Blessing of Campanile Foundation

Date: July 18, 1334 • Location: Florence, Italy

The bishop of Florence blesses the first foundation stone for the new campanile (bell tower) of the Florence Cathedral, designed by the artist Giotto di Bondone.

Florence is the capital and most populous city of the Italian region of Tuscany, and, as of 2026, with a population of 361,625, the 8th most populous city in the country. It is also the capital of the eponymous metropolitan province, which counts 988,494 inhabitants, while Eurostat estimates that 696,767 people live in the urban area of Florence. The Metropolitan Area of Florence, Prato and Pistoia, constituted in 2000 over an area of roughly 4,800 square kilometres (1,850 sq mi), is home to 1.5 million people.