the great cathedral mystery

Public Television's NOVA debuts the "Great Cathedral Mystery" this Wednesday, February 12, at 9:00 p.m., ET. The hour-long documentary speculates how Il Duomo di Firenze, Florence’s great cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, was constructed. One of Italy's greatest churches, the Duomo houses the largest brick dome ever constructed. But how did the architect Filippo Brunelleschi mastermind such an immense project during the Renaissance?

Exterior view of The Duomo, Florence, Italy, courtesy of National Geographic Television.

The recently discovered cuppolina, courtesy of National Geographic Television.

Located in the heart of one of the world's most beloved cities, the Duomo still mystifies modern historians, engineers, and architects. Ultimately constructed of more than four million bricks, Brunelleschi had to come up with a method that didn't use scaffolding, as there wasn't enough timber in Florence for a dome of the size. The "Great Cathedral Mystery" asks a team of bricklayers from the United States to try to construct a “mini-Duomo” to test recent theories of construction. Using period tools and techniques, the group from the International Masonry Institute uncovers the intricacies involved in Brunelleschi's spiraling herringbone pattern of bricks in his "spin pesce" [fish spine] pattern.

Brunelleschi may have lost the competition to design the cathedral doors to fellow goldsmith Lorenzo Ghiberti, but he wasn't going to risk losing his shot to his design nemesis once again when in 1418 the competition to design the dome for the cathedral was announced. To preserve his chance at building the dome he was extra careful to keep his design ideas secret, ideas like the first reverse gear pulley, an ingenious innovation.

The "Great Cathedral Mystery" includes fascinating modern-day experiments as well as providing in-depth history, all set against the gorgeous backdrop of Italy's jewel of a city, the beautiful Florence. Anyone who has studied Renaissance art, visited the Duomo, or who dreams of visiting the city and its cathedral in future will enjoy this informative look into the construction of its enormous basilica.

Originally published on Blogcritics: TV Review: ‘NOVA’ – ‘Great Cathedral Mystery’

decameron

Article first published as Book Review: Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, translated by J.G. Nichols on Blogcritics.

It is a testament to the brilliance of Giovanni Boccaccio’s story-telling that his Decameron is still an entertaining read hundreds of years later. This new translation by J. G. Nichols is faithful to the original text, while making the sometimes archaic terms understandable to a modern reader.

Boccaccio sets his best-known work during the summer of 1348. Ten young people, seven women and three men, meet in the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. They all share fears of the plague that is sweeping through their city, and agree to leave town together to spend the next two weeks in a villa in the country, in nearby Fiesole, to avoid contagion. The seven women are Pampinea, Fiammetta, Filomena, Emilia, Lauretta, Neifile, and Elissa; the three men are Panfilo, Filostrato, and Dioneo.

Decameron, Anonymous, 15th century.

Once there, each evening they gather around a fountain in the garden and spend their time telling stories. For ten days (Decameron means "ten days" in Greek) — each day ten stories are told, for a total of one hundred.

Boccaccio, like Shakespeare, used many sources for the stories in Decameron. As Nichols states in the introduction, "Few if any of these tales were of his own invention, but – this is often said about jokes – it is the way they are told that counts. . . . "

Modern readers will find some of the tales, especially those intended to be moralistic, more than a little dated. But there are also so many great characters and so many stories that are full of humor that there is still much to entertain. Many of the stories are intentionally bawdy, concerning lusty priests and monks, or unfaithful husbands and wives. As misogynistic or sexist as some of the tales can be, there are just as many where the women get the best of the men. It would be wise while reading to keep the time-frame in context. Boccaccio wrote Decameron in the mid-14th century.

Some of the more memorable characters include the trio of Bruno, Buffalmacco, and the frequent butt of their jokes, Calandrino, who appear in four tales. Decameron also features real people from the time, including the painter Giotto, and the Muslim ruler Saladin and King William II of Sicily. Probably the most famous of the tales, and also the last one in the book, is the story of Griselda, a wife whose love and faith is cruelly tested by her husband. This is one of the hardest stories for a contemporary woman to reconcile, but it is also one of the closest in structure to a fairytale; Griselda's husband first marries the peasant girl, a la Cinderella, and then proceeds to torture her by making her think he has killed their children, or taken a new wife (who happens to be their 12 year-old daughter). It's so crazy that the reader can't help but be pulled in, to see how it will all come out in the end.

