I love to take pictures of doors as they are like taking pictures of the face of a building. Weathered, worn, colorful and practical, they are designs that have stories to tell and which reveal the distinctive color palette of the city. Here are a few pics — mainly of doors, but also including doorbells, colorful walls, the stone street and a remarkable shutter.
These brass buzzer plates were very common around Florence. What is most remarkable, from a New Yorker's perspective, is how they could manage to keep the names updated with such a permanent material. Perhaps people don't move as often as in NYC?
The streets and sidewalks are all stone, carved on the surface so that they are not too slippery in the rain.
I loved taking this picture. Graffiti is everywhere in Florence, but it seems a bit more artful — like everything else (Yogurt was a popular tag!). This was a wall across from where we ate dinner one night. The motorcycle and the big alligator seemed to go well together.
This door bell-pull was near the central market and - apparently - the only other one in the city with devil faces besides the Pitti Palace. Ursula loved these guys, who are laughing, crying and making mean faces. Right next door is an amazing wine shop - Casa Da Vino.
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I adore the first photo . . . it's beautiful. You could print that and hang it on your wall. Smashing! From the gorgeous wooden door, to the iron work above to the patina of the walls, including the crumbly bit showing the brick underneath. LOVE.
view Limeliteshines's profile
Key cutters make the brass name plates; it is generally the resident's responsibility to supply one. Two of the name plates look comparatively recent...
view mschatelaine's profile
I am so glad you went to Casa Da Vino and thought it was as amazing as I did while I was there.
view thereforesamiam's profile
When I visited Florence in 2003, there was a ton of political graffiti everywhere, in both English and Italian, though thankfully only a few landmarks were tagged. (I'm from LA, so graffiti doesn't freak me out that much, but I still get annoyed when I see a gorgeous old building covered in spray paint.)
These pictures make me want to put 500-year-old salvaged hardware on all my doors and crumbling statuary on my back patio 'a la the Boboli Gardens.
view Stiletto's profile
When my husband and I went to Italy 4 years ago, he was also attracted to taking pictures of all the funky doors. I encouraged him to continue taking them of the knockers, especially, so we could have a collection of photographs to frame when we got back.
view edava72's profile
i wasn't going to look at this post because when my husband went to Italy, he took so many pictures like the first one, I thought they would all be like those. I was pleasantly surprised to see the unique photos shown here!
view royaltygirl's profile