Category: Regional Styles

I was crouched in a freezing draft in a small valley near Cortina last November, my fingers numb, trying to trace the grain of a larch beam that had survived three centuries of snow loads. Most people walk through these…

I was standing in a damp basement near Porta Romana last Tuesday, my flashlight catching the edge of a reused Roman brick wedged into a much later medieval foundation. Most people walk through the city center looking at the Duomo’s…

I was kneeling in the dust of a crumbling nave near Cremona last autumn, my fingers tracing the uneven edge of a single, sun-baked unit, when I realized how much we misinterpret the Lombard brick tradition. Most people—and even some…

I was crouched in a narrow alleyway off Via di Città last Tuesday, my knees aching against the damp cobblestones, when I realized most people walk through this city completely blind. They look up at the sweeping facades of the…

I was standing in the Piazza della Cisterna last July, watching a tour group cluster around the base of a stone wall, listening to a guide drone on about the “romantic skyline” of the town. It’s the same old script,…

I was kneeling in the dust of a narrow alleyway in Spello last October, my magnifying loupe pressed against a crumbling limestone plinth, when I realized most people were walking right past the actual story. They were too busy snapping…

I was kneeling in the dust of a crumbling courtyard near Pienza last autumn, my fingers tracing the jagged edge of a limestone block, when I realized how much we get wrong about these structures. Most travel brochures treat the…

I was kneeling in the dust of a Chianti cellar last Tuesday, my flashlight catching the rhythmic, uneven scarring of a chisel on a limestone lintel, when I realized how much we get wrong about this landscape. Most people look…

I remember kneeling in the dust of a crumbling Sicilian courtyard last summer, my fingers tracing the grit of a lime-based mortar that felt entirely alien to the precision of the Venetian brickwork I’d surveyed a decade prior. People love…