Florence Cathedral
Santa Maria del Fiore, the Duomo, on the cathedral piazza in the centre of Florence, Italy.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither Here Nor There | Bill Bryson | setting | One of Europe’s great sights, swamped by April crowds. |
Neither Here Nor There — Bill Bryson (1991)
Source: Readwise highlight
I went first to the cathedral, or Duomo, the centerpiece of the town.
- Role: setting
- In the book: Chapter 15. Bryson’s first stop in Florence. He defies anyone “to turn the corner into the cathedral piazza and not have his little heart leap. It is one of Europe’s great sights.” But it is packed with tourists and people selling to them, on a weekday in April, worse than the August he remembers from 1972.
- Why it matters: It opens the chapter’s theme: Florence’s treasures buried under mass tourism. The same complaint carries on to the Uffizi and the Ponte Vecchio.