Probably, a parish dedicated to Santo Stefano had already been raised in the V century in the same place where today the homonymous cathedral rises. The work of extension of the original church dates to the XII century and it transformed a modest sacred building into one of the most appreciated and artistically important Romanesque-Gothic basilicas in the Tuscan environment.

The belfry, instead, dates to the beginning of the XIII century and it was built under the supervision of the architect Guidetto da Como.
Yet, its completion was carried out around the first half of the XIV century. In 1386, the construction of the chapel of the Sacra Cintola, destined to preserve a sacred relic, began. It was the belt of the Virgin Mary, brought there by a merchant on his way back from Byzantium (Constantinople).
In the XIV century still, the works on the façade started and they were finished one century later, giving the main side of the cathedral its current late-Gothic appearance. The repairing of the portal, decorated with glazed earthenware by Andrea della Robbia, and the pulpit by Donatello, that is kept inside the currently called Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, date to the same period. The XV-century bell-shaped pulpit by Mino da Fiesole and Antonio Ropsellino was placed instead of Donatello's pulpit.
The inside has one nave and two aisles and it is rich in precious works of art. Among the frescoes cycles there are the "Storie dei Santi Stefano e Giovanni Battista", painted between 1452-1465 by Filippo Lippi and his pupils, and the "Storie della Vergine e della Sacra Cintola", a work by Agnolo Gaddi dating to the end of the XIV century. There are also the "Storie della Vergine e di Santo Stefano", that the experts attribute to Paolo Uccello (1397-1475).
Besides, there are many sculptures such as the "Madonna con Bambino" by Giovanni Pisano and the "Tabernacolo della Madonna dell' Ulivo" by the brothers Giuliano, Giovanni and Benedetto da Maiano (1480). The 1653 bronze crucifix by Fernando Tacca is a precious work of art, too.