A detachment of pieces of stone occurred inside the Dome of the Duomo of Florence. The incident took place late last Friday evening, when the last group of tourists had already left. No one was injured.

According to a first reconstruction, the newspapers report, the damage affected one of the portholes above the staircase leading to the top of the Dome, in the steepest and lowest section: two pieces of stone that would have fallen.

Witnesses of the incident were two security guards, employees of Rear, which holds the contract for the service.

The technical team of the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore intervened on site. "The first checks, carried out immediately after the incident, showed no risks for the monument - said the general manager Lorenzo Luchetti -. And also the further technical checks with internal staff of the Opera, carried out the next morning, made it possible to exclude the possibility of further detachments. For this reason it was possible to reopen the monument in total absence of risks".

Access to the Dome, Saturday morning, remained forbidden until 10 am, and then resumed normally.

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Brunelleschi's Dome

The unions are calling for further controls. "We are not sure that there are minimum security conditions at least until the Opera allows us to view the report drawn up after the inspection and intervention. We asked for access to information but we were denied", says Beppe Martelli of Filcams-Cgil. Today, at the end of a confrontation, the representatives will decide whether or not to call a state of agitation and "if a strike will also be necessary", says Martelli.

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Brunelleschi's Dome