Synopses & Reviews
Many years have passed since architect Andrea Ponsi settled inFlorence, and still he feels he does not fully comprehend this mysterious city. Theway Florence eludes understanding, however, can be an opportunity--to keep seeking, to keep exploring. Ponsi's Florence is endlessly suggestive. His tour of the city isone of continually shifting light and perspective, of stunning symmetry and an evenmore compelling asymmetry, of sudden transitions from bustling streets to the mostperfect silence.
While Ponsi does consider such celebrated sites asthe Piazza Santa Croce, the Ponte Vecchio, and the Duomo, the book is a decidedlypersonal view of Florence. The author notes the city's recurring geometry--thesquare courtyards, triangular spires, octagonal plaques and pillars--and marvels ata room almost too big to be called a room. He views the city from various terracesand likens the expanse of rising and falling rooftops to oceanwaves.
Here is Florence as labyrinth, possessing a medieval densitythat is relieved only by the sudden views of sky framed by its piazzas. Ponsi showsus a six-street intersection and ponders the abundance of acute angles, both indoorsand out, in this city of infinite corners.
In Florence, humans andbuildings commingle. The author equates haircuts and changes of clothes with freshcoats of paint and re-shingling jobs, and contemplates the way a human hand, feelingits way down a city block, adds to the patina of a stucco wall. Ponsi sees the cityitself as a living body, through whose veins its inhabitantscourse.
This is the way we dream an architect could speak to us, fully communicating his passion. The book's elegant, concise prose--as well as itsbalance of the civic with the intensely personal--recalls the Calvino of Marcovaldoand Invisible Cities. The text is accompanied by Ponsi's own spare but evocativewatercolors and sketches, which, like his words, seek to behold rather than pindown. This lyrical tribute is as much an ode to the lost art of contemplation as itis to Florence--a city where every moment is different from every othermoment.
Synopsis
The architect Andrea Ponsi settled in Florence many years ago, yet he still feels he does not fully comprehend this mysterious city. The way Florence eludes understanding, however, can be viewed as an opportunity--to keep seeking, to keep exploring. Ponsi's Florence is endlessly suggestive. His tour of the city is one of continually shifting light and perspective, of stunning symmetry and an even more compelling asymmetry, of sudden transitions from bustling streets to the most perfect silence. Ponsi's lyrical tribute is as much an ode to the lost art of contemplation as it is to Florence, a city in which every moment is different from the next.