4
Duomo Cathedral, Florence. Bumpy but beautiful.
The Duomo Cathedral is a breath-taking place to visit. With the dome reaching up into the heavens, covered with renaissance paintings, it is an awe-inspiring place to be. I give the Cathedral itself 5 stars, but as a disabled visitor, there are limitations as this is an old building in an old city, hence 4 stars. You can't access the tower, for example, as there's no lift or ramps to most of the building. However, we were welcomed and had a lovely time. All but one of the entrances to the cathedral have stone steps, with no ramps. But there is one door, tucked around the back of the building, which has a ramp and level access. You can't join the main queue, so look out for someone in uniform and ask for help. They will willingly show you where to go and let you go straight in. As with most of the attractions in Florence, disabled visitors and their carers are given free entry, so we were able to go straight in and wander around without having to go through the main tourist route. It was actually really lovely as we were allowed in the 'roped off' area, which meant we had plenty of room and didn't get bumped around by other visitors. There was no time limit for us and we weren't taken along with the crowd so we could take as long as we liked. We could see almost everything that everyone else had access to, certainly enough to get a great experience of this beautiful building. Once inside, the floors are flat and I had no issues getting around in my powerchair at all. I don't know if there were disabled facilities - I don't recall seeing any, especially as we went in 'the back door'. As most visitors only stay for a short while it wasn't an issue, but I would recommend disabled visitors go before they visit. Take care as you approach the cathedral - there are large cobblestones everywhere, some with quite large holes or broken edges (easy for castor wheels to get caught). The whole of Florence city is uneven due to cobblestones. It is ok for a little while, but I found I had to take plenty of breaks to avoid being 'over shaken'.
The Duomo Cathedral is a breath-taking place to visit. With the dome reaching up into the heavens, covered with renaissance paintings, it is an awe-inspiring place to be. I give the Cathedral itself 5 stars, but as a disabled visitor, there are limitations as this is an old building in an old city, hence 4 stars. You can't access the tower, for example, as there's no lift or ramps to most of the building. However, we were welcomed and had a lovely time. All but one of the entrances to the cathedral have stone steps, with no ramps. But there is one door, tucked around the back of the building, which has a ramp and level access. You can't join the main queue, so look out for someone in uniform and ask for help. They will willingly show you where to go and let you go straight in. As with most of the attractions in Florence, disabled visitors and their carers are given free entry, so we were able to go straight in and wander around without having to go through the main tourist route. It was actually really lovely as we were allowed in the 'roped off' area, which meant we had plenty of room and didn't get bumped around by other visitors. There was no time limit for us and we weren't taken along with the crowd so we could take as long as we liked. We could see almost everything that everyone else had access to, certainly enough to get a great experience of this beautiful building. Once inside, the floors are flat and I had no issues getting around in my powerchair at all. I don't know if there were disabled facilities - I don't recall seeing any, especially as we went in 'the back door'. As most visitors only stay for a short while it wasn't an issue, but I would recommend disabled visitors go before they visit. Take care as you approach the cathedral - there are large cobblestones everywhere, some with quite large holes or broken edges (easy for castor wheels to get caught). The whole of Florence city is uneven due to cobblestones. It is ok for a little while, but I found I had to take plenty of breaks to avoid being 'over shaken'.
