“Quando sento che mi prende la depressione, torno a Firenze a guardare la cupola del Brunelleschi: se il genio dell’uomo è arrivato a tanto, allora anche io posso e devo provare a creare, agire, vivere”
- Franco Zeffirelli
Six hundred years ago began the construction of the Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Cathedral of Florence. The cathedral was built by Filippo Brunelleschi, an architect, engineer, sculptor, goldsmith and Italian Renaissance set designer; born in Florence in 1377. He was one of the three great founders of the Florentine Renaissance, with Donatello and Masaccio.
In 1398, he began working in a goldsmith's workshop like the other great artists of the period. Working on a table with tweezers and the application of his mastery, among ornaments and sculptures, he then turns more of his attention to architecture and engineering becoming a modern creator. Thus, he devoted himself to prospective studies, with numerous optical experiments of important scientific value. He studied classicism in Rome with his friend Donatello and returned to Florence to take part in the competition for the construction of the Dome of the Florentine Cathedral in 1418. At the age of 43, he took over the construction of the works based on structural and architectural concepts that are still admired today for the immense wit used. The Dome was completed in 16 years and remains forever a testimony that affirms the skill, ingenuity, the work of this great artist of the Florentine Renaissance.
After Brunelleschi dies in 1446, the Dome remains a symbol for Florence and the history of the Goldsmith Family of Torrini. Whom lived, worked and created jewels, for over a century, right in the shadow of the Dome. Today the original refined workshop is part of the large complex of Piazza Duomo in Florence, the cradle of arts and beauty.
