City Secrets: Florence Venice - Hardcover

Kahn, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 178378363X ISBN 13: 9781783783632

Publisher: Granta Books, 2017

Synopsis

If a standard guidebook has never revealed the Italy you seek, let City Secrets show you the way. See the glorious art and architecture of Italy's villages and cities through the eyes of the people who know them best: an architect leads you through a hidden Florence passageway built for the Medici; a novelist points out the panoramic vistas that inspired St Francis; the most renowned of Italian cooks divulges her favourite Venetian eateries; and an artist directs you to the courtyard of a Renaissance convent, where you will ring for access to the frescoes - and a miraculous handprint - that lie within. Clothbound, elegant, and pocket-sized, this book features a subtle non-guidebook design and detailed maps., It is the ideal supplement to a more basic travel guide, or a perfect gift for the sophisticated traveller who is tired of the picture postcard recommendations and wants to try something unique.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Florence

San Lorenzo, Cappelle Medicee: Piazza di Madonna degli Aldobrandini

Each year I bring groups of artists to Italy to paint and study the Italian Renaissance. One of the visits that moves the romantics among us to tears is the little-known sotterraneo under the Sagrestia Nuova at San Lorenzo. Here are recently discovered wall drawings in the secret passageway where Michelangelo hid from the Medici for three days during the 1530 siege of Florence. Having sided with the Republic against the exiled Medici (another chapter in the love-hate relationship between Michelangelo and the most famous art patrons of all time) he feared the consequences of his perceived betrayal. While in hiding he took some pitch from a wall torch and, as he later wrote, "to forget my fears I fill these walls with drawings". Standing among the drawings, sketches and doodles (yes, even doodles) that cover the walls and ceilings of this tiny cave-like structure, one feels as if one is on tour inside Michelangelo's mind. It is "virtual Michelangelo"...the most magical of places. Fred Wessel, Artist and Professor

About the Author

ROBERT KAHN is founding principal of Robert Kahn Architect, based in New York. His work has been featured in Architectural Digest, Metropolitan Home, and the New York Times, among many other publications. He is also the creator and series editor of the acclaimed City Secrets series, which has been reviewed in numerous publications, including Vanity Fair, the New York Times, and New York Magazine. He is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.

About this edition

• Publisher: Granta Books
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 178378363X
• ISBN 13: 9781783783632
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 144