[ San Pancrazio 3 ]

Filippo Brunelleschi began his career as an apprentice goldsmith, but as early as 1401, he participated in an artistic competition to create the second door of the Florence Baptistery, although he was defeated due to his excessively innovative ideas. By redefining the rules of perspective,
Filippo introduced a new geometric conception of space, thus initiating Renaissance architecture.

Construction work on the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral began in 1296, and for a remarkable 120 years, it remained without a dome, an insurmountable challenge for architects of that time. 

Giorgio Vasari recounts in “The Life of Filippo Brunelleschi,” part of “The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects,” how the issue of covering the Santa Maria del Fiore was eventually resolved, which puzzled architects and scholars of the period.

In 1418, a new competition was announced for the construction of the dome. The Florentine architect claimed he could “turn” the dome without the need for support structures, a feat that seemed impossible and entirely mad to the committee. In response to their skepticism, Brunelleschi issued them a challenge:  “…that whoever could make an egg stand upright on a flat marble surface should be the one to build the dome, as their genius would be evident. So, an egg was taken, and all the masters attempted to make it stand upright, but none could figure out how. Then, it was said to Filippo that he should make it stand, and with grace, he took the egg, and giving it a slight blow on the bottom, made it stand upright on the marble surface…”. An egg. Brunelleschi used an egg to demonstrate to the architects and mathematicians of the time how the dome would remain standing with a self-supporting system. The project solved the issue of scaffolding, which was progressively integrated into the construction without the need for external support.

The construction began in 1420, and after sixteen years, it reached the top. However, the lantern was still missing, and it was only completed in 1468, along with the four small semi-circular roofed apses, constructed after the architect’s death. The revolutionary idea of the goldsmith Brunelleschi lay in proposing a simple and groundbreaking solution that was technically and architecturally in line with the existing building.