In 1468 it was decided that the appropriate decoration for the lantern Fillippo Brunelleschi had created around 30 years prior was to be a bronze ball (palla) and cross.  A competition was created to determine which artist would be given the honor of creating the palla that was to adorn the top of the Florence Duomo.  While Andrea del Verrocchio was not the winner of the competition, he received the commission to make the palla after the first attempt by another artist was unsatisfactory.  September 10, 1468 marked the day that Verrocchio began his project, along with his colleagues which included a teenage Leonardo da Vinci.

Works Cited:

Bambach, Carmen. Leonardo Da Vinci Master Draftsman: Catalogue to an Exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 2003. Yale University Press, 2003.

Neilson, Christina. Practice and Theory in the Italian Renaissance Workshop: Verrocchio and the Epistemology of Making Art. Cambridge University Press, 2019.

On May 27th, 1471 the bronze ball Verrocchio created was hoisted using a crane to top the lantern and three days later the cross was raised to join it.  Following the completion of the structure, the Florentines are recorded to have broken out into song, singing the Te Deum as they rejoiced.  The palla would remain atop the cupola until January 27, 1601 when a strong lightning strike causes the palla to fall.  It remains missing from the top of the lantern until October of the following year, but the spot where it landed is still marked to this day with a commemorative plaque.

Works Cited:

Neilson, Christina. Practice and Theory in the Italian Renaissance Workshop: Verrocchio and the Epistemology of Making Art. Cambridge University Press, 2019.

“Topping the Dome: from the Lantern to the Verrocchio's Ball - Part 2.” Topping the Dome: from the Lantern to the Verrocchio's Ball - Part 2, Opera Magazine, 5 Aug. 2016, operaduomo.firenze.it/en/magazine/posts/topping-the-dome-from-the-lantern-to-the-verrocchio-s-ball-part-2.