Public Space

May 15, 2013 08:45

This morning, we had an Engineering class on early Greek philospher Aristotle and Renaissance mathematician Copernicus before reviewing some more information about Brunelleschi's dome.

Later, we walked through the streets of Florence with Adriano and observed the way public space is used. Some of the places we visited included the post office, hospital, Via Bufalini (largest banking institution), Piazza San Lorenzo (leather market) and train station. The walk was interesting – Adriano is certainly full of information.

An interesting note worth mentioning deals with a small, rounded "window" located on a handful of buildings slightly below eye level. These "windows" were in fact counters in which aristocrats would sell wine by the glass as a means to earn some extra money. Their main source of income would be from the farmland they owned in rural areas – they would stay in these urban residences while their workers would maintain the farmland.