. Angels clear a small section out of hell, and open up the door to the higher levels. Above are white clouds, beautiful people and winged angels, as well as lots of bright colors. As my eyes continued to move upward, I noticed that the people in each level gain more and better clothing as you move up. This may have been to symbolize the religious power of the church and clergy in a materialistic symbolism for people to understand. In the middle, there was a picture of what appeared to be a very muscular Jesus in a meditative position, extending light out to the world.

Giorgio Vasari placed that image there so that he could show the light reaching up to heaven, but also down to the darkness. The painting as a whole showed the mostly illiterate population that you want to follow the church or else… Like saint peters, the church took a long time to build, and so did the incomprehensible artwork at the top of the dome.

Want to learn how to participate in a future SPC Italy Study Abroad program for High School students? Click here.