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My desire is that you'll have the words of this little book take you to lands never seen and to feelings which you never experimented. This is an expanded version of the previous one.
Each year, millions of visitors travel to Florence to admire the architectural marvels of this famous Renaissance city. In this compact yet comprehensive volume, architect and architectural historian Richard J. Goy offers a convenient, accessible guide to the city’s piazzas, palazzos, basilicas, and other architectural points of interest, as well as pertinent historical details regarding Florence’s unique urban environment. Clearly laid out and fully illustrated, this handbook is designed around a series of expertly planned walking tours that encompass not only the city’s most admired architectural sites, but also its lesser-known gems. Maps are tailored to each walking tour and provide additional references and insights, along with introductory chapters on the city’s architectural history, urban design, and building materials and techniques. Featuring a complete bibliography, glossary of key terms, and other useful reference materials, Goy’s guide will appeal both to travelers who desire a greater architectural context and analysis than that offered by a traditional guide and to return visitors looking to rediscover Florence’s most enchanting sites.
In this book, Irina Chernetsky examines how humanists, patrons, and artists promoted Florence as the reincarnation of the great cities of pagan and Christian antiquity – Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem. The architectural image of an ideal Florence was discussed in chronicles and histories, poetry and prose, and treatises on art and religious sermons. It was also portrayed in paintings, sculpture, and sketches, as well as encoded in buildings erected during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Over time, the concept of an ideal Florence became inseparable from the real city, in both its social and architectural structures. Chernetsky demonstrates how the Renaissance notion of genealogy was applied to Florence, which was considered to be part of a family of illustrious cities of both the past and present. She also explores the concept of the ideal city in its intellectual, political, and aesthetic contexts, while offering new insights into the experience of urban space.