You are a jewel of a town, Florence, and despite flying to your airport a couple of times a year, I know so little of you. I even hardly visit your beauties at all anymore. To my despair.
My Godaughter, her siblings, and their mother – my good friend Lisa – live in Fiesole, a village on the hills with a view to die for of the magnificent city. See for yourself: here is Florence at different times of the day. Striking, no?
The stories of the Medici and Firenze are more intricate and fascinating than any book or movie can ever manage to achieve. I have read many of them, yet there is still something magical in letting my hands touch the old stones, trying to hear and feel the stories they have witnessed.
However, the flaw of going to visit the extended family – and having already visited Firenze dutifully 20 years and 10 years ago – is that I now rarely roam the town, spending my time with the four children and the parents instead. As the younger generation range between 2 and 12-year old, roaming the churches, museums etc. is not their cup of tea and difficult to handle. What I lose in personal learning though, I gain in family life
However this time , we managed a few visits with Lisa. For the purpose of this blog, I will focus on pictures of the classic Il Duomo. The building, not just the Dome itself, always leaves me in awe. Did you know that such dome had never been built before, and the architect Filippo Brunelleschi had never done a dome before. No one knows in detail how he achieved such an exploit, as he destroyed the building plans to avoid his ideas being stolen. As to how he got the contract, it was pretty much on a bluff. This is the little story.
When calls were made to the architects to present their plans, Filippo was last to present his project. He was confident that he alone, based on his knowledge of ancient methods of dome creation and study of the Gothic techniques, could build the dome the Medici had dreamed of for decades. He verbally described his solution: a dome within a dome, all of which would be constructed without scaffolding. The judges, astonished by the idea, demanded to see his model, but in fear that the other architects would steal his design, or that it might be given to someone else to build, Filippo refused. Instead, he issued a challenge: that building the dome should be given to the one who could make an egg stand on end. Only such man would have the skills required for the job. After the various architects tried in vain to accomplish it in front of the judges, Filippo took an egg, whacked it on its end slightly, placed it on the table where it stood upright and did not fall over. Of course, the other architects protested that they could have done that if they knew it was allowed. Filippo replied that they could have built the dome had they seen his model, hence he would not show them. But he said that as he knew for the egg, and he knew how to build the dome. Impressed, the judges awarded him the commission to construct the Il Duomo.
A BBC documentary on Florence did a remarkable work of creating a 3D map of the whole building, and having watched it before going back to Florence, I admired the building anew. I highly recommend this documentary, whether for architectural, historical, or mind travelling reasons. I have added the link below.
Ah Florence… I am already looking forward to coming to see you again.
Thank you for reading,
Yours, Virginie
Here is the a taster of the BBC Florence programme. The full programme is available on http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0881gfb