BUT
My attitude changed over time. As I grew used to Florence and wandered the streets each day, noting the definite reduction in tourist swarms, reading up on the history of the city, and just getting to know my way around, I found there was a lot about the architecture to capture my eye and interest. Now I have returned to France and have refreshed comparisons I still find Florence darker, dirtier and heavier in style than France, but below are a sample of the features that I really liked about the architecture.
Florence is a true Medieval city and the building facades, at least, are still original - hence its UNESCO protection. Many of the features are also common to France and in fact many European cities, such as the ornate carving, pillars of carved stone people and heads to support doorways and ornate light poles. But other features such as the window grills and coats of arms are particularly Italian. The coats of arms particularly fascinated me. It was most evident in Florence but I saw it in most other Tuscan cities. they dated back to the Medieval heyday of Florence, when each wealthy family or merchants guild would place their coat over their doorways and on the corners of their buildings. If a family was exiled or bankrupted, their coat of arms would be removed - a big shame /mark of dishonour on the family. The most common coat of arms was the 6 red balls of the Medici Family who controlled Florence for over a century!
The other feature I really liked was the number of triangular buildings! Because Florence is a medieval city with lots of narrow winding streets without any discernible pattern, many streets join at sharp angles, but there is always a building that goes right up to the point of the junction, creating interesting shaped buildings and great street-scapes.
On certain days you could get glimpses of the bright sun and the way it changed the colour of the buildings, and at night there were some lovely effects, but the rest of the time I did not see the magical colour and charm of the buildings that everyone raved about. But I did see amazing skill and craftsmanship, the Italian character of excessive decoration, and some beautiful wrought iron work. I also loved the elaborate door knockers and drinking fountains (both more elaborate even than France) and the beautiful frescoes and paintings on many of the building's exterior walls and ceilings under the porticos. This was definitely Italian and just fabulous to look at. The other very Italian or Tuscan feature was the heavy stone building blocks. These were enormous and rounded on the outside with a very rough finish. Many buildings using this type of stone foundations built that way for defensive meausures, as there was certainly a lot of wars and intercity rivalry during the Medieval period. With the heavy window grills and the heavy stone I could see why Alan found these buildings threatening and too imposing. I found them very heavy, interesting and over time I actually grew to like them.
The other interesting features of these buildings were the way stone benches / seats were built into the walls, so although there was not a lot of public outdoor seating in Florence, you could always find a seat on one of these benches. You will have seen them in some of the photos in my earlier blog on transport quirks. There is one photoof this in the collection below. the other feature was the old rings for attaching horses or other things to. I am assuming they are ancient - please correct me if I am wrong. Nowadays they are used for attaching huge advertising / promotional banners to the walls of the building - very effective.
So here are the photos. I have tried to group like things together, like windows and doorways, but have not always succeeded due to the oddities of blog editing.
One other thing in here that may appear out of place. In the huge sotto passegio (pedestrian subway) that connects several surrounding streets to the main railway station) under a huge roundabout and bus depot, the Council has attached to the walls framed information boards on historic shops in Florence. One wall contains about a dozen boards onall the old book and printing shops in Florence and the other wall on the old pharmacies. they were fantastic and over several trips in the subway, I read almost all of them. they all contained a history of the shop, a photo of the interior and a map. I visited several of them and there will eventually be a blog on the Santa Maria Novella Pharmacie - one of the places I discovered through these boards. They are an excellent promotion - and had surprisingly little damage or graffiti.
Building Features
