Florence: The City and Its Architecture

From the early Etruscan settlement on the hill of Fiesole to the thriving cultural and artistic center under the Medici rule of the Quattrocento through to the present, Florence has had a unique hold on the architectural imagination. Florence: The City and Its Architecture provides the first truly comprehensive overview of the urban history of the city, unravelling the delicately intertwined strands of politics, religion, art and social culture. Instead of a strictly chronological approach, the book is organized thematically, documenting the city s expansion and the building of both monuments and the simplest of structures. Throughout, it reveals the influence of the city s two dominant forces: the Church and the state. From Brunelleschi s amazing cupola of the Duomo, to the sprawling grandeur of Palazzo Pitti, the icons as well as the architectural typologies of the Florentine landscape are analyzed in detail. Although the book emphasizes the Medieval and Renaissance periods, one section is also devoted to Florence s modern architecture, which includes landmark buildings such as Pier Luigi Nervi s Stadio Comunale. New, specially commissioned colour photography, original plans, contemporary drawings, and reproductions of paintings and sculpture of renowned Florentine masters exemplify the extraordinary artistic wealth of the city which, under Medici power and patronage, became the heart of the European Renaissance. The book also includes a glossary of Italian architectural terms, biographical notes on major architects and historical figures, and a foldout city map that locates the buildings discussed in the book. This is a companion publication to Venice: The City and its Architecture, also by Richard Goy, published by Phaidon Press in 1997.