Today I am sharing some personal photographs from my trip to Italy a few years back. It always amazes me to see craftsmanship from many moons ago and realize that they did all of this without the technology available to us today.
This floor is from one of my favorite Catherdral floors, Brunelleschi’s “Santa Maria del Fiore” in Florence. I am just thinking how many versions of this floor design were there? 🙂 Yes, I wish I was more patient, but I am a CAD drafter. I will usually start with a sketch, but that left brain logical side of me, always wants it to be technically perfect, so CAD it is. Notice that the floor color scheme is a nice neutral mix of black, gray, white and tan marbles….. That is so that even as ornate and detailed as the floors, it doesn’t clash with the amazing frescoes….
Designed by Giorgio Vasari but executed by Frederico Zuccari.
It really amazes me to see patterns like the one above and realize that this is still popular now. The photo is from the Greek ruins of Paestum, in the region of Cilento south of the Almafi coast. This site it truly an amazing one and a must see if you are in that neck of the woods. It has some of the most complete Doric temples in Italy. Not to mention walking the grounds really takes you back and is such a treat to discover the details of the mosaics that are still in tact all these years later!!
I couldn’t do a post about floors and ceilings without mentioning one of my favorite Cathedral’s, Duomo di Pisa, which is an amazing masterpiece of Romanesque architecture. It has so many details everywhere, from the mosaics on the floor that create an area rug of sorts, to the AMAZING black and white marble horizontal stripes that surround the columns, pure heaven for my eyes.
I couldn’t post without a photo of one of the most amazing, religious experiences that I had on my journey. St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City. The photo on the left, was the first experience I got walking into this hallowed ground. The beam of sunlight in the left window that perfectly highlights an adjacent relic in one of the side chapels. Now that is detail not to mention gives you chill bumps! I actually had to walk the whole space and experience it all before I went back in a second time to photograph it. Let just put it this way, I wish I had my laptop with all of my notes from Art History class…
I had to put this all in perspective and really appreciate the fine art of not only the design of the details but the execution. We can design the most amazing spaces in the world but if you don’t have a good tradesman to do it for you, then it really doesn’t matter how great your design is, all anyone will see is the flaws. Do your homework before hiring any contractors. The best value may not always be the low price, but the combination of previous experience and amazing references. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for.
Emily Pasquariello Interior Designs, LLC 