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Claudio Scobino

THE ARTS
Florence's storied piazza
still a nexus of city's nightlife

Rebekah Larisey, reporter
Lauren Wright, photographer
Kathleen Higgins-Thomas, videographer

To the sounds of tuning strings, horns and woodwinds, Florentine natives and of course tourists poured into the center of the city, into the Piazza della Signoria. These thousands were just the latest of the many crowds that have washed onto the piazza's shores like the tides for more than 700 years.

Zubin Mehta conducting in
Piazza della Signoria in July 2008

Several groups of spectators came to the piazza on a balmy night in July 2008, many with their own fold-up chairs, to enjoy Beethoven's Ninth Symphony performed by the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino orchestra, conducted by the theater's chief conductor Zubin Mehta.

Amidst the music and the music lovers, majestic statues such as a replica of Michelangelo's David, Donatello's Judith and Holofernes and Giambologna's The Rape of the Sabine Women, stood tall next to amps and lights, towering above the crowd as they have done for hundreds of years.

Spectators at the concert were trodding on the same ground where da Vinci once stood. They took pictures of a David's replica in the same spot where its original first was rolled into the piazza in 1504. And some, perhaps unwittingly, sat on the plaque marking where Florence’s own Girolamo Savonarola was burned at the stake in 1498. read more>>

Ben Popple, reporter
Briona Arradondo, photographer
Amanda Powers, videographer

Many scholars put the final completion date for the construction of Florence's duomo, Calledrale di Santa Maria del Fiore at 1887, with the completion of the facade designed by Emilio de Fabris. These scholars are not even close.

The truth is that work on the duomo has never stopped. Scaffolding serves as evidence that the duomo's completion may never come.

La Bottega de Santa Maria del Fiore is responsible for the scaffolding and maintenance of the structure. The company’s workshop can be found just across the street from the Piazza del Duomo along the south wall of the cathedral.

"We are following the same work ritual that was started when the duomo was constructed in 1296, with addition of technology," said Marcello del Colle, a restorationist of 24 years at La Bottega de Santa Maria del Fiore. "Michelangelo and other famous artists started working and learning technique in a workshop just like this."

Once a year, usually around Easter, fine instruments are used to inspected the duomo for damage caused by the previous winter's weather. From the inspection, the bottega, or workshop, then determines which structures need integrity restorations, which need restorations for conservation and which part of the duomo most needs cleaning, according to Colle. From that evaluation, the restoration schedule for the entire upcoming year is determined. read more>>

The perpetual scaffolding that envelops Florence's Duomo