FEEDBACK: ADOLFO NATALINI'S FLORENCE

摘要

Dear Nicola Di Battista, You asked me for a description of my city, Florence. I am unable to write a guide to the modern architecture of Florence, both because "modern architecture" is an oxymoron, and because it's very scarce. Nor am I able to describe a Florentine itinerary, for my routes around the heart of this city are too many and my feelings for Florence too ambivalent. But I cannot leave your request unanswered, so I singled out one of many. It's the Viali di Circonvallazione, the boulevards that follow the outline of the ancient walls that were demolished according to Giuseppe Poggi's plan about 150 years ago. It's a route usually driven by car, often with exasperation for the difficult traffic conditions. I compare it with the memory of certain walks I used to take with my father when the boulevards seemed enormous (no parking lots back then). They were tree-lined and had paths of gravel that you could drag your feet through in boredom on Sundays. But I do not want to give in to nostalgia, nor do I want to add more paintings to the 120 vedute of ancient Florence by Fabio Borbottoni. I dug out the black-and-white photographs of the boulevards that Mario Ciampi gave me in 1987 for the exhibition "Le città immaginate" held at the Triennale di Milano that year. Among my papers I found some notes on Florence, written over the past 30 years. I gathered everything together, the photographs and the notes, and I'm sending them to you without claiming to have fulfilled my obligations to you or to Florence.