Category: Materials and Craft

I remember standing in a damp basement in Ravenna last autumn, my flashlight catching the edge of a crumbling slab, when a contractor tried to convince me that a modern, high-strength epoxy pour was the only way to “fix” the…

I was surveying a sixteenth-century palazzo in Palermo last autumn when I found myself staring, not at the frescoed ceiling, but at a single, rusted iron strap hinge. Most people walk through these halls and see only the grand scale…

Last Tuesday, I found myself in a crumbling palazzo near Ravenna, tracing the grain of a sixteenth-century chestnut portal with my thumb. Most people walk past these entrances, seeing only a barrier or a decorative flourish, but they miss the…

I remember standing in a damp, half-lit cellar in Ravenna last autumn, tracing the grain of a sixteenth-century timber frame with my fingertips. While the official survey report droned on about “structural integrity” and “material degradation,” I was looking at…

I remember standing in a drafty attic in Ravenna three years ago, the smell of damp chestnut and centuries of dust thick in my throat. I wasn’t looking at the beautiful frescoes downstairs; I was staring at a single, hand-hewn…

I remember standing on a scaffold in a crumbling palazzo near Ravenna, the air thick with the scent of damp oak and centuries of dust. While the structural engineers were arguing over modern load-bearing calculations and steel reinforcements, I was…

I remember standing on a scaffolding in a narrow alley in Palermo last autumn, squinting through the dust at a set of sixteenth-century window guards. Most people see them as mere decoration or a barrier, but as I brushed away…

I was standing on a rickety scaffold in a damp crypt near Siena last autumn, my nose inches away from a fractured lancet window, when I realized most people completely miss the point of stained glass in italian churches. They…

I was standing in a dim corner of a basilica near Ravenna last autumn, my flashlight tracing the uneven surface of a crumbling apse, when it hit me how much we get wrong. Most guidebooks treat glass mosaic in byzantine…

I was kneeling on a damp floor in a villa near Ravenna last autumn, my knees aching against the cold stone, when I realized most people look at a floor and see only a pattern. They see “art,” but they…