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Architecture
Three architectural styles are showcased in Florence: Romanesque, Tuscan
Gothic and Renaissance. The latter originated here - before taking the rest of
Italy and Europe by storm - and is the city's emblematic style.
Romanesque Architecture
A blow-in from Northern Europe, the Romanesque style was given a unique local twist in
Tuscany, where church facades were given alternating stripes of green and white marble.
Generally, Romanesque buildings displayed an emphasis on width and the horizontal lines
of a building rather than height, and featured church groups with campaniles and
baptistries that were separate to the church.
Gothic Architecture
The Tuscans didn't embrace the Gothic as enthusiastically as their northern neighbours;
the flying buttresses, grotesque gargoyles and over-the-top decoration were just too far
from the classical ideal that was (and still is) bred in the Tuscan bone. There were, of
course, exceptions; most notably the
duomo
(cathedral) in Siena.
Renaissance Architecture
When the dome of Florence's
duomo
was completed in 1436, Leon Battista Alberti called
it the first great achievement of the 'new' architecture, one that equalled or even surpassed
the great buildings of antiquity. The elegance of line, innovation in building method and
references to antiquity that characterised Brunelleschi's work were emulated by other
Florentine architects, leading to this pared-down, classically inspired style dominating loc-
al architecture throughout the 15th and 16th centuries.
