Baptistery of Saint John

On the Piazza del Duomo, beside Giotto's Bell Tower and the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore is the Baptistery of Saint John, or Battistero di San Giovanni -- Florence's Baptistery. It is dedicated to John the Baptist. It is believed to have been built in the 11th or 12th centuries. You can visit the Baptistery as part of a combination pass to the Piazza del Duomo. I chose to purchase the Brunelleschi pass so that I could climb the Duomo, climb the Giotto bell tower, visit the baptistery, the museum, the Santa Reparata, and the cathedral. A Brunelleschi pass costs 30 euro. I think it is definitely worth it! And you are able to visit each destination, including the climbs, within a few hours so that you still have time to see other things in Florence.

The official website to purchase tickets for Piazza del Duomo is here: Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore

Hours for the Piazza del Duomo:

Dome: 8:15 a.m. -- 6:45 p.m.

Giotto's bell tower: 8:15 a.m. -- 6:45 p.m.

Baptistery: 8:30 a.m. -- 7:30 p.m.

Duomo Museum: 8:30 a.m. -- 6:00 p.m.

Basilica of Santa Reparata: 10:45 a.m. -- 4 p.m.

Cathedral: 10:15 a.m. -- 3:45 p.m.

Every first Tuesday of the month the museum is closed. When we visited most recently in 2025, we scheduled our Duomo climb first thing in the morning in the earliest possible time slot, and then we visited everything else after that. The timing worked out very well for us.

The google maps location of the Baptistery is here: Baptistery of Saint John

I was especially excited to see the baptismal font when we visited Florence first back in 2018 because of the scene from the movie Inferno, released in 2016, where Dante's death mask was supposedly hidden inside the baptismal font of the Baptistery. The scene from Inferno that took place in the Baptistery is here: Inferno Movie Clip

The baptistery was under construction when we were there in 2025 because they were restoring the mosaics, so scaffolding was set up inside the center of the dome from floor to ceiling, and a lot of our view was blocked. We were still able to see the baptismal font.

This extensive scaffolding was set up when we visited in 2025 as they were making repairs on the baptistery

Our view was blocked during their construction period but we were able to look at photos and read about the baptistery

This board talks about the history and restoration of the Baptistery

The baptismal font

Dante was baptized in this baptistery in 1266, although not in this specific baptismal font=, which was built in 1370.

This is the view of the baptistry from the top of the Giotto Bell Tower

There are some who believe that throwing a coin into this grate will result in a return trip to Florence, similar to throwing a coin into the Trevi Fountain in Rome.