Frommer's Review
The current incarnation of San Zeno dates from 1220, soon after which an old defensive tower close by, bristling with Ghibelline swallowtail crenellations, was given a respectable church clothing of Romanesque striped arches and converted to the cathedral bell tower. The glazed terra-cotta decorations of the barrel vault in the entrance arcade and the lunette above the main door are Andrea della Robbia creations.
On the inside right wall is a tomb by Cellino di Nese (1337) and a good Byzantine painted crucifix by Coppo di Marcovaldo (1275). Just past that is the Capella di San Jacopo and the Duomo's greatest treasure, the Altare di San Jacopo (Altar of St. James). Close to a ton of partially gilded silver is molded into medieval saints (the upper half), early Renaissance biblical scenes (the front and flanks), and a pair of Brunelleschi prophets around on the left side. Started in 1287 and not finished until the 15th century, this altar outlasted a number of silversmiths, including a handful, such as Leonardo di Ser Giovanni, who also worked on the only other comparable altar, a similar pile of silvery holiness now in Florence's Museo dell'Opera del Duomo.
The Il Passignano frescoes inside the dome are hard to see. Pop down into the crypt for the remains of the 5th-century church and marvelously medieval bits of a Guido da Como pulpit (1199), dismembered in the 17th century. Get the custodian from the St. James altar to pull aside the curtain and turn on the lights in the chapel to the left of the high altar so you can see the 1485 Madonna di Piazza, a brightly colored work, including a fantastically rich carpet under the Virgin's feet, that has been declared the only documented painting by Verrochio (though some are now trying to credit it to his protégé Leonardo da Vinci -- or even Leonardo's student Lorenzo di Credi).
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