Florence: The Golden Book

This beautiful picture book about Florence – with the subtitle All of the City and its Masterpieces - is published by the Italian publishing house Bonechi, which specialises in picture books about famous places in Italy and around the world. It is a volume in the series called “The Golden Book.”

Books from Bonechi are published in several languages. I have used an English edition published a few years ago, which has 128 pages.

Bonechi has published a more extensive book about Florence in the series “Art and History,” which has 192 pages: Florence: Art and History.

Please note: in English this city is known as Florence, but the Italian name is Firenze.

The book covers many buildings and many works of art. For reasons of space I can only mention a few of them here:

** The Cathedral with the Campanile and the Baptistery. A picture of this complex is placed on the front cover of the book in order to tell us that this complex is the prime symbol of the city.

** Piazza della Signoria with Palazzo Vecchio

** Loggia dei Lanzi, where you can see Cellini’s masterpiece, a bronze statue of Perseus (page 29)

** The Church of Santa Croce

** Galleria degli Uffizi, where you can see a large number of famous paintings. Let me mention five examples from this collection: “The Annunciation” by Leonardo da Vinci (page 58); “The Duke of Urbino” and “The Duchess of Urbino” both by Piero della Francesca (page 59); “Primavera” and “The Birth of Venus” both by Botticelli (page 61). A picture which shows a detail of Bottocelli’s “Primavera” is placed on the back cover of the book in order to tell us that this painting is an important symbol of the city.

** Ponte Vecchio (the oldest bridge over the River Arno)

** Galleria dell’Accademia, where you can see several works by Michelangelo. One of the most famous is his statue of David (pages 90-91)

** Palazzo Pitti & the Boboli Gardens (which are located on the western or southern side of the River Arno)

The text is clear and concise, as it should be in a picture book. There are many colour illustrations; all of them in high quality. Some pictures present the grand view, while others present a significant detail. Some pictures show the exterior of a building, while others show the interior. It is a pleasure to read the text and study the pictures.

All the highlights of Florence are here, including a brief section about Fiesole, the small town in the mountains above the city, which dates back to Etruscan and Roman times (pages 126-127).

Florence is the capital of the renaissance. If you have never been there, you may still enjoy this book. The text gives you basic information, and the pictures are splendid. When you look at them, you may be able to understand why this city is visited by so many people every year.

If you have been there, I am sure you will appreciate this book as a valuable souvenir from one of the many interesting cities in the north of Italy.

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The Golden Book of Florence:

All of the City and its Masterpieces,

Bonechi, 1991, 1996, 128 pages

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