Bellissima Northern Italy
We are booked on the Sept 24th trip. As I read other travelers postings, it sounds like they visited the Duomo in Milan on their own time. The Tauck itinerary says "admire the Duomo"....does that mean there is no formal tour, just a quick walk-by? Since we are arriving one day early, we would have time the do a full tour on our own if Tauck does not do one. Any help would be appreciated...thanks.
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If you haven't gone to the Duomo website, I suggest you do so for details. Duomo Milano website
By following links on the website, you can pre-purchase tickets online via TicketOne: TicketOne
We purchased our tickets well in advance of our Classic Italy trip for the Duomo complex in Florence. I believe TicketOne was the authorized ticket vendor in the case as well.
We did not take a tour of the Cathedral of Santa Maria di Fiore (the Duomo) in Florence- it appears they offer a one hour tour once a day at 1030 for 30 € ea. You don't really need a ticket to enter the Duomo, itself. The "Opera di Duomo" ticket gets you into four attractions- the campanile (Giotto's Bell Tower) which you can climb, the Baptistry, Brunelleschi's dome (climb), and the excellent Duomo museum across the street. The tickets are good for 48 hours from the time of entry to the first attraction. I have a post (posts?) with more details about this and other things we did on this tour and in Florence under Classic Italy, Small Groups. You can read all the Opera dei Duomo and buy the tickets (and reserve entry times to the Dome and Museum) at this site.
Quick answer (it all depends on your interests- you can zip through or spend hour(s) and it also depends if you have reserved entry times. The line to climb the dome was long but we went to the head of the line 10 - 15 min. before out designated entry time!) :
visit Duomo- 30+ min. - ??
visit Baptistry- 30+ min. - ??
Climb Giotto's bell tower: 45+ min. - ???
Climb Brunelleschi's Dome: 45+ min. - ???
Tour Duomo Museum: 1+
We visited all except climb the bell tower during free time over the span of two days. We did not need entry times for the Baptistry and Museum since we visited late in the day- we got right in.
Ross King's book "Brunelleschi's Dome" is a must read before you go!
Sorry, only ate one non-Tauck dinner in Florence at Hard Rock Cafe : ) Like Venice, it is hard to find a bad one. There are some other posts on the Classic Italy forum that mention restaurants. For lunches we had a quick pizza on the day we took a Seqway tour, at a small bodega another day, and open air restaurant on the Piazza del Duomo, just a few feet from the Duomo itself, on the day we climbed Brunelleschi's dome.
This is an old, 2016 thread.
My answer- yes/no. If you follow my links in the older posts and the one below, you'll see that there are 5 'attractions' included in the Il Grande Museo del Duomo complex that require tickets- Brunelleschi's Dome (climb, you enter from outside the Duomo), the Baptistry (separate building. Lorenzo Ghiberti's original doors, called the "Gates of Paradise" by none other than Michelangelo!, are in the Duomo museum), Giotto's bell tower (climb. separate building), the Duomo Museum (separate building. Don't miss this! and allow plenty of time), and the Crypt of Santa Reparata inside Florence Cathedral. ). The Duomo (Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore) itself is not included- tickets are not needed, you can enter for free (a ticket is needed for the guided tour) since it is an operating church. If I remember correctly, Opera Del Duomo tickets are good for 48 hours from time of entry to the first 'attraction,' good for a one time only visit to each one, and you can reserve entry times (at no additional cost) for at least two of them (required(?) for the dome climb and strongly recommended for others, especially in peak season.) That means you can probably visit some or all of the 'attractions' on Sunday, then visit the Duomo itself and any 'attraction' you didn't see on Monday.
Don't forget to dress appropriately for the Duomo
Its all here: https://www.museumflorence.com/?utm_source=opaeng&utm_medium=home&utm_campaign=piazzaduomo
Actually there is a Duomo in Milan as there are in most Italian cities. I posted about the one in Milan in post #5 above, then sailorguy, who was going in October on Tuscany, Florence, Cinque Terra, asked about Florence in post #6. I responded to that one as well. I didn't catch that DaytonJ had switched it back to Milan in post #10. Sorry!? : ( In any case he was posting to a year old thread!!!