The Stones of Pistoia

One of (quite obvious) reasons why I appreciate Italy is that here every place preserves a memory of the European civilization... Every palace, every church, every street is related to a though of a man, a personality that in his activity was shaping the reality.. our past, his present...
One of a person like that was Leon Battista Alberti...
I know.. "che palle" will say my Italian friends... But Alberti was one of the most intelligent, versatile humanist, architect, painter, man of letters and so on, and so on. He is actually also a nice case to study for post modern scholars who would put in doubts a part of his activity due to the lack of many sources and proofs. Alberti could be seen just a scholar's invention... a narration... ;).
Even though he is the author of "Della pittura" and "De re aedificatoria" treatises and he is considered to have projected Palazzo Rucellai and the facade of Santa Maria Novella Church in Florence as well as Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini and Saint Andrea church in Mantua.

All that introduction just to show you one of my photos from Pistoia... it's a part of my archives.. still... (I have to develop my films from Venice!!!!).

These are the stones of Pistoia, stones of a church attributed to Alberti. Stones in which a part of his ingegno is hidden.

Agata Chrzanowska, The Stones of Pistoia, 2006.