Florence, Giotto's Bell Tower gets a makeover with seven million

The restyling of the Campanile di Giotto (Giotto's Bell Tower), one of the jewels of Florence Cathedral's monumental complex, is about to begin: from 9 March it will be covered by scaffolding that will be lowered as one phase of the work is completed. In this way, the restored part will be unveiled and visible to all. In any case, the ascent to the Bell Tower will always remain open to visitors.

The intervention, aimed at repairing disintegrations, detachments, lesions, and fractures of the white marble and green serpentine from Prato that cover the exterior, will cost seven million euro, financed with ticket receipts from the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, the historic institution entrusted with the preservation and enhancement of the monumental complex of the Duomo of Florence. This is the first time that Giotto's Belfry has been restored in its entirety; in the past there have been interventions, documented since 1939, only on parts of the monument.

The operation, as chairman Luca Bagnoli explained, is in addition to two other real estate-cultural investments that the Opera has underway, totalling 60 million euro. These are the doubling of the Opera Museum, which will increase from six thousand to 11 thousand square metres thanks to the expansion in the neighbouring Palazzo Compagni, purchased a couple of years ago. By 2030, new exhibition spaces, a conference hall and a bar-restaurant overlooking Brunelleschi's dome and the inner garden will be built. The overall project is worth 40 million euro.

The other intervention is the renovation, which has now reached the final stage, of the former Eugenian College, built in the fourteenth century (it was the first nucleus of the University of Florence) a stone's throw from the Duomo, where about one hundred employees of the Opera will be transferred by spring. In the 1,500 square metres of current office space, which will be vacated in Piazza Duomo, the Opera will build about fifteen dwellings to rent to residents. "We are very happy with the tourist flows coming to Florence," explained Bagnoli, "but the stay of Florentines in the historical centre is also in the interest of those who live off tourism and for us, who are not a charity organisation but have the city at heart, it represents a social value. The investment for the former Eugenian College and housing is around 13 million euro.

From the tickets sold for admission to the Dome, the Bell Tower, the Baptistery, the Museum and Santa Reparata, the Opera collected a good 31 million euro in 2025. "In these three operations we are investing 60 million euro, all financed by us who have neither public nor private contributions," said Bagnoli, "and we are doing this to conserve and restore the monumental complex of the Duomo, but also to take historic buildings away from real estate speculation, and to diversify our income. The pandemic has taught us that it is risky to depend solely on tickets, we want to increase investments in real estate so as to have anti-cyclical revenues such as rents'.