Griselda's first Trial of Patience (Griseldas' husband takes her child away from her), by Charles West Cope, 1848.

The plague in Florence disappears quickly from the minds of the ten storytellers as well as the reader, as one story quickly follows another. Many are quite short in length, and a reader can dip into Decameron for just a few minutes or much longer, depending on their mood. There are many differences between our current world and that of Renaissance Italy, but some of the same things abound, such as a sense of humor, lust, passion, and the need to hear and tell a good story. Boccaccio's Decameron fills the bill quite nicely still in that regard.

secret florence

Article first published as Book Review: Secret Florence by Niccolo Rinaldi on Blogcritics.

I love Florence. It is my favorite and one of the most accessible of Italian cities. I have been there a few times and was lucky enough to stay for almost a week once and really feel a part of the city.
I walked everywhere, seeking out frescoes by the Fras — Angelica and Filippo Lippi. I crossed the Ponte Vecchio in search of Masaccio and Florentine steak. I found Della Robbia ceramic details on buildings while laundering my clothes at the convenient laundromats. I searched out the little devils painted into so many frescoes in churches — it’s not just about angels in Florence. I tried to find a pair of red shoes, which seemed the right sort of Florentine footwear.


I knew that Florence was more than just the tick-it-off-your-list city with the Uffizi and Duomo, but after reading Secret Florence, I realize that I have only just scratched the surface of this enchanting city. I would imagine that even long-time residents might also find many spots in its pages that they have yet to explore. I’m not quite the insider I hoped I was, but this very different sort of guidebook might help me become one. And it definitely makes me want to start planning my next trip.
Secret Florence is very cleverly organized by city section, adding additional guidance to places where travelers will already be headed: Piazza Della Signoria, Duomo/San Lorenzo, Santa Maria Novella, SS Annunziata, Santa Croce, Oltrarno, and the Outskirts of Florence. But in each section the emphasis is on little details that might easily be missed, while you were preoccupied by the bigger, more-travelled sites.

For example, The Palazzo Vecchio at the Piazza Della Signoria is a frequent tourist spot. Its tall clock tower is not only visually impressive, but it makes it a terrific meeting place. It also is still functioning as the city’s town Hall and has a replica of Michelangelo’s famous "David" sculpture outside (for the real one you need to visit the Accademia). But there is also art inside the Palazzo Vecchio, and Secret Florence doesn’t guide you through the masterpieces by Michelangelo and Ghirlandaio as other guide books might, but instead poses an interesting question regarding a “missing” fresco by Leonardo da Vinci.


Other highlights, suggested points of interest, include:

Artist’s clever and hidden self portraits — Benevenuto Cellini’s face on the back of his famous "Perseus" sculpture, Lorenzo Ghiberti’s head on the bronze doors of the Baptistery

A Florentine fast food delicacy made from a cow’s fourth stomach, lampredotto, if you dare

The astronomical qualities of the Duomo, and how to watch the sun transit the building on the summer solstice to land on a perfect circle of marble on the floor.

A fresco depicting the family of Amerigo Vespucci, from whom America gets its name — with Amerigo, who was only a child when it was painted, shown as a cherub

An equestrian statue of Ferdinando I which features a concentric circle of bees (as a symbol of power, but mostly used as a counting game for children)

Traces of Florentia, Roman Florence

The love nest of English poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Casa Guidi

A Japanese garden in the center of anItalian rose garden, in Oltrarno

The book includes an alphabetic index and an even more helpful thematic index, which helps you pinpoint areas of interest such as architecture, gardens, history, painting, religion, science, etc.
Secret Florence is chock-full of anecdotes, so makes for interesting reading about the city and its art and history. It’s definitely a fresh look at the city and would make for a great resource for some quirky walking tours once you’ve tired of standing in line to get into the Uffizi.

the devil is in the details

When we were reminsicing about Italy this weekend I thought about one of my favorite places in Florence (a city I could happily live in tomorrow), Santa Maria Novella. Of course the Ghirlandaio frescoes are amazing, but what has always captured my fancy are frescoes in the Spanish Chapel, a site easily missed, as you have to walk outside and through the cloister to get to it.

Descent of Christ to Limbo by Andrea di Bonaiuto

I love the everyday feeling of this detail from one of the frescoes. It may be the apocalypse, with rocks burning around them, but these three devils are taking a moment to chat, water cooler style.

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