This altar is a masterpiece of Tuscan Gothic and Renaissance silverwork. It was made between 1336 and 1480 and you will be impressed by how complex the ornamentation is.

It was originally made for the Baptistery and, to fully appreciate it, you really need to imagine how it would have looked amidst the sumptuousness of the marble interior and against the golden splendor of the mosaics. Michelozzo's statue of St John the Baptist, made in 1452, stands out from the rest, as does the tragic, intense beheading of the saint on the right side. This is the work of Andrea del Verrocchio, the teacher of Leonardo da Vinci. The altar cost 10,000 gold florins of the day.
As you leave the Cathedral Museum, on Piazza del Duomo at number 54 Red, you will see a memorial which commemorates the "sasso di Dante", the stone on which, according to tradition, the great poet used to sit and meditate during the summer.