Tuscan character / Places
On the other side of the Arno.
Santo Spirito, Firenze at the scale of a piazza.
Oltrarno is first and foremost a position: on the other side of the river. Changing banks also means changing your point of view. Our note on Firenze begins at Santo Spirito.
Looking at the edge.
The basilica’s plastered façade reveals a clean profile. One can begin at the margins: the relationship between the church and the houses, the loggia of Palazzo Guadagni, a threshold, the rhythm of the windows. A bare surface sets a frame in relief; shadow gives depth to a pale wall.
The inhabited piazza.
Workshops, studios and meeting places keep the city at the scale of people and everyday work. This is how Firenze enters our notebook: through a table near a window, a façade seen from below, a crossing on foot. Details to look at before returning to the whole.