Dedicated to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it was built at the request of Cosimo I de’ Medici in 1549, the year in which the Florentine Duke also began the grandiose work of building the Medici walls.
Located opposite Piazza della Repubblica (formerly Piazza d’Armi), the Duomo was consecrated in 1554 and initially had a single nave, but was enlarged and modified several times from the beginning of the 17th century.
At the altar of the 16th-century wooden Crucifix, which was located to the right of the High Altar at the time, the Confraternity of the Reverenda Misericordia was established in 1566, and on 4 May 1814, a Te Deum was celebrated in honour of Napoleon Bonaparte, who had been sent into exile on Elba and had just been appointed the Ruler of the island.
Under the French rule, the stucco high altar was replaced with one in marble from the Del Carmine Church, which was transferred to the secular use and turned into a theatre by Napoleon (today the Teatro dei Vigilanti “Renato Cioni”).
