(Leon Battista Alberti -De Pictura)
At the end of the ‘200, Florence is free, rich, beautiful and full of vitality.
It is one of the most populated cities in the whole Occidental world.
Claiming to be the daughter of Rome, the Florentine people feel the need to show the world that Florence is worthy of the greatness of the ancient Rome. They want to build something extraordinary. The right occasion is the construction of the dome of the Duomo. It is a huge space to cover, nobody will ever figure out a way to do that…
After a few attempts throughout the whole ‘300, always interrupted for different reasons, here comes Filippo Brunelleschi, in the ‘400.
After living in Rome for a while, where he deeply studies the roman antiquities and mostly the dome of the Pantheon, he comes back to Florence. Brunelleschi wins the competition and receives the commitment. It is the late 1418.
Now, after Rome, after the pantheon, he knows how to cover the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo). In 1436, the dome is finished. A breathtaking dome. Only 16 years to build it. One of the most important masterpieces in the history of architecture.
Anywhere, in the city centre of Florence Italy, we see a part of it. It looks like we can never take our eyes off of it. Today, as well as back then, that is the effect that Brunelleschi has created with its dome.
Architecture incredibly elegant, refined, reassuring.
The ideal and physical centre of all the Florentine and Tuscany hills. With its shade, from there, the dome covers and “protects all the Tuscan people” and all of us visitors.
