Andrea Ponsi's article about via della Ninna
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
I wish I had more time in the day: I’d take more photos and write more about my beloved city. My other website, Florence from the Heart, dedicated to Florence is an outlet for me and other writers who live in Florence. We each select an aspect of the city and let the words flow from our hearts and out to the readers. I asked Andrea Ponsi, an Italian architect, writer, and artist, at his book presentation last week if he wanted to publish his article on via della Ninna because I enjoyed it.
His presentation at the Paperback Exchange was thought provoking and allowed me to look at my city from a different perspective. I marveled at his watercolor of via della Ninna because it’s a street I walk down almost every day. The way he saw this corridor made me realize that there is still so much to discover in this city. I usually just walk along and only look up when I see the loggia or the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio.
One other remark he made about Florence was that it is geometrical. Not like New York, which most people think because of its use of the cube. Florence is geometrical because so many different shapes can be found in its architecture: octagons, circles, triangles, and squares.
In his talk, he mentioned how he often imagines city from above as if he were a bird. I found it an interesting way to describe the buildings and the piazze. I especially enjoyed his metaphor of how the city is like a human body where the Duomo is the heart, Piazza della Repubblica is the stomach, and Piazza della Signoria as the head.
Andrea’s presentation was interesting and I hope that others will be able to read more of his book, which is a treasure.
