Inside Florence. A tale of Palazzi and Botteghe

Florence and its craftsmen: an inseparable union that has lasted over the centuries.

«The home "is the place of return," it is where "memory is". I agree fully with Emanuele Coccia in his consideration that the setting of our private lives, the one that is most intimate and most familiar to us, is an expression of culture like a work of art or a monument of which we study the origins, the provenance and the material, craving to know and understand everything». Livia Frescobaldi

Inside Florence, published by Marsilio Arte, offers an original account of Florence stemming from a love for the preservation of its places and the desire to offer an intimate and fresh look at the beauty and age-old skills of the city's artisan workshops, which make the Tuscan capital one of the most admired cities in the world.

The splendid views, the meticulous details of the furnishings, the framing of the images, the care and attention in narrating and describing the opulence and refinement of the Florentine residences, are just some of the elements that author Livia Frescobaldi has selected to trace out an itinerary revealing her favourite places.

Through the photography of Alessandro Moggi and Eugenia Maffei, the book appears almost like a fresco with infinite scenarios, the protagonists of which are the heirs of a thousand-year-old history, in a difficult balance between modernity and tradition. There are sixteen sections for sixteen residences - ranging from palaces and gardens to former monasteries - each linked to a specific form of craftsmanship: the first pairing described is that between Palazzo Frescobaldi and the Antico Setificio Fiorentino, with a union rendered indissoluble by the customised Frescobaldi fabric, which has been in production since time immemorial. Inside Florence does not merely hold up a mirror to Florence's architectural and artistic wealth, but is also an act of love towards those professional artisans who, as Leonardo Ferragamo states in his introductory text, 'continue to create the history of the future with their ingenious, persevering and dedicated passion'.

Enriched and enhanced by the introductions of Eugenio Giani, President of the Region of Tuscany, and Bernabò Bocca, President of the Fondazione CR Firenze, the books stresses the uniqueness and historic nature of the city of Florence, that jealously guards its art professions and artisan workshops, its well-known palaces and more hidden ones, its gardens and spaces dedicated to contemporary times. The itinerary proposed in its pages has been planned for those who want to live Florence, rather than just visit it.