Why Florence?

Last week, I had the great pleasure of launching my new book, Hiding the Flame, here in Cardiff. It was an event that meant a great deal to me, as each new book means to every author. It was also a great opportunity for me to talk about my writing, and what author doesn't enjoy doing that?! The launch took the form of an interview, and I was asked some quite searching questions about the themes of the book: the role of Savonarola; what it meant to be a woman in Renaissance Florence; the journey of Francesca, the main character. But the question that intrigued me most (probably because I couldn't think of a suitably erudite answer!) was... Why Florence? What is it about Florence that sparks the inspiration? I've been thinking about that question ever since.

I'm in the middle of research for Book 3. It's no secret that this book will be set in 1966, the year of Florence's great flood. Part of my research is a book called "Diary of Florence in Flood" by Kathrine Kressman Taylor, an American journalist who was living in Florence at the time. This book, in part, encouraged me to consider the flood for my next project, so I thought I'd read it again, with different eyes. Today, I came across a passage which might actually be able to answer the question, "Why Florence?". I've reproduced it below, with full acknowledgement that this is Ms Kressman Taylor's work, not mine.

"This is the city of Giotto, Masaccio, the Gaddis, Donatello, Uccello, Ghirlandaio, Verrocchio, Verocchio, of Leonardo da Vinci, of Fra Angelico, of Fra Lippo Lippi and Filippino; and galleries, palaces, churches contain hundreds upon hundreds of their finest works. There are tombs, dwellings or workshops of such famous sons of Florence as Benvenuto Cellini, Andrea del Sarto, Sandro Botticelli, Niccolò Macchiavelli, Galileo Galilei. Michelangelo, another Florentine, worked as a boy in the Medici palace under the patronage of Lorenzo. Next to marble, Florence was Michelangelo's dearest love, and most of his finest statuary is here: the "Slaves" and the "David", the two great tomb groups in the Medici Chapel at San Lorenzo, the "Brutus" and the "Bacchus", several famous Madonnas, and two extraordinary late Pietà, to name only the most noted.

"There is hardly a house, certainly not a church or palace in the ancient section that does not bear the memory or mark of one or more of these men. Brunelleschi's rosy dome crowns the skyline. Ghiberti's paradisiacal doors glow with gold under the morning sun. Orcagna's lacy tabernacle in marble mellowed to the tone of ivory is the chief beauty of Orsanmichele, perhaps the most delicate and Gothic of the churches. Santa Maria Novella with its cloisters, the monastery of San Marco, Santissima Annunziata, Santa Trinita, Santo Spirito, the Carmine, and Santa Croce are treasure houses of art.

"An enduring virtue of Florence is that her people display a dignity of bearing, a grace of manners, and an interest in scholarship in keeping with the omnipresent reminders of antiquity and fame of their city, while in a mechanized century they keep alive the practice of craftsmanship, of the finest handwork in gold and silver, in leather, copper, onyx and marble, enameled wood, copies of antique furniture, embroideries, fabrics, and high fashion...

"Once her charm takes hold of a visitor, no other city will again completely satisfy him."

I couldn't have put it better myself, but it certainly answers the question.