“Exciting... enchanting” - Spectator

“Flooded with excellent little stories” - Financial Times

This is the story of one of the most magnificent achievements of the Italian Renaissance and its architect. Even in an age full of skyscrapers and large stadiums, the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence retains a rare ability to dazzle the viewer. Nevertheless, the elegance of the building conceals the enormous effort, technical ingenuity, and bitter personal conflicts involved in its creation.

For more than a century after the construction of the cathedral began, the proposed dome was considered almost impossible to build. The greatest architectural puzzle of its time, when completed, it was celebrated as one of the great wonders of the world. This book tells the extraordinary story of how the dome was raised and of its architect, the brilliant and volatile Filippo Brunelleschi. At first condemned as insane in his efforts, he was ultimately recognized as a great giant of architecture.

His life full of ambition, ingenuity, competition, and intrigue - a human drama played out against the plagues, wars, political feuds, and intellectual upheavals of Renaissance Florence, the brilliant age for which the dome remains its most imposing symbol.

AWARD-WINNING NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT BOOKSELLERS

Pages: 192, Dimensions: 13x13cm