The Reluctant Tuscan by Phil Doran

Author:Phil Doran
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US

When you come to Florence and you’re in search of a magnificent view of the city, as well as a brutal cardiovascular workout, you must go to the Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore and climb the 468 steps up to the top of the dome. The view is heart stopping, if the 468 steps alone don’t do the job. Looking down through a labyrinth of ochre tile roofs you can see a dense warren of narrow streets richly clotted with life. Beyond that, to the north, lies the panorama of the hills of Fiesole, and to the east your eyes can follow the Arno River as it turns into a muddy trickle in its meanderings toward Pisa.

The church, commonly referred to as Il Duomo, has one of the largest and highest domes ever built. It is taller and wider than the Pantheon in Rome, which it’s modeled after, and more than one-third larger than the Capitol Dome in Washington, D.C.

As you make your way up the endless, narrow stairway, you’ll pass a level where the wall has been exposed so you can see how this marvel was actually constructed, since the architect, Filipo Brunelleschi, vowed never to use any scaffolding. The Romans had originally mastered this technique, but that knowledge was lost during the Dark Ages when the Church declared everything Roman to be pagan.

Brunelleschi went to Rome and, digging through the forbidden archives, unearthed the designs for the Pantheon dome. He learned that the Romans had conquered the effects of hoop stress on unsupported walls by surrounding a structure they wished to enclose with stout chains and heavy lead piping. This would enable them to reinforce the walls with concrete (which they invented, by the way) until the structure was sturdy enough to stand alone. So when Umberto and his crew showed up with lengths of pipes and chains, I was to learn that they would be using this two-thousand-year-old technique to hold together our one-thousand-year-old house.

The enveloping of our house in this girdle was done quickly but carefully. Scaffolding was put up around the rustico (with apologies to Filipo Brunelleschi, who built the Duomo without using any!). Vagabondo handed up lengths of pipe and Va Bene and Problema chained them together at the corners of the second story, until the house looked as if it were wearing a headband. As they worked, Umberto used a plumb level to gauge how straight the corners were, and since one end was sagging because of the crack, he got into the earthmover and gently nudged the wall until it was straight enough for the guys to shore it up.

A cement mixer roared to life. Va Bene and Vagabondo dug away at the mound of earth behind the house, as Problema and Umberto slathered layers of concrete on the newly exposed foundation. To his credit Umberto was quick to cover up the foundation with concrete before his guys could take a closer look and discover that we had a wall within a wall.

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