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 standing in a dusty courtyard in Syracuse last summer, squinting at a limestone threshold where a Roman paving stone met a much later medieval repair, when it hit me how much we misunderstand the concept of order. Most…
I was standing in a courtyard in Florence last Tuesday, watching a group of tourists marvel at the sweeping, glass-and-steel curves of a contemporary wing, completely oblivious to the fact that the entire structure was fighting a losing battle against…
I was standing in the shadow of a crumbling travertine archway near the Piazza Navona last autumn, feeling the dampness of the Roman humidity seep into my boots, when I realized how much we get wrong. Most guidebooks treat rome…
I was crouched on a damp scaffold near the Grand Canal last November, my fingers tracing the jagged edge of an Istrian stone lintel, when it finally clicked. Most people walk past these facades and see nothing but a pretty,…
I was standing in a dusty courtyard in Ravenna last autumn, tracing the uneven way a medieval mason had notched a limestone block, when I found myself thinking about the sheer noise surrounding modern high-tech architecture. People talk about Renzo…
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 summer, while I was tucked into a corner of a crumbling villa near Syracuse, I found myself tracing the faint, weathered grooves in a limestone slab. Most people walk past these sites looking for grand columns or marble gods,…
I was standing in a dusty courtyard outside of Ostuni last July, my knees aching from kneeling beside a crumbling limestone plinth, when I realized how much we get wrong about these structures. Tourists and real estate developers love to…
I was kneeling in the dust of a crumbling boundary wall in the hills outside Syracuse last July, my fingers tracing the jagged edge of a limestone block that refused to sit flush. Most people look at a pile of…