Climbing the Duomo in Florence

Cherry,

That's a difficult question to answer, as the time to ascend the 463 steps will depend on a couple of factors.

• Are you generally in "good shape" and able to climb stairs easily? If that's the case, I'd estimate about 10-15 minutes if you're able to climb without interruption. Which brings me to the next point...

• The more significant factor will be the number of other visitors at that time. If the steps are crowded and you have to wait for people travelling up or down, the time will be greater. Since there's no way to predict the situation at the time of your visit, it's difficult to accurately estimate how much time it will take you to climb the Dome.

Which day of the week will you be there? Is there any possibility you could get there a bit earlier?

Happy travels!

My experience,:
I climbed the steps after waiting in outside line for over 1hour in full sun and about 90 plus degrees.All the way up and down the steps I followed tightly behind people.I spent about 10 min admiring the beautiful frescoes and marvingly at the duomo. Yes it was beautiful but only you can decide if worth it in the end. best of luck for a short queue.

I can't remember 100%, but I think we spent an hour plus a little (maybe 1 hour, 15 minutes), which was going up, admiring the top for awhile, and going down. It doesn't take too many people to get it crowded because some areas of the dome are only wide enough for one person, but both people going up and down have to pass through = traffic jams.

If you can, I strongly suggest giving yourself a little more cushion. We went around 4pm in November and the lines were fine.

I think one hour is plenty, not counting the line to get in. If the line dwindles later in the day, it would be perfect. We were there in October and there was a pretty good line, but at least it was a comfortable temperature.