Florence, city of bridges and domes, cradle of the Italian Renaissance, and one of the fashion capitals of Europe, is an easy place to fall in love with and a difficult place to forget. If you’re there on vacation, you won’t want to leave, so why not take a little of it home with you? By incorporating aspects of Florentine style in your own home, you can recapture the trip you loved and all the wonderful memories that went with it. You can also create beautiful rooms that will be the envy of all your friends.
A city steeped in history
Florence was founded by the Romans in 80 BC. Some Roman ruins still survive there, and other, later buildings were inspired by Roman style, which also happens to be one of the hottest trends in interior décor this year. The city became a great power during the Golden Age in the 11th century and was the seat of the Medici in the Middle Ages. Its great museums are filled with treasures revealing its rich heritage, while its galleries contain some of Europe’s most celebrated paintings and sculptures. Strolling through the walled city, itself a World Heritage Site, you can marvel at the work of architects such as Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti, step into long, cool galleries beneath magnificent arches, or admire the simple, romantic character of ordinary homes whose flower-decked windows look down on cobbled streets.
Bringing Florentine style home
Florentine style is something you can incorporate in every part of your home. From marble floors and countertops in your kitchen and bathroom to ornate gilt-framed mirrors in your living room and dining room, they convey classic character. Replace plain doorways with gentle arches, and illuminate your rooms with graceful chandeliers. Next time you need to replace your windows, consider the square panes that were so popular in the city’s 19th century dwellings, or take the plunge right away with classic stylish shutters that perfectly capture the Italian look. Keep your color palette cool, deck your living spaces with Jacobean furniture, invest in sculpted plaster cornicing for your ceiling, and paint wooden trimmings pale gold for optimum effect.
Images of the Renaissance
Unless your home is unusually large, it’s unlikely that you could get frescos to look good on your walls or ceiling, and they take two years to paint properly anyway. What you can do is incorporate some Italian Renaissance art. Prints of work by Leonardo Da Vinci or Sandro Botticelli, elegantly framed, will look magnificent on your walls and will always give you new things to think and talk about. Their subtle colors can be an excellent starting point for working out the shades you want to use in a room, helping you to capture that timeless quality that Florence embodies so exquisitely.
Adding just a hint of the beauty of that famous city to your own home will help you dream away the hours until you can return there or, at the very least, hold it more dearly in your memory and in your heart.
