Is this the baptistery?
KWES-toh eh eel bat-tees-TEH-roh.
When identifying a separate building next to a cathedral. Many Italian cathedrals have a separate baptistery — a round or octagonal building where baptisms took place.
Il battistero is the baptistery — a separate building for administering baptism, usually octagonal in form (symbolising the eight days of creation). Florence's Battistero di San Giovanni, with its famous bronze doors by Ghiberti, is the most celebrated in Italy.
Le porte del battistero sono originali?
Are the baptistery doors original?
Famous doors like Ghiberti's are often replaced by replicas.
Dove è il fonte battesimale?
Where is the baptismal font?
The font is the central element of the baptistery.
Il battistero è più antico della cattedrale?
Is the baptistery older than the cathedral?
Baptisteries are often among a city's oldest buildings.
Michelangelo called Ghiberti's East Doors of the Florence Baptistery 'the Gates of Paradise' (Porte del Paradiso) — a name that has stuck since the fifteenth century. The ten gilded bronze panels depicting Old Testament scenes are masterpieces of Renaissance relief sculpture. Dante Alighieri was baptised in the Florence Baptistery.