Golden Duomo
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Florence, Italy; the birthplace and capital of the Italian Renaissance. When I was traveling through Italy, I stayed in this beautiful city for a week between my stays in Rome and Pisa. Although not the first time I had walked amongst the earth-toned buildings and cobble stone alleyways, being there felt like the first time I had ever visited.
The wonderful thing about returning to a city where you have already seen many of the tourist attractions, is that you can admire the iconic landmarks in a much more relaxed and casual fashion. I was able to avoid the lines and just absorb what I was seeing fully while not rushing to make it to the next cathedral, piazza, or museum.
I left my hostel with my sketchbook on one sunny afternoon and strolled around the Cathedral di Santa Maria del Fiore. I decided to stop for an espresso at L’Opera Caffè to gaze at Il Duomo which luckily did not have any scaffolding during this visit. I sat and sketched what I saw, while other people at the café watched what I was doing and we would chat for a bit. Someone even took a video of me drawing like I was some famous artist (foreshadowing?)
When I got back home from my travels, and I was looking for ideas of what to draw, I flipped through my sketchbook for inspiration. And alas there it was! My sketch of the Florence Cathedral that I drew with a mechanical pencil, and I thought that would look really good in my newfound ink and gold style. I forgot how detailed this work of art really was and it made sense that it took 140 years to build, because it took me HOURS to draw.
Fun fact: I wrote a paper in college analyzing Brunelleschi’s dome for the technological marvel of architecture and engineering that it was when it was built, both back then and continues to be today